The Collar, Page 23

  Her arms fell to her sides and her jaw dropped. “What?”

  “Fuck, I didn’t mean to tell you like that.”

  Horror replaced the shock in her expression. “Didn’t mean to tell me like that? Do you know what you just accused my father of?”

  His rotten day had just got a hundred times worse. He dug his fingers through his hair. “Dena, let’s sit down and discuss this reasonably.”

  “Reasonably?” She shot up from the couch. “I think reason left the room the minute you suggested my father would do something like that.”

  He could kick himself for blurting it out like that. The only reason he could think of was that the day’s emotions had overwhelmed him. He might tell himself he didn’t grieve his father, but that didn’t mean his death didn’t affect him.

  Dena had moved across the room as if needing to put as much space as possible between them. He weighed his options and then decided to go with instinct.

  “Sit down,” he said in a tone of voice guaranteed to either get her attention or earn him a kick in the balls.

  Multiple emotions rippled across her face. “I’m not your—”

  “I am fully aware of that, but I said to sit down.” He pointed to the couch. “I buried my father today. He might have been a worthless bastard, but he was still my father. The least you can do is let me explain.”

  She sat down. “You have two minutes.”

  Without moving his eyes from her face, he told her about the day Senator Jenkins had paid him a visit. He left nothing out. Not the insinuation he wasn’t good enough for her, her father’s plan for her on the superior court, nor the veiled threat if he didn’t leave her alone.

  By the end of the story, her bottom lip was trembling. “I don’t believe you.”

  “Christ, Dena, what reason would I have to lie?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “You don’t want to believe me,” he said. “But deep inside, you know it’s true.”

  He tried to put himself in her place. She might not have had the best relationship with her father, but there was a big difference between thinking someone’s a jerk and allowing for the possibility of that person being capable of cold-blooded violence. Especially when the person in question was your father.

  Jeff wasn’t going to argue his point. He’d told her the truth, and it was up to her whether she believed it or not.

  She sank into the nearby chair and buried her face in her hands. “Oh, God.”

  “I was trying to protect you by not telling you.” All those years he hadn’t told her. Had he done more harm than good? He didn’t know if he’d do anything differently if he had the chance to do it again.

  “You and my dad are so similar. You always think you know what’s best for me. One of these days you’re going to have to let me stand on my own.” She stood up, wiping her cheeks and brushing the hair back from her face. “I need to go think.”

  She was calmer when they talked later that evening. After spending the afternoon thinking things through, she realized she could have no future with Jeff until she confronted her father. Jeff said he understood, but the easy camaraderie they had enjoyed days before was gone.

  Dena decided to head back home before Jeff did. Jeff called Nathaniel, and he volunteered to send his jet for her to fly home on. And of course, he said, their house was always open and she could stay with them until Jeff got home.

  It was late when she arrived at the Wests’ estate, and she mumbled a quick “hello” to Nathaniel and Abby before heading to the guest room and crashing. The toll of Colorado’s emotional highs and lows finally caught up with her, and she was asleep within seconds of falling into bed.

  She awoke disoriented, and it took her several minutes to remember where she was. According to the alarm clock on the nightstand, it was after nine; it’d been years since she’d slept that late. Her fingers fumbled putting on a robe, and she headed down the stairs.

  After making a cup of coffee in the kitchen, she found Abby in the library. Her hair was pulled up on top of her head, and she was intently focused on the laptop screen in front of her. At Dena’s arrival, she broke into a smile.

  “There you are. I was starting to think I should make sure you were breathing.”

  “Hard week,” Dena said. “Mind if I join you?”

  “No, not at all.” Abby picked up her own coffee mug and joined her on a leather couch.

  “I love this room. It’s so warm and welcoming.” Her father’s house had a library, but she’d never felt comfortable in it. Even as an adult, she was afraid to touch anything.

  “It’s my favorite, too. Nathaniel actually gave it to me shortly after we met. He wanted me to have a space that was completely my own.”

  “He gave you a room?”

  “It was probably more symbolic than anything.” Abby sighed and looked at the piano. “There are a lot of memories here.”

  Jeff’s words about his memories of his childhood home came back to her. But what different reactions to memories. Abby looked blissfully happy. Jeff had been miserable.

  “Memories,” Dena said. “I battled memories the entire time I was in Colorado. My own. Jeff’s. Why do we carry the past around like a weight?”

