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She returned from the bathroom to an empty room.
Well, dammit.
CHAPTER12
Garrick
* * *
“I hopeyou weren’t too hard on her.” Garrick pushed off the wall, confronting Bastian as he closed the bedroom door behind him. Bastian started for a second, frowned, then walked toward the stairs.
“I need a fucking drink.” Bastian stalked off down the hall.
“I have a bar in the living room.” Garrick followed him down the stairs then led him to the room directly to the left of the front door. “Whiskey?”
“Yes.” Bastian stalked over to the front bay windows, pushing the curtain aside and looking out.
“Bet you wish you’d actually gone up to work for Henrik Hercules instead of going down south with the Tridents.” Garrick poured three fingers of whiskey into two glasses, bringing one over to Bastian.
“There was some family shit I wanted nothing to do with going on at the time.” Bastian took the glass of whiskey and downed half of it.
“Having Jackson Olympus as a father can’t be easy. But seems you didn’t get away from family drama anyway.” Garrick sipped his drink and sank into one of the dark leather chairs.
“Yeah.” Bastian turned away from the windows. “It wasn’t so dramatic until the last few days.”
“Well, except for you torturing yourself by being in the same house as that woman and not letting yourself touch her.” Bastian had always been the more controlled one between the two of them. Garrick wasn’t sure he’d be able to last so many years with Ariella right there for the taking and not taking her.
Bastian huffed. “Just ruined that good streak, I’d say.” He shook his head.
Garrick balanced his glass on the arm of his chair.
“Why didn’t you let me tell her who Ares Morgan is, what he does?” Garrick was under no disillusion that Ariella would stop in her quest simply because they brought her under his roof. He’d seen the determination in her eyes. She was here with a goal, and she wasn’t going to just give that up because Bastian told her to.
“Ariella has been kept in the dark about what Henry does. He’s protected her more than any of his other daughters. She’s pissed at him right now, but she sees her father as a god. Everyone in town respects him.”
Garrick tightened his hand around the glass. “Do you? You respect a man who sits idle knowing innocent girls are being sold in his town?”
Bastian downed his drink. “I wouldn’t say he’s a good man, but neither are we.” He leveled Garrick with a knowing stare.
“No,” Garrick agreed. “We aren’t. But we don’t hurt innocent girls.” Garrick’s stomach twisted. Ariella’s father may not be moving them himself, but he ignored the evil being done to the innocent. Much like his father had before Uncle Samuel pushed him out of town.
“However you feel about him or how I do doesn’t matter. It would hurt her if she were to find out the truth about what her aunt does and what her father ignores. It would destroy how she sees her father.”
“Better to know the truth than be sheltered by lies,” Garrick argued. “Besides, that girl has a fire in her. I don’t think it would die just because she knew the truth about her father. She’s stronger than you give her credit for.”
Bastian huffed. “How would you know? You’ve only known her for a day.”
“She made it here on her own, didn’t she? When I warned her away, she didn’t just go home and sulk. She got back up and marched right back to the club.” Garrick pushed off the chair and headed for another drink. It had been a long fucking day, and the night was turning even longer.
“Being foolish isn’t the same as being strong,” Bastian countered.
“Hmm, maybe. You said she’s pissed at Daddy. Why?”
Bastian’s face went dark. “He’s stubborn and old, completely set in his ways.”
“What did he do to her?” Garrick’s defenses went up. Hell, he’d known this girl for barely a day, and he was ready to go up against Henry Trident. It was her stubbornness; it intrigued him. Why would a girl who had everything strike out on her own? What made her want more?
“First, the marriage. She doesn’t want it. And I doubt Henry understands it would take an army to drag her down that aisle. Then out of a fit of anger and frustration, he destroyed her music room.”
