“Austin, darling, please tell me that this rude girl is not your daughter,” Sharon commanded, turning her disdainful eyes on the older man.
Suddenly I was very glad I had come, if for no other reason than to watch as Austin Bradshaw went from calm and collected to raging daddy bear in the blink of an eye. Even though I didn’t know much about the man, there was one thing that he made clear to anyone that he met. Austin worshipped Dallas. She could do no wrong in his eyes. Her tattoos and piercings? They just made her more beautiful. Her ballsy attitude? Damn, she sure did remind him of himself.
My mother had just made the ultimate mistake where this man was concerned. “She is, actually. She also will inherit every penny I have when I die. That little fact didn’t sit well with her momma, and it probably won’t sit well with you either. Dallas is mine, and I love every inch of her. I tend to make it a rule not to hit women, but you keep insultin’ my girl and I will make an exception.”
Sharon’s face turned blood red and her mouth opened and shut like a fish for a long moment before she narrowed her eyes on Austin. “Why you…”
“Well, it seems that I didn’t have to worry after all,” I spoke up, finally forcing every eye in the room on me.
Dallas’s eyes widened when she saw me, but she didn’t say anything. Austin inclined his head in greeting while my aunt stepped forward and embraced me in a tight hug. “Anthony! Oh my goodness. It’s so good to see you.”
I hugged her back for a brief moment before stepping back. “It’s good to see you too, Tink. And the name is Axton, remember?”
“Your name is Anthony,” Sharon snapped. “It’s the name I gave you.” I rolled my eyes at her as she gave me a once over, taking in the sight of my still dyed black hair, my pierced lip, the tattoos on my neck and the sleeve on my arms visible because I hadn’t stopped long enough to put my coat on in my rush to get to Dallas. “Don’t expect me to acknowledge you by any other name.”
“No one asked you too, mother,” I assured her, not sparing her another glance as I turned my gaze on Dallas. “Are you okay, baby?”
“You have got to be kidding me?” Sharon raged, but no one paid her any attention.
Dallas raised a brow, her lips starting to twitch as she tried to keep from grinning. “Your name is Anthony?”
I grimaced. “It was, once upon a time. It used to be Anthony Xavier Huntington. But I couldn’t see anyone in the rock world taking me seriously so I shortened it to Axton, added on the Cage and here I am.” I winked when the grin finally broke through. “Which do you like better?”
“Oh, the Axton for sure. The other name feels like you should be adding ‘The Third’ at the end. Sorry, I don’t go for guys who have numbers after their name.”
Behind her, Austin chuckled. “Definitely like you better as Axton, boy. It fits the man I know better than that bullshit name.”
“Well, it sure is a small world.” Tink laughed as she moved to stand next to Austin once again. “So, my nephew and your daughter…?” Austin shrugged and they both started laughing again. “So, that would make them cousins.”
“What the fuck?” I caught hold of Dallas’s hand as she turned on her father. She was so distracted by the new development that she didn’t seem to care that I was touching her. “What do you mean cousins?”
“Step-cousins, actually,” Tink clarified. “At least you will be once I marry your father.”
“When the hell were you going to tell me, Daddy?” Dallas demanded, sounding less outraged and more hurt. “I didn’t even know you had met someone.”
Austin gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry, darlin’. I wanted to make sure Tink took me seriously and wanted the same thing I did before I talked to you. Don’t worry, though. The wedding isn’t until next year, so you two have plenty of time to get to know each other.”
“That isn’t the problem. You didn’t even tell me, Dad. I don’t know anything that is going on in your life anymore. And how do you know this woman isn’t like Mom? Mom was all kinds of sweet and innocent until you married her, and then she turned into cunt monkey number one. Just like cunt bags over there.” She nodded toward Sharon who gave her a chillingly evil glare, making me snort as I fought back my laugh. Yeah, I shouldn’t have worried about Dallas and my mother at all.
