Player (A Secret Baby Sports Romance)(41)
Dad whirls back from where I’ve shoved him, his face red and furious looking.
Except I’m not a little kid anymore.
“You watch yourself, boy.”
“Keep your fucking hands to yourself,” I growl through gritted teeth, keeping myself between him and Natalie.
Goddamnit, how the fuck did this happen.
I turn and shake my head at Mom, already half the size of the woman who met us at the front door, or who went to the kitchen to get Natalie another piece of cornbread, because that’s what he does to her.
“Why is he here, Mom?”
“Honey,” she says quietly, still looking at the floor and playing with the cross on her neck. “He’s your father, Austin.”
“No, he’s not,” I spit out, turning back to glare at him. “You give that up when you leave.”
He glares right back at me. “I’m still your daddy, boy.”
“No,” I say evenly. I shake my head. “No, you’re, not. And I’m not boy anymore, old man.”
He snorts, pulling a flask out of his jacket pocket and fiddling with the cap as he nods a chin at Natalie. “Shit, don’t know what a hot little thing like that sees in a fuck-up like you anyways.”
My mouth goes tight as I take a deep breath of air through my nose.
Fuck this.
“Mama, thank you for dinner.”
She does look up then, wringing her hands and looking at Nat and I pleadingly. “You- I mean-” She looks down again. “You don’t want to stay for dessert? I made key lime.”
“Not while he’s here,” I say softly but evenly.
Mom nods.
“Bernadette,” Natalie puts her hand on my mom’s arm. “Would you like to come with us and have that pie?”
Mom smiles a small little smile as she looks up and meets her eye. “Thank you, sweetheart,” she says quietly. “But no. Not tonight.”
“We’re leaving,” I say gruffly, giving my mom a quick kiss on the forehead. “Night Mama.”
“It was lovely to meet you, Bernadette,” Natalie says, giving her a hug.
“Take care of my boy now, ya hear?”
Natalie smiles. “Of course.”
I don’t even give my dad another look, as I take Nat’s hand and lead her out of the house.
20
Natalie
We’re halfway home before Austin says anything in the looming, neon-lit quiet of the car.
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” I say with a casual shrug that I hope comes off more reassuring than it does cavalier.
“No, it’s not,” he says with a voice edged in steel.
“Austin, I’m a big girl, I can handle a drunk guy being inappropriate.”
I know his silence and the brooding look on his face has a lot more to do than just his father being weird with me. But I know that’s a part of it. I know it from the way he lunged out of his chair back there at the house to protect me.
Hell, I’ve never had man lunge to my defense like that.
I can remember any number of a dozen times over the last two years when one of Vince’s awful, pretend-gangster friends would hit on me; aggressively. I remember how Vince would just laugh and then accuse me of flirting with his friends.
A real winner, there.
But Austin jumped in like a damn superhero at the first sign of someone coming near me.
It’s not altogether not sexy, I’ll say that.
I turn and look out the side window of the Aston Martin, hiding the blush and and the tingly feeling writ large across my face in the darkness of the car.
Austin pulls into the driveway, the car going silent as he pulls the key out.
“Thanks for coming tonight.” I turn to see him looking at me in the darkness, that steely look still on his face, but with the slightest hint of a smile hidden there in the corners of his lips.
“Your mom is pretty great you know.”
He grins, turning to look out the front windshield. “My mom is a saint, when she’s not acting like a fucking idiot.” He shakes his head, his thumbs drumming on the steering wheel.
“People do dumb things when they think they’re in love. Or are.” I reach up to play with the ends of my hair, curling them around a finger in a way I can distinctly remember my mother shaking her head at when I was younger.
I turn to look at him. “My father cheated on a lot more than mutual funds and declaring income tax, you know. My mother took him back every time, and I used to hate her for that. Now?” I shrug. “Now I just feel sorry for her.”
Austin smiles in the darkness. “Sounds like our moms might-”
“Nope, no,” I shake my head, laughing. “She’s the exception to the ‘dumb things in love’ rule. She’s married two more men since Dad, and she’s still a fucking lunatic.”