How the heck did he know what I was thinking? "What?"

"We aren't usin' your money." He squeezed my arm. "We talked about this, Ris. We'll figure it out, right?"

That's exactly what we'd agreed on. I nodded at him, ignoring the inquisitive look on my father's face as he watched us.

Dex tilted his face back over to him, eyes narrowed. "You like that, big man? Your daughter offerin' to pay for your shit? Her cleanin' up your mess? Seems to be somethin' you're used to. Leavin' your shit layin' around for other people to clean up."

It was impossible not to hear the grinding of Curt Taylor's teeth, or miss the way he leaned across the greasy table. "You don't know shit about me—"

"I know enough."

"You don't know a damn thing—"

"You think I don't know everythin' there is to know about you? I know what I need to, and lemme tell you, I'm not impressed. You're a grade A pussy, Taylor, and you're a fuckin' moron," Dex rolled the words out of his mouth.

Oh hell. They were talking so loud people at the tables surrounding us started to turn around. I palmed the inside of Dex's thigh to try and calm him down. Not that it was an easy task to begin with when he was pissed off.

He was defending me though, not picking a fight just for the heck of it.

"What are we going to do?" I asked them both.

The sperm donor reclined back in the booth, crossing his arms over his chest. The resemblance between him and Sonny was shocking. The eyes, the build, the freaking attitude. "I can come up with the other two but it'll take a little while," he explained in a low voice.

It was too much to ask for that he'd be embarrassed by the situation, much less have him admit that he was guilty of being a Grade A Jackass.

Dex snickered, slipping his hand over mine. "Not two. Twenty-one."

I think we both turned to look at him like he was crazy.

All Dex did was raise a lazy, defiant eyebrow. "You forgettin' about the money you owed the Reapers?"

"Goddamn," my dad muttered, scrubbing his hands over his hair again.

Hadn't he told me just days before that that had been sorted out? Wait, what the hell had he meant by sorting things out? And what the hell had I been thinking assuming that the debt had magically disappeared? Like that kind of crap actually happened.

"Twenty-one?" he choked out.

Dex tapped his fingers on the counter, his fingers kneading my thigh. "There's somethin' called interest, ya know." He tipped his chin up. "But don't worry about that right now. You and me can work out a payment plan once my girl is off the choppin' block."

Payment plan?

Say what?

I wanted to ask him for clarification but this wasn't the time, at least not while the sperm donor sat three feet from us. He could see the question on my face. You paid it off?

Curt opened his mouth like he wanted to say something else. He mouthed, my girl, but said nothing. He rubbed his hands over his scalp again, exasperated. "I can make back the money in a few days if I drop by Mississippi and Louisiana, and hit up the casinos."

I looked at Dex, and he looked at me, and I didn't even think twice about dropping my forehead to the table and banging it on there a couple of times.

What had I said before? About how you can't change people's natures?

It was right then that the buzzer on the table went off, signaling that our food was ready. Dex smoothed a hand over my thigh before sliding out of the booth with the contraption in hand.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my dad reach across the table, fingers outstretched. "Rissy," he whispered.

I watched him, watched those long fingers try and make a trek toward me but I stayed still.

"Talk to me."

I flicked my eyes up to his. There was no effort on my half to forget the memories I had of him as a kid. The memories that had kept me from bulldozing him into being a complete asshole but now... nothing. I felt nothing toward him. "We're talking."

He ground his teeth again. "Without the asshole."

Oh. Hell. No. "I love that asshole. He stays."

The expression he made gave the impression that I'd slapped him. He was outraged. "You're kidding me."

"I'm not."

"I never wanted that for you," he hissed. "Don't you get that? You think me and Delia moved all the way out here for no reason? We didn't want you around the MC, and especially not fuckin' around with one of them."

Anger prickled my neck. Resentment. Bitterness. "Things don't always work out the way you want them to." I could have explained to him the line of events that led me to Austin but I wasn't going to. I was happy there, and I didn't regret my move for a second. And this man didn't deserve an explanation.

It wasn't like he'd explained anything to me. Ever.

"You don't get it..."

"There's nothing to get," I cut him off, sharply.

"Your mom—"

The more he mentioned her, the angrier I got because it made me think of the woman in his hotel room, and the little boy in Denver. "Don't bring her up."

His light colored eyes flashed. Indecision and who knows what else tore through him. "She was the love of my life."

Now, he was just asking for Dex to kick his ass. Better yet, I'd kick his ass. My hands clenched into fists in my lap. "Is that why you left? Because you loved her so much? You loved her so much you cheated on her and had a kid with someone else?"

He rocked back in his seat. "You don't get it," he repeated.

"No, I do get it. I get that you loved her in your own messed up way, but what were me and Will? Collateral damage? Accidents?" My chin tipped up on its own as my jaw clenched. "Nothing, right? We were nothing to you?"

"Goddamnit, that's not it at all. Why won't you stop being so fuckin' hostile and let me talk?" he snapped.

Yeah, I was done with this. Done with this man and this bull crap.

I swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "I'm here because you need to fix this mess with those Europeans before they kill me or someone I care about. This isn't a social visit to talk about how much you've sucked being a human being, much less a father."

"Quit being such a bi—"

The drop of two pizza trays on the table droned out the end of his sentence. Dex's imposing figure loomed over the table, his hands gripping the edge. "You finish that fuckin' sentence, and I'll skin you alive."

Was he going to call me a bitch? Me?

My throat knotted up at the same time tears managed to find their way into the backs of my eyes. I ducked my head to keep either of them from seeing my reaction. I had to take a deep breath to center myself.

Of all the people in the universe, why did I have to be related to such a douche bag?

Unfortunately, you don't get to choose family, Sonny had told me once. But you do get to choose everyone else. In this case, I was cherry picking who I was going to spend the gift of my life with. Now that I deserved. Even without the cancer, without losing my mom and yia-yia, I would have wanted more. Not this sloppy excuse of a man.

I blinked and blinked again until I got myself under control.

Looking up, I caught the murderous look on Dex's face. The way his shoulders stiffened. He knew. He knew exactly what I was battling.

I couldn't glance at my father as I spoke. I kept my gaze steady on the tip of Uriel's tentacle peeping out from the black lip of his collar. This was right. Being there with him, that was fate. That was me taking control of my life and paving a new path. "I never want to see you again."