Page 4 of King
“Nice try, but I heard him, Rome,” she bit out, almost vibrating with rage. “I was right there in the kitchen, and I heard him say those disgusting things about my daughter,” her voice broke, and she visibly tried to pull herself together as tears threatened.
“What in the holy hell is going on in here?” Sinner thundered from the kitchen doorway, and I glanced over at him quickly to see him shielding a very confused Molly behind him as he looked at the knife-wielding woman in shock. “What’s wrong? Put the knife down, darlin’, and tell me what’s going on here,” he soothed, slowly holding his hand out toward her as if settling a wild animal.
“I’m sorry, Pop, I know he’s your son, but if he ever comes near my daughter, I’ll gut him like a fish. I mean it,” she said, the tremble in her voice making me want to wrap her in my arms and comfort her, which wouldn’t exactly be a smart thing to do considering the death grip she still had on that fucking knife.
My dad flicked his eyes toward me in confusion, before concentrating his gaze on the woman in front of him. “What happened, Eleanor?”
Eleanor? Wait, what? This wasMiss Eleanor, the old lady next door who cooked for him, and babysat my grandkids?
“You’reEleanor?” I rasped. “Fuck, I thought Eleanor was an old lady! I saw you in the yard doing yoga, so I assumed you were her daughter…” my voice trailed off as the woman’s eyes narrowed, and then those shitheads I’d spawned both started laughing their asses off.
She took a step back and slowly lowered the knife, her gaze bouncing from me to my sons, to my dad, and then back to me. “I don’t understand,” she said warily, as she shook her head slightly.
“That makes two of us, darlin’. Fill me in here. What did I miss?” Sinner asked her gently, before shooting an angry glance at me. “And if he did say something about your little girl, I’ll gut him myself.”
“Dammit, Sinner, you know me better than that!” I shot back, pissed that he would think for one damned second that I would say something inappropriate about a child.
“He said…um, I heard him talking about the neighbor’s daughter doing yoga, and how she looked sexy, and he wanted to, um…do things, and…I thought…I mean, he said the neighbor’s daughter, so I assumed he was talking about Mia like that, and she’s only fifteen…” her rambling explanation trailed off as she stared at the floor, before carefully placing the knife on the end table. I noticed her hand shaking, and knew she was coming down from the adrenaline rush that she’d been riding when she first came barreling into the room.
I glanced at Sinner, who was glaring at me like he wanted to kick my ass. I took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to straighten out this mess without stepping on his toes. But fuck it, he was an old man. If he had the hots for this sweet piece standing in front of me, he should be fucking ashamed of himself. My mom would hop off her cloud and come down from Heaven to kick his ass up and down the block if he took up with a woman younger than me. Before I could say anything, Jagger piped up.
“Ella, babe, I think you’ve got it wrong here. I’m gonna guess thatyouare the knockout my dad mentioned doing yoga in the back yard,” he told her with a smirk, before turning a shit-eating grin my way. “King, I seem to remember you bragging about how smooth you were with the ladies when I first met Molly. Gotta tell you; I’m not seeing it right now.”
He and Rome both burst out laughing, and I flipped them off before turning my gaze toward the beautiful Eleanor, or Ella, as I’d heard my boys call her.
Molly giggled from her spot behind Sinner, and then Sinner choked out a laugh as well before stepping forward to wrap an arm around Eleanor’s shoulder. I clenched my jaw as I zeroed in on that arm, wondering if I’d be out of line if I punched my own father.
“Eleanor,” I began, and she slowly raised her gaze from the floor to meet mine. “Please believe me, I wasnottalking about your daughter. For some reason, I had it in my head that my dad’s neighbor was an older lady, so when I saw you doing yoga earlier, I figured you must be the daughter I’d heard about.”
She nodded, looking embarrassed as hell. “I’m sorry for threatening you with a knife, I just…I mean, when I heard you say those things and thought you were talking about Mia…”
“Don’t ever apologize for protecting your kid, sweetheart.”
She nodded stiffly, then turned to face Pop. Her back was ramrod straight, and my eyes quickly traveled down to zero in on her ass. Holy fucking shit, the view from the back was just as good as the one from the front. I shifted my stance, willing my dick to calm the hell back down. Now that the beautiful lady wasn’t threatening him with a knife anymore, he thought it was time to come out to play.
“I’m so sorry, Pop,” she offered quietly.
Sinner was shaking his head before she even got the words out. “King’s right, darlin’. You don’t need to apologize for protectin’ that girl of yours. Now, why don’t you stay for dinner and enjoy the delicious food you’ve made for us.”
“I really need to get to the grocery store. Hunter is having some of the guys from the team over tonight, so I need to stock up on some things before they get here.”
I knew I needed to say something to apologize for the things she’d overheard. Before I talked to her, though, I needed to find out just what the hell kind of relationship she and my dad had.
She slipped by Sinner and Molly without another word, and I heard the back door open and close seconds later.
Before I could say anything, Sinner turned to me and pinned me with a glare that would have withered the balls of a lesser man.
“What the fuck did you say about Eleanor?” He suddenly remembered that Molly was standing next to him and shot her an apologetic smile.
“Sorry, darlin’.”
She brushed aside his apology with a smile of her own, then motioned to Jagger and Rome.
“Why don’t I help you two take care of grilling the steaks?” she suggested with a raised brow, being less than subtle about leaving Sinner and me alone to talk.
My smartass sons didn’t even try to hide their snickers and grins as they followed her outside.
As soon as I heard the door close behind them, I braced myself for the conversation I needed to have with my dad.