The sound of the doorbell cut off whatever Austin was about to say in defense of Tink. Instead it was Tink who stepped forward, a grin on her still beautiful face. I was fortunate that I had taken after my father’s side of the family. I looked more like Tink than Sharon, and for that I would be eternally grateful to the DNA fairy. “I know all about your mother, Dallas. And while I agree that she is a lot like my dear sister-in-law, I don’t consider myself to be like them in the least. But don’t take my word for it. I’d like to get to know you and show you that I’m not like either of them.”
“I don’t know…” she began only to be cut off as there was a commotion in the hall before the room was suddenly overflowing with a testosterone-filled beast. Linc entered the room followed by Natalie and then Zander and Devlin.
Linc was assessing the room, looking for all threats to Dallas. “You okay, Dallas?” he demanded as he pushed between me and my girl.
“I’m good,” she assured him. “Just another drama filled day. Nothin’ unusual to see here.”
“Linc,” Austin said, stepped stepping forward to shake his hand. “Good to see you, son.”
“Mr. Bradshaw.” Instead of shaking his hand, Linc embraced Austin. “You sure Dallas is okay? Zander said that she might not be since Axton’s mom was a real bitch.”
“I’m standing right here, people!” Sharon screeched. “And I want all of you out of my house. Now. I will not stand here and be insulted by trash like you.”
“Oh shit,” I heard Linc mutter as he stepped as far away from Dallas as quickly as possible. He caught Natalie around the waist and started backing her toward the door. “Duck and cover. Duck and cover.”
“Trash?” Dallas’s voice didn’t raise higher than a murmur as she turned flame filled eyes on my mother. “Who you callin’ trash, you bitch?”
“Dallas…” Austin attempted to calm his daughter, but he didn’t try very hard.
“You,” Sharon went on as if no one else had spoken. “You are trash, you skanky idiot. And just how high is your IQ? It couldn’t be very high from the way you keep dropping your g’s like that. Anthony, please tell me you aren’t planning on marrying this hick? I was hoping for grandchildren that would at least be smart enough to have a civilized conversation with.”
“Shut up, Mother,” I growled. “You know nothing about Dallas. She’s an amazing girl.”
“Amazing in bed, obviously, since she has caught your attention. You always did tend to think with your penis and not your head.”
Dallas was slowly easing toward Sharon. If it weren’t for the fact that I knew my mother would press charges faster than it would take her to land on her ass after the punch to the face I foresaw Dallas giving Sharon, then I wouldn’t have bothered to stop her. The filth flying out of my mother’s mouth was just one of the many reason I had never tried to make contact with her over the years.
“I was actually kind of disappointed when you broke up with that Moreitti girl. Despite her poor choice in career she looked like a respectable enough young lady.” Dallas’s entire body seemed to freeze up, and I saw all her anger evaporate. She just stood there, obviously having been gutted. Fuck. I hated the woman that gave birth to me more in that moment than any person on the planet. “At least she could speak proper English.”
The sudden scream that rent the air came out of nowhere. We were all stunned as Tink stepped back from Sharon who was suddenly on the floor. “I’m so sick of your mouth. That’s my future stepdaughter you’re insulting.” My aunt snarled and I wanted to hug her tight in that moment. “Good luck trying to keep this place up without me. And don’t worry about the horses. They will be moved by the end of the week.”
Tink turned to Dallas and wrapped her arm around her shoulders before urging her out of the room. Dallas kept her head down as she walked past me, Zander, and then Devlin. I wanted to punch something at the defeated look on my girl’s face. That wasn’t the Dallas I knew and loved. That was the girl that her mother had tried to make her. Meek and helpless. I knew it wouldn’t last long, that she was just hurting, but she should never have to feel like that again.
As Austin went to follow after his two females, he bent and whispered something only Sharon could hear. Whatever he said made her face go pale as death. Austin straightened and left without another word to anyone.
I waited until the room was clear of everyone else before I trusted myself to move. Rage like I’d never felt was making me shake, but by the time Devlin left the room I had myself under control for the most part. I crouched down in front of my mother. Maybe I should have felt something like regret or even pity for the woman lying on her ass with her nose bleeding, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. “Just so you know, I do plan on marrying Dallas. She’s the smartest woman I’ve ever met and she is ten times the woman you have ever picked for me. She works her ass off as a nurse and doesn’t put up with my bullshit. I love her and I’m not letting her get away. Too bad for you, now that you’ve turned even Tink against you, that you will have no one, while I will have everything I ever really wanted.”
