It was good to be home, even if she had a mountain of issues to get over. And she’d let the p-cess slide for now. As annoying as it was, having people call her silly nicknames made her feel loved in a way she hadn’t in a long time. And stupid as it might be, p-cess was still better than full-on princess.God, she hated that prissy nickname.
Beth cleared her throat as she traced a line of condensation running down her cup. “Hey, uh… I haven’t seen Saint since we got here.” Hopefully, that sounded as nonchalant as it did in her head.
Gator gave her a knowing look over the rim of his cup. “That is a road you donotwant to travel down, p-cess.”
“What? There’s no road. The guy dragged my ass all the way here from Texas, then disappeared.” She shrugged. “I just wanna say thanks and make sure he’s good. It was a long ride.”
“Mm-hmm, I’m sure it was.”
“Gator…” She tried glaring a hole through his stupid, smirking face, but it only made him grin bigger.
“Copper will take him apart piece by painful piece.”
“Stop! You’re making shit up. Nothing happened, and nothing will happen.” She threw her hands up. “I don’t even want anything to happen. I’m just asking a friendly question.”
“Okay, so you won’t give a shit when I tell you he took off to get his dick sucked?”
Air whooshed out of her as though someone punched her stomach with a meaty fist. She swallowed. Her saliva tasted disgusting as it slid down to her roiling stomach. “No. Of course not. Why would I care?”
“Whatever you say, p-cess,” he said with another of those wicked smirks. This time, she was tempted to slap it off his face.
“That’s right, I do say.”
Could she sound any more like a sullen teenager?
“Can we please talk about something else? This conversation is absurd.”
“Sure. Wanna talk about those bruises you’re hiding and why you’re lying to everyone about your boyfriend being an abusive piece of shit.”
Beth froze with her Solo cup halfway to her mouth. “W-what?” She laughed the best she could, but it sounded fake as Gator’s last hookup’s breasts. “What are you talking about?”
He gave her a glacial look that made her reach for the scarf on instinct.
“P-cess, I grew up in the backwater swamps of Louisiana, tried and true hillbilly shit. Trust me when I tell you I can spot an abused woman from a mile away. You’re jumpy, you’re hanging closer to the women, you’re wearing a fucking scarf in the goddamn summer, and you’re wearing more makeup than I’ve ever seen you wear.”
“I’m not an abused woman,” she snapped, glaring at him. What the hell did he know?Nothing.He knew nothing of her life or her situation. “I just found myself in a… bad situation.”
Wow, convincing, Beth.
Gator’s face softened, and he opened his mouth to speak. God, that look was worse than before.
“Do not pity me, Gator. Don’t you fucking dare.”
“Hey…” He reached over and took the cup from her, setting it down on the ground before taking her hands in his. “I don’t pity you, Beth. I’m sorry for what happened to you, and I’ll happily feed the pieces of his body to my alligators, but I do not pity you. I’m not that stupid.”
Her lips quirked. “He’s not dead,” she said as she pulled her hands from his grasp and picked up her beer.
“You fucking kidding me? Saint let him live?” His eyes widened, and he shook his head. “Find that fucking hard to believe. That motherfucker does not stand for that shit.”
“He… well, he fucked my boy… ex-boyfriend up, that’s for sure. But I made him stop before it went too far.”
Gator whistled. “Didn’t think anyone had that kinda power. You don’t know Saint well, hon. He hides behind his chill exterior, but there is some serious rage simmering under the hood. That man is possessive as fuck and will go apeshit on anyone threatening his family.”
“Huh.” Hundreds of questions filled her mind, but it didn’t feel right pumping Gator for information about Saint. The man hadn’t pressured her to talk when she wasn’t ready. Sussing out his story behind his back felt like an invasion of privacy he didn’t deserve. Maybe one day, she and Saint would have a friendship where he could open up to her.
“I’m guessing Daddy Prez doesn’t know about this.”
“Why do you say that?”
