“No, you don’t—”
“What the hell is this?” My mother’s voice comes tearing through the living room. “Get your hands off my daughter.”
Fuck.
I spin around to face my mother, finding her holding a glass of lemon tea with an Advil in the palm of her hand and her disgusted stare locked on Knight’s hand on my waist. Then just as I go to try and put water on the fire, Elias steps back into the living room, his hands buried deep in his pockets and a cunning smirk on his lips. “Oh, haven’t you heard, darling? It seems your daughter and my insubordinate brother are an item.”
“What?” my mother spits, looking at me in a new light, horror in her stare. “No. Absolutely not. I forbid it.”
I scoff. “Mom, I’m twenty-eight. I hardly give a shit what you forbid. Yes, Knight and I are together, and that’s not about to change just because you don’t like it.”
Mom’s face turns a deep shade of red, and to be honest, I don’t think I have ever seen her look so angry in my life.“How dare you come into my home and speak to me with such disdain. You are my daughter, and you will do as I say. You’re going to end this sham at once,” she spits. “It’s . . . It’s . . . It’s an embarrassment. What am I supposed to tell my friends when word of this gets out? That my daughter is screwing her uncle? Absolutely not. I won’t allow it. You’ve made me a laughingstock.”
Knight grins. “Hate to break the news, Mae, but you’ve managed that well enough on your own.”
I hold back a laugh as I sink against his chest, needing his touch more now than ever before. “Mom, I’m sorry, but this isn’t something you get to have a say in. I love him, and I’m not about to stop seeing him just because you think it’s a scandal. He’s not my uncle. He’s barely even a step-uncle. We’re only related through your joke of a marriage, and if you had a decent bone in your body, as my mother, you would want me to have happiness.”
Mom gasps, feigning shock, and Elias steps forward, his stare making my blood run cold. “You dare come into my home and speak to my wife like that,” he growls. “If I had any sense, I’d take you down to my cellar and teach you a damn lesson.”
My brow arches, but before I get a chance to speak, Knight pulls me behind his back, his hand firmly on my arm. “The fuck did you just say to her?”
“You heard me,” Elias spits, facing off with his brother, but it’s clear as day who would win between the two. Elias is tall and cocky, whereas Knight is a fucking bulldozer. He’s six-foot-four and packed with muscle. He’s quick, relentless, and when it comes to me, there’s not a damn line he wouldn’t cross, even if it means laying his brother out. Elias’s confidence, money, and bullshit attitude mean nothing here. Not against Knight.
“No, absolutely not,” my mother says, putting the lemon tea down and rushing between Elias and Knight. “You are not goingto come here and threaten violence against my husband. Now do the honorable thing and step away from my daughter. And if you have even a shred of decency, you will never see her again.”
Knight laughs in her face. “Try and take her away from me. See what happens, Mae,” he says. “I have stood by for years and watched you humiliate and shame your daughter until she was broken. You’re the scum of the earth and since the moment she walked into my life, she became mine. Mine to care for. Mine to protect. Mine to love. So let me make this clear, I am not going anywhere, and I’m sure as fuck not about to let Harper slip away either. She is no longer yours to humiliate, no longer yours to use as your fucking punching bag. Your shitty behavior ends now. I will not tolerate it a moment longer. So I suggest that if you care to have any kind of relationship with your daughter, you change your fucking attitude.”
Mom’s stare is wild, searching Knight for any sign that he might break. When he shows no sign of backing down, she reverts to her factory settings, and her hand swings back. Out of instinct, he catches her wrist midswing.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Knight rumbles, his tone filled with venom.
He shoves Mom away from him, and she tumbles back against Elias’s chest, barely able to catch herself, not that her piece-of-shit husband is any help. Mom takes a second, her chest heaving as she glares at me and Knight while straightening her ridiculous dress.
“Get. Out,” she seethes.
“With pleasure.”
Knight’s hand tightens in mine, and we make our way out of the living room, cutting straight past Mom, but she reaches up and catches me by my arm, yanking me back. “Not you,” she spits. “I am not nearly through with you.”
I cry out as her sharp nails dig into my skin, and in a flash, Knight is there, bearing down on my mother. “Take your hand off my woman before you find out just how fucking fast I can destroy you,” he growls, his chest heaving in a way I’ve never seen before. He’s teetering on the edge of losing control. “You don’t want to find out what will happen if I have to repeat myself.”
Mom seethes at Knight, but as he continues to bear down on her, she seems to shrink right where she stands, her eyes widening as they begin to flicker with fear. Then, as if on cue, Mom releases her death grip on my arm, and I pull away, knowing that no matter what comes from this point on, our relationship will never have the opportunity to mend. There is no going back from this.
“We’re leaving,” I tell my mother, letting her hear the finality in my tone. “You and I are done. I’m finished with your narcissistic bullshit and abuse. Find someone else to play your dirty little games.”
I fix her with a hard stare, and then just as I go to leave, I lift my deadly gaze to Elias’s, sending a silent message that he will suffer the same fate if he were to even think about putting his hands on me again. I will destroy him just as thoroughly as Knight would destroy my mother. Hell, they truly are the perfect couple. They were made for each other. But with Mom’s ridiculous act and Elias’s need to play the charming billionaire husband, I doubt they even know it.
“Come on,” Knight says, dropping his hand to my lower back. He leads me out of the living room, leaving the couple from hell behind as anger swells in my chest.
“Wait,” I tell him, stopping by Elias’s liquor cabinet and grabbing expensive bottles, loading up my arms. Fuck knows there’s only one way I’m working through this anger tonight, and something tells me that I’ll find my peace in fragments atthe bottom of every one of these bottles. Hopefully it doesn’t take that long because I really don’t feel like having my stomach pumped tonight.
Looking up at Knight, I hold one of the bottles by the neck, pop the cork, and lift it right to my lips for a quick swig. “Now we can go.”
18
HARPER-RAYN
Knight drives like he has nine lives, just as worked up as I am. He pushes his truck to the limits, soaring through the streets and taking turns that my car could never. I mean, shit, my car is barely running on hopes and dreams while Knight’s truck is a fucking beast in the street.
