I go rigid, unable to imagine what’s happened to bring him here. We can’t avoid this, unfortunately. I wet my lips, then shout over my shoulder. “Initiates, off the wall. We have an unexpected visitor. Please join us over here. Everyone else, stay the fuck where you are.” I’ll be damned if Alec, Joel, and Stuart get to breathe down my neck for this.
Bridger, Taggart, and Elliot scramble, with Taggart helping Elliot down before they join us. All three cautiously stand off to one side, eyes pinging with interest from me to my father, who gives them a cursory glance, gesturing to Taggart. “I’m guessing you’re Taggart, Dr. Hardy’s son.” He studies him for only a moment before moving on to Bridger. He gives a brief nod. “And that makes you Senator Winthrop’s oldest.”
I’m not surprised when Bridger goes full fanboy. “Yes, sir. Bridger Winthrop. And you’re Jared Hawthorne, CEO of Hawthorne Industries.” He holds out a hand, then immediately withdraws it, when my father’s eyes widen at all the mud. “Oh. Uh, sorry.” He ineffectually wipes his hand on his dirty torso.
My father shakes his head. “Don’t worry, son, we’ll see each other again one day when you aren’t covered head to toe in filth, I’m sure.” His gaze falls to Elliot, who is standing stock-still, staring at him with her arms crossed over her chest. She looks fucking radiant, despite the coating of mud and grime. She presses her lips together but doesn’t offer him a damn thing. “And who. The fuck. Are you?” My father’s voice has taken on a nasty tone, possibly in response to the confident eyebrow that’s risen on her forehead. Thank fuck she’s not cowering, because my father absolutely loves toying with people he sees as unworthy opponents.
Either way, it’s unacceptable. “Don’t fuckin’ talk to her like that,” I growl.
His lips twitch. “What? You mean to the girl who has somehow managed to weasel her way into this brotherhood and make a mockery of our traditions? Or maybe you’re talking about the girl who has you wrapped around her filthy little finger? What’d she do to get you to let her stay, son? Or maybe the better question is this—is there anything shehasn’tdone as she manipulated the rules we abide by at Hawthorne Hall?”
I bristle at his crass implication and can practically feel the hatred rolling off Cannon and Archer in waves. Rubbing my hand over my jaw, I shake my head. “That’s absolutely fucked-up that you’d ask that.” I gesture to Elliot that she should join the three of us. When she’s close enough, I catch a slight tremor as it runs through her body, so I put my hands on her shoulders to reassure her, drawing her body against mine, both of us facing him. I don’t fucking blame her for being at least a little nervous. My father can be unpredictable, and there’s really no way to know how this is going to go. “This is Elliot, daughter of Blane Ashford. And while she’s obviously female, she deserves her place in this brotherhood, the same as either of these guys. She’s done well for herself so far, demonstrating the strength of character we expect from initiates and has completed each of The Games in an entirely ethical manner, despite the antics of some of our members. She’s also managed to put up with our shit the entire time, and trust me, a lot has been shoveled her direction.” My breath heaves from me as my blood rages inside my head. I’d give anything to take her away from here right now, so we could avoid this confrontation, but we can’t. My eyes connect with my father’s very similar green ones. They blaze at me. The rest of the brotherhood probably doesn’t see it, but oh, fuck. I know from plenty of past experiences my father is about to lose it.
“She’d better be doing all that and more,” he hisses, his fists clenching at his sides as his face turns a mottled reddish color. He pauses only a fraction of a second before he sucks in a breath and shouts, “Because she shouldn’t be here in thefirstplace! She had to have forged a goddamn signature. She sent the false papers in with the intent to deceive. And she walked into Hawthorne Hall and used every curve on that body to make you weak.”
“She may have forged her father’s signature, but it wasmychoice to allow her to stay.” I thump my hand on my chest. “It was my call. So, you won’t blame her for that. And you’ll watch what you say about her and how you look at her, if you know what’s good for you.”
His brows raise before he squints his eyes at us, animosity oozing from him. “No, son. What’d be good for me is if you’d stop thinking with your dick and start using your goddamnhead.”
I work my jaw back and forth, remembering that first night. She’d already signed the nondisclosure paperwork, and I hadn’t wanted to go to the alumni and say we were short an initiate for a second year in a row, even if this one wouldn’t have technically disappeared so much as gotten kicked out.
From beside me, Archer exhales hard, then clarifies the situation, taking on part of the blame, though I never would have put him in that position.“Weagreed to let her attempt the initiation.” He glances over toward Cannon who nods his affirmation. “All of us. Kingston is certainly not solely responsible for that decision. But for the record,sir,I stand by our choice.”
