Page 140 of Fierce-Jax

When clapping broke the silence, he turned to see Leigh standing there with a grin on her face.

“Thank God you’ve got someone in your life not afraid to stand up for you and to you,” Leigh said to Dillion. “And someone not afraid of my husband either. Dylan, I told you last night to stay out of it and Dillion would come to us if she needed us. To trust in the fact we raised her to know she always could. Don’t you dare ruin that now so that she won’t come to us in the future.”

“I’m sorry,” Jax said. “I shouldn’t have yelled like that.”

“Oh, you should have,” Leigh said. “And you two, stop the fighting all the time. It’s like looking in the mirror. You both want to be right and you both can’t when you don’t think the same way.”

“Where is Gianna?” Dillion asked.

“She’s in the backyard playing. I came in to get us some water but heard the yelling. I have to admit it wasn’t Jax’s voice I was expecting to hear. My husband should be happy about that.”

“Happy?” he asked.

Dillion snorted and moved over to flop on the couch. “Yeah. He always said he had to approve of the man I ended up with. Hard for him not to approve of one that is just like him.”

“I’m not like your father,” he argued. “Not in the least.”

“Yes,” she said. “You are. You’re both salesmen in your own right. Just selling different things. You both are careful of how you act or behave in public because you don’t want someone to think ill of you. Again, different reasons.”

“You both have a stubborn streak,” Leigh said. “And when it comes out, it’s in the form of yelling out of anger. Though I have to admit, my husband rarely apologizes without his arm being twisted. You win there, Jax.”

“There is no winning here,” he said.

“No,” Dylan said. “There isn’t. This is about my daughter doing stupid things.”

“Don’t piss me off,” he said.

Leigh and Dillion both laughed. “I’m going to check on my daughter with my mother. You two can work this out.”

He hadn’t expected to be left with his girlfriend’s father.

It wasn’t a situation he ever saw himself in.

“With all due respect,” he said.

“Cut the formal bullshit,” Dylan said. “I will not hold it against you for sticking up for my daughter.”

“Then I won’t hold it against you for insulting her.”

Dylan smirked. “I never mean to do it and when you have kids someday you’ll understand.”

“I already feel it now,” he said drily.

“She’s only going to get pissed if I tell you to make sure she is watched after.”

“You don’t need to tell me,” he said. “But she can watch out for herself. She really can.”

Dylan moved over to sit in his chair. “I know. It’s difficult to admit though. I look at Gianna and think she’s just like her mother and all the stuff I should change.”

“I don’t think there is much you need to change,” he said.

“Probably not. I never liked Alec.”

“Can’t say I blame you there from what I know,” he said.

“He never stood up for her. He did more whining than anything. She would have made his life easier for him, but he didn’t see it.”

“I don’t need her to make my life easy. I don’t need her to do it all either. That’s not how a partnership works.”

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