Even though I’m seething, I can’t help but smile. Part of my heart stays behind in the room with Rian, but a fierce protectiveness is driving me now. This woman has shown up and pretended to care about the girl who is the daughter of my heart. I’ll be damned if she uses my daughter as a pawn in some fucked up game.
Not now, not ever.
CHAPTER 13
COWBOY
I can not fucking believe I’m wasting my time, time with my daughter, my woman, and my brothers, to deal with this piece of fucking work. A hatred so fierce that it almost has my steps faltering rips through me. It would be so easy to give into it, but I resist because this woman has one redeeming quality—she gave birth to my daughter.
But it’s not going to save her ass today. Because I saw the look on my girl’s face and Shania is the last person she wanted to see.
Shania crashed the party at the wrong fucking time. The photos Brielle had printed are amazing. I already know where I’m going to hang mine in our house. I’ll put a photo of Brielle dancing back in the day right next to it. I never could get rid of the mementos of the only woman I’ve ever loved.
I shove Shanie into the gym, not giving a fuck when she stumbles. She recovers quickly and tries to reach towards me, but I slap her hand away. There’s no fucking way I’m going to let this woman touch me.
Rian is the only reason I don’t completely regret the night we spent together.
“You have no right to be here,” I growl the words, the beast in me demanding that I protect my daughter and my woman.
Shania scoffs, “Of course I have the right to be here. I’m her mother.”
Her.
She doesn’t even say her daughter’s name.
“You’re not Rian’s mother,” Brielle’s voice is hard as she steps into the gym and stands next to me.
Some of the rage in me settles knowing I’m not feeling it alone. I can feel the anger wafting off my woman. She’s close to losing control and as much as I would love to let her pummel Shania, I can’t let it happen.
What a fucking pity.
Shania is the kind of woman who would get the police involved and make Brielle’s life hell. I won’t let that happen.
Shania looks at Brielle with narrowed eyes, but I can still see the calculation there. “Who the fuck are you?”
Brielle holds her head up high. On anyone else it would be haughty, but she just looks regal.
“I’m the woman who is going to spend the rest of her life being the mother Rian deserves to have.” My woman’s eyes slide down Shania’s body with disgust and it’s fucking glorious to witness. “You don’t deserve to have that little girl’s light shining anywhere near you. You’d try and siphon it from her, and I’ll never let that happen.”
Shania’s head snaps back like she’s just been slapped. If fucking only.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Shania snarls the question and tries to step closer to Brielle while her eyes brim with threats, but I take a step closer to her in warning. “You’reno one.” She glances at me and narrows her eyes. “This is who you’re bringing around my daughter? Some whore who probably thinks snagging a biker is a one-way ride to a new life?”
My laughter starts slow, but then it becomes a loud booming sound in the room. Shania blinks at me a few times as if she doesn’t know what is going on while Brielle tries to hide her smile.
When the sound of my laughter fades in the room, I look at Shania again, my eyes sharp. “Not that I owe you a fucking explanation considering the only thing we share is Rian. Even then you have only ever tried to use her as a pawn to get closer to me until you became a whore for a rich man who treats you like a trophy, but Brielle is my woman, my Old Lady.” My voice turns deadly, “Soon, she’ll be my wife. Rian is hers; my daughter was never yours.”
Shania’s face drains of color, but she still clings to her bravado. I watch her transform in front of my eyes to try and look wounded and innocent. She would be convincing if I didn’t know what a snake she really is. But I do know.
“How can you say that to me? I always wanted to be a mother to Rian. You’re the one who wouldn’t let me,” she pouts and I can’t tell if she really believes the bullshit coming out of her mouth or not. “We could have co-parented, but you didn’t even want that.”
“You’re delusional,” I bite out the words. “If you wanted to be her mother, where were you when she was sick for the first time? Or how about every time she needed to be changed or fed in the middle of the night? Where were you when she fell and scraped her knee? How about her first day of school?”
Shania’s eyes alight with something like victory and I brace myself. She looks at Brielle with condescension, but her words are for me, “She wasn’t there for any of that either.”
The smile that curls on Brielle’s lips should be a warning that is heeded, but Shania was never very smart. “Yes,” my woman drawls, “I missed all of those moments too.”
She takes a step forward and I let her since I see no reason to hold her back. I’m damn glad she followed me. I’m sure she made sure someone had Rian’s attention before following me because that’s how she loves.
