Page 18 of Cocky Jerk

“With all due respect, Dad, you and I both know they’ll never be a time when someone isn’t out to get you and asking me to wait to start my life isn’t fair.” I pause, tearing my eyes away from his because I can’t stand the look of regret radiating from them.

I don’t mean to make him feel like he’s done an inadequate job at raising me. I don’t know how to get through to him. If I ask nicely, he pacifies me. More time passes and I remain a fixture in his world.

“For the first time in my life, I’m making my own choices. I’m learning new things and I’m trying to find out what makes me happy. This internship may amount to nothing, but I’m proud of myself for even getting it and I don’t want to mess it up, so I’m going to leave now. I’m going to go to work and for eight hours, I’m going to be Antonia DeLuca. Not Tank’s daughter, not the princess of the Corrupt Hellraisers—just me.”

Whoever that might be.

His jaw ticks and he balls his hands into fists.

“It’s not safe,” he scolds. “You need to be at the compound where I can protect you. Not sleeping here and working in some office that I don’t have access to.” He pauses, and his lip curls in disgust as he grinds out the next sentence. “Hound says you were on a date last night.”

There is one thing my dad and I do not discuss and that’s my love life. For a criminal who isn’t afraid of much, the idea of his little girl getting busy with a man scares the shit out of him. I’m not complaining about it, though.

I was eleven when I got my period for the first time and my father completely lost his shit trying to explain what was happening to me. It was awkward as all hell and the trip to the drugstore that followed scarred me for life. When it came time for me to have my first boyfriend, Dad made Sandy, his girlfriend at the time, take me to the drugstore for condoms. He then had Butch, the road captain of the club, show me how to roll one onto a banana. Yeah, scarred might be putting it lightly. At this stage of the game, I’m not looking to put myself into therapy. The last thing we need is to have a conversation about who I’m sleeping with…or pretending to sleep with.

“So?”

“So…” he fumes. His eyebrows shoot up and his grip tightens around the Styrofoam cup, nearly crushing it. “Where’d you meet him?”

Huffing out a breath, I throw my hands up in frustration.

“What does it matter where I met him?”

“Answer the damn question!” he roars, taking another step forward. He crushes the cup in his hand and doesn’t even flinch as the hot liquid spills all over him. The act startles me and I realize this isn’t just another power play, this is a dad truly losing his mind over the welfare of his daughter.

I contemplate easing his worry by telling him the truth about Marco and how I used him, but then I’d have to also give up the fact he’s a cop and that might make that vein in his forehead burst altogether.

Swallowing, I draw in a deep breath.

“I know you’re worried about me, but I’m not going to forfeit a job I might love, to sit here and fight with you. I’ll make sure I go to the clubhouse after work and we can talk then.”

“You’re missing the point, Tonia,” he growls. “You going off to work and being out of my sight is dangerous.”

“No more than standing idle in a clubhouse waiting for someone to attack,” I fire back. “I bet Cash thought his wife was safe there too and that he could protect her, but that’s not how their story played out.”

It’s a low blow and as I watch his shoulders slump with defeat, I instantly regret delivering it. Like we don’t talk about my love life, we don’t speak of all the carnage his club has caused.

“I’m going to be late,” I murmur, grabbing my bag from the back of one of the kitchen chairs. Without giving him another glance, I turn and head for the door.

“Antonia, don’t you dare walk away from me.”

It’s not a demand but rather a plea and it causes me to look back at him.

“We can talk over dinner, okay? Come to some sort of agreement?” I ask hopefully. His eyes bore into mine but he doesn’t respond. He simply gives me a jerk of his head and crosses his arms against his chest.

“You’re hardheaded,” he says, and I smile at him.

As rough as he is, he’s got a soft spot for me.

“I wonder where I get that from,” I reply.

Sighing, he runs a hand over his face. His eyes meet mine and he gives me a slight shake of his head before muttering something under his breath.

“C’mere,” he commands softly.

I don’t argue because I know what’s coming and when I spin around, I close the distance between us, throwing my arms around my dad’s neck as he envelopes me in a great big bear hug.

“Call me as soon as you get in that office, Antonia. I’m not kidding.”

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