He scoffs and his mask slips for a split second. The insult landed and he’s actually affronted. About his car. Of all things.
What a fucking douche bag.
I can’t believe this man made me. Honestly, I thank my lucky fucking stars that he brought me here and I had the chance to learn how to be a man from a real one. My grandpa was a lot of things. He taught me integrity, honesty, loyalty, and the value of hard work.
Then there’s what my grandma taught me.
My throat gets tight when thinking about her and I push it away. Now is not the time.
Not with my sperm donor on my family’s land. My shoulders are so tense that a headache is starting to form at the base of my skull. The pounding isn’t distracting; it helps me focus.
On getting him off the land.
“You know,” he starts his bullshit again, his voice turning magnanimous, “you might as well give up. You’ve never been worth much, Rook,and this will only make it more obvious, because you’re going to fail. There’s no way anyone will marry you; it’ll be even more pathetic for you to have a whole year to get one cunt to marry you, and still not be able to make it happen.”
Everything in me screams to step closer to him and punch him. But I think it’s exactly what he wants me to do. Then he’ll call the police and get my ass thrown in jail.
Now isn’t the time.
“You know,” he looks around again, the change in his tone and focus giving me whiplash, “maybe it would be better to keep it all together. I know a few people who could use this kind of land.” He glances at me, his grin turning sinister in a way that makes my blood run cold. “But if they want it, they won’t take no for an answer. They might not even want to wait a year for access.”
He rubs his hands together, his words feel like barbs against my skin. The threat is clear to hear, but I doubt he knows anyone worth actually being afraid of. The man is a rat dressed up as a human. If he has some sort of connections, they have to know what kind of man he is. Right?
Would criminals even give a fuck?
“I guess we’ll just have to see how it all shakes out, then,” I force the words past my lips and keep the fact that Meadow is going to be my wife tucked close to my heart. He doesn’t need to know.
When he finds out, he’s going to lose his fucking mind.
“Get out of here,” I tell him and make a shooing motion with my hand.
He holds his own up in surrender, as if he’s just some misunderstood rake. “Okay, okay,” he demurs, “I’ll get out of your hair for now, but I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon.”
With a wink, he turns back toward the most ridiculous car the man could have, and I watch as he practically folds himself inside of it before gunning down the drive. I’m left standing there and staring after him, but this time there’s no warmth in my chest like there was after watching Meadow drive away.
I need to marry her fast and keep it as quiet as possible. Which means I’ll have to take her up on the whole courthouse thing. If it’s too big, then he’ll get wind of it far too quickly.
I’ll just have to make it up to her later. After the farm is ours and I’ve gotten her to fall in love with me.
“Fuck,” I mutter while running my fingers through my hair and turning toward the farmhouse door.
I’m really fucking glad Meadow left the bottle of vodka behind. I could use a drink.
CHAPTER 7
MEADOW
My leg is bouncing as I try and not let what happened yesterday burst out of me before it’s my turn during our morning meeting. While my day started a while ago, and I’ve been in the kitchen already, taking a moment to meet with my girls while my staff handles the bakery is fine by me. We have good, steady traffic throughout the day because a portion of our items don’t contain anything psychotropic at all. It’s a fact the mayor continues to ignore.
Mayer keeps glancing my way, her gaze sweeping from my face to my leg and then back again. I’m sure she thinks I’m just on edge because I met with Rook and am now anxious to get to work on testing out recipes for the fall menu.
She’s nowhere close.
I almost can’t wait to see her face when I tell them what really went down yesterday. I hope they won’t be disappointed in me. I’ve always been a bit of a romantic, and while my parents are happy and still married, I’ve never had the impression that their love was one filled with passion or even anything beyond taciturn acceptance.
It was kind of sad. I’ve always dreamed of a love that’s more than what I saw growing up.
Maybe I read too many books or something, but I believe the love I’m destined to find will ground me and sweep me off my feet at the same time.