MINE 2 Read Free Page B

to escape a movie villain.
    Nope, it only seemed to piss him off more that I’d been so afraid my mind had gone berserk and almost gotten me hurt more than I already was.
    The thought of what I must have looked like makes me laugh despite the embarrassment, and I giggle once more, trying to picture my face and the speed wobble I’d been performing to escape the dastardly ghouls behind me.
    “Stop laughing. It isn’t bloody funny!”
    “But it is,” I wheeze, burying my face into his neck as tears leak out of my eyes. “I must have looked like—”
    “You looked half dead with bloody fear!”
    I sober at the heat in his tone and peek up at him, biting my lips to quell the smile blooming there. He must really like me, at least a little, if he can’t laugh with me at my silly antics.
    The idea sends tingles of joy to my already melting heart, and I sigh, giving him a quick peck on the lips before pushing him away to sit up against the headboard.
    “Okay, all right, I won’t laugh about it anymore, grandpa,” I gripe. “If you won’t let me out of bed, and plan on staying cooped up with me all day again, I think it’s time to talk about it.”
    His face shutters, letting me know he’s been waiting for the inevitable questions and doesn’t want to answer.
    I’m more stubborn, though, and smarter just for having boobs and a vagina, so I square my shoulders and school my features into a glare I learned from the master himself.
    “Tell me what happened with Wesley. I want to know.”
    “Ash—”
    “Nu-uh, mister, I was kidnapped and robbed.”
    God, who steals a woman’s engagement ring, anyway! It’s like kicking a freaking puppy, it’s so wrong, and just…just mean!
    “You tell me what the heck happened, or I’ll call Frank and get it from him,” I warn, keeping my face stoic.
    Lucian scowls darkly at the mention of the other man’s name, and I fight a giggle at the look of jealous irritation it invokes. I’ve now officially met my personal bodyguard and have him so wrapped around my finger he’d willingly jump through flaming hoops for me.
    I kinda like knowing that I have someone at my back; it makes me feel safer, as well as the added benefit of using the big burly ex-soldier to threaten my stubborn husband.
    “Dammit! Fine,” he mutters, raking at his hair in frustration. “I had your father—”
    “Wesley. That man is not my dad,” I mutter, feeling a fresh rush of tears at the mention of the man who’d ripped my ring away and left me for dead.
    “Wesley,” Lucian concedes, taking another, deeper breath. “I had him investigated, and…Ash, can’t we just—”
    “No! I want to know,” I insist, locking gazes with his stubborn frown.
    “He stole the inheritance your mother left for you and Ben,” he finally grits out after a few long minutes of staring each other down.
    The news shocks me a little, because honestly, I didn’t even know Mom had any money besides the meager savings we’d used for her funeral.
    “She left us money?”
    That rat fink bastard! Not only has he taken my ring, a symbol of the commitment…ownership, I amend, of the man before me, but he’d taken money I could have used to keep Ben and myself housed and fed.
    I could have used the safety net while getting my life back in order, as well as not having had to work so much Ben had felt neglected.
    Just another tic against him in the ‘crummy dad’ department, Ash. Shake it off and move on.
    “Yes. Not a lot, but enough to see you through the first year at least. He stole it and ran, and then…”
    I see from his hesitation that he’s afraid to tell me the rest, not wanting to add to the hurt and disillusionment I already feel. Sweet brute.
    “I already know he has another family,” I whisper, pushing the hurt away with a forceful shove.
    I can mull that over later when I don’t feel so raw. Definitely when he’s out of the room. For some reason he goes ballistic when I cry or get sad. I like it,