“Anthony-”
“Axton,” I automatically corrected her. “I never wanted to be Anthony. He was the boy you wanted to control like a marionette. I’m Axton, the man who lives his own life by his own rules.” I stood and gave her the disdainful glare she had been dishing out from the time I could remember. “Goodbye, Mother.”
Dallas
Stop acting like a hick, Dallas Diana. Winners don’t drop their g’s. Shoulders back. Eyes forward. No. No. NO. How can you be so stupid? That walk is nothing like we have been practicing. Do it again. Again, Dallas Diana, or I will get the brush.
One of my mother’s rants as she had forced me to practice for her stupid pageants was shouting through my head and I couldn’t get away from it. God, I thought I had gotten over all her shit, but with just a few well-hit catty remarks I was reliving the hell my mother had made of my life.
I’d only started dropping my g’s like the hick my mother—and now Sharon Huntington—had called me just to piss my mother off. It was small, almost petty things like that that had helped me keep my sanity as I was forced through one beauty pageant after another. It didn’t matter to my mother that I would rather be reading a book or that I had no desire to be the next Miss America. That was Janessa’s dream and because she had never considered herself beautiful she had forced me to compete so she could live vicariously through me.
When I won Miss Teen USA at fourteen, my mother had been the happiest I’d ever seen her. Within a year I was in Paris modeling while she practically starved me so that she could live her fucking dream. The day I met Harper I’d finally started to feel what it was like to have someone accept me wholeheartedly.
So why was I letting some douche bucket make me feel like I wasn’t good enough? I glared out the window of my dad’s truck as he drove toward Wroth’s farm, mad at myself for letting anything that cunt monkey had said about me get to me. I’d been taking it all with a grain of salt until she had said she would have rather seen her son with Gabriella-fucking-Moreitti. The girl who had studied at Julliard from the time she was a kid. The girl who didn’t have a tattoo or a piercing to be seen. The perfect daughter-in-law for Sharon Huntington, or as perfect as it was going to get where her son was concerned.
It brought home the fact that I was never going to be the one for Axton. He loved Gabriella, while I had only ever been a distraction to pass the time until he got her back. Now that it looked like he was never going to do that, I suddenly felt like I was second best. That was why Axton had been so affectionate over the last three weeks. I knew he had been trying to win me over by taking it slow, and stupid me, I’d been falling even deeper for the rock god. With Gabriella in love with someone else, I was the consolation prize.
Well, fuck that. Fuck Sharon Huntington. Fuck. Axton.
No way was I going to let this get me down. No way was I going to run and hide with my tail tucked between my legs like that bitch had wanted me to do. By the time my dad pulled to a stop in front of the three-story house, I was seriously pissed off.
Austin turned the truck off and turned in his seat to look at me in the back seat. I’d been pushed into his truck along with Tink when we had left Huntington Estate. I hadn’t objected because I’d wanted as far away from that fucking place as quickly as possible. “Dallas, don’t let what that piece of filth said get in your head. She doesn’t know you, and sadly for her, she never will. You are the strongest, smartest, most amazing girl in the world. I love you, darlin’.”
I forced a smile for my dad. “Thanks, Daddy. I love you, too. And don’t worry. I’m not going to let what she said bother me. Right now I’m mad as hell, but I’ll get over it. I just want to take a shower and be alone right now. Is that okay?”
“Of course it is. You take care of you, darlin’. Tink and I will get Raad and the horses moved. What do you want me to do with Raad, though? I could have him taken to a stable in New York so you can see him more often?”
“I don’t know yet, Daddy. Let’s talk about it later. I might even decide to go back to Texas. I don’t have anything holding me to New York at the moment. I can find a job there just as easily as I can there.” I needed a change of scenery anyway. Going home would be nice.
