Watching her do that, the bad feelings Axl had during the text exchange came back.

And he reconsidered.

Was this knee-jerk?

He’d lost his mind when Boone told him her father had called her that name. Shy, sweet, adorable Hattie was not a whore. And no father should be flinging words at his child like that, but with Hattie in his life, he couldn’t let stand hers did.

But it was more.

He saw her weeks ago in that dance studio, slamming her fists into her thighs repeatedly, harming herself.

Because she’d been harmed.

Knowing what he knew about her history with her father, when he heard the abuse was still occurring to that extreme, his first instinct was to come between it and her.

But now, with her nerves, he was concerned he was the one doing her harm.

He focused on her pretty, flowery, ruffly, girlie-as-fuck top and her tight faded jeans, as well as her high wedges, and more importantly, how she could be cute and sexy at the same time, and tried not to focus on her anxiety.

He failed.

He took her hand when she made it to him.

“Hey,” he called.

Her eyes came to him.

And yep.

Now it was him that was causing her harm.

“I got caught up in my anger when I heard what your dad said to you,” he told her something she knew. “And because I did, I didn’t ask how you felt about me having a chat with him. But we’re here and we need to have that discussion. Now, I’m prepared to go in there and have that chat with him. Or this can be a meet-the-boyfriend thing and nothing else. But it’s up to you how I play it.”

Surprise flashed in her eyes before she leaned his way a little and said, “I kinda made it clear at the time I wasn’t a fan of what he said.”

He nodded. “Then I’ll make the meet-the-boyfriend play.”

“No one has ever stood up for me, except Mom. Aunt Pam and Uncle Dave, even my grandparents, I knew it concerned them, and when I got older, they spoke to me about it. But when I was younger, they never did anything. Not because they were weak, or they don’t love me. I think they felt their hands were tied. I think that because I could feel their frustration. Also, their relief when Mom left him, and I went with her when they divorced. My family showed me a lot of love and that was their way to make up for what he was doing. But they never stood up for me.”

He wasn’t sure what to do with that.

So he asked, “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, we’re official boyfriend and girlfriend now. And we should have a deal. If you let me be me, I’ll let you be you. Free to be who we are, do what we think is right, even if it’s doing something for the other. In other words, if I had an issue with it, honey, I would have told you. And even as angry as you were, I sense you would have listened to me.”

At first, hell no.

Later.

He hoped so.

“But more,” she carried on, “I can’t say it sucked you were so angry on my behalf. It didn’t. Not even a little bit. And when you first told me you might come with me to share what you had to share, I wanted to see how that would go, when someone stuck up for me to Dad.” Her curls slid as she tipped her head to the side. “Does that seem childish?”

“No,” he said firmly.

She gave a small nod and went on.

“Even so, I think in a way we’re always little kids with our parents. And because of that, they always have the ability to do good things, make us feel better when life is crap, or we want them around when we’re sick because they give us comfort. But they also always have the ability to do bad, like what Dad does. On the other side of it, they always see us as their kids, and they’re the authority, so they might not listen. I think he knew he hurt my feelings when he called me that. I also think he felt badly about it afterward. But from experience, that won’t make it stop. Now I’m wondering, if someone else says, ‘Listen, that isn’t okay,’ if he’ll hear that and maybe realize it isn’t okay and stop doing it. Or at least try.”

“You have hope you can salvage shit with him,” Axl murmured.

“Well …he’s my dad.”

Yeah.

He was her dad.

“How about we see how it plays out?” he suggested.

She smiled at him, her unease not entirely gone, but it wasn’t as bad as before.

“That sounds like a plan,” she agreed.

He bent to touch his mouth to hers before they walked to the front door.

She let them in.

Once in, she called, “Hey, Dad!”

There was no response.

The place was nice, not anything like Axl imagined: run-down and unkempt.

Decent furniture. Clean. Ordered.

They moved out of a small foyer into a living room and there he was in a recliner, a Rockies game on.

He turned a surly face their way and Axl was surprised again.

He was good-looking and appeared fit. He’d be tall when he stood, which was a surprise since Hattie wasn’t short, but she wasn’t particularly tall. Further, her dad had to be in his fifties and he was holding on to a good amount of dark in his thick hair. And his brown eyes were clear.

He wasn’t sunken, sallow, over- or underweight.

And the instant his gaze hit Axl, his expression shifted.

Surprise, first.

And then ingratiating as he pushed himself up from his seat.

Hattie popped forward, still attached at the hand to him, which meant she pulled him forward.

And when she did, Don Yates’s eyes fell to their hands and locked there.

“Dad, I want you to meet Axl, my boyfriend. Axl, my dad. Don Yates.”

And …

Shit.

Axl thought he could call this.

But the mild tick to the man’s head, the shock that registered in his expression, followed by a rush of warmth and …

Fuck.

Gratitude.

He loved his daughter.

Fuck.

Don Yates loved Hattie.

Axl didn’t ask what she had texted him, but obviously she didn’t share who was coming.

And now the man was meeting his girl’s boyfriend. And the fact he hadn’t met one since the one she had in high school had to scream this was important.

And Don Yates knew that.

It meant something to him.

It meant something his girl would bring her man to meet her dad.

Don knew he treated his daughter like garbage. He knew it was duty that brought her to his house.