Page 17 of Bear Haven
“Get off that, Bex,” Michael snapped. “They obviously lied.”
“Yeah, I get thatthey liedand no, I will not get off it.”
“Then can you at least wait until you’re in private to rip him a new one?”
She glared at no one in particular. “Fine. I can do that.”
“Great, Mikey,” Gus drawled. “I appreciate that.”
“I went to see my father.” When Beck spoke up again, everyone turned their attention to him, even Bex.
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
Damn. Michael was right. The squabbling wasn’t necessary, at least not right then. There was more going on that they needed to get to the bottom of first. Like Beck going to see the Mayor on his own.
She knew the man was Beck’s father, but after the little confrontation in her front yard, the proverbial line drawn in the sand… It couldn’t have been easy for them to face each other.
“Um. Not exactly,” Gus added. “Luke followed you.”
“So, that was him that I saw when I left the cabin.”
“Yeah.”
“You learn anything?”
“More than I knew before about a lot of things, but none of it will help with this. He’s coming after Bex. He won’t let anyone else do it. It’s personal. And it’s because of me. I’m so sorry.”
Bex waved his apology away. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about.”
“He said that?” Michael asked. “That’s he’s coming after her? What a cold ass fucker.”
“No, he didn’t come out and say it in so many words. It’s what I inferred from other things he said.”
“Well, folks, that’s a lesson in how not to be a grandpa.”
“Are you worried about Luke?” Bex asked Gus.
“A little. He wouldn’t tell us what he was doing or where he was going. He wouldn’t let me go with him, either.”
“Was wondering why he hadn’t checked in by now,” Blake said. “If for no other reason than to make sure we haven’t eaten his pack mates for dinner.”
Marcel snorted. “Was thinking they’d be better suited to an afternoon snack than a full meal.”
“Depends on how you cook them.”
“Not funny, assholes.”
“Who said we were trying to be?”
“I don’t like red meat anyway.”
“Sounds like y’all need to scrap, get it all out of your systems. Cooped up too long in the house, working too hard. Too much tension.”
All eyes turned to Beck. He didn’t usually talk that much, or quite like that. Bex smiled. It warmed her, to see him relaxing and feeling safe with them.
“What are you tryin’ to say?”
“When my friends and I had been cooped up too long, my mom used to send us outside to play. One of us usually grabbed a football and we’d spend the rest of the day playing game after game. We didn’t go home until it was dinnertime.”
Michael grinned. “Damn. I haven’t played a scrimmage in a long ass time.”
“I never have,” Blake said. “But I’m up for it. Anyone got a football?”
