“He was but none of us have seen him in the last twenty minutes or so,” Nash muttered. “If you see him, tell him I’m looking for him.”
He headed down the hallway towards the front door. As he left, Lisa and Crystal ran past him, past us and out the back door. I heard him laugh and say, “Christ, it’s a fuckin’ madhouse here today.”
I reached into the cupboard and passed Harlow the potatoes for the potato salad we were making. She began peeling them while I grabbed the ingredients for a caesar salad out of the fridge and started on that.
The front door slammed and a minute later, Scott entered the kitchen. Harlow smiled up at him and he reached for her, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. “You taste so good,” he murmured quietly. Then he let her go and gave his attention to me. “Gonna prepare you now, Dad’s on his way.”
My heart froze. I shook my head. “No, you’ve got to stop him. Tell J, he’ll stop him.” I was panicked. I hadn’t spoken to Dad for awhile now and had been ignoring his calls for the last few days.
“I would tell J, but I can’t find him. Can’t fuckin’ find Griff either.”
I frowned. “They were here before.”
“Yeah, but nowhere to be found now. Look, when Dad gets here, I’ll do my best to get rid of him but you know what he’s like. I can’t guarantee anything.”
“Is Mum with him?”
“Don’t think so.”
“J told me what he did,” I said.
He nodded. “I know.”
“Does Mum know?”
“I haven’t told her and I doubt that J has. So, if you haven’t either, then no.”
I made a decision that I’d been toying with ever since J shared the information with me. “I’m going to tell her.”
“Your call. I don’t think it’ll motivate her to leave him but you never fucking know.”
I was about to say something else but we were interrupted by the rumble of a bike.
Scott gave us a pointed look that said ‘stay here’, and then stalked down the hallway to the front door.
I turned to Harlow. “Where the fuck is J?” I needed him like I hadn’t needed him for a long time.
She passed me my phone. “Ring him,” she urged.
He answered on the third ring. “Babe, I’m out the front with your father. Stay inside while we get rid of him, okay?”
Relief hit me. “Thanks, baby,” I said softly and hung up.
My gaze swung to Harlow who was watching me through concerned eyes. “J’s outside.”
She smiled tightly, and then looked out the back. “I’m going to round up these kids and get them inside.”
“Good idea.” I watched her go, not sure why I had such an intense feeling of unease in the pit of my stomach. When I heard lots of yelling out the front, it only intensified. I was rooted to the spot, but when the yelling continued, I was drawn to the front door.
I opened the front door and found my father outside with J, Scott, Nash and Griff. Scott was holding J back and Nash had my father. The fury on all their faces was clear. But the man who was radiating the most anger was Griff. This really didn’t surprise me; he scared me at the best of times.
“Marcus, this is fucking bullshit and you know it,” Griff snarled at my father.
Dad’s attention turned to me, and then back to Griff. “It’s not fucking bullshit, and besides, why don’t we let Madison be the judge of that. She’s the one who seems to think J is the man for her. The least we can do is give her all the information.”
I looked at J who had a feral look in his eyes and was struggling against Scott. If Scott let him go, I knew he’d knock my father out or worse. I needed to end this now, for J’s sake more than anyone’s.
I stepped outside and walked to where Nash had Dad. It took everything I had but I looked him in the eyes when I spoke. “Spit it out and then get the hell out of here. I don’t want you here.”
He tried to get out of Nash’s hold, but Nash pulled him back tighter, and barked, “Say whatever you came to say and then you can do what Madison says and leave.”
Dad eyed me, and jerked his head towards J. “He tell you what he got up to while he was away?”
“If that’s what you came to tell me, you could have saved yourself a trip because, yes he did tell me. And I think even less of you for that than I did before he told me. In fact, you don’t even exist for me anymore.”
He flinched, and then his face contorted with rage. “So you know about the blonde piece he had on the side while he was away? And you’re still going to marry him?”
My eyes flew to J and my heart began beating wildly. J’s gaze was on me; steady. He still had that feral look in them but they were steady; sure. And he shook his head once. And in that instant, I knew.
I turned back to my father. “Nothing you say can or will come between me and J. I know he loves me; only me. In fact, I’ve never been so sure of that in my life, so take your lies and your pathetic attempts at breaking us up, and leave us the fuck alone.”