“I’d rather see his face when he realizes the game is over.” Pushing back the few strands of hair that had fallen into my face from my knot, I tightened my arms around the pillow. “Go to bed, Brax. I’m not very good company right now.”
Chapter 17
Barrick
With a groan, I turned over in bed, automatically reaching for Mia.
Feeling nothing but an empty bed, I barely lifted my lids to glance around. “Babe?” The room was empty…and not mine. For a second, I couldn’t remember where I was, and then realization hit me.
Meeting Mia’s father and uncles the night before. Confessing my feelings for her to the man, and then Nik Armstrong dropping a bomb on me. That he, and apparently my asshole stepfather as well, had wanted us to end up together. The two of us falling in love was their goal. Whatever Seller’s motives were for wanting me to be with Mia, I didn’t know, but Armstrong wanted his daughter to be with a man he knew would always protect her.
That man was me.
He would always be me.
After that tense conversation, I was suddenly welcomed into the Demon family. The four men treated me like I was one of their own, and for the first time since my dad died, I felt like I was part of a family.
After my dad died so suddenly, my mother married Seller just six months later. I didn’t know if it was because she felt like she needed a man in her life, or if she’d suddenly fallen for her husband’s best friend, or if maybe they’d been carrying on an affair long before Dad passed. Whatever the reason, I’d started hating the man who had been like an uncle to me.
From the time I was born, Seller and Barrick Senior were attached at the hip, it seemed. Everyone called them by their last names to avoid confusion because they were both Charles. When Dad died, Seller changed. Once he was my stepfather, I was no longer his buddy. Instead, he constantly made me feel like nothing I did was good enough. Everything I did was criticized, every move I made second-guessed. The man was constantly pissed at me, if for no other reason than simply existing.
Mom said it was because he didn’t know how to be a father, and he didn’t want to screw it up. His best friend had trusted him to turn me into a man my father would be proud of, and he just wanted to make sure he did the best job he could to accomplish that.
Maybe that was it.
Or maybe he just wanted me out of the way so he could have my mom all to himself.
Whatever it was, I didn’t waste any time enlisting in the Marines once I was eighteen so I could get away from them both. Home didn’t feel like home anymore, and even if Seller was trying to be the best substitute father he could be, he completely missed the mark.
Yet the night before, with Mia’s father and uncles, I felt like I was surrounded by men who weren’t critiquing every move I made and actually respected me. They treated me like a long-lost son, joked and laughed with me, and simply made me feel comfortable being around them.
The five of us talked until the early hours of the morning. By the time I looked at my phone to see if Mia had called, it was to realize the battery had died. Armstrong encouraged me to stay in their suite since they had an extra bedroom, and I’d fallen asleep while charging my phone.
Reaching for my phone, I saw the time and bit back a curse. It was after one in the afternoon. I never slept that late. Even when I was out all night, I was awake before seven so I could have breakfast with Mia.
Swiping my thumb over the phone’s screen, I called Mia. But it barely rang before I was sent t
o voice mail. Frowning, I hung up and tried again, only to get the same result. If her phone were off, I would have gone straight to voice mail without the ring, which meant Mia had sent me there on purpose.
Fuck, maybe she was pissed at me.
I thought we’d made up when I’d dropped her off at the airport, but maybe she was mad that I hadn’t texted her back the night before.
Pulling up my texts to see if she’d sent any more after the one telling me she missed me, I realized she hadn’t. The last text activity I had was the one I’d sent to Braxton telling him he could relax because we didn’t have to do this shit anymore.
I was no longer working behind Mia’s back. I’d officially quit this damn job, and I wasn’t letting her go.
Barrick: Are you mad at me, firecracker?
Instantly, the message was read, but no reply came.
“Yup,” I muttered to myself as I sat up and scrubbed my fingers through my beard. “She’s pissed.”
Sitting up, I grabbed my shirt that I’d tossed aside when I’d gotten into bed the night before and pulled it over my head before reaching for my jeans. Maybe I could drive up to New York and meet her for dinner. That should get me out of the doghouse.
Deciding to go home to shower and change, I opened my door and was walking toward the living area when I heard voices.
“…not answering her phone,” Armstrong was saying. “And I can’t get Rodger or Marcus to answer theirs either.”