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He grunts, glowering my way. “No.”
I laugh. “Figures…”
Mr. FBI gives me no quarter. “Let’s nip this shit in the bud, okay? What do you want from my sister?”
I cross my arms again. “I thought that was pretty obvious. I don’t want any one thingfromher. I wanther. Period. Catch my drift? Or do you need me to draw you a diagram or some shit?”
The big motherfucker gets in my face. “I would watch my mouth if I were you…”
I got a few inches on him, but he’s way bigger than me, and being a cop, he’s probably trained to take even someone as large as me down in a sec. He could probably break my face easy, but it would totally be worth it for Mia. So I don’t back away an inch. “Why? What did I say? She’s mine, man. I’m not about to give her up just ‘cause you don’t like my day job!”
“It’s not that…”
I give him an incredulous look.
He huffs. “Fine, it’s notjustthat…”
I go for broke. “Is that she’s deaf? I don’t care about that. She is so much more than that, I’m sure you know that already… so what is it? You think me so low that I would use that against her? That I would take advantage of someone as good and beautiful as she is?”
He looks at me long and hard for a moment. Then shakes his head.
“Then what is it, Jared?”
“She’s too young for you, for this. I mean, you're even older than I am…”
I chuckle. “What? Are you out of your mind or high on something? You make me sound like some fucking ancient lowlife cradle robber! I'm thirty-fucking-six, she's twenty-fucking-four, not fourteen! Do the damn math: that's younger for sure, but that's nottooyoung. Besides, you don’t get to decide. You’re not her father, and even if you were, this would still be up to us, not you!”
“Fuck you! I’m her brother! My daughter and I are all the family she has left. It's my duty to protect her! I'd rather kill you where you fucking stand than let you hurt her."
I’m suddenly struck by how much this guy loves my little beauty. He really is worried I’m going to harm her.
My stance changes, and I relax a little.
“Listen, man, let’s drop the alpha male bull, alright? I appreciate that you care for her and that you’ve kept her safe this long. She told me you guys are all alone and that you have a little girl to look after, too… I’m not here to fuck things up for your family. Look me in the eye and tell me if I’m lying… I would never hurt her, okay? Never… ”
Whatever he sees in my eyes is enough to make him drop the posturing as well. His big frame relaxes. “You… you really care about her, Carson?”
It doesn’t escape my notice that he’s using my first name. It means he’s getting what I’m putting out there. Good. My baby loves this big lug, and I don’t want to screw things between them. The sooner he gets that she’s mine and I’m here to stay, the easier things will be for all of us.
I give a single nod. “I do…”
He takes a shaky breath. “If you hurt her—”
I immediately jump on his words. “I won’t. I know it’s been a short time, but I really have feelings for your sister. Don’t ask me to tell you what kind of feelings I’m talking about. She should be the one that knows how I feel first. But let me tell you this much… It might be crazy, but you gotta believe me: she isitfor me.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “And you know that after, what? A week?”
“If you have to ask me that, either you’ve never been this into someone, or you just plain don’t know what your sister is.”
“Oh, I know… Mia is great. And she deserves the best. You might be rich and famous, I can’t argue with that. But are you the best for her?”
I glower at him. “I’m theonlyone for her. The only man she’s ever going to need. I would do anything for her.”
“What about when you have to go… when your glamorous rock star life gets in the way? What then? I know you said you wouldn’t hurt her, but sometimes, it’s not like we set out to do that shit. You may not wanna hurt her, but she could still get hurt.”
I shake my head. "No way, man. Nothing, and no one is ever going to hurt her on my watch. I swear it to you. I give you my word. And if someday I'll go insane for some reason and hurt her myself, I will not only give you my blessing to kill me dead, but I will also be the one buying you the fucking bullets that’ll go in the gun. Hell, I’ll make sure you have a foolproof plan to get away with it, too, and I’ll leave everything there is to my name to Mia because there isnothingI wouldn’t do to protect her. And nothing I wouldn’t do to prove to you that I fucking mean it. In fact…”
I walk toward the sofa and pick my custom-made bass up from its tripod stand. I hold it out to Sly and Rick.
