Page 144 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

Oh shit.“We’re not dating,” she scrambled to explain. “We’re f—” she swallowed that down and replaced it with, “friends.”

His eyes narrowed on her.

She tipped her head in response. “Now, I don’t tell you who you can be friends with, do I? And you know why I don’t? Because I mind my own damn business.”

“You’re my business.” He jerked his chin in the direction Devyn and Keenan went. “Those boys are my business.”

“While I appreciate you looking out for us, this is not it, Dad.” She tugged at his arm again. “Come with me.” She glanced at Nox, standing with his boots slightly apart, his hands curled at his side and his knees loose.

Just in case.

“You stay here,” she told him. She mouthed, “Please.”

His jaw tightened but he gave her a stiff nod.

“I won’t be long,” she assured him.

“Take your time. I don’t plan on going anywhere.”

That last part wasn’t to assure her, it was to stick it to Magnum.

Nice.Didn’t he realize he was playing with fire by fucking with him? Or did he not care?

“Let’s go, Dad,” she urged.

This time her father moved. Luckily. Since it would be impossible for her to move his bulk on her own if he dug in his heels.

“Came to see the boys.”

“Bullshit. You came to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“Bullshit,” he echoed.

She stopped dead in the hallway. “Really.”

“Yeah.”

She pointed toward the front door. “Let’s go outside.”

“Not ready to leave.”

“I can drop the boys off this weekend if you want to spend time with them so badly.”

He grabbed her chin and met her eyes. “Maybe I wanna spend time with you, too.”

Some of her annoyance dissipated. “Then we’ll plan a dinner or something. Tonight is not the night.”

“‘Cause you got him here.”

“Yes, because I have Nox here.”

His nostrils flared. “He ain’t for you, Liyah.”

“I didn’t know you had the right to decide that, Dad. You do remember I’m grown, right?”

“Still my baby girl.”

“I’m thirty-nine. Your grandson will be considered a damn adult in three years.”

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