Daddy's Angel (Montana Daddies 7)

“Do we have to talk about that?” she asked.

“Yep,” Caleb drawled, crossing his arms over his chest.

Bain stared back at him. “She was putting herself down. Calling herself unacceptable names.”

Caleb continued to stare at him, then to Bain’s shock, he stretched his arms above his head with a yawn. “Yeah, she does that. What happens when you grow up with her fucking pitiful excuse for a family.”

“Caleb,” Arianna protested.

The other men all started to relax. Caleb walked over to him, holding his hand out. Bain scowled down at it but shook it.

“Just so you know, I’m still gonna be calling Kent for information on you both. You hurt her, at all, and we will hunt you down and make your life hell. It won’t be a quick kill. It will be torture. For years.”

“Caleb!” she said, looking horrified.

But Bain just grinned. “We’re gonna get on just fine.”

She couldn’t believe that they were all basically best friends now. They seemed to have bonded over their shared beliefs about her. And her tendency to misbehave.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want them to get along. It was just that after that little performance earlier; she hadn’t expected them to do a one-eighty.

Now they were all gathered around the kitchen counter while Bain fixed them all some food, because apparently there was a game coming on so

on.

“So, anyone want to tell me what’s going on with these letters Ari has been getting? And why the fuck did Larry give a press conference on them?” Caleb asked. “Who thought that was a good idea?”

“He did it without consulting us,” Bain growled. “Fucking prick. Never even told us about the other letter before he did it.”

“I hope you damn well fired him, Ari,” Caleb said to her. Before she could answer, though, he turned back to Bain. “I’ve never liked that asshole. Her parents hired him. So that they could control him and Ari.”

Bain frowned at that piece of information.

“He’s good at his job, Caleb.”

This was an old argument.

“He’s not good for you, Ari,” Caleb insisted. “He pushes you too hard.”

“That’s the industry.”

“Yeah? So it’s normal to collapse after doing ten concerts in less than three weeks across five different states? You were dehydrated, you hadn’t been eating properly and you were completely exhausted. You spent five days in the hospital, Ari.”

“What?” Bain barked. “When was this?”

“Last year.” Caleb took a sip of beer. “Larry pushed for that many concerts. And Ari, not wanting to let him or her fans down, drove herself to breaking point.”

“That won’t happen again,” Bain growled.

Caleb smiled, looking entirely too smug. Bastard did that on purpose. She glared at him before kicking him in the leg.

“What! Ari, that wasn’t very nice. You shouldn’t kick people. Especially when they’ve flown halfway across the world, terrified out of their minds that something has happened to their best friend, only to find she’s holed up with her new man and getting her ass spanked for being naughty.”

Her face flamed hot even as guilt filled her. “I’m sorry. Really. I feel terrible.”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Bain told Caleb, giving the other man a look.

It was, though. She should have realized Caleb and the others would be worried about her. It was inexcusable.