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  If Jack told me I had to walk away, I would fight him every step of the way.

  Jack looked at his daughter.

  “I need for her to be safe.”

  “She can come stay with me and Nat,” Fox offered, shooting me a look. “I still have guards on her at our place. She will be safe there, and Nat will love to have her company, I’m sure.”

  “No,” I ground out, the thought of taking Alice anywhere not sitting well with me.

  Both men looked at me with suspicion and I let out a breath.

  “You sent me to watch over her. That’s what I am going to do.”

  The bar could run itself for now, and… Hell, I would take her to my place if I needed to, but I wasn’t letting Alice out of my sight.

  Jack was silent for a moment before he gave me a shrug.

  “Fine, but keep your Irish paws off my daughter, will you? She deserves better than you, than the likes of any of us.”

  Swallowing, I gave him a short nod. Jack was right. I had nothing to offer Alice, outside of a great night in bed. Nor was I looking for anything permanently.

  “She will be safe with me. I’ll guard her with my life.”

  “You better,” Jack warned, his eyes glittering with anger. “Or I will have your head Derrek, you understand me? Your father was like a brother to me, but I will only take that friendship so far when it comes to my own family. Got it?”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything different,” I answered, my voice tight.

  If Alice got hurt in the process, he wouldn’t have to kill me.

  Shit! What had happened to me in twelve fucking hours?

  “At any time, she can come to our house,” Fox added lightly as Alice started to stir. “I’ll watch out for her.”

  “Thanks,” I answered, turning my attention to Alice.

  Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at me, surprising me with a dreamy smile.

  “I thought you were a dream.”

  I leaned down, extending my hand and wishing we didn’t have an audience.

  “I’m afraid this is reality, darling. Come on, meet your father.”

  Chapter Six

  Alice

  My father.

  The word had been foreign for so long that at first I thought about laughing in Derrek’s face.

  But there was a thread of concern in his expression, one that made me pause and sit up, seeing the other two men in the living room. Fox was also looking at me with some concern, but I immediately looked at the other man, who all my life had only been a name.

  “You’re my father.”

  He flinched at my sharp tone, but to his credit he kept his eyes on mine.

  “I am. I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time, Alice.”

  I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of saying the same. I should have, though. I should tell him all the hurt, all the anguish that I had gone through growing up, the product of a single mom who had to work two jobs to make ends meet, a mom whose mind was slowly leaving her and who, one day, would leave me too.

  But that would be showing my weakness, and in front of these three men. I didn’t want them to think I was weak, like some little girl who had daddy issues. So instead, I straightened my shoulders, giving him no indication that his words had had any effect on me at all.

  “You sent money.”

  He nodded, looking remorseful.

  “I did, and still do. That house your mom lives in? I paid it off years ago, so she wouldn’t have to work them two jobs anymore.”

  “She’s not working at all,” I bit out, bitterness welling up in my throat.

  The older man hung his head.

  “I heard. I tried… Well, hell! I guess I should tell you. I tried to see her a few months ago. She didn’t remember me.”

  “She has good days and bad ones,” I said, my voice a bit softer.

  He had come to my mom but made no move to come visit me.

  “I’m sorry Alice,” he offered up, his eyes soft and a bit teary-looking. “I know it hasn’t been easy.”

  “So, you are the reason for today, for Derrek,” I said, switching the conversation up.

  I didn’t want to go down an emotional road right now.

  “They know who you are,” Fox said in a calm voice as Jack composed himself. “The Cazadores. You are in some serious danger, Alice.”

  I swallowed. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I had half-hoped that today’s attack had been a misunderstanding, that I hadn’t really just nearly been kidnapped. But now that the president of the Grim Legion turned out to be my father, all bets were off when it came to my safety. Now I could be used as a pawn to get back at him, no matter what kind of relationship we had between us. No one would know that, and everyone would just see me as a means to get to the old man, to bend him to their will.

  “I will go to my mother’s.”

  “With Derrek,” Jack added, looking over at my savior. “You will watch over her and her mother. Take whatever you need from the clubhouse. Guns, men, whatever it takes. But nothing – and I mean nothing – happens to them.”

  “Yes, sir,” Derrek replied, looking at me.

  Gone was the teasing man that had literally turned my world upside down and given me the best first kiss a girl could ask for, and in his place was this hard man that was trying his best to intimidate me.

  “No,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “I am not going to have a stranger in my mother’s house.”

