Her eyes flared as she stiffened.Shit, he’d notice her reaction for sure.“I…”
“Beth,” he said, his voice heavy with suspicion.
She didn’t even need to say anything for him to know she was full of shit. Never had she been able to lie to him. Anytime she’d tried to pull one over on him as a kid, he’d known. He’d see through her, and she’d crumbled, not able to spew untruths to the man she respected above all. Of course, he’d known there was more to her ridiculous story about being overworked and stressed in Texas. This was why she worried so much about hooking up with Saint. As long as he didn’t sniff something suspicious and ask her, they’d be fine, but if he suspected and confronted her, she’d be screwed.
Lifting off his shoulder, she turned on the bench to face him, resting her back against the wooden armrest.
“Can you promise me you won’t lose your shit if I tell you?”
“No.” Not a flicker of a smile or twinkle in his eyes. He was dead-fucking-serious.
“Dad.”
“Christ, kiddo.” He rubbed his beard the way she’d seen him do a million times over the years. How could she feel so nostalgic, yet so annoyed and so anxious at the same time? “You know I’m unreasonable when it comes to you, your mom, and your siblings. I won’t apologize for it, and it’s not going to change. So no, I willnotpromise to keep my fucking wits about me when you no doubt tell me something I’m going to fucking hate.”
“All right. Okay.” She sighed and stared at a hawk circling high above their house. It was time to let her family in on the deep, dark secret she’d been keeping for way too long. Facing him again, she found his green eyes, the same as hers, full of concern.
And love.
What a bitch she was to feel frustrated at being loved so deeply.
She averted her gaze once again, unable to look him in the eye as she unloaded the truth. “Jason turned out to be a… less-than-stellar boyfriend. I lost myself a little there in the end and needed to get away.”
Wow, cop-out much?
Copper’s jaw ticked. “Less-than-stellar?”
“Uh-huh.”
He didn’t need more details than that, right?
“Beth, I’m going to give you exactly five seconds to elaborate before I lose my fucking shit.”
Okay, so maybe he did want details.
“He, um, got a little rough with me.”
“Got a little rough with you.” The deep timbre of his voice turned lethal. “So, he… hurt you?”
Instant tears sprang to her eyes, and she blinked as rapidly as possible to keep them from falling. Tears were kindling to Copper’s burning fire. “He did.”
“Hit you?” The malice in his voice made her shiver. Not with fear. Never once had she feared him, but for anyone who crossed him.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Worse?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“And Saint?”
Her stomach bottomed out. “W-what about Saint?”
“Is he aware of this?”
“Uh…”
Her dad pinched the bridge of his nose as he nearly growled. “Swear to Christ, Beth, this is not the time to try and feed me a line of horseshit.Is. Saint. Aware?”
