Dom was about to tell him off again when she answered quietly. “You got hurt because of me. Jaxson could have been injured so much worse, and I had no idea what else to do. So yes, Casey, I ran. I ran because people I’ve come to care about more than myself were getting hurt left, right, and center, and I refused to be some sort of catalyst to a major tragedy. I left to protect you all.”
“You’re just a tiny thing; you seen the size of me?” He wasn’t trying to be an ass; he blamed it on the pills. “I don’t need some li’l girl to protect moi!”
“From where I was sitting, yeah, you did,” she told him softly.
The fear in her voice was palpable; she was still feeling it. Casey could see where she was coming from, slowly. His brain was sluggish, but he got it.
It wasn’t much longer, and he could feel himself nodding off.
Cursing woke Case from his not quite sleep, but rather rest. Popping his head up over the seat, he saw Dom getting out of the truck while drawing two guns from his holster and aiming at someone. Exiting the vehicle himself, he stumbled around to the front and stood next to Dom as he said, “Whatcha’ doing here, Bradshaw?” So this was Dee’s dad?
“I came to collect my daughter.” His accent sounded fake.
“Not happening.”
“That was the deal. You bring her to me o
ne time after she turns eighteen, then she’s yours.”
“You’re fucked up, man,” Casey decided to chime in.
Bradshaw ignored him. “Tell her to come out here.”
“She already knows everything. What torment do you need to lay on her now?” Dom demanded to know.
Bradshaw ignored him looking around them into the truck in an attempt at seeing her, shouting, “Come out here now, Deidre Lynne!”
“Not happening,” Dom reiterated.
“He seriously sold her to you? I thought you were shitting me,” Case fake-whispered. “What a tool.”
“You do realize I can hear you?” Bradshaw sneered at them.
“Oh shit! So you can hear? I thought you were just ignoring us.”
“Ignorant Americans,” one of Bradshaw’s bodyguards muttered.
“Here’s the thing, Bradshaw. She’s already mine.” Dom told him smugly. “In every way possible.” His emphasis had Bradshaw’s face going an ugly shade of red. “The deal always was your life for hers. I let your sorry ass live, so she’s mine. Tell me what exactly it is you want and just maybe I’ll let you see her.”
“She’s my child. I’ll do– “
“I am not you stupid, self-righteous son of a bitch! How dare you!”
Here comes the spitfire, Case thought in amusement.
“Young lady! I’ll beg your pardon to not speak to me like that.” His haughty attitude only served to piss Dom’s little she-devil off more.
“Fuck. You!” she snapped at him. “How do you like that for language?”
“Damn, Double D, you fixing to make a sailor blush or what?” Case said smartly, a smile tried to tug at her lips.
“Well, since we’re all uncivilized beings here, I suppose it doesn’t matter if I tell you here or somewhere else.”
“What?” she finally snapped.
“Your mother took something from me, something I needed very much– “
She interrupted him, again. “Oh please! Like you didn’t take everything from her? How dare you come here looking for anything from me!”