Inked (Going All the Way 1)

She moved over to Cadeon and stood beside him. Well, she might as well spit this out. “I’ve had feelings for Cadeon the last three years.” She stayed silent for a moment, letting that small piece of information sink in before she continued. “I didn’t do anything behind your back, didn’t even think anything would happen between us.”

“And what exactly happened between you two?” her father asked but had his eyes trained on Cadeon.

“Well, Scars, that is our business, seeing as Stella is an adult.”

Her father made this inhuman sound and took a step forward.

She stepped between them. “No way in hell is this happening, and certainly not in my house.” Straightening her shoulders and looking at her dad and then Booshie, because it looked like her father’s VP was about to break something too, Stella knew she had to stand firm on this. “I care about him. I love him, Dad, have for a long time, and I want to see if this works.”

She stared into her dad’s face, hoping he could see past his own anger, protectiveness, and the fear that she would leave him. Her father was a strong man, but he also had a lot of fear inside him. Although he never actually came out and said he was afraid of losing her in the same manner he lost her mother, she knew he was.

“Stella, Cadeon is not the kind of man I want you to be with,” her father growled.

“Dad, it isn’t your place to tell me that, at least not anymore.” She stepped up to him. “I know you’re worried about losing me. I know that, but you are going to have to let go at some point and trust me in what I decide for my life.”

“I want to talk to Cadeon,” her father said in a deep voice that showed absolutely no emotion and brokered no room for argument.

She looked behind her at Cadeon, and he pulled his attention away from her dad and glanced at her. He nodded and offered her a smile.

“It’s okay. Scars and I do need to talk.”

“Come on, Stella. Make me something to eat.”

She looked over at Booshie and narrowed her eyes. He gave her this shit-eating grin, obviously trying to get her to leave. “Please don’t fight,” she said after she looked at Cadeon and then her father again. So far, it wasn’t going too badly, because at least they were talking and not killing each other, but that could change at any second.

“Come on, girl.” Booshie came up to her and placed a hand on the center of her back, but she didn’t miss how he shoulder-checked Cadeon in the process. But before she could say anything, her father was asking Cadeon to step outside.

Lord, she just hoped they didn’t kill each other, because even if she didn’t want them to fight, if they wanted to, then it was going to happen no matter what.

The sound of the front door opening and closing somehow made it seem final. “I should be out there talking with them.”

Booshie shook his head and went over to her fridge. “No, sweetheart. That is between them. You are your dad’s little girl, always will be no matter how old you are.” He looked over his shoulder at her. “Did you have more to say to him?”

“I mean, no, I guess not. I pretty much said what I was going to say, but I don’t like the fact that I feel like they shut me out.”

“They didn’t shut you out.” Booshie faced the fridge once more and started rummaging through it. “They just have to do that manly bullshit routine, and they don’t want an audience.”

“So, you’re not going to give me a hard time about Cadeon?”

He didn’t answer her for a few minutes as he grabbed a bunch of stuff out of her fridge and placed it on the counter.

“You love the guy, right?” He didn’t look at her as he started making himself a sandwich.

She hesitated, but it wasn’t because she didn’t know how to respond.

He looked up at her and lifted a brow but didn’t say anything.

“Yeah, I love him, Booshie.”

He made a grunting noise of affirmation and bit into his sandwich. “And he never hurt you?”

She shook her head.

For several seconds, he just watched her. “Good, because that is grounds for an ass-kicking. You know, you may not have ever said anything about wanting Cadeon, but you didn’t have to.” He lifted his hand, and his silver rings glinted under the light as he waved his hand in a circle toward her face. “I could see how you felt every time I looked at you and saw you staring at him.” She had been that transparent? “In fact, I’m not the only one who noticed. Ranger did, and a few of the other guys. If your dad didn’t notice, then he has damn blinders on.”