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My father nodded, already wandering away, a disinterested look on his face. My fingertip flicked against the trigger. I could shoot him in the back, but that didn’t mean I’d be free. I’d have to take on the empire I couldn’t leave, no matter what I wanted, but my father’s acceptance bought me precious time, years even, with Sylvie.
If she wanted me.
I swallowed hard, and wrapped an arm around her waist. The moment my father’s car pulled away I dragged her outside to where Nate waited for us. “Let’s go.”
He nodded, his mouth tight though he kept his thoughts to himself as he pulled away from the curb, his knuckles pure white on the steering wheel.
Sylvie clung to my shirt, her fingers bunching the material into tight knots as I drew her onto my lap. Road rules be damned. My girl was just threatened–for the second time–and I wasn’t about to let her go. We were halfway back to campus when the shakes stopped and her brain started turning over.
“This is yours.” She slipped a heavy, warm object into my hand.
I turned over my family ring without looking at it. “No, it’s yours, Sylvie,” I corrected her gently. “If you want it to be.” The sentence came out jerkily, but from the way her eyes widened, I knew she heard me right.
“I–” The tip of her tongue slid across her bottom lip, hardening me instantly. The shakes that stopped for her started for me, and I squeezed her tight.
My mouth came down on hers hard, too hard, and when I drew back she was panting.
“Wait ‘til I’m out of the car, please,” Nate muttered.
“Hurry the fuck up, then,” I parried, rearranging Sylvie on my lap.
“Fuck’s sake, man. She’s not a toy.” Nate kept his eyes on the road.
I traced my fingertips over her face, gently pushing her hair back. “No, she’s not.”
Sylvie’s eyes welled up again, biting her lip when it wobbled. I cradled her to me, and when Nate pulled up I was out of the car and up the front steps with Sylvie in my arms before the car stopped idling.
“Beau–” she started, pressing herself to my chest as I walked. “Why are we here?”
“Because you live here, and I thought you’d want to be in your own bed tonight.” I looked down at her, searching her face as my hands trembled at her back. “Do you want me to put you down?”
“Will I be alone?” She stared up at me with eyes so wide, her voice so thin and raspy I pulled her closer, her fear running riot through my bloodstream.
“No. Not unless you want me to leave.”
She mulled on that for a second that felt like a full eternity. “Stay?”
“You got it.”
I unlocked her door, and she didn’t ask me when I took a copy of her key. My girl was learning. I pressed a kiss to her hair, leaving the door open for Nate and walked straight by Raleigh who stared at us with wide eyes, a bright stain travelling up her cheeks.
“What the hell happened?” she whispered.
“My father,” I said shortly.
“Is she okay?”
“I’m fine,” Sylvie whispered, her voice so hushed it was barely audible. She burrowed harder into my body.
“Prove it.” Raleigh stepped in my path.
I bared my teeth. “Get out of my way, short stuff.”
“Not your nickname.” She pointed a finger at me. “Put her down. I want to see that she's not dying.”
I glared at her, my arms taking up the tremble and I wanted to get Sylvie in her goddam bed before I fell apart in front of anyone else. “She. Is. Fine. Do you really think I'd hurt her?”
“I think you’ve given my girl hell for the last months and I’m sick of you treating her like an object.”
