“She’s less than thirty feet away, brother. She isn’t going anywhere. You don’t have to watch her like she’s about to evaporate into thin air.”

I flipped Grayson off with one hand and used the other to lift my beer to my lips. He, Dominic, and Caleb all laughed. I was going to need a lot more than beer if I was going to make it out of my folks’ house without my head exploding. It had already been two hours, and I could feel the twitch in my left eyelid. There was a reason why I hadn’t attended many of these events in the past few years, and it wasn’t only because I was trying to avoid Fiona. I loved my family and friends, but fuck me, sometimes they drove me insane.

“I’m not worried that she’s going to evaporate. I just like watching her ass.”

“Hmm,” Dominic hummed. “She does have a pretty… watchable ass.”

If I hadn’t already known Dom was so enamored with Sophia, I might have broken his nose. Lucky for him, I knew he was just giving me shit like the rest of the guys, so his nose was safe. For the time being.

“I can’t fault him for that,” Caleb chimed in. “I can’t keep my eyes off Daph’s ass. And it’s only gotten better since she had Evie.” He looked to where Fiona was gathered around the sofa with the rest of the girls. Lola was camped out on the couch, tricked out in a fancy dress and heels, but unable to get up and walk around for more than a few minutes per doctor’s orders. Caleb’s eyes did a full-body scan of Daphne. “Damn, my wife’s got it going on.”

“They all have it going on,” Grayson grumbled. “Unfortunately the four of them together is a whole lot of batshit crazy.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at how right he was.

“Tell me about it,” Caleb added. “Remember when Fiona was so sweet and unassuming? Those three totally corrupted her.”

Dominic snorted. “I’ve known those girls all their lives. If there’s one thing they’re good at, it’s corrupting the innocent.”

Shaking my head, I turned to the guys and spoke up. “Nah, that wasn’t their fault. Fiona’s always had that fiery streak in her. She’s just kept it buried deep beneath the surface. Those women just made her comfortable enough to let it come out.”

And for that I’d be eternally grateful. That fiery side had only ever come out with me in the past, and it was sexy as fuck. I thanked Christ every day that she’d found friends she was comfortable enough with to let it all hang out like that. That meant I got to reap the benefits every time she lit up.

“Really?” The surprise in Grayson’s voice as he asked that made me roar with pleasure inside. She’d never given him that. That fire was mine. It had only ever been mine.

“Son, you got a minute?” All heads turned toward my father, who’d just joined our little huddle. At first I thought he’d been talking to Grayson—it wasn’t uncommon for those two to go off to discuss business—but when I saw his focus on me, my skin started to prickle for some reason.

“Uh, yeah. Sure.”

“My office. I promise it’ll only take a second, and then you can get back to the party.”

Gray’s expression told me he was just as clueless as to what Dad wanted to talk about as I was. But whatever it was, I couldn’t imagine it’d be good. My father asking to talk in private had never ended well for me in the past. It usually led to us fighting—usually about his disappointment in my life choices and shit like that. And that fight would typically lead to us not talking until my mother had enough and ripped us both new assholes or burst into tears while laying the guilt on nice and thick.

Dad’s office smelled the same as it had when I was growing up, like leather and old books. The wood-paneled walls and heavy oak furniture created a warmth in the room that was at total conflict with the feeling in my sinking gut.

“So, what’s up?” I asked as soon as the door closed behind us.

Dad walked behind his desk, pointing to one of the oversized leather chairs across from it. “Have a seat.”

I stayed on guard as I slowly sat, resting my elbows on the arms of the chair, trying to look as comfortable as possible even though I didn’t feel that way. “This is starting to feel like a business meeting, Dad.”

“How serious are you about Fiona?”

My back shot straight. “Excuse me?”

He held his hands up in surrender. “I only ask because… well, I know your reputation, son. You aren’t exactly known for settling down. And this is Fee. She’s practically family. I just don’t want to see you—”

“Are you kidding me?” I snarled, moving to the edge of my seat. “Did you really just say that? Christ, Dad. I know it’s Fee. I know better than any of you.”