  “Because we’re afraid of losing it. Or we think if we don’t carry it around we’ll forget who we are.”

  “I learned so much about who Jeff is from being with him in Colorado. He had a horrible childhood.”

  “You didn’t know that before?” Abby asked.

  “Not so many details. He’d always avoided talking about it when we were together before,” Dena said. “But being in that house and coming back to this.” She swept her arm around. “I can feel the difference and see part of why he was always caught up in the fact that I come from money.”

  “It’s a legitimate issue. It took me a while to get used to Nathaniel’s wealth.”

  “We were together for years.”

  “You also have to remember Jeff’s a man, and it’s harder for them to deal with their partner being better off.”

  Dena hadn’t thought of that. “Because he’s supposed to be the breadwinner, according to society?”

  “Yes, and he feels he needs to provide you with the lifestyle to which you’re accustomed.”

  “But I have plenty of money. I don’t need his.”

  “Exactly the problem. Men want to feel needed.”

  Dena sighed and leaned back into the couch. “Sometimes men are hardheaded. Seriously? Who cares who has the money?”

  “I agree. It shouldn’t be an issue. And you think men are stubborn sometimes?” Abby laughed “How about most of the time?”

  “True.” Dena took another sip of coffee. “He also had a run-in with my father a few years ago he didn’t tell me about.”

  “Oh?”

  “You have to understand my dad. Scratch that. There’s no understanding him.”

  “I take it Jeff and your father don’t get along?”

  Dena snorted. “That’s putting it mildly. My dad has always had a plan for my life: where I should go to school, what job I should have, whom to marry. That sort of thing. If he could find a way to arrange my marriage, he would.”

  “Sounds like a tyrant.”

  “He is. I went to law school at Harvard because that’s where he went, though the truth is I wanted to go there. But after I graduated, I did my own thing, and that’s always made him mad.” She sighed. “Apparently, when Jeff and I were together before, my dad threatened him if he didn’t leave me alone.”

  Abby gave a low whistle. “That’s pretty bad.”

  “I know. I can’t believe my dad did that, and I can’t believe Jeff didn’t tell me.”

  “I take it you’ve discussed your feelings with Jeff. Are you going to discuss them with your dad?”

  She had thought about that on the trip back from Colorado. Would it do any good? Her dad wouldn’t really hurt Jeff, would he? What was the best way to approach him?

>   “I need to,” she finally answered.

  “I agree, especially if Jeff’s going to be a more permanent part of your life.” There was a question in Abby’s eyes.

  “I certainly hope so.”

  Her phone buzzed with an incoming text, and she smiled when she saw it was from Jeff.

  Coming home in two days. Miss you.

  She ran her finger over the words on the display as if touching them brought her somehow closer to him. She sent a simple reply.

  Miss you more. Waiting.

  Since she had a few more days off before she had to go back to work, she made sure she was waiting in her father’s home office at the end of the next day. Nathaniel arranged for the private security company to take her.

  Her father hugged her. “Dena. Darling. How lovely of you to stop by.”

  She pulled away from his arms. His hugs always felt fake to her. Almost as if he’d read a book on parenting and was just following the rules.

  Get tree for Christmas. Check.

  Hug child. Check.

  Threaten daughter’s lover. Check.

  He frowned when she pulled away. “What brings you by?”

  She looked around the massive office with the huge wooden desk and the faint smell of cigar smoke. She hated this room. Hated that every detail of it was focused on making the person behind the desk look big and the person on the other side feel small. When she was little, she wasn’t allowed to enter it, and she’d imagined it a magical place where laws were made and the country’s problems solved. Then she’d grown up and realized its only purpose was to stroke her father’s ego.

  “I’ve been out of town,” she said in reply to his question. “Jeff’s father had cancer, and I went to help. He died a few days ago.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, of course.” He spoke with no emotion noticeable in his voice, though he winced when she spoke Jeff’s name. “But glad you’re back home where you belong.”

  She didn’t even know what to say to that.

  Her father didn’t seem to notice. Or else he did and just didn’t care. “I have to say, I am disappointed you’ve taken back up with Jeffery Parks. If I’ve taught you nothing else, you should know appearance is everything. Especially if you’re looking to be elected into the judicial branch. That man will be seen as a handicap. Honestly, Dena, he didn’t finish high school.”

  “He got his GED,” she said through clenched teeth.

  He waved as if shooing away something unpleasant. “GED. Please. I raised you better.”

