Outlaw's Vow: Grizzlies MC Romance(13)

“No, daddy, I don't! What's that got to do with me...getting married?” I could barely force out the last part.

My stomach lurched every time I thought about it. Every girl's dream is to meet a handsome man, a best friend, a boy who lights a fire in her belly and an inferno in the bed.

Did I want a husband someday? Sure.

It just wasn't supposed to be happening like this. There should've been a courtship, a proposal, a slow, delicious season of falling in love – not being handed off to a man I'd never even seen like a piece of meat!

“You're out of your mind!” I shouted, throwing my fists in the air. “I can't go along with this. I won't. Nothing could possibly be worth trading me for...for what, exactly?”

“Saving lives and keeping the peace, that's what. Blackjack down in Redding, the national Prez, he doesn't trust my ass for good fuckin' reason. We're gonna give him one so he'll shut his fuckin' yap. He wants a guy embedded up here to scope things out, and we'll show him exactly what he's allowed to see. We'll make that long haired old fart think we're playing right along, and by the time the deal's done, he'll be none the wiser. We'll send his boy packing after a few weeks and I'll get your names on the divorce papers. Easy, peasy.”

“That's asking a lot.” I snapped. “I...I don't think I can do it, dad. I'm sorry.”

Daddy's hand shot out, seized mine, and pulled it close. He hadn't held my hand to his rough, scarred cheek for years. He did that thing that made me think of a loyal old dog, one who'd jealously guarded me a thousand times.

Except now he had a splinter in his paw, and he was looking at me to pull it out.

“Baby, don't apologize. You just listen. If it were up to me, I'd have you marrying a guy with charm and fortune behind his name. Shit, you remember how I got when boys would come sniffing around you while you lived at home...I chased all the rats away because I wanted the best for you. I still do. Unfortunately, shit's not working out that way. I can't get you shit if I'm no longer breathin' because Redding blows my brains out.” He opened his big blue eyes and looked at me, the same ones I'd inherited.

“You're a smart girl. You've had more schoolin' than anybody in this family ever did. I saw your transcripts, you took political science and shit for that fancy foreign language degree. Well, this is politics. Real world, outlaw fuckin' politics, and it gets nuts. We're dealing with the lifeblood of Tacoma here. Life and death. An olive branch. A marriage of convenience to Redding while we slay some Dragons – in trade, I mean – nothing more. You walk down the aisle, share a place with this guy for a few months, distract him while I keep things rolling on the home front here in Tacoma, and we'll forget this ever happened.”

“But, daddy...”

“No buts. I'm asking you to play pretend. Sure, we'll make it look official for club morale with a ceremony and all, but that's as far as it goes. You don't have to ride with this asshole or sleep with him. Just act like a nice old lady out in public for his dumb ass, help me bide time, and I'll keep the divorce papers warm in my desk drawer. He'll be out of your hair before you can say 'fuckin' go,' and one day you'll find a man who won't give a shit that you had a three month marriage with some random outlaw asshole from California.”

I pulled away from my father. I had to turn away, processing the brutally insane offer he'd thrown in my face.

I walked backwards until the wall wouldn't let me go any further. His big blue eyes stayed on me. I couldn't stop seeing the desperate, wounded dog, all the pride and joy he'd shown me over the years, melding with a plea.

Do this for me, Elle Jo. I didn't have to hear him say it. His face did all the talking. Please. Just this once.

“Well, baby? What do you say? It'll be a good excuse to try on your ma's old wedding dress.”

Daggers. My intestines twisted so hard I wanted to throw up in his face. I lunged, stepped up, and slapped him.

Hard.

“Fuck you, dad!” The air I sucked in singed my lungs. “I'll do it for you, for the good of this family and your club. But don't you ever invoke her name to make me fall in line again. I'm not a damned teenager anymore.”

“Fair point.” Taking it like a champ, he stood up.

Physical pain never bothered him, and emotional agony didn't seem to do much either. Not when he got exactly what he wanted anyway. And I'd just handed him everything on a silver platter.

Again. So much for being a grown woman, right?

God damn it.

“Who's the man I'm supposed to wed, anyway?” I said, chewing on the words. All so bitter.

Maybe the more I talked about it, the easier it would be. Ha ha, right.

“Didn't ask that part when I cut the deal,” he said, scratching the scarlet mark I'd left on his face through his salt and pepper stubble. “Does it really matter? Nobody's asking you to love the dog.”