“God, you are so fucking high and mighty. How the hell Birdie loves you is beyond me.” She paused. “I feel sorry for her that she can’t have children. I can only imagine the pain she must have gone through when she discovered that. But I was never convinced you’d make a good father anyway with the way you try to control everything and everyone.”

Fucking hell, she was a piece of work.

I was about to respond when Birdie stepped next to me, a gush of wild, angry energy hitting the room. “Don’t you ever say that again, Melissa,” she practically breathed out like a flame of pure hot fire. “Winter will make the best father any child could hope for. And if I’m lucky enough to be the mother of his children, it will be all my dreams come true.”

My gut tightened at her words and the conviction with which she spoke.

Melissa was less than impressed. “I don’t know how you put up with him or why you even got back together with him. He’s always been—”

My little spitfire had my back and didn’t fail to let Melissa know what she thought of that. “He’s solid and loyal and caring and protective and so many other things you’re too blind to see. And I’m really tired of your attitude towards him, Melissa. Do you not know the meaning of family yet? I mean, I don’t know how you don’t since you married into the Morrison family whose core fucking belief is that family runs deep and is everything worth fighting for. FYI it’s not you and Max against Winter; it’s all of you for each other. All I can think is that you’re so unhappy with yourself that all you do is look for flaws in other people to make yourself feel better. It’s time you did some work on yourself so that you can start appreciating the people in your life.”

When she took a step forward, I knew she intended to say more, so I hooked an arm around her, over her chest, and pulled her back, flush against me. Melissa wasn’t worth wasting our breath on. She’d never open her eyes and see the truth of me because she’d judged me years ago and wasn’t willing to see anything else. Bending my mouth to Birdie’s ear, I said, “Enough.”

She yanked my arm from around her and spun to face me, the fire she’d breathed at Melissa now directed at me. “No, not enough. She needs to—”

“I said enough, Birdie. We didn’t come here tonight to get into this shit again.” My own fire flashed back at her.

Her mouth spread out into a thin line as she forced out a shitty breath. “Fine,” she snapped.

Max had returned and looked anything but pleased.

“We’re gonna get out of here,” I said to him.

He nodded, glancing between the three of us. “Yeah, might be a good idea.”

“Thanks for dinner,” I said, pulling my phone out, ready to order an Uber.

Birdie looked at Max. “Thank you for dinner. I’m sorry it went downhill at the end.” Her voice was tight, and I knew she was working hard to keep her anger in check.

After we said our goodbyes and I ordered an Uber, I followed Birdie outside to wait on the footpath. She went ahead of me, her body rigid, anger still blazing from her.

I decided to give her a wide berth, not wanting to touch that anger because I’d worked hard to keep my own contained and it would only take a spark from her for it to break free.

The Uber didn’t take long to arrive, but it was time in which the silence between us felt anything but silent.

I opened the back door of the car and ushered Birdie in. She scooched across to the other side and I slid into the back seat next to her. She then turned to stare out the window while I made small talk with the driver.

It was a fifteen-minute drive that felt like fifteen hours. Every second I carried on a conversation with the Uber driver, I was painfully aware that whatever was going on between Birdie and me tonight was building.

When we pulled up outside the hotel, she exited the car and walked through the hotel doors without waiting for me. By the time I caught up with her, she stood waiting for the lift, eyeing the doors like she was praying for them to open and swallow her up.

As soon as it arrived, she stepped in and pressed herself into the back corner. I moved next to her, noting the way she wrapped her arms around herself.

We finally made it to our room and Birdie hurried to her bag, rummaging in it looking for something.

“Are you cold?” I asked, wondering if she was searching for something warm.

Her head jerked up and her angry gaze slammed into mine as she demanded, “Are you asking me that so you can give me your jacket again?”

Her attitude agitated the strain between us and I failed to check myself. “What the fuck is with the attitude, Birdie?”

Those beautiful eyes of hers flashed with more of her fire. “You’re running so hot and cold, sending me mixed signals about the space you asked for. One minute, you seem to want it, the next, not so much. I’m just trying to figure out where you’re at right now, because after we talked last night, I thought we were starting to get somewhere, but then you pulled right away again today.”

I worked my jaw. “I had to pack up Dad’s personal belongings today. Where do you think I’m at after that?”

“I can imagine where you are, but I don’t fucking know because you won’t talk to me!”

“I can’t fucking talk about it. Did you ever stop to think about that?”

Tags: Nina Levine Storm MC Reloaded Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net