“Son, I mean no offense—”

“Then don’t ask me shit like that.” I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. “Jesus, Dad. You really think I’d do something like that? To her?”

“Look. I’m sorry. I just….” He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

I tried my best to let go of the anger that was starting to simmer in my veins. Resting my hands on the chair arms, I began to push up. “Okay, well, is that all you wanted?”

“Actually, no.” Dad waved me back down before I’d even had a chance to fully rise. I sat back down, letting out a frustrated breath. “Now that I know where you stand with Fiona, I thought that now would be a good time to revisit the subject of you coming to work at Bandwidth.”

Collapsing back, I let out a bark of humorless laughter. That simmer turned into a full boil. “Dad. Don’t,” I said in a low warning tone. This wasn’t the first time he’d tried having this conversation with me. But he hadn’t attempted in years. I thought he’d finally gotten past his bullshit of thinking The Black Sheep was just a childish phase. Guess I was wrong. “We aren’t doing this.” I stood to leave as he kept talking.

“For God’s sake, Deacon. You’re a grown man entering into a serious relationship with a woman who’s important to the entire family. It’s time to stop playing around with that bar of yours and grow up.”

I jerked to a stop and spun back around. “Playing around? Fucking seriously? Is that what you think I’m doing?”

Dad shot up and threw his arms wide. “Well what the hell would you call it? You’re a Lockhart, Deacon! You’re supposed to work in the family business. You should be working alongside your brother and me. I’m going to retire. Grayson’ll take over, and you should be the second in command.”

“Christ, Dad, I’m not Grayson!” I shouted, losing hold on my calm completely. “When are you finally going to fucking accept that? You got your golden boy already. You don’t need another one.”

“It has nothing to do with that! But you need a career where you can take care of a family. You really think you can support yourself, Fiona, and the children you might have one day with that bar?”

“Newsflash, Dad, it’s not the fucking fifties anymore. Fiona has a job all of her own. She doesn’t need me to take care of her. But even if she did, that bar you think is nothing but a joke is flush. I’ve been well into the black the past six years. If, and that’s a big goddamn if, Fiona wanted to quit her job and pop out a shitload of kids, I’d be more than capable of taking care of all of them for a good long while.”

His face grew red as he continued to argue. “You belong with your family. When are you going to get over this… this need of yours to rebel against me?”

The door shot open and Grayson came rushing through, quickly shutting it behind him. “What the hell’s going on in here? I could hear you shouting from down the hall.”

My stomach hit the floor. It felt like I’d just taken a wrecking ball to the chest. Ignoring my brother, I stared directly into my father’s eyes. “Wow,” I hissed sarcastically. “So glad to know my own father’s got such a high opinion of me.”

“Deacon—”

“Hate to break it to you, but my bar has not one fucking thing to do with you. It wasn’t an act of rebellion, or a way to stick it to you.”

“Jesus Christ, Dad. Did you really say that to him?” Grayson asked in bewilderment.

“Gray, just stay out of it,” our father warned.

“Dad, this isn’t the time or the place—” my brother pushed, but I spoke over him.

“This conversation is over. For good. And just so you know, me opening The Black Sheep had absolutely nothing to do with you. If you’d ever paid attention to a single goddamn word I said to you, you’d know I opened that bar because it was what I always wanted to do. That was my dream, not being a pencil pusher. If you knew me, you’d know that sitting behind a desk for the rest of my life would be a nightmare. Despite what you think of me, I did what I did because it made me happy. Not that you’d give a shit.”

I turned and started for the door again. Just as I reached for the doorknob, Grayson’s hand landed on my shoulder.

“Wait. Just wait, Deac. Let’s just talk all this out. We can fix this.”

“Nothing to fix, brother. He wants a carbon copy of his perfect son, and that’s just not something I can do. I have to go.”

I was officially over this party. I just hoped I could get Fiona out without making a scene.