I stopped retreating and turned slowly back around. Ripper’s deep blue gaze found mine.
He had his glass eye in today, a very realistic copy of the one that had been painfully taken from him, along with his fun-loving personality, by the same man who’d almost ruined my father’s relationship with Eva. Frankie.
But Ripper didn’t care about how he looked, unless . . .
I glanced back at Anabeth.
Unless he was trying to impress someone.
I pushed my sunglasses up over my head. “Ripper,” I said, greeting him evenly.
We stared at each other.
Whore, I thought bitterly.
His expression went cold. Don’t start, Danny, his face said.
My fists clenched. I hated our silent conversations, but since neither of us could be civil to each other, silent was the only form of communication we had. And even silent we couldn’t keep our emotions from unraveling.
“Ripper’s going to take me for a ride tonight!” Anabeth said excitedly.
I glared at him. I just bet you are.
He glared back. What’s wrong, baby? ZZ not givin’ you the kinda ride you need?
Shut. Up.
He raised an eyebrow. Hittin’ a nerve, huh?
Not. Anabeth, I begged him with my eyes. Please. Not. My. Friends.
Ripper’s scar-slashed mouth twisted into a mocking smirk. Oh, so now there are rules? You can fuck my friends but I can’t fuck yours? Don’t exactly seem fair, baby.
Ripper kept his gaze on me while he slid his arm around Anabeth’s shoulders and began tracing her collarbone with the tip of his finger.
“ ’Bout that ride, beautiful girl, where you wanna go?”
Anabeth, hearing the words “beautiful girl” in reference to her, beamed up at him.
Me, hearing the words “beautiful girl” come out of Ripper’s mouth directed at anyone who wasn’t me, had my insides roiling.
Seeing this, Ripper looked triumphant. What’s wrong, Danny? You look upset. Was it somethin’ I said?
I covered my mouth with my hand and tried to stay calm. Looking anywhere but at Ripper, I caught eyes with Kajika, a young Native American woman from a nearby Indian reservation who Cox and Kami had employed as their nanny.
She was beautiful, with long black hair and unforgettable, exaggerated features. Her eyes, nearly black and framed with thick, lush lashes, were all too knowing for my comfort.
Smiling kindly at me, she only made my already combative emotions that much worse. She could see right through me, everything I tried to hide. I hated being around her. She made me doubt every decision I’d made during the past three years. With just one damn look.
“ ’Scuse me,” ZZ said, sidling up next to me and taking my hand in his. “I need my girl.”
As Ripper stiffened, his arm falling away from Anabeth, I glimpsed the pain he hid beneath the anger.
Swallowing hard, I turned away from the group and let ZZ lead me out into the center of the lawn, where he pulled me into a bear hug.
“Don’t hate me,” he whispered.
I glanced up at him, confused. “What? Why would I hate you?”
He grinned, then dropped to his knees.
Correction. He dropped down on one knee. Heart pounding, not breathing, I stared down at ZZ, watching as he pulled a small black box out of his leathers. He looked up at me.
“You’re the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” he said softly. “The sweetest and the kindest, too. You make me so fuckin’ happy, baby, you make life so fuckin’ good. So I’m askin’ you if you’ll marry me and let me spend the rest of my life tryin’ to do the same for you.”
He flipped the box open and revealed the biggest diamond ring I had ever seen.
“Oh . . . my . . . God,” I whispered hoarsely, putting a shaking, sweating hand over my heart. I realized then that the yard had gone silent. Someone had shut the music off and all conversation had ceased.
I took a quick look around the yard. Everyone was grinning, smiling, and staring right at me.
This was bad. Very, very bad.
“Baby girl!” My head jerked at the sound of my father’s voice.
“You say the fuckin’ word and I will throw that asshole into next fuckin’ week! Fact, whether you say yes or no, I’m still gonna beat the fuckin’ shit outta him!”
Eva, who’d joined him, planted her palms in his stomach and playfully shoved at him. He captured her around her neck and pulled her up against him, all the while smiling at me.
ZZ must have already asked him. There was no way my father would have appreciated this being sprung on him. My father was the sort of man who had to mentally prepare himself for things like his daughter being proposed to.
Which meant . . . my father was A-OK with me marrying ZZ.
In fact, looking around at all the happy faces, everyone was A-OK with me marrying ZZ.