Velvet Kisses Ch. 02

"What do you want, Jeneda?"

"Nothing. I just thought I'd say hello."

"Well, you've said it." He blinked once, then twice, before picking up his fork and stabbing it into a chunk of meat.

"Chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. That always was your favorite meal." A faint smile crossed her lips, and before she could lose her nerve, she took a seat directly across from him.

The look he gave her seemed to insinuate that he thought she'd gone crazy, but she ignored it.

"I know you're still mad at me, and I'm sure you want nothing more than for me to leave you alone. But we need to talk."

"We already have," he said between mouthfuls of mashed potatoes. "I have nothing more to say to you. I thought I made that very clear."

"Dad, please. Just give me a chance here, okay?"

He said nothing in return, only took a long, noisy sip of his beverage.

"I hate the fact that we don't talk anymore, and I want to make things right between us."

"It's too late for that."

"Really?" A look of astonishment crossed her face. "You're not even willing to give me a second chance?"

"Why should I? You've made it very clear where your loyalties lie." Gary reinforced his statement with a glance in Dane's direction, who was watching them from across the diner.

"You still come first in my life, dad. You always will."

"You don't really expect me to believe that...not after what you did." For the first time in the past few minutes, he looked her straight in the eyes.

The heat of his gaze was too much for her to handle, so she cast her eyes down in shame and rested it on her hands, which were fidgeting in her lap.

"Your mother tells me you're marrying him."

"Yes, I am." She looked back up at him, and in a voice that was soft and full of hope, she said, "I'm sure you'll probably say no, but it would mean a lot if you would give me away."

A harsh chuckle passed his lips. "You're joking, right?" He shook his head, then speared a large chunk of chicken fried steak with his fork. "I'd rather pass another kidney stone than give you away to that soulless bastard."

Jeneda noticed him throw another glance over her shoulder, and as she realized that he was staring down Dane, she nervously shifted in her seat.

"So I guess there's no point in me even asking if you'll attend."

He said nothing in return, only kept his gaze pinned on Dane, who was undoubtedly growing very nervous.

"You wouldn't have to participate," she said. "Just having you present would be enough."

"I'm not coming, Jeneda."

He said it with such severity, that it frightened her a little, and she felt the knot in her stomach tighten even further.

"If you want to commit your life to a thieving murderer, that's your business," Gary said. "But I will not be there to watch you do it."

"He's not a murderer, dad. He didn't kill anyone."

"He may as well have pulled the trigger. He didn't do anything to stop it, did he?"

Jeneda shook her head.

"Well that's a murderer in my book."

"I know that you hate him, dad. And I know nothing will change your opinion of him. But can you please find it in your heart to forgive me?"

Gary released his fork so that it clattered loudly against his plate. A deep furrow appeared between his brows, and with a stare so icy cold it seemed to freeze her in place, he spoke.

"You've chosen your side. You've not only made it clear that you're unwilling to give this man up, but you're also marrying him." His frown deepened into a scowl, and his lips drew into a straight line, leaving him with no choice but to speak through gritted teeth. "I can not, and I will not be a part of your life ever again. Not as long as he's in it. Understand?"

The words cut through her like a knife, and although he hadn't laid a finger on her, it felt as if she'd just received a hard slap across the face. A wounded expression crossed her features, and after pushing back her chair and rising to her feet, she spoke a few words in parting.

"So that's it. You're pushing me out of your life forever."

He stared at her for a few more moments before picking his fork back up. Then he lifted the newspaper that was sitting in front of his plate and positioned it in front of his face.

Now effectively cut off from continuing the conversation with him, Jeneda was left with no choice but to stand there feeling stupid. There was an awful finality to the moment, and as she realized there was a very real possibility that she would never see her father again, her eyes welled up with tears.

"I guess there's nothing more for me to say, then." Her voice wavered on the last words, but before her emotions could get the better of her, she forced back the lump in her throat and said, "Goodbye, dad."

She turned on her heel, and with hasty steps, made her way back to the table where Dane was sitting.

