‘I don’t give a damn,’ I snarl. ‘How the fuck am I supposed to know you’re okay?’
‘You won’t.’
‘Not good enough.’
‘Not my problem.’
I flatten my palm, the urge to take my hand to her and spank her again rising, and she takes a step back as I tense.
‘I’ll be fine,’ she says, her eyes darting back and forth. ‘It’s just a date.’
‘Until he wants something from you at the end.’
‘He’s not like that.’
‘We’re all like that.’
‘Maybe you are.’
‘Will you be drinking?’ I snap.
‘I’m nineteen,’ she snips, reminding me of how fucked up this is.
‘That’s not an answer.’
For a moment Mackenzie rocks on her heels. ‘You can’t stop me,’ she says. ‘You are so fucking infuriating. One minute you’re…’ she says, her fists clenched. ‘Doing all this alpha bullshit. This possessive fuckery, and the next you’re holding fucking my hand in the pool. I don’t get it.’
She stops, her cheeks paling as Harpy walks into the room, rubbing her eyes.
‘Why are you arguing?’ she says softly.
I look down at my baby girl, and my mouth drops open and I don’t have the words.
‘Hey sweetie,’ says Red, scooping down low and holding out her arms. ‘We’re not arguing, your daddy is helping me rehearse,’ she says, glancing up at me. ‘For an audition.’
Harper smiles a sleepy smile. ‘You said bad words,’ she says.
Mackenzie laughs and nods. ‘We did, but big girl movies sometimes have bad words.’
‘You look pretty,’ she says. ‘Are you going on a date?’
My chest thickens as Mackenzie picks her up. ‘Yes, I am,’ she says.
‘Is he a nice boy?’ she says, tucking her cheek into her shoulder as she turns away and begins to walk her out of the room.
‘He is,’ she says.
‘What’s his name?’ I hear her say as the two of them start back up the stairs.
‘Kyle.’
‘That’s a nice name,’ she says, and I watch, shaking as they disappear.
I breathe deep, my blood pumping through my ears as I try to calm myself. I overreacted, and I am deeply fucking ashamed, but the moment I saw her as she came down the stairs, dressed like that, looking like that, I couldn’t help it.
I want her to be mine.
Ten minutes pass before Harpy’s door clicks shut, and I wait, hoping that Mackenzie will come back down so we can talk, but she doesn’t, retreating instead to her room, and I can’t blame her.