Her Beast

She bit her lip and stared at him. “I wish someone had killed my dad,” she confessed. “I get so angry that he was able to take the only person I’ve ever loved away from me. He wasn’t always around, and he was always such a boring person. Miserable, and he’d take the light out of Mom’s eyes.”

“It’s okay to want something like that.”

“Is it though? He killed my mom, and I wish more than anything that he’d put the gun to his head before he came home.” He saw her grit her teeth.

“Your father was a coward, Hope. Don’t let him bring you down.” He kissed the top of her head. He’d do everything he could to protect her.

Chapter Seven

“Look what I got,” Dwayne said.

Hope pulled her bag out of the locker and turned toward him. He held a piece of paper up. “Is that your math test?”

“Yes, and I got a B. Look at that. I totally nailed it.”

She smiled. “Congratulations. See, I knew you’d nail it.” She clapped her hands for him, and laughed as he took a bow.

“I think we should celebrate.”

“Okay, how?”

“Party.”

Shaking her head, she finished grabbing her stuff from out of her locker. “Not happening. I don’t do parties.”

“You know that’s weird, right? Besides, it’ll be a party at our place.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Will your uncle really go for that?”

“I’ll ask him tonight. Besides, he’s heading out this weekend, so we’ll have the entire place to ourselves, and he doesn’t need to know.”

The thought of keeping something from Beast didn’t sit well with her. The weekend they’d just shared meant something to her. She didn’t know if Beast felt the same way, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie to him.

“Come on, Hope. I’ve had parties without him knowing before. Don’t tell him, please.”

“I don’t feel comfortable with all of this. He’s done so much for me.”

Dwayne rolled his eyes. “Come on, Hope. Live a little. It’s not going to be long before you’re old, covered in wrinkles, and wishing you had something to do with this party.”

She burst out laughing, shaking her head. “You’ve got to ask him first. I’m not going to be part of making him mad.”

“Whatever.” Dwayne winked at her and told her he’d see her later.

Releasing a breath, she got through the rest of her day without any other sign of Dwayne, which she was pleased about.

By the time school ended, she saw Caleb waiting to take her home. Dwayne was nowhere in sight.

“Are you here to take me home?” she asked, stepping up to him.

“Yes. Beast is on business right now, and he’ll be home when he’s ready.”

He opened the door for her, and she didn’t argue even though it was in the back of the car.

Putting on the seatbelt, she noticed a couple of people paid a little more attention. The car was a nice one, and probably of a popular make. She didn’t know. She’d never been one for cars.

After her parents died, she’d actually worked out the expense on running a car, and that had been put in the “never” pile.

“Beast wanted me to tell you that he hoped you had a good day.”

She smiled. “Thank you.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah, it was okay.” She nibbled her lip.

“Do you know what you’re doing with my brother?” Caleb asked, drawing her attention back to him.

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t pretend that I don’t know you and my brother are a thing. You’re a lot younger than the women he usually screws, but I guess he has a thing for innocence and that kind of thing.”

Her cheeks heated. “I don’t really feel comfortable.”

“Look, you’re one in a long line of women he’s screwed. Graduate from high school, get the fuck out, and go to college. That’s my advice. Don’t have feelings that you’re going to get married, have lots of babies, and all that shit. Women don’t deserve to be part of this life, at least not women like you.”

He pulled up inside the main gates.

“I’m not being a bastard on purpose here. I think you’re a great person, and that for me is the problem. Great people in this life have a tendency to find themselves dead.”

She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I … the rumors?”

“They’re true. Beast is probably going to be pissed I told you, but we’re not good men, Hope. There’s no hope of ever finding anything good inside us so don’t try. Find what you love, and then stay the hell away from us otherwise you’ll be joining both of your parents at the cemetery.”

Hope didn’t linger. She climbed out of the car and made her way toward her room. Closing the door behind her, she leaned against it with her heart pounding. That was Beast’s brother, and he was warning her about it, and she couldn’t think, not right now.