CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
SHELL STARED AT her husband through the kitchen window with her heart in her throat. She’d woken at three, alone in bed, and knew exactly where she’d find him. Shell couldn’t remember a time she wasn’t head over heels in love with the man, but that didn’t mean she was blind to his flaws. Copper was far from perfect and usually the first to admit it.
He’d fucked up tonight, and if she knew him, which she did better than anyone on the planet, she knew he was out there berating himself worse than anyone else could. Her chest ached as it did any time they had strife in their family.
Copper loved his family more than any man she knew. He’d slice his veins and spill his blood if he thought it would increase their happiness even a fraction of a percent. He was protective as hell of all of them, but Beth had always brought out the extra fierce defender in him.
Shell knew why, and she loved him for it, even if he did take it too far as he did tonight.
Many years ago, Copper had a brother, Rusty. Shell shuddered. It had been a long time since she’d allowed herself to think about Rusty. The memories were too painful, too traumatizing to do anything but shove them to the back of her mind. Rusty was Beth’s biological father. He’d raped Shell, resulting in the pregnancy.
For years, she hid the secret, petrified of what it would do to Copper and how it would make him see her. She’d loved Copper with every fiber of her being and feared she’d lose even hisfriendship if he learned about what Rusty had done. When the truth finally came to light, Shell and Beth’s lives took a dramatic turn, but Copper never wavered in his love for them. He adopted Beth after marrying Shell, and they’d been family ever since.
But learning what happened changed something in Copper. How could it not? He’d always been extra protective of Beth as though feeling he owed it to her, as though trying to make up for the circumstances that brought her into this world. Circumstances he’d had no control over. His crazy rule about no one in the club being allowed near her came from a deep-seated fear of history somehow repeating itself. Copper might not have voiced it, but his greatest fear was someone violating Beth the way they had Shell.
But Beth was a grown woman who’d chosen a man for herself. A really great man Shell respected. Copper did too. He was too deep in his shock and anger to admit it now, but he loved Saint. He trusted Saint and counted on him to help the club run smoothly.
Shell grabbed a bottle of whiskey and poured too much into a glass, but she intended to share it with her husband. Then she opened the French doors and stepped outside onto their back deck.
Copper sat on the steps leading down their yard, staring at the scenery they’d spent so many hours admiring while wrapped in each other’s arms. He had his elbows propped on his knees and his head in his hands.
Barefoot, Shell padded over to him. She kneeled behind him, rested her chin on his broad shoulder, and draped her arms around him, offering the whiskey.
Copper lifted his head and took the glass. After two long gulps, he handed it back. Shell sipped, letting the burn of Copper’s favorite whiskey warm her throat.
“How badly did I fuck up tonight?” he croaked in a ragged voice.
Her lips twitched. Shell kissed his shoulder, then set her chin back on it. “Pretty badly. You were quite the asshole.”
He grunted. “Has there ever been a time when I was an asshole that you didn’t call me out on it?”
“Hmm…” Shell pretended to think. “Probably not. I love you too much to let you fuck things up by acting like a jerk.”
She felt his heavy sigh deep in her heart.
“It’s Beth…”
“It is. But she’s an adult, Cop. You can’t control who she dates. You can’t control any of her choices anymore.”
“The last guy hurt her.”
She nodded, rubbing her chin along his shoulder. “He did. And he paid the price for that. Saint made sure of it. And Beth is home, safe and sound. She’s strong and independent, and she grew from that awful situation. The man she picked now is a damn good one who’d die before hurting her.”
“We know what can happen, Shell. We’ve seen and experienced so much. She can be hurt so badly…”
God, how she loved the way this man loved his family. “She can also be happy. She can also have what we have, Copper. Don’t you want that for her?”
“Why does it have to be with one of my guys?” he grumbled.
Shell smiled. “To be honest, I’m surprised this is the first time she’s broken that rule of yours.”
He groaned. “Don’t put that idea in my head.”
She kissed the curve of his ear. “What happened to me is not going to happen to her,” she whispered. Her eyes watered, and she blinked to keep from crying. “Her last relationship is not your fault. What happened to me so many years ago is not your fault.”
“I know,” he rasped, emotion clogging his throat. “The age she’s at is bringing that time back for me. She’s around the age you were when I found out about—”
“I know, love.” She didn’t want to hear him say Rusty’s name.
