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I’d been amused when she’d offered me money, as if there wasn’t a red-blooded male on the freaking planet who wouldn’t have agreed to the date without being paid a dime. It had been obvious she hadn’t recognized my name, putting two and two together. And in truth, I hadn’t cared in the least about hers. My dick had done the thinking, the first taste of her sealing some kind of fate that I hadn’t looked for.
Now here I was, pretending I was something I wasn’t.
Including decent.
To Gregory’s credit, the pompous man hadn’t reacted other than his eyes opening wide. Yet I’d seen the look in his eyes, the need for retaliation when he had no clue what I was doing with his daughter in the first place.
And who was I to disclose her little secret?
I was reaching the limits of my control, my anger ready to let loose. Every insult he made about Wren was being stored in a location in my brain that boded ill for any man. I’d been told more than once I had no conscience, that the error of my violent ways would eventually land me in jail. But right now, I didn’t give a shit.
“Who my father is should have no bearing on tonight,” I told her.
“You obviously don’t know my father very well, Phoenix or Riggs. What do you really want me to call you? I have no idea why they hate each other, but this has to be the worst possible thing that could have happened.”
“As far as I’m concerned, Riggs is dead.” I thought for certain she was going to challenge me but she didn’t.
“I like Phoenix. There’s such an incredible story behind the image.”
There were several of them, but I wasn’t going to tell her why I’d chosen the name for myself. “Here’s what is going to happen, Wren, and you won’t fight me on this. We will make polite conversation. Then we are leaving.”
She eyed me warily but said nothing. Somehow, I could tell she was trying to figure out how she’d gotten herself hooked up with a very bad man.
I walked us both inside and soon realized that nothing about the night would go according to plans.
As her father approached, his glare was harsh. “I’m afraid I’m going to need to ask you to leave, Mr. Wentworth.”
“That’s not a choice for you to make,” I told him.
“Yes, it is. Now, you can do this without causing a scene, son, or I’ll have you thrown out. I’m friends with the owner.”
The man was actually going to throw that at me? I laughed in his face. “You’re doing no such thing.”
“Stop. Just stop! This is Cammie’s rehearsal dinner, for God’s sake,” Wren snapped. “You’re not going to spoil it for her. Or for me. I’m finished with playing the good daughter. I have my own life, which includes seeing anyone I want to without reservation as to who they are or what family they’re from. And you’re not going to set me up with a buddy of yours to keep me under control, which is exactly what I expect you’re doing with Cammie. You can’t control the world, Dad. You can barely control your kinky proclivities.” She sucked in her breath, and I had to say I was proud of her.
“Wren. You apologize to your father,” her mother snapped.
Wren turned her head ever so slowly. “No, Mother, I won’t. You might not care about Dad’s indiscretions because you’re fucking the pool boy or the lawn maintenance guy, but it’s disgusting all the way around.”
While everyone else in the room gasped, I was more amused than ever.
“Make him leave, Gregory,” her mother insisted, glaring at me as if I was the hired help.
As Lincoln walked closer, I jerked my head up and snarled. “I suggest you back away.”
“Come on. Let’s just go,” Wren said. “I’m suddenly no longer hungry.”
“No, you’re not going anywhere. This is my party,” Cammie insisted. “And Phoenix stays or I go.”
“He’s right, honey. He’s not welcome here,” Marcus said, trying to pull Cammie away.
I couldn’t help but smile as her sister’s fiancé got in the middle.
The look Cammie gave him was priceless.
“Come over here with me,” Lincoln dared to come closer, attempting to direct Wren as if he owned her.
That would have been fine except he yanked on her arm.
