“My lips are sealed,” Mia told her, and I nodded.
“This conversation never took place. Now, get your slutty ass home and piss on a stick so we can find out if I’m going to be an auntie again.”
She pinched my arm, hard, making me yelp. I slapped her on the ass when she got to her feet. But before she picked up her purse, she bent and put her lips to my ear, hissing, “You’re one to talk, hoebag. I saw how your face turned green even as you were stuffing your mouth with those fried pickles.”
“Nevi!” I squeaked, turning pleading eyes on her. “Don’t you dare!”
“Lips sealed, little sister.” She kissed my cheek then practically skipped out of the restaurant, her bodyguard right behind her.
“What was that about?” Mia asked, watching her go curiously.
“No clue,” I lied, and her green eyes narrowed on me. For a second, it almost felt as if it were Aunt Emmie giving me that look, and I picked up my phone so I could avoid her gaze.
I’d put my phone on silent when we’d sat down to eat. The three missed calls and texts from Jordan waiting on me made me smile. I couldn’t wait to get home and tell him our news.
Twenty-Four
Jordan
I knew Arella had a busy morning, so I didn’t rush after my meeting. There was something I’d been putting off, but I knew I couldn’t do it any longer and still expect Drake Stevenson to respect me.
He and Lana knew I was with their daughter, but as Arella had suspected, he wasn’t openly welcoming me into the family like he used to do. I needed to fix that because I knew how important her family was to my girl.
Pulling into the Stevensons’ driveway in Santa Monica, I stepped out of my car. The garage door was open, and Drake was standing over a ’67 Corvette. It needed to be restored, and Arella told me it was a project her dad had talked about taking on in the past. Lana had bought the old classic for him as a Christmas present, and he’d slowly been working on it since then.
Beside the car sat a pack ’n play where Nevaeh’s son was sitting up, chewing on a soft version of his grandfather’s expensive new toy. Drake had turned to look at me when I’d first pulled into the driveway, but he’d just as quickly dismissed me and gone back to his task.
Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I walked into the garage. Had I ever been this nervous when having to make multimillion-dollar deals? No, but then again, this was probably the most important deal of my life. If this man didn’t give me his blessing, would Arella even marry me? Her parents were important to her, and I knew that her father was her ultimate hero.
“What do you know about emission testing?” Drake asked in greeting as he stared down at the engine of his classic toy.
“I think you don’t have to worry about that if the vehicle is a ’75 or older in this state,” I told him. “But I could be wrong.”
“Huh,” he grunted. “That’s good, I guess.”
Conrad spotted me and let out a loud shout. I walked over to him and crouched down. He was a drooling machine, and when he grinned, I saw the flash of a tooth that must have recently come in. “Hey there, little man. Are you helping Grandpa?”
“G-Pop,” Drake corrected. “Since Nevi won’t let me teach him to play the guitar yet, I figured I needed to find something else we could play with while bonding.”
Realizing there was no way to just ease into this conversation, and it didn’t look like he was going to help me out in that regard, I pushed down my nervousness and pulled the small box out of my pocket. When I held it out, he stiffened, his blue-gray eyes so much like his daughter’s becoming hooded. “I know I’ve made mistakes in the past few years. I understand why you don’t think I’m good enough. But I swear to you, I love Arella with everything inside of me. I want to spend the rest of my life making her happy.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face, his gaze still on the ring box in my hand. “I never thought you weren’t good enough. Stupid as fuck for letting her slip through your fingers, yeah, but never not good enough.” He muttered something vicious under his breath as he turned and stomped a few feet away. “You hurt my little girl repeatedly. I gave you the benefit of the doubt countless times, telling her she just needed to give you a little more time. You were scared, I could see it. Hell, kid, I’ve been there. I let the love of my life walk away because I was too fucked up in the head to be everything she needed. When you meet the one who turns your whole world upside down but you’re not ready, you run scared. I get it.”
He made a growling noise deep in his throat and turned to face me. “But then you kept tearing her apart. She deserves better than that, boy.”
A knot had filled my throat, choking me, but I quickly swallowed it. “I realize that, and you’ll never know how sorry I am. Things got mixed up. Wires got crossed, and I didn’t think she cared about me in the same way. So, yeah, I ran scared. For years, because I couldn’t stand the thought that she might not love me as much as I love her. But then, someone made me realize how blind I’ve been. I want to make up all of that wasted time to her.” I opened the box, showing him the ring. “Please, sir. Give me your blessing to make all of her dreams come true.”
He shook his head, and I felt my gut twist. “She’s a strong girl. She can make most of her dreams a reality all by herself. We raised her to stand on her own, to fight for what she wants. That’s why she’s gotten so far in her career without my help.” He inhaled deeply, as if he were in pain, and slowly blew it out. “But you’re part of her dream too. And I won’t ever stand in the way of any of my babies’ happiness.” He walked back over to me and thrust out his hand. “You have my blessing, Jordan.”
My fingers trembled as I shook his hand, my eyes stinging with tears of gratitude. “Thank you, sir.”
His hand tightened around mine. Fuck, it hurt like hell, but I didn’t even flinch. I’d take this punishment and anything else he threw at me, as long as I got to keep Arella. Losing her was the only thing that could ever break me. “But if you ever make that girl cry again, I will chop you into tiny pieces and scatter your body from here to Vegas so that your mother won’t ever find all of you.”
His threat made me want to grin, because it was definitely one I would be using one day if some motherfucker ever dared to make my own daughter cry. “I promise you, Drake. You’ll never have to worry about that where Arella is concerned. She loves me, and I’m not strong enough to ever let her go.”
A throat clearing behind me had Drake stiffening and dropping his hold on my hand like it was on fire. “Angel, I was just telling the boy—”
Lana snickered as I turned to face her. “I heard most of what you were telling the boy, Dray,” she chided, walking over to the pack ’n play to lift Conrad out. Straightening, she gave me a wink and turned back to go into the house. “And I’m sure he needs some ice for his hand.”