“Is that so?” My father lets out a disturbed chuckle. “Well, isn’t that great?”
Letting out a disgruntled noise, I groan, “Why are you even here? Did you finally decide you should check in with us, since I left you a message a full week ago? Did you feel guilty that you’ve been ignoring your duties to the alumni committee?”
He takes three slow, measured strides forward until he’s standing only a foot away, fury lancing his features. At his advance on us, Elliot jerks backward against my chest, her body going stiff.
“What the fuck did you say to me?” he asks in a low, menacing tone.
“You heard me.” I jab a finger at him, feeling my anger grow by the second. “After last year, you were tasked with monitoring what goes on in this brotherhood. Admit that you’ve failed.”
He stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. And maybe I have. Sometimes I feel like I have when I’m talking to him. His gaze bounces around the group until he finally brings it back to me and Elliot, chuckling low and dirty. “I thought I was leaving the brotherhood in my son’s capable hands. The one who has always been so good at making intelligent decisions, upholding traditions, and has never let pussy dictate his actions. Was I wrong? Did I fuck up? Or is it simply that you’ve become distractible?” His eyes glint at me, slowly dropping to Elliot, who drags in a deep breath. There’s a low rumble of unrest behind us because I’m sure there are those in this brotherhood that agree with my father.
I carefully shake my head, running a hand over my jaw as I narrow my gaze on him. “I’m fully capable of handling the current issues, in fact that’s what I’ve had my hands full doing. But you don’t know that because you haven’t bothered to keep up with what’s happening. You don’t have a fuckin’ clue what the current issues are. I requested that you call me, and you let it slide and then show up like it’s appropriate to do that here, while our initiates are competing.”
His jaw goes tight for a moment, then he shakes his head, seemingly in disbelief. “Come with me. I need to speak to you in private,son.”He says the final word like he’s spitting it.
“Yes,sir,”I grit out, leaving no doubt about my true feelings, then briefly squeeze Elliot’s shoulders. Staring at my father, I lower my mouth beside her ear. “Give me a sec, and we’ll get the hell out of here.”
She angles her face back, connecting our gazes. “Archer could take me home if you think that would help,” she quietly breathes out. I can see it in her eyes, she thinks the sight of her is making my father angrier—which might be the damn truth, but this is more about me making him look stupid by keeping the information from him than anything else.
Cannon steps closer, and air gusts from between his lips on a huffed exhale. I see the question in his eyes. “I’m good.” My head swings in the other direction to Archer.
“Don’t take shit from him, K,” he murmurs low. His gray eyes flicker with warning. “You give a little, he’s going to think he can control you.”
My voice gruff, I give a sharp nod. “Take care of Elliot. No matter what happens.” Grinding my teeth to the point it’s painful, I follow my asshole father about twenty yards away, out of earshot.
He spins on his heel to face me, first eyeing the curious stares behind me. I turn to follow his gaze. Elliot is between Archer and Cannon, the three of them with their eyes pinned on us. Dane has made his way over to Bridger and Taggart, and they speak in low voices, probably fucking glad they aren’t directly involved but intrigued that for once they’ve had a front-row seat to the shit show. And the jackass crew on the other side of the obstacle course, well, they may have missed some of what’s going on, and I don’t give a flying fuck.
After several moments, his gaze finally swings back to mine, his eyes narrowing. “Imagine my surprise when Richard Dubois approached me at a Kingston University alumni charity event with rather urgent questions about the female initiate… that I knew nothing about.”
Dicky DuBois, fuckin’ Alec’s father.I almost snort. The guy is as big a dick as his progeny. Instead, I wet my lips, my eyes boring into his. “I can imagine how that must have felt. And now I get why you’re here.” Smirking at his lethal glare, I grit out, “This is more about you than it is about her. You were embarrassed. You probably had to create some elaborate fucking story for why you didn’t know about her or”—I hold up a finger—“why you hadn’t told anyone else. Now, not only will it get out to the rest of the alumni that a female is initiating but that you weren’t paying enough attention to put a stop to it. Even after all the fucking shit from last year that blew up in our faces over Will, you’d think you’d have been more careful.”
His breath comes shallow and fast, and I can see the wrath building within him. I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t swallow his pride and report me to the alumni. But I’ve got his number there, too. It’d be too fuckin’ embarrassing to the family name. He’d never follow through with it, even if he did try to intimidate me with the idea.
He goes to say something, but I hold a hand up so I can finish. “And as for that shithead Alec? Whether he let information about Elliot slip or told his dad on purpose, it’s probably a direct result of his ass getting kicked by said girl after he fought with her this week. Look at him. He’s still bruised up from her taking him down a peg.”