  He said something else, but blood pounded in her head so loudly, she didn’t hear it. Her plan had been to have a reasonable conversation with her father, but it didn’t appear that was going to happen. She smacked her palm on top of the wooden desk so hard a pencil holder fell over.

  “Let me settle something,” she said, interrupting whatever her father had been going on about. “Jeff Parks is the best man I know. He’s smart. He’s honorable. He’s hardworking. And he’s honest. Frankly, that’s a hell of a lot more than you are.”

  “You will not come into—”

  She shocked herself by snapping her fingers, a move Jeff had made numerous times. Her father must have been shocked as well, as he suddenly fell silent.

  “I am not finished,” she said. “You will not interrupt me.”

  He looked at her with ire but remained silent. She straightened her spine. If her dad wanted to play dirty, she would respond in kind.

  “Certain—let’s call them classified—conversations have been brought to my attention over the past few days. The fallout of which could be very damaging to a political career. Especially for someone short-listed for the vice presidency. Are you with me so far? Nod ‘yes’ if you understand.”

  “For crying out loud—”

  She slapped the desk. “I said nod!”

  He nodded.

  “Good. Now, I might be just a lowly attorney, but I have connections you wouldn’t believe. I’ve helped a lot of people, and I’m not afraid to call in favors. Not only that”—she smiled sweetly at him—“but I’m prepared to lie. I’m prepared to make up shit so rotten you’ll be headlining the gossip rags for years. You’ll be the punch line of every late-night-show joke. I’ll lie my ass off and it’ll work. Know why?”

  He shook his head, his face ominously expressionless.

  She planted her hands on top of the desk and looked him straight in the eye. “Because the American public loves a scandal, and they like nothing more than to see pompous rich assholes fall off their pedestals.”

  With those words, for the first time ever, she saw fear in her father’s eyes.

  “Here’s the deal,” she continued. “I love Jeff, and if he’ll have me, I plan to spend the rest of my life with him. He’ll be the father of your grandchildren, if we’re lucky enough to have kids. So I’m going to walk out that door, leaving you with the knowledge that if one hair on Jeff’s head is hurt, I’ll call a press conference faster than you can say ‘impeached.’ Are we clear? If so, nod your head.” He opened his mouth, but she shook her head. “Best not.”

  He nodded.

  “Excellent.” She straightened up and brushed her palms as if wiping something off. “I’m glad we had this chat.” As she walked to the door, she looked over her shoulder. “Oh, and one more thing. You can screw the judicial branch. I have no intention of ever being a judge.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Present day

  If there was one thing Jeff hated, it was being late. He demanded punctuality of his employees, clients, and the submissives he played with. He himself made sure he arrived to appointments at least five minutes early.

  Unfortunately, driving across the country had a way of throwing obstacles in your way. Especially, it seemed, when you were trying to get home in time for something. He’d hoped to make it back to see Dena before tonight’s play party. To be frank, he wasn’t in the mood to go to it, but Nathaniel and Abby were spending the weekend in Delaware and no one was comfortable with Dena being by herself. Plus, Dena had said she wanted to be there to offer support to Julie, who was doing her first public demo. There was no way he’d be in the same city with Dena and not see her, so it looked like he was going to a party.

  He only wished someone had told the traffic.

  “Come the fuck on,” he said, once more coming to a stop in the middle of the interstate.

  He glanced at the clock on his dash. From the way it looked, he’d have just enough time to stop by his house and take a quick shower. Even then, he would be a little late to the party. Which meant no time to talk to Dena beforehand.

  With a frustrated sigh he used his voice command to call her.

  “Hello,” she answered with a smile so evident in her voice, he could almost picture it.

  “Hey,” he said. “How are you?”

  “I’m doing great,” she said. “I can’t wait to tell you all about it.”

  “I can’t wait to hear.”

  “I feel better than I have in ages. And let’s just say, I’d have made one kick-ass Domme.”

  He laughed. “Now I have to know what you’ve been up to, especially since I know there’s not a sexually dominant bone in your body.”

  “Ewwww. There was nothing sexual about it, and I’ll tell you when you make it home. I promise your patience will be rewarded,” she said in a low and seductive voice that shot straight to his groin. He cursed the traffic again. “Something wrong?” she asked.

  “No. I’m stuck in traffic and growing impatient.” He signaled to change lanes. Why did it always seem like the other lane moved faster than yours until you got in it?

  “Are you not going to make the party?”