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"And," Tyson said, slightly quieter, "where the hell did you come from? Nobody could find you anywhere, no one knows anything about you, and all of sudden you're justhere?"
"Whoare you?" Dash repeated and, this time, he didn't yell. We must be closer to them because I heard him just fine in his normal voice. "Give her to me," he demanded.
Rain completely ignored Dash and Tyson both, and pulled me closer to his chest in his arms. "I don't think so," he rasped out, and his voice was full of gravel. "She's staying with me."
"I don't even know who in the hell you are," Dash growled menacingly. "All I know is you came up here tomy fucking house, with Ariel in your arms and bleeding, and you won't tell me who you are, and you think I am going to let you keep her? You are out of your damn mind. Give her to me."
"Dash," I whispered his name urgently as I tilted my head painfully to the side so I could see them. I think it hurt more to look away from Rain than it did to physically move my head. Even though he carried me in his arms, I worried he'd go up in a poof of smoke if and when I looked away from him. Because I was afraid to take my eyes off of him for any amount of time, my eyes raked over the guys and immediately shot right back to Rain.
Tyson's arms were crossed over his chest and Dash's arms were held down at his sides, his fists pressed in tight to his thighs and clenched tightly. Tyson looked condescending and Dash looked furious.
"That's her bio dad, man," Tyson said.
"How do you know that?" Dash angrily shot back.
"Didn't you look at the pictures?" Tyson asked, sounding incredulous, and I was right there with him. The guys had passed those pictures and letters around between them all. How had Dash not looked at a single one of them? And Rain looked just like he had in the pictures, only older and a whole lot less friendly. All the joy and happiness had been washed out of him, and what was left was something cold and dangerous.
Looking up at his cold, closed off face made me feel sorry for him, and I had the sudden urge to cry. Vivian and unfortunate circumstances had ruined this man’s life, and it was all, in part, due to me. If Rain had never had a child would he have lost the friendly look that had once graced his eyes? Maybe, anything was possible. But I doubted it.
I had no business blaming myself when Vivian The Imposter was entirely to blame, unless there was something I was missing. It was possible, but I didn't want to believe there had been anything at fault besides her. I wanted to love Rain and be loved by him so badly it was an ache in my chest that never went away.
"No, I didn't look at the pictures," Dash muttered in disgust. "I had no reason to. He wasn't in her life in any real way outside of the letters that lady left, so what reason did I have to read the letters or look at the pictures? I couldn't find one, so I didn't bother with it."
Honestly, I couldn't fault his reasoning, but I was far too nosey for my own good sometimes, and, if it were me, I would have looked simply because I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from not doing so. My curiosity wouldn't have allowed me to do anything else.
"That's-" Ty started to say something, but Dash cut him off.
"Doesn't matter," Dash said. "None of that matters. Whatdoesmatter is-"
This time it was Rain who cut them off, and when he did, his voice was laced with an emotion I hadn't heard from him, and I didn't pick it up until after he'd finished speaking. It was impatience and anger. Two things he hadn't shownme,but had no problem throwing Tyson and Dash's way.
"You are correct," he said. "Not any of this bullshit matters. But, do you know what does matter, and it matters to me a whole lot? The fact both of you idiots are willing to stand around and play twenty questions while my girl here is bleeding from a head wound, and neither of you seems bothered by it or really seems to care. And, neither of you has so much as tried to take her away from me. What kind of males are you? Certainly not ones of worth. I will not be handing my daughter over to your care, and if you want to try and take her from me, you are both more than welcome to, but I can promise you right now it won't end well for either of you. I will die before I let anyone ever take her from me again."
The beautiful thing was I believed him.
I wasn't your typical, pretty, I'm gonna love you until the end of time because I'm your father speech. I was impressed by it. The silence that lingered thickly in the air around us didn't let me know anything about how the guys had taken it.
"Now," Rain said when no one else filled the silence, "let's get her inside so we can stop the bleeding from her head."
A reasonable request and I was glad someone had made it. I wanted my head to stop bleeding, as well.
The sound of an animal purring reached my ears and I glanced down at where it was coming from. Binx was rubbing his little black body lengthwise against Rain's ankles, back and forth, all the while purring. The cat seemed to take an immediate liking to Rain that was a whole lot similar to how he'd reacted to me right from the start.
"Crazy cat," Rain muttered under his breath, and I was right there with him.
"Crazy, stupid cat," I muttered back.
"Fine," Dash snapped unhappily. "You can bring her inside the house, but I want you to know that I don't trust you, and I really don't want you in my house right now. I'm also going to be watching every move you make."
Rain looked down at me and the corner of his lips twitched. "Does he always talk like he thinks he's a badass?" he asked me quietly.
"No," I told him honestly. "He's usually very sweet. But this isn't the first time I've been bleeding in front of him, and I think we are both still a little raw from last time. It leaves him a little grumpy. And I can’t blame him for being grumpy."
Dash and Tyson both grumbled too quietly for me to make out the words as they headed towards the cottage.
Rain followed behind them with me still in his arms. He'd gotten what he'd wanted, and he really hadn't even had to fight for it. I wished things worked out that way for me.
"I can walk, I think," I told him quietly, and it was probably even true. Somewhere along the way after we'd started talking to two of my guys, my head had stopped throbbing and was now only a slight pressure in the back of my head. Blood ran down the back of my head in a warm, wet trail that went down the back of my neck and slid down the back of my shirt. But I could stand on my own, and I could sure as hell make an attempt to walk on my own, too.
