Welcome to the Dark Side (The Fallen Men 2)

She shoved him and then immediately followed him as he stepped back from the force of it and slotted herself into his side before looking at me. “Apparently, you’ve got yourself a Garro man so you can’t tell me you don’t get it.”

“Oh, I get it,” I said with a nod, tipping my head back so I could look up into Zeus’s rugged face. “I almost feel badly that there are no Garros left for anyone else.”

“There’s one,” Nova drawled as, on cue, a clunker of an old Toyota came barreling down the drive and fish tailed to a stop about five inches from the porch stairs. Even through the cacophony of the music thudding through the shit speakers, I could hear the couple inside yelling at each other. A second later, Harleigh Rose climbed out in tiny denim shorts over fishnet tights and combat boots, a tight black leather jacket zipped up to just below her cleavage and her masses of hair tossed all over her head. It was like an ad for the original bad girl, rock music playing in the background for special effect as she slammed the door and yelled, “Fucking fuck you!”

The car roared out of the drive and into the lane a moment later, kicking up dust that swirled around Harleigh Rose as she stood staring after it, flipping him the bird.

“Pity the poor bastard that gets saddled with H.R.,” Nova muttered.

And Mute, my lovely friend who had been so quietly standing against the porch railing the entire time softly added, “Seconded.”

The entire porch burst into laughter, which was shit timing because when H.R. turned on her boot and stomped up the stairs it looked like we were laughing at her. She scowled at everyone as she came to a stop in the middle of the porch, planted her hands on her hips and said, “Well if this isn’t a motley fuckin’ crew.”

“Harleigh Rose,” Zeus growled, tightening his hold on me. “This is Loulou. Think you two ’ave met but why don’t we give the introducin’ part a second go ’round, yeah?”

“Hey, Harleigh Rose,” I said on a small smile, hyper aware of the healing cut her ring had left on my cheek and the fact that her dad had me pressed to his side from tip to toe.

Her jaw worked as she struggled not to say something mean. It wasn’t necessary, her acidic eyes, an aquamarine blue that was so startling they seemed to glow, said it all for her. She hated my fucking guts.

She cut her eyes from me to her father and did something with her face that might have been a smile but seemed to me more like a painful grimace. “Welcome to our lovely home, Louise. Can I offer you a refreshing beverage?”

“A beer would be good,” I suggested, careful because I wanted to show her I wasn’t going to back down, but I didn’t want another throw down.

“While you’re at it, I’ll take one too,” King added casually but his eyes were sharp on his little sister.

“Me too, honey,” Cressida put in.

It was only then that Harleigh Rose flinched like Cressida throwing down for me was the worst possible betrayal. Her head turned to look at her and even though I couldn’t see H.R.’s face, I knew there was pain in it.

Clearly, she did not have the same problem with King’s woman as she did with me.

“Beer, honey,” Cressida said in a way that meant she expected Harleigh Rose to do as she was told and do it with a smile. “You need help carrying it out?”

“I’m capable of carrying some fuckin’ beer,” she muttered petulantly.

“You capable of rememberin’ your fuckin’ manners?” Zeus asked and immediately drew a glare from his kid. He shrugged. “Hey, you’re proud of the way you’re actin’ like a fuckin’ fourteen-year-old brat just cause I found a woman happens to be your age with twice your life experience, then go at ’er, sweetheart. Just thought I raised a girl bright, kind and true. Fuck me if I was mistaken.”

His words hit her like a ton of bricks; the stubborn cruelty in her eyes shattered like mirrored glass and revealed the wounded heart of her.

I knew the words were coming before they came.

“She’s a fuckin’ Lafayette, Dad. You think the minute comes that she has to stand up for our family, she’s going to sacrifice hers for ours? She lives in a house like a fuckin’ castle up on Entrance Hill. You want young pussy, fine, who am I to stop you. Guess I just expected you to have better taste than that.” She sneered as she waved her hand over me, her eyes like fingers ripping apart my big curled hair tied back with a black velvet ribbon, my pink lipstick and spike heeled black leather boots.