“Holy shit!” Crash gasps in shock, but she doesn’t look at him, and despite the pain I can see in her eyes from hitting my dad, she grabs his jaw and forces him to look at her.
“I’ve had an hour to myself, Lick, and guess what?” she spits, her voice like ice, fuck, even her dad recoils as mine goes into shock. She hisses, “I’ve had time to replay every vile thing my husband confessed in therapy because you covered up your wife’s filthy mess!”
Dad flinches while Splinter, Knuckles's dad, questions, “What is she talking about?”
Clark curls her lip, voice trembling with disgust, and sneers, “I’m talking about this pathetic excuse for a father letting his seven-year-old son believe his wife tried to kill both herself and him out of spite, just because she thought her man had cheated was fine.”
“What the fuck?!” Bones snap, and I feel several eyes on me, but I don’t take my eyes off my wife fighting my battles.
She hisses, “You don’t deserve the role of ‘Dad.’ If your wife were here, I’d kill her for what she did to her own son, tomyhusband because this isn’t about her crashing a car, is it, Lick? She forced a seven-year-old to drink poisoned milk on his birthday for revenge and you said nothing and brought her back, like the coward you are.”
She shoves him away, and Dad rubs his jaw from her punch, sorrow fills his features as he looks my way, but I lock eyes with my wife instead of looking at him.
I round the table toward her, Cage patting my back as I pass and as I reach her, I wrap my arm around her waist and cup her cheek, pulling her into me.
“I love you,” I say quietly, causing her eyes to tear up. I say, “Clark White, I fucking love you.”
She grips my cut and, ignoring all the eyes on her, she chokes, “I love you too,” and everything fucking melts inside me, my body relaxing, and I press my lips against hers.
“Son?” my dad chokes, but I ignore him as I pull back a little from Clark and I say, “We’re going to make it, I promise,” and hesitation laces her beautiful face, hesitation that I understand, and I press a kiss against her mouth again before I say, “Cage…”
“Hill Crest College has accepted her admission for the fall, and she can train in-house at the hospital,” he says, and Clark's eyes widen in shock while I smile.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t pull some strings to get you your dream?” I ask, and she shakes her head in disbelief.
“Hey sis, you got a minute?” Crash calls, but Clark shakes her head, making him huff, “She loves him, she should be thanking us for forcing the marriage,” and Clark raises a brow, but I keep my face neutral.
We’re still not there, and I know she’s still hesitant about us, even though we had fucking amazing sex. But it’ll take more than that to get her to understand I do love her.
Clark narrows her eyes at me, and I widen my eyes innocently and say, “I didn’t say anything your brother did.”
She scoffs, “You didn’t have to, your eyes said everything,” then she narrows her eyes at my silent father before she says, “I’ll see you at home, I had Drew watch Willow while I came here, we’ll talk about the college thing when you’re back.”
“There’s no changing it now, baby. It’s already paid for,” I reply instantly, and she takes a small step away from me, and I know she wants to argue, so I quickly kiss her and murmur, “I’ll be home in half an hour.”
She nods, and I kiss her lips gently, not willing for her to walk away without having one last taste. She pulls back, furrowing her brows a little before turning to walk away, but gives Dad one more glare, making me smile.
As soon as the door is shut, Bones demands, “You were nearly killed?”
I look at Dad, whose tears shine in his gray eyes, and I shake my head at him, and I look at Bones and confirm, “I was. They had to pump my stomach, and Mom screamed the whole time, claiming I needed to die. Dad had her committed for six months before she came home like it was all normal,” I look at him, “but it wasn’t normal. I spent most of my childhood sleeping with my door barricaded after you brought her back,” he flinches, “I spent years refusing to eat her food, scared she was trying to kill me and years of her telling me not to be a cheat, not to hurt my future wife which fucked up my head. For that last six years, she’s reminded me that I’m a rapist.”
Dad looks at me, horrified, and I sigh as I look around the room and call, “I hear by put in a vote to change the bylaws from innocent until proven guilty to guilty until proven innocent!”
“Aye,” Cage instantly starts off the vote, and one by one, every brother says aye until it comes to Chains and Dad.
“Aye,” Chains rasps, “and I’m sorry I didn’t do better by you.”
I look at Dad, and he nods and says, “Aye, and I’ll do everything I can to help you and Clark make it, even if it means keeping your mom from her and Willow. I’m sorry, son.”
I look away from him not willing to acknowledge his apology and walk towards my seat, knowing we still need to get through the businesses before I can get home to my wife.
I love my dad, I do, but we’re not close, and I’ll be shocked if we ever will be.
“Okay, Blaze, how’s Carnage Angels?” Cage begins, his voice tight, and I take my seat, ignoring everyone’s concerned eyes on me, not willing to speak any more about what my mom did.
***
“Okay, so about college,” Clark says as soon as I walk in the door thirty-five minutes later, but I don’t let her say anything else, to try and talk her way out of not relying on me. I walk up to her, wrap my arm around her waist and cup her cheeks as I slam my lips against hers and just as I’d hoped, she melts into me and slowly runs her hands up my arms before wrapping hers around my neck. I lift her, ready to spend the rest of the night inside her and hopefully, I’ll be able to get her to willingly want to spend the rest of her life with me.