She didn't bother to take a seat, only grabbed her purse, and in a voice that was barely audible, she said, "Let's go."

She barely had time to turn away from him and head for the cashier before a fat tear trickled down her cheek, but that didn't stop Dane from figuring out that she was overwhelmed with sorrow.

He quickly followed behind her, and as he fell into stride beside her, he studied her face. "Baby, you're crying. What happened?"

"Nothing. Everything is exactly the same as it was before."

As they reached the cashier, she handed over the bill, then reached into her purse to pull out her wallet. But before she could retrieve any money from her purse, Dane pulled out a wad of bills from his back pocket.

"Put your money away, honey. I'm paying," he said.

She slipped her wallet back into her purse, then waited impatiently as the cashier, who was a tattooed brunette with frosted lipstick and gobs of mascara, rang up their bill. Even with her back facing the table where her father was seated, Jeneda knew that his eyes were pinned on her and Dane.

And sure enough, as they turned around from the cashier and headed for the door, she saw that her father was indeed staring directly at them. To Jeneda's surprise, Dane looked right back at him. Then he did something that really caught her off guard.

Instead of continuing toward the door, he suddenly diverted his course, heading straight for the table where Gary was seated. For a moment she was too stunned to say anything at all, but as she realized that Dane truly was going to make contact with her father, a panicked expression came onto her face.

"Dane, stop. This Isn't a good idea." She grabbed his arm and gave it a gentle tug in hopes that it would discourage him from continuing toward her father, but he only walked on.

"The man is staring right at me, Jeneda. I can't just leave without saying anything."

"He doesn't want to meet you. Can't you see that?"

"I know he doesn't," Dane said. "But the least I can do is apologize for what I've done. I owe him that much."

"And you really think that's going to help?"

Apparently he did, because he continued forward, only coming to a halt once he reached his destination.

"Hello, Mr. Larkson. I'm Dane, your daughter's fiancée." He held out his hand as a gesture of respect, but quickly dropped it as the other man's face darkened with anger. "You have every right to hate me," Dane said. "And I know you're probably wondering how I even got the nerve to come over here and speak to you. But I couldn't leave without offering an apology."

With his lumberjack-like body and rugged beard, Gary exuded an aura of power and sternness. The look he gave Dane was nothing short of homicidal, and his body visibly stiffened as he glared at the man standing before him.

"An apology." His words came out strained, as if he were struggling to keep from yelling.

"Yes. I'm sorry for what I did." Dane paused for a moment, as if trying to find the right words. Then in a lowered voice, he said, "Not a day goes by that I don't think about what happened. I know it was wrong, and I know that my actions negatively affected a lot of people."

As his voice drifted off he momentarily lowered his eyes, then once again lifted them to meet Gary's.

"I was so damn concerned with saving my own ass, that I didn't even stop to think about what I was really doing. An innocent man died that night, and instead of telling the police, I punked out and kept it a secret. I was wrong, and I apologize for my involvement in Vincent's death."

Although it was clear that Dane had finished, Gary only continued to look at him with hard, cold eyes. His jaw clenched repeatedly, and in what Jeneda guessed was barely restrained ferocity, he breathed deeply through flared nostrils.

She also couldn't help noticing that her father was pointing the tip of the knife and the prongs of the fork in Dane's direction. She would have preferred to assume that he was doing it unconsciously, but deep down inside, she knew that her father wanted nothing more than to spear Dane's body like the chicken fried steak he'd just consumed.

"Fuck your apology," Gary said. "Because of you, my best friend didn't even have a proper funeral. There was no body, just a photo in a casket. Do you have any idea what It's like to say goodbye to a *photograph*?"

At a loss for words, Dane blinked a few times, then cleared his throat. "No, I don't."

Dane's response only seemed to compound Gary's anger, and as Jeneda gazed worriedly at her father, she could see that there was a storm brewing in his eyes.

"First you take my best friend, and now you take my daughter." His lips pulled into a menacing grimace. "What more do you want from me? Who else are you planning to steal from my life, you fucking thief?" His voice had risen several octaves, drawing attention from the other customers in the diner.