  She had gone through enough. I did not want her own routine upended.

  “Yes,” Derrek said as Fox choked on his own laughter. “I’m going, whether you like it or not, Alice.”

  I stood, glaring at him now and realizing he was about a foot taller than I was, making it impossible to look him directly in the eye. Imposing or not, I was going to have my say.

  “Who makes you ruler over my life?”

  “Shit, man, you are in for it now,” Fox muttered.

  I ignored him, looking at an angry Derrek.

  “I just… This is ridiculous.”

  He looked down at me, his jaw clenched tightly.

  “It might be ridiculous to you, but I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Alice. And the only way to ensure that is the case is for me to stick it out with you.”

  “Enough,” Jack roared, catching all of our attention.

  He had stood, his eyes glittering with anger and rage.

  “You will let him protect you and your mother and that’s final. If he doesn’t, I will kill him. You understand that, Alice? I will shoot him through his heart.”

  I heard Derrek clear his throat and knew that he was bluffing. But was I willing to put Derrek’s life on the line to call his bluff?

  I didn’t want anything to happen to my Irish savior.

  “Fine,” I ground out, unable to grapple with the fact that he might just shoot him on the spot. “But everything goes through me now. I have been my mother’s caregiver for the last five years, not you. And if she becomes uncomfortable, then something else has to be done. I will not have her upset.”

  To his point, Jack had the grace to look remorseful.

  “You have done a good job, Alice.”

  I didn’t let his praise sink too deep.

  “I need to get a few things together.”

  Jack nodded.

  “I’m going outside. We will all go when you get ready.”

  Fox followed Jack to the door before turning back to Derrek.

  “You want me to stay so you can get a few things together?”

  Derrek pulled out his cell, one that I hadn’t seen before.

  “I’ll call. But thanks.”

  Fox nodded and, after giving me another look, walked out after his boss, leaving the two of us together.

  I drew in a shuddered breath, the enormity of what I had learned tonight hitting me full force. Jack Carry was my father.

  My life was in danger because of it.

  I had been ki
ssed, finally, by a man that took my breath away.

  “Well,” Derrek said a moment later. “At least I know why I was watching you now.”

  I looked at him. “How long have you been watching me?”

  “Two weeks,” he said softly, giving me a grin. “Don’t worry, I didn’t pull out the binoculars.”

  My face flushed, and I moved to the bedroom.

  “I’m going to throw some things together.”

  He didn’t answer, and I was glad when he let me go into the room by myself. That way, he didn’t see my knees buckle and me fall to the bed.

  Derrek had watched my pathetic life for two weeks, day in and day out, and still had kissed me. Was I some sort of experiment to him now?

  I hoped not.

  Scrubbing a hand over my face, I reached for my suitcase under the bed, pulling it up so that I could dump some changes of clothing in it.

  Well, he didn’t know what he was getting into now. I fully intended on continuing my boring life, regardless of what happened. I had exams coming up, a few papers due, and classes to attend.

  My life didn’t stop because of this.

  But it had changed.

  I pulled open a drawer and grabbed a few things out of it, before moving on to the next one.

  I was kind of glad that Jack would be going to my mom’s, hoping that he could explain it to her in a way that wouldn’t upset her. He had visited her, seen that I had been provided for through the years.

  That was more than some fathers did, and I guess I owed him the benefit of the doubt.

  “Shit! Ow! What the hell? I thought we were friends!”

  I hurried to the door, bursting into laughter as I saw Derrek trying to remove Chester from the front of his shirt. Chester’s pet-carrier lay on the chair.

  “What are you doing?”

  The sheepish grin he gave me was devastating.

  “I was trying to put the demon cat into the carrier.”

  I leaned against the doorway, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “I only use that one for the vet.”

  Derrek finally dislodged Chester’s claws from his skin, and the cat streaked past me into the bedroom, likely to hide under the bed.

  “That makes sense. Sorry, I was just trying to help.”

  My heart lurched in my chest and I turned away so that he wouldn’t see the blush on my cheeks.

  The man was too dangerous for me, too much of a concern for my newly evolved emotions, and I needed to be careful with him and his grins from now on.

  Even if I liked them immensely.

  **

  The minute we pulled up in my mom’s driveway, I started to feel butterflies in my stomach.

  “I need to tell you something,” I said quietly as Derrek cut off the car.

  “If you are worried about bad school photos and embarrassing stuffed animal collections, I won’t laugh,” he said with a chuckle, holding up two fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

  I didn’t smile, and his grin faded. How was I going to explain my mom’s condition?

