Tagged Steel (Men of Steel #6) - MJ Fields Page 0,3
driveway, I already know Chad won’t be anything more than a friend. Why, you ask?
First, he ran out of my house like he was going to piss himself. Then he didn’t even open the door for me. The kicker was the pinched face. That pissed me off.
My family may not be “normal,” but they’re pretty amazing. I would never be with someone who didn’t at least find humor in them. And if I am being honest with myself, I only said yes to this date in order to open doors to dating, and if Chad didn’t run his mouth about Kiki’s shirt, Max’s tutu, or Cyrus’s bullet, I should have been fine.
But he did.
However, it didn’t detour others from asking. In fact, I had several boys ask me out. Some I even accepted their invitations.
Every time I had a date, which wasn’t often, Dad insisted on meeting them before said date. Nine times out of ten, my uncles would be there when said date showed up. And ten times out of ten, I realized they just weren’t, as Dad said, worthy.
I want a man who looks at me the way my father and uncles look at their wives. I want a man who doesn’t try to change me. I want a man who doesn’t cower at any of the warnings my father gives.
I held my V-card all the way through high school, and guess what? It doesn’t bother me one fucking bit.
Three
Eighteen To Life
When I turned eighteen, Dad told me, “You’re still not an adult.”
I countered with, “I’m eighteen, so the law says otherwise.”
He pointed up at the ceiling. “I make the laws in this house. You’re still under my roof, the rules still apply.”
The rules, you ask.
Let me introduce you to the four Ds.
“No drinking.” He scowled.
“So I’ll die of dehydration in what, a few days?”
“Don’t be a wiseass. I mean of the alcoholic persuasion.”
“It’s illegal, so we’re good.”
He arched an eyebrow. “No drugs.”
“Same response from the previous. Illegal.”
“No decorating your body. Meaning, no tattoos or piercings, other than your ears.”
Hypocrite much? I say yes.
“No serious dating.”
By serious, he means sex.
“V-card’s still intact, Dad. You can thank yourself for that.”
“Let’s be real here; none of those little pissants from the past even deserved so much as a kiss, Little Bell. So, as much as I’d like to take credit, that was all you making smart choices.”
Again, hypocrite, but he’s not wrong. I did make smart choices.
I don’t hate his rules, even though he was having sex with my mom long before he graduated from high school. I have heard stories that he drank when he was going through the loss of her, and me. And hello, tattoos and piercings? He was a freaking tattoo artist, and from what I’ve overheard, he’s got piercings in places I wouldn’t allow a needle to go near, let alone impale me.
Also, gross!
He met Carly when she wasn’t even out of college, so again, he’s being a hypocrite. But also, he’s being protective and, even though I’m supposed to rebel, I just feel it’s not my time yet.
I think back on all the horrible things my maternal grandfather said about him and about the stories my maternal grandmother told me in secret, the contradictions. Through those stories and pictures she shared with me when we met, I was able to see him for the man he really is. Through the stories he has shared with me over the years, I understood him not wanting me to go through what he and our family endured. I understood his hypocrisy came from a good place, a place of care and concern.
When I went to college, Dad told me he was still paying for the roof over my head, so his rules still applied, and he added more.
No going anywhere alone.
No going anywhere after dark.
No boys in my dorm.
No parties where some shitbag could slip a pill in my Kool-Aid, since I wasn’t allowed to drink.
And no sex ever.
I broke a few and got caught. Then I realized he was tracking my phone. I was livid, so I went to the source of all things Steel—Momma Joe—to find out how to negotiate with a terrorist—him.
She laughed and told me that he just didn’t want me to take the path he had.
I might have known that I was tugging on heartstrings when I reminded her of where his path led—to me. Then I added a smile and the words, “Look at him now. Look at us now. Forever