"Dad, please." Jeneda glanced around the nearly filled restaurant, and as she saw that all eyes were cast in the direction of Dane and her father, her face grew hot with embarrassment.

"Stay out of this, Jeneda," Gary shouted. "This is between me and him."

With eyes that burned with hatred, he looked back at Dane. Then suddenly and unexpectedly, he rose to his feet. If he wasn't imposing before, he sure as hell was now, and only once he'd stretched himself to his full height of six feet three inches tall, did he take a step toward Dane.

"Daddy, don't." Jeneda stepped in front of him, then placed a hand on his wide chest in a fruitless attempt to prevent him from moving any further.

"Don't, *what*?" Gary asked.

"Please don't hit him. He only came to apologize, he doesn't want any trouble."

"I'm not going to hit him."

"You're not?"

"No."

Although he said it firmly and with utter conviction, Jeneda couldn't help but worry that he might end up losing his temper. But she also knew that her father wasn't a liar, and if he truly had intentions to punch Dane, it would have already happened.

With Dane watching on in complete silence, Jeneda was uncertain if he was even still standing behind her. But as she snuck a curious glance over her shoulder, she saw that he was.

He momentarily allowed his eyes to lock with hers before focusing back on Gary, but in that short span of time, she'd been able to sense that he was more than a little nervous.

"Take your hand off my chest and let me by, Jeneda."

The sound of her father's deep, baritone voice brought her attention back to him, but as she lifted her eyes to his face, she noticed that he wasn't looking at her, but instead at Dane.

Patience had never been one of her father's strongest traits, and the last thing she wanted was to enrage him any further, so she removed her hand from his chest, then stepped to the side so that he could walk past her.

It only took a few steps before Gary closed the distance between him and Dane, and as his burly form loomed over Dane's leanly muscular and lanky body, Jeneda's heart thumped hard and heavy in her chest.

At six feet one, Dane was normally the one to look down on others, but Gary had two inches on him, so Dane had no choice but to gaze up at the taller man's imposing form.

With eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, Gary glared down at him, seeming to relish in the fact that he not only towered over Dane, but also outweighed him by at least eighty pounds.

For a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, the two men stood there in complete silence. Then finally, and with every customer in the restaurant watching on, Gary spoke in a voice that was low and threatening.

"Stay away from the rest of my family, you understand? I don't want you anywhere near them."

"Okay." Not averting his eyes for even a second, Dane continued to gaze up at Jeneda's father, looking him straight in the eyes.

"I don't like you. And I sure as hell don't want you with my daughter. But clearly she's chosen to continue this relationship."

Gary briefly allowed his eyes to rest on his daughter so that he could give her a disapproving look, which caused her in turn to shift her weight uncomfortably.

"I've made it very clear to Jeneda how disappointed I am," Gary continued. "And she already knows that I've cut off all communication with her. But I'm *still* her father."

"Of course, and I completely respect that," Dane said.

"If you hurt her in any way..." He stared pointedly at Dane, giving him a look that seemed like it was intended to kill him on the spot. "If you do *anything* to put her life in danger."

"I won't," Dane quickly said. "She means the world to me. I would rather die than let any harm come to Jeneda."

He said it with such conviction that nobody could have ever accused him of being a liar. But Gary was anything but convinced by Dane's statement, and for an uncomfortably long amount of time he studied Dane's face, as if searching for signs of untruthfulness.

It seemed that he finally came to the conclusion that Dane was being truthful, because his stare became less intense. His aggressive stance, however, remained just as intimidating.

"Do right by her," Gary said. "Or you'll have me to deal with."

He turned and walked away from Dane, and without even a parting glance in Jeneda's direction, he headed for the back of the diner. Along with Dane and Jeneda, nearly all of the customers in the diner watched as Gary casually strolled away, and only once he'd disappeared down the hallway that led to the men's restroom, did all eyes turn back to focus on Dane and Jeneda.

Feeling more than a little self-conscious, Jeneda grabbed Dane's hand. And with her leading the way, they headed straight for the door and walked out into the night.