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My dad looked at Will. “I know you don’t need the money. So what’s your angle?”
“No angle, sir. I love your daughter. It’s that simple.”
“Did you love her last month when you had strippers on your lap? Or the many times before that when you were photographed in compromising situations? You seem to have a problem sticking to one woman. And my daughter is no idiot. I didn’t raise her to get taken advantage of by men like you.”
“With all due respect, sir, I’m a much better man than her ex-husband. And I have never shown Clarke an ounce of disrespect.”
Dad pointed a finger at the papers on the table. “Those articles and pictures prove otherwise.”
Will crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m more than happy to show you just how wrong you are about me.”
My dad glared at him, then glanced down at me. He sighed when our eyes met.
“Do the right thing, Clarke,” he said as he stormed out of the living room.
I stood next to Will, nerves shaking through me, waiting for the front door to slam shut. We stared at each other for a long while before I let out a sigh of relief.
“That was worse than I expected.”
“Are you kidding me? That was horrible. No one believes we’re really married. And your dad? He just threatened to ruin my career. What if he finds some smoking gun that exposes us as frauds?”
“Only Mia, Ethan, Liam, and Shane know the truth about that night. We know we can trust Mia and Ethan. Want about Liam and Shane?”
He nodded. “Yeah, they’re ride or die. My teammates would take a bullet for me. We don’t have to worry about any of them.”
“Did you write any texts about our relationship?”
“No, I’m not that stupid.”
“Me neither. I’ve lied to everyone but Mia. Actually, your sister is the one person who wants this to work. She begged me to give you a chance.”
He smiled. “That’s my sister, always looking out for me.”
“Because you do the same for her.”
“We’re a family now.” He hooked his arms around me and held me close. “No one can touch us, not unless we give them the ammunition.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Mine too.”
“I’m sorry, Will. He’s an asshole who gets mad and flies off the handle at stupid things. Whenever I need him, he vanishes.”
He patted my back to soothe me. “It’s all good, babe. He can’t hurt me.”
“You don’t know my dad. He’ll do anything to get you out of my life. After I told him the truth about Sean, he destroyed his law career. Ripped apart every secret in his life and exposed him for the pig he is.”
“I would never fuck other women behind your back.” He kissed my forehead. “I care about you, Clarke. I’m not sure what to make of these feelings, but I can promise you one thing. I will never fucking cheat on you. Never.”
I reached up to kiss his lips. “Then, I guess we have nothing to worry about.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
WILL
So that fucking happened. Clarke’s absentee father from hell stormed into our apartment and promised to destroy my career. My body shook from anger and nervous energy.
“We’re getting hit from all ends,” she groaned. “But we have to stay strong. Sell this to everyone we know. If they buy it, so will other people.”
“It’s not fake anymore, not for me. I want to marry you, Clarke. After years of going back and forth with you, I can’t imagine being married to anyone else.”
She pressed her lips together and rocked back and forth on her heels, one of her unusual nervous ticks. Was this something she did from childhood that carried over into adulthood?
“What do you say?” I brushed a strand of hair away from her face and rubbed her cheek. “You ready to give us a real shot?”
She considered my words for a moment and nodded. “Yeah, let’s do this. But if you hurt me, I will cut off your balls and feed them to you.”
I laughed. “Okay, killer. It won’t come to that.”
“I have a hard time trusting people for obvious reasons.”
“We’ll work on those trust issues.”
She slid her hands up my chest and hooked her arms around my neck. Clarke stood on the balls of her feet and reached up to kiss my lips.
“When I’m this amped up,” I muttered against her lips, “I either need to fuck or run.”
I slid my hand beneath her shirt, tugging her pants down. She kissed me, but I could feel her hesitation and stopped trying to undress her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not in the mood,” she confessed. “Sorry, I can’t. My dad’s stuck in my head right now. It wouldn’t be fair to you.”
“Then I’m going for a run. I have to blow off some steam.”
“What about the meatloaf?”
“It will be ready in an hour.”