  “What is it?”

  I looked up at Derrek, knowing I only had minutes before Fox and the man that was calling himself my father arrived.

  “My mom, she has early stages of dementia. She might say things that don’t make sense or mistake situations.”

  Derrek placed a finger to my lips, silencing me.

  “Don’t worry about it, Alice. I will handle her with kid gloves and let you lead any conversations. How about that?”

  His gaze was so earnest that I felt my heart skip a beat. Was he telling the truth? I imagined he would have shied away from going in or given me his sympathies, but Derrek wasn’t doing either.

  “I… Thank you.”

  He dipped his head in a nod.

  “You’re welcome. If I do a good job, can I get another kiss?”

  I rolled my eyes at him as I opened the car door, ignoring the spurt of excitement that threaded through my veins. Derrek was a charmer, there was no doubt about that.

  But kissing him? Oh, I wanted to kiss him again, in every which way possible. He had awakened something in me that had not been sated, and though it was shameful, I was looking forward to kissing him again.

  “I’ll get the stuff,” he was saying as motorcycles could be heard in the distance. “And that damn feral cat.”

  I smirked, unable to help it. We had successfully wrangled Chester into a vented duffel bag that I used when I was transporting him anywhere other than the vet, and my poor cat had left numerous angry scratches on Derrek’s forearm as a result. He had shrugged them off when I asked if he needed some antibiotic cream; the last thing I needed was for him to get an infection.

  I didn’t answer and walked to the front door, inserting my key into the lock before pushing the door open.

  “Mom?” I called out, stepping inside. “It’s Alice.”

  “Ali!” she said as she rounded the corner, a dish towel in her hand. “I… Oh, dear! Is today already Sunday?”

  I shook my head, giving her a soft smile.

  “No, Mom. It’s not Sunday. I need to talk to you about something.”

  “Alright,” she said, a half-smile still on her face.

  My mom was still youthful-looking, with a headful of blonde hair and a smooth face that would still turn many a man’s head as she passed. It was sad, what she was going through; it was like her life was being robbed of many more years of bliss, maybe even of a man that could love her.

  But in her state, no man was going to be willing to take on such a burden.

  Before I could open my mouth, however, her face lit up, and she dropped the dish towel on the floor, stepping over it. “Oh, my god! I can’t believe who I am seeing? Jack? Is that you?”

  “Cheryl,” Jack Carry said from behind me. “You are as beautiful as ever.”

  My mom blushed, touching her hair lightly.

  “Well, you always were a talker, Jack.”

  He grinned, while I just stared at the two of them, acting like they were teenagers. I had never seen my mom act like this before, like she was flirting!

  Good lord!

  Finally, my mom snapped out of whatever cloud she was in and spied Derrek coming through the door.

  “Alice,” she said with a knowing smile. “Who is this?”

  Derrek set my bags down gently, that sexy grin of his on his face, as he reached out with his hand.

  “I’m Derrek, Derrek McMurray.”

  “Cheryl,” she answered, shaking his hand. “Alice has never brought over a boyfriend before.”

  That was because I had never had one. I couldn’t blame that on her memory loss that.

  “Mom, I…”

  But she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at Jack again, a puzzled frown on her face.

  “Jack? Is that you? I haven’t seen you in a month of Sundays!”

  Surprisingly, my supposed father didn’t miss a beat.

  “Cheryl, good to see you. You are looking good.”

  She flushed, and I felt some of the coldness in my heart melt away. He was pretending like everything was normal, not running the other way like most of her friends had done once they had realized she wasn’t the same woman they had known. Of course, Mom didn’t understand, and I was glad she didn’t, or she would have been heartbroken.

  “Cheryl, Alice and her… uh… her boyfriend need to stay here for a little while, alright?”

  “Of course,” she perked up. “They can sleep in Alice’s room. I will have to make up the bed, of course.”

  “I’ll do it, Mom,” I answered, wanting a moment alone anyway.

  The day had been taxing, to say the least.

  “I’ve got to go,” Jack was saying, sliding a glance over at me. “I… I would like to talk to you later, Alice, about everything.”

  I didn’t answer, giving him only a quick nod. I had a ton of things to say to him, but every time I thought about it, he did or said something that made me rethi
nk some of my choice words.

  Jack gave me a nod as well, before taking my mom into his arms and pressing a kiss to her forehead.