“She is?”

This news visibly rocked him.

Good.

Axl nodded and drew back more beer.

Then he told him, “You should follow the club on social media. Sometimes, they post videos. Can’t say I have time to check very often, but from what I’ve seen, management uses a lot of Hattie. She’s drawing a big crowd for them. Always had a velvet rope, now they have to turn people away. Even if the cover charge has tripled.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said under his breath. He took a second to think on that, then back to a normal voice, he asked, “How long you two been seeing each other?”

“We’ve known each other awhile now,” he hedged.

“You meet Sharon yet?”

Sharon was Hattie’s mom.

He shook his head. “Not yet.”

It was the first time since he met the man that he saw something overt he didn’t like.

A smug smile.

He got to meet the boyfriend first, and that meant something to him, like it was a competition.

Axl had a lot of experience with that and he didn’t like any of it.

“She doesn’t have to go make dinner for her mom,” Axl pointed out.

The smile died.

“And she asked me to spend the day with her, I promised I would, so here I am,” he went on. “But thanks for letting me crash your party.”

He said that last, but after what he’d said before it, it was clear that it was Don who was crashing the party.

“She takes care of her old man,” Don told him.

“Unh-hunh,” Axl replied. “She’s a good woman.”

Don looked a touch ashamed.

Hattie came in, right to Axl, sitting on the arm of the couch next to him, and sharing, “Waiting for the water to boil and the oven to heat up. We should have you sorted in about twenty minutes, Dad.”

“Well, that’ll be good, honey. Though, you get those pigs in the oven and the pasta on to boil, I’ll finish up,” Don said.

Hattie’s back went straight.

“But what about cleanup?” Hattie asked.

“I’ll clean up after myself tonight. You and your man go off and have fun. Okay?”

“But your fee—” she tried.

“I got it, darlin’. Okay?”

“Okay,” she replied and looked down at Axl.

He shook his head slightly, indicating he hadn’t gotten into it.

She then asked him, “You okay?”

He nodded, murmuring, “I’m good, baby.”

Her gaze moved to the television. “How are the Rockies doing?”

“There’s ups, there’s downs,” Don didn’t exactly answer.

They all sat in uncomfortable silence before Hattie got up, saying, “Going to go check the water.”

Axl watched her walk out, threw back more beer, then he made a decision.

This man loved his daughter. It was fucked up how he did, but he did.

And Hattie wanted a healthy relationship with her father.

Axl couldn’t tell the future to know if that was a possibility.

Though it was more.

A good deal more.

Because, since he didn’t know if that was a possibility, he also didn’t know if she should continue to hope, and onward from that, if he should champion it for her, or try to find a way to cushion her by leading her to the understanding it wasn’t going to happen.

And if she continued to hope, Axl wasn’t certain what part he should play in helping her try to find that way.

But in the now, she had hope.

So something had to be said.

He pushed forward to sit on the edge of the couch.

He then rested his elbows to his knees and called Don’s attention from the TV, saying, “Listen, Don, I gotta admit something to you.”

Don looked to him, eyes wary, head tipped to the side in query.

“See, it’s come to my attention you’re not a big fan of where Hattie works, and you weren’t real nice to her recently in how you shared that, callin’ her a name.”

There was surprise.

Then Don’s face closed down.

Axl ignored both and kept going.

“Now, I get I’m very new on your scene, but I’m not on Hattie’s.” Another semi-lie. “And I hope you get where I’m comin’ from, and even feel relief she’s got a man in her life who would step up for her in this way. But it upset her and I’m not big on her bein’ upset. Now, this isn’t about comin’ between a father and his daughter. This is about me looking after my woman. So I really gotta ask you to adjust the way you communicate with her so you don’t do her any harm.”

“I’m not sure I know what you’re—”

“You called her a whore, Don.”

His face got red.

“She’s not a whore, Don,” Axl kept at him.

He shifted in his chair, and Axl knew the bluster would come before it came.

And it came.

“She’s a classically trained—”

“I know what she is. And what she’s not. And I feel I gotta repeat what she’s not is a whore.”

“Do you have children?” Don asked.

“No,” Axl answered.

“So, you don’t have kids. When you do, you’ll understand. You put effort into something. They put effort in it. And then—”

“This isn’t about her dancing. This isn’t about your hopes and dreams for her. This isn’t about her hopes and dreams for her. You called her a whore, Don. And not only is she not that, you calling her that upset her. And I can’t have that.”

“I was having a bad night,” Don said tightly. “I know my Hattie is no whore.”

“You’ll probably have more bad nights, though I hope you don’t. But if you do, gotta ask you to refrain from taking it out on Hattie that way. We clear?”

Don stared hard at him.

Axl didn’t know if it was about control or the new guy coming in and laying down the law or embarrassment or what it was. He was not a man like Don Yates. He’d never know.

But they went into staredown and it was a good thing.

Because Don had no choice but to take Axl in. Not only that he wasn’t backing down, but everything about him.

He knew he didn’t look like a guy you wanted to fuck with.

So if it ever came down to having to pick, would she choose a father who called her a whore, or a boyfriend like Axl who had her back?