“Dad, it’s not what you think.”
“Then you better start explaining. And I better like what I hear.”
“Should we sit—”
“No.” The word snapped from his lips.
Damn. At least seated, he’d have to get up to come after me. That gave me a chance to either run or brace myself. With him less than five feet away, I was screwed. If I readied myself for him, he’d interpret that as guilt. Dad had been reading people and their reactions too long to misinterpret mine. I did my best to remain calm. Not once had I considered that Dad would find out what happened with Tess. I honestly figured it would be another one-night stand and that would be the end of it.
How wrong I was.
“You better stop fuckin’ stalling and get to the point real fast.”
“I decided to jump into the poker games last Saturday. Everything was going well, just like always, until Ray Wasden decided he had a hand to best mine. Dad, I had four Kings.” I knew I was rambling, but I couldn’t stop myself. “He didn’t have enough money to call the table and put his girlfriend in the pot.”
And like that, Dad was around the desk, and I was pinned face first against the wall with one arm pulled behind my back. How he managed to move so fast even at his age, I still hadn’t figured out. Neither Ashton or I ever saw him coming. I grunted as he pulled harder on my wrist.
“And you think it’s fucking okay to bet women like they’re property?” he snarled in my ear.
“No,” I said. “But it was only to spend the night with her. There was no talk of screwing. I wouldn’t take a woman to my bed because I won them in the card game. Tess made the choice.”
“Only after you threatened to beat the ever-lovin’ fuck out of her boyfriend if she didn’t.”
He had me there. “How in the hell was I supposed to handle it? If I’d let him out of the bet, people would be coming in all the time without paying their debts. Ray needed to pay his debt, and everyone in the room needed to see it.”
His griped relaxed as he absorbed my words. “Fuck,” he grunted out and let me go.
I spun around slowly to see him pacing back and forth across his office. “What in the hell is wrong with you and your brother?”
“Dad . . .”
He froze in his tracks and faced me, stalking closer to me with each word from his mouth. “Don’t start with me. I raised you to respect women and neither one of you knows how to treat them. Your brother takes Elena as payment for a debt, and you win this woman in a poker game. Do either of you think about your actions?”
“That’s not what happened and you know it.” His eyes narrowed dangerously at me. “Ashton only took Elena for payment to get her away from the prick she was married to.”
“So your brother’s got a brain in his head and you’re the fucking moron?”
“Fuck, Dad.”
He stepped far enough into my space that I had to move back until I ran into the wall behind me. “Don’t you dare speak to me that way.”
Sufficiently chastised, I lifted my hands. “I apologize. Please, just listen for a moment.” He moved back a little, not enough to take him out of my personal space, though. “When I won Tess it was for one night with her, not a one-night stand.”
“You’re telling me that woman never made it to your bed?”
I looked down at the ground. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Make up your mind. Either she spent the night in your bed, or she didn’t. “
“She did.” I struggled to keep my temper, beyond frustrated with the whole conversation. “But not because I won her in the pot. She made up her own mind to come to bed with me. I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with my fucking father,” I muttered under my breath, not loud enough for him to hear. I wasn’t that stupid.
Dad backed away a step, then moved over to the edge of his desk and sat down. He leaned backward, resting his hands on the top. “What the fuck makes that okay? You use women like they’re playthings. Women should be treated with fuckin’ respect. I spent my entire life trying to teach you that and you throw it in my face. How the hell am I supposed to turn over my business to you when it’s clear you don’t respect what I’ve built?”
My whole body froze. Ever since I found out exactly what Dad did for a living, I always knew that I would be there to takeover someday. Ashton was always more interested in being in the kitchen with Mom than what Dad was doing. From the time I left college, which I only finished because Dad insisted on it, I worked with him. I’d helped to increase the efficiency of moving the money, letting us get the “clean” cash back to the owner faster. The system worked like a dream. We got our cut quicker, and Dad was making more than ever before.