Austin’s face lit up. “Darlin’ you let me know what you want to do and if you do decide that Texas is where you want to be, I’ll find you a house. Or if you want to live on the ranch, I’ll build you a house. Anything you want, it’s yours.” He glanced over at Tink. “It would be nice having my girls together like that.”
When Tink raised her hand to cup my dad’s cheek I couldn’t help but suddenly feel jealous of the love I saw shining out of both their eyes. Damn it, I wanted someone to look at me like that. “Whatever makes you happy, my love.”
I cleared my throat. “I’ll let you guys know. For now I have to get through three months of rocker bullshit.” I leaned forward and kissed my dad’s cheek. “Love you, Daddy.”
“Love you as big as the sky, darlin’. Take care of yourself.”
I promised him I would, and then hugged Tink a little awkwardly before climbing out of the truck. As my father pulled away I waved one last time before walking up the steps to the porch. Natalie and Linc were standing there watching me, having gotten back with Zander just a few minutes before me, while Devlin had driven back the truck I had taken over to Huntington Estate.
“There are storms in those eyes, Dallas,” Linc said with a sigh. “How about some spaghetti?”
I rolled my eyes at him. Spaghetti was Linc’s idea of a pick-me-up for any bad mood. It had worked wonders for Harper when she had to deal with her mother and stepsister’s crap. For me I needed something with a little more kick to it. Maybe some José or even some Jack. But since I had a job to do, getting sloshed wasn’t going to happen. Not tonight at least.
“I would love a bowl of spaghetti,” I told my friend as I walked into his open arms without the slightest hesitation. As big and strong as Linc was, I had never been scared of him a day in my life. When his big, strong arms wrapped around my small waist, I closed my eyes and tried to let my anger go. There was nothing like a hug from Linc Spencer.
When another pair of arms wrapped around me from behind, a giggle escaped me and I turned my head to kiss Natalie on the cheek. She wasn’t my Harper, but she would do. I loved Natalie just as much as I loved Lana and considered her just as much a part of my crazy family. Surprisingly the giggle relieved some of the pressure around my heart and I held on a little tighter to Linc for a few more seconds.
Axton
I didn’t go back to the farm right away. Maybe I di
dn’t want to answer questions from my bandmates. Or Dallas’s friends. Truthfully, it was because I didn’t know how to look Dallas in the eye and tell her how sorry I was that the woman who had brought me into the world had been such a bitch to the woman I’d been brought into the world to love.
So I just drove Wroth’s SUV around until I felt like a pussy and had to go home to face everyone. It was only just after eight when I entered the house. The first thing to catch my attention was the overpowering delicious aroma of tomatoes and garlic. The scent alone was comforting and I relaxed a little as I walked through the quiet house.
In the kitchen I found everyone, including Liam in his wheelchair, sitting at the table eating overflowing bowls of spaghetti. No one was talking because they had their mouths full. When they saw me standing in the doorway of the kitchen, everyone paused mid-chew to focus on me. Marissa didn’t even hesitate to jump to her feet and rush to the stove. “I bet you must be hungry. Come and join us. Linc made so much that I’m going to freeze some and stock the bus so that we have a few decent meals for the road.”
I took the bowl of noodles and thick, rich meat sauce and sat down at the table. There was only one seat left, between Devlin and Wroth, so I sat down and grabbed a slice of garlic bread from the basket in front of me. While I took a bite of the best freaking spaghetti I had ever had in my life, my eyes went directly to Dallas.
She shot me a quick look before turning her attention back to her food. That one look told me so much and I wasn’t sure if I could still stomach the meal in front of me. My mother had hit her mark, just as she had wanted to. How had she known that Gabriella was the key to shattering the closeness I’d worked so hard to achieve with Dallas over the last three weeks? How had she known that with a few catty sentences, she would rip open a wound that I had been nursing to heal for what felt like a lifetime?
And how the fuck was I going to fix it?
Dallas
I’d never been in a tour bus before. I know, it’s surprising considering that two of my closest friends were married to rockers. And that I had dated an actual rock god for several months.