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“Bullshit,” Wroth growled in his scary-ass voice. “How old are you, girl?”
Mieke didn’t back away from the giant who looked like he could swallow her whole in one bite. “Sixteen, sir.” She was polite, but her voice was cool, as if she were sizing the beast up and wasn’t sure if she liked what she saw. Yet.
“Motherfucker,” Liam grunted. “What the hell are you doing, Z?”
Didn’t they see the resemblance? It had taken me two seconds after seeing A
“This is Mieke,” I rasped out. “Mieke is my daughter. Mine…and A
Three out of four mouths dropped open at the same time as three pairs of eyes widened and looked at my daughter with a new appreciation. I looked down at Mieke, trying to determine her reaction to all these rockers looking at her like she was an alien with three heads. She was smiling a little shyly and there was a little pink in her cheeks, but her green and gold eyes were bright with excitement. I hugged her closer and brushed a kiss over the top of her head.
“A
“Yeah, why would she keep something that important from you?” Wroth demanded. “Fuck, man. I’ve been in Te
I was so pissed I couldn’t find my voice for a second. How could these fuckers talk about A
“I can’t believe this,” Liam muttered. “How could she do this? That bitch.”
I felt Mieke stiffen against me, her anger as strong as my own. Out of all the reactions I’d imagined getting from these four men, this was not one of them. I never in my wildest dreams would have figured they would put the blame on A
“Don’t call my mom that,” Mieke snapped at Liam, turning the full force of her glare on the bassist. “You know nothing about her or what she’s been through over the years. How dare you point the finger at her and make her out to be some wicked witch.” She pulled away from me, her gaze full of all the contempt that had been filling three out of the four men’s eyes. “And even if she were, you of all people don’t have any room to judge. How many rehabs have you been in, Mr. High and Mighty Rock Star? How close have you come to killing yourself over the years, chasing after the next big high? Oh yeah, I know all about you. All of you. So tell me, Liam Bryant, which is the bigger evil of the two of you? Huh?”
Liam’s blue eyes darkened, but his mouth snapped shut and he lowered his gaze to the table, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he clenched his teeth together.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Mieke turned her gaze to Axton next. “You don’t know my mother, you never did. So don’t pretend that you do.” She looked at Wroth next, now completely ignoring Axton, letting the rock god know that he wasn’t worth her time.
If you want the God’s honest truth, I’d tell you that Wroth scared the ever-loving hell out of me. My daughter, however, had bigger balls than any man I knew because she turned her venomous glare on that huge hulk of a beast without so much as flinching. “And you. You think it would have been so easy for her to go down to West Bridge? Show up at your farm with a kid on her hip and ask you to pretty please tell Zander Brockman he was a daddy? She wanted him to know, not you or any other jerk-off. Him. My dad. So shut your mouth about my mom, you dick.”
Wroth’s mouth slowly closed and he blinked at Mieke several times without speaking. She rolled her eyes at him, obviously fed up with him and the rest of my bandmates. “What, nothing to say, big man? No big and bad comeback?” Her glare turned even icier. “Yeah, I thought so. You know what? Fuck you all. My mother is one hell of a woman and I’m not going to breathe the same air as anyone who is going to talk shit about her.” She lifted her head, pride rolling off her just as strongly as her anger. She flipped them off with both hands and turned to walk away, not even gracing them with a backward glance.
I waited until she was several feet away before turning my own glare on the three men who had just put down A
“Do you guys not remember anything from all those years ago? I was so fucked-up all the time I couldn’t have taken care of A
“Z—” Axton started, but I lifted a hand, cutting him off. The look on my face must have told him that now was definitely not the time to try and reason with me, because he sat back down and shrank in his chair.
“No, I don’t want to hear your shit right now. I’m going after my daughter. I don’t want to see any of you fuckers for a while. Go home and play happy families while I go and try to put mine back together.” Following Mieke’s example, I flipped them a double bird and rushed after my little girl.
I caught up with Mieke out on the street. She was standing by the valet who was eyeing her in a way that made me want to put a fist through the kid’s face. I didn’t like the desire in the boy’s eyes as he looked at my little girl. Stepping in front of her, I blocked the guy’s view before handing over my valet ticket. Once he was out of sight, on his way to get my car, I turned my full attention on Mieke.
Her eyes were damp, but she hadn’t let a tear fall. My pride in her only grew. The way she’d just stood up to my bandmates—and especially to Wroth, something grown men would piss themselves doing—told me that A