Page 36 of Naked Coffee Guy
The journey back down the hall feels a thousand steps long. It’s too quiet, and I hear each creak as we tiptoe back to the front door. This is different from when I was a teen, when I used to sneak out of the house to meet a boyfriend or find trouble. Now, I’m the stranger. The intruder. I don’t belong here, and I feel it with every step, every inhale, every touch of the wall as I find my way through the dark.
My hand reaches the doorknob, and I let out a deep exhale, turning the knob. But then the room is bathed in light, and I hear the unmistakable click of a gun behind us being cocked.
“Who are you and what the fuck are you doing in my house?”
Chapter Fourteen
Mac
“Turn around slowly,” Maren’s father orders.
I do, along with Maren, only to face the barrel of a gun directed at me.
“Dad! Stop! It’s me!”
His face takes on a look of surprise. “Maren?” He lowers the weapon, but the shock in his expression quickly turns to rage.
“What are you doing here?” he hisses, “I almost killed you. Would that have been worth whatever you’re stealing from us?”
“What? I’m not—”
“Don’t lie to me, Maren. You think I don’t know what you’re doing? This is how you thank us? After all this time? After all we did for you?” He huffs out a laugh, shaking his head. “We gave you everything, and you threw it all away. And for what? A temporary high? How’s that working for you, huh?”
He’s still holding the gun. He could have put it down, but it remains in his hand, as if he thinks he needs it for protection. Maybe he sees me as a threat, but he’s barely regarded me. His eyes remain trained on his daughter.
Something dark and winding unfurls in my belly, a surge of poison traveling to my clenched fists and pulsating in my jaw as I fight the urge to take down this guy who dares to look at Maren this way, to put her in this kind of danger. I have to keep reminding myself that no matter what, this is her father. But fuck this guy, because my restraint is hanging by a thread.
“Sir,” I bite out through clenched teeth, “if you’ll just let her explain.”
I don’t have a chance to finish because his gun is trained on me again. That thread of restraint snaps, and I grin, feeling the charge in me before I teach him a lesson. But before I can act, Maren jumps in front of me. Like she’ll take a goddamn bullet for me.
“Get out of the way,” I growl, placing my hands on her hips and pulling her aside. I stare down her father, mentally daring him to pull the trigger, and seeing in his eyes that he won’t. He lowers the gun, but the tension remains in his face.
“Manny?”
I keep my eyes on Maren’s father, but out of the corner of my eye I see a woman lingering in the hallway, likely Maren’s mother.
“What’s going on?” she asks.
“Stay in the room, Isabella,” Manny orders. He’s now focused on Maren, his eyes narrow and sharp. It makes me want to push her behind me before I wipe that stern look off his face. It’s been so long since I’ve known what it’s like to have a father. Not Benji, who treated our relationship like a business transaction. But my real father. I remember him, but sometimes it feels like I only remember a muted version of that man. Only bits and pieces. So there is a lot I’ve forgotten. But one thing I am absolutely certain of, I was never afraid of him. He never raised a hand, never his voice, and certainly not a gun.
Maren shared a little about her family situation that night at that rooftop bar. I knew she hadn’t seen them in years, and that she went through some hard shit until she finally course corrected. I knew things were strained enough between her and her parents that she was no longer welcome in her childhood home. And the venomous way her sister treated her, even though she was drunk, made it clear that Maren’s name had been dragged through the mud in this house.
But the look on her father’s face makes it clear just how bad it really is. If I wasn’t sure before, I am now.
“I won’t call the cops,” Manny says, as if he’s showing mercy. “I should, but I won’t. Just know that my job here is to protect my family, and I take that very seriously.”
The way he uses the word family sparks the fire inside me. A look at Maren’s face, and I can see it’s a gut punch. If Manny thinks he needs to protect his family from his oldest daughter, then I will be the man Maren needs and protect her.
“Look, asshole, the only reason you should call the cops is because I’m going to kick your ass for speaking to your daughter this way. You don’t even know why she’s here, haven’t even asked. She brought your—”
“No,” Maren cuts in, turning from her dad and pushing her hand on my chest. “Let’s just go.”
I was about to rat out Lydia, to let Manny know that his perfect youngest daughter isn’t as innocent as he thinks. The look on Maren’s face is clear though. Keep Lydia’s secret safe. Even after the way her sister treated her, even with the way her father is looking at her, Maren’s holding fast to loyalty. She owes this family nothing. All they gave her was the blood in her veins, and yet she’s willing to leave here without defending her character.
Fine, I’ll keep her secrets. But I’ll be damned if we leave before I give this shithead a piece of my mind.
I place my hand over Maren’s, taking it from my chest and folding it into my fist. It becomes my anchor to remember that, through everything, this is her father and I am not allowed to beat him to a pulp.