poured us each a finger into a highball glass, and slid one across the kitchen counter to me. “So,” he said.
“So.” I swirled the liquor in the glass. “You didn’t push back as much as I thought you would on that plan.”
Dad sighed. “I can’t say I love it,” he admitted. “You know I don’t like to enact club justice when it can be avoided. But I think you’re right—if we don’t, we’re just opening ourselves up to more violence, or ruining our chance at staying on Blade’s good side.”
I nodded.
“But,” he said.
There it was. I cringed inwardly. I had a feeling he knew what this was really about.
“I think you should bring the Kid around for dinner,” Dad said.
“I don’t really think that’s necessary,” I argued weakly, but I already knew this was a losing battle.
“You don’t get that look in your eye for just anyone,” Dad insisted. “What’s going on between you two?”
“Nothing’s going on.” I sipped the scotch, focusing on the warm burn of it down my throat as I avoided Dad’s eyes.
“Dante.” Dad pinned me with a serious look. “I’m asking you this not only as your father, but as your president. This affects the club, too.”
And he was right—that’s half the reason I’d been holding back so much with Heath all this time. But now I was asking my enforcers to deal with Baxter, Ryder, and Trip permanently. That wasn’t a request to make lightly. Dad deserved to know what was going on.
“I was trying to keep things casual,” I admitted. “Not in a disrespectful way, just… prioritizing our friendship and our working relationship first. Trying not to get too attached. But when I saw him after those three had attacked him…”
“You realized you already are attached,” Dad said with a nod.
I sighed and rubbed my hand across the back of my neck. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right. I just can’t fucking stand the thought of the anyone laying a hand on him again. Not when it’d be so easy for me to protect him.”
“And how does he feel about it?” Dad asked.
“I mean… he’s interested,” I said. “He wants to try things out. Take things slowly.”
Dad furrowed his brow over his glass. “Why do you sound so miserable about that?”
I leaned heavily against the counter. “You remember Eddy, right?”
Dad grimaced. “How could I forget? That guy was a piece of work.”
“Tru had about the same reaction,” I admitted with a grim laugh. “I just don’t want a repeat of that, you know? Where I invest so much, and get it thrown in my face—and then it takes me so long to pick up the pieces. I’m VP now, and I have so much going on with Stella’s, supporting the crew. I can’t afford that kind of heartbreak.”
And what if I asked Heath to be with me in the kind of relationship I truly wanted and he said no? I wanted our dynamic to go beyond the bedroom. I wanted to be his Dom in every sense of the word—his protector, his caretaker. And he would be my sub.
But what if that was asking too much? What if that scared him away?
He liked being told what to do in the bedroom, that was undeniable. And he seemed to subconsciously respond to my instructions no matter where we were. But that didn’t mean he realized what was going on, or that he’d want it outside of the bedroom. A lot of guys just wanted to dip their toes in, spice up their sex lives, without giving a shit about the lifestyle.
I’d learned that the hard way with Eddy, and the thought of going through that again was almost physically painful.
“What makes you think it’d be a repeat?” Dad asked. I knew what he was doing—he wasn’t going to give me advice. He was just going to ask probing questions until I figured out what I needed to do. It was always fucking annoying, and yet it always seemed to work on me.
“He’s just young,” I said. “Inexperienced. I’d be his first for a lot of things—most things. There’s bound to be some conflict. And once he gains more experience, he might change his mind.”
“Isn’t that what dating is about?” Dad watched me, concerned, like he was just now realizing how much my breakup had affected me. “Getting to know each other to see if you’re compatible? Are you really that afraid to take that risk?”
“I’m not afraid,” I said, even though I was. “I’m just…