I narrowed my eyes at him before I swept an annoyed look at Jackson, who slowly closed his eyes in defeat. Was this the way Rose was being treated at his house? No wonder she never wanted to visit him anymore. Absently, my fingers went searching for my fork, gripping it tightly when I found the handle.
An uncharacteristically low, angry growl sounded from under the table as Bucky joined the conversation. I felt movement nextto my legs as he shifted positions to get out from under the table so he could better protect his owners if the need arose.
Brett’s eyebrow arched as he took a step back. “You brought the mutt with you to Malone’s? Isn’t that some sort of health code violation?”
“His name’s Bucky,” Marshall said quietly. “And from what I can tell, he’s got better table manners than you.”
“Brett, please don’t do this,” Jackson muttered as his cheeks darkened. He tugged uselessly at Brett’s sleeve.
“The fuck?” Brett pulled his arm out of Jackson’s grip and gave him an annoyed glare before he looked down his nose at Marshall. “Who evenareyou?”
Not moving from his seat, Marshall blinked placidly up at Brett. “Me? I’m just someone trying to enjoy a lovely dinner with my date, his daughter, and their wonderful dog. Who even areyou?”
Jackson’s eyebrows rose in surprise at Marshall’s response, while Brett scoffed at me. “You’ve got a date?You?”
“Brett, please,” Jackson said, trying again to gain his partner’s attention.
“No.” A mean grin came over Brett’s face as he looked me up and down. “I want to know how much this blowhard is paying someone so young to be his date, because there’s no way a scruffy, unkempt moron like him would be able to pullthaton his own.” He pointed at Marshall without taking his beady eyes off mine. “Could you even call it a date if you let the orphaned rug rat tag along?” He laughed mockingly.
My eyes widened, not because of what Brett was saying, even though it was abhorrent, but more that Jackson was letting him say it without argument. Even though Jackson had left both me and Rose, I’d always thought he cared for her in his own way. Why was he letting Brett talk about Rose like that? When Iglanced at a pale Jackson, Brett snapped his fingers in front of my face, making me flinch back.
“Rose, honey?” I heard Marshall say to my daughter in the background, but I kept my narrowed eyes on Brett. “Can you please grab a server? Tell them we want to take the leftovers to go.”
“No, you don’t get to look at Jackson,” Brett snarled at the same time as Marshall spoke, leaning over in an attempt to intimidate me. “You had your chance. He’s mine now.”
Although I focused on Brett, I could see Jackson in the background nervously looking at anything other than us as Rose slipped out of her seat and darted inside.
As soon as she was out of earshot, I threw my napkin on the table, got out of my chair, and stood toe to toe with Brett, anger running through my veins. “Let me make something perfectly clear, Brett. The only reason why I even glanced in Jackson’s direction is because I was appalled that he remained silent when you talked about our daughter like she was nothing.”
A quiet whimper came from Jackson’s direction, but I didn’t shift my eyes from Brett.
“He knows his place,” Brett spat, looking me up and down with disdain. “As should you.”
Frowning at his words, I stepped back from him and tilted my head to the side to study the mediocre man in front of me. I hadn’t seen either Brett or Jackson for longer than the time it took me to drop Rose off at their place for her scheduled visits in about a year, and I’d certainly never heard him talk about Jackson like this in the time they’d been together. As much as we’d had our ups and downs, especially at the end of our marriage with how we’d each responded to Rose’s ongoing needs, Jackson hadneverbeen the type of person to be okay with being spoken about like this. What the hell was going onhere? “I guess you should enlighten me, then. Where exactly ismy place?”
“Away from him” came Brett’s immediate angry response.
“Well, this is where I’m getting confused, Brett.” Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose and raised my shoulders in an exasperated shrug before I placed my hands on my hips. “I was sitting here, having a wonderful meal with people I care about, completely unaware of youor Jacksonuntil you declared yourself. How am I supposed to keep away from him if you bring him straight to me?”
As I was talking, Rose reappeared with a server, who took one look at the aggressive way we were all standing and immediately started clearing the table. Rose stood back a little from us all, wringing her hands, so Marshall got up and went to stand with her, muttering something to Jackson as he went past that made Jackson startle. When Marshall got to Rose, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and led her back inside. Bucky didn’t move from his spot next to me, although he did lean his weight against my leg more to let me know he was there. I welcomed the reminder.
“Look,” I said, shaking my head and trying to remain calm when everything within me wanted to rip out his worthless spine for talking about Rose and Marshall the way he had. “Clearly, you don’t like me, and that’s fine. You do you. But you can’t stop me from talking to Jackson, especially when it comes to our daughter.”
“We’ll see,” he muttered darkly.
Narrowing my eyes, I stared at him until he got uncomfortable enough to look away. “Jackson and I share custody of Rose, Brett. If that upsets you, then you need to rethink having a relationship with someone who is a father.”
I picked up my wallet and keys from the table that was still being cleared and pocketed them before I leaned into Brett’spersonal space and grabbed his neck so I could growl in his ear, “And if Ieverhear you talk to or about Rose or anyone in my family again the way you talked tonight, I promise you that you won’t live long enough to regret it.” I stepped back and released the tight grip I had on Brett.
He stumbled backward and rubbed his neck as he glared at me.
I ignored him entirely and stepped past him to address his trembling boyfriend. “Jackson, I know you and I haven’t seen eye to eye about much in recent years, but you deserve better than whateverthisis.” I threw a thumb in Brett’s direction. “If you want to continue seeing Rose, I think it’s best if you come to us from now on. Without Brett. I don’t want him anywhere near our daughter. Got it?”
Jackson swallowed noisily, then nodded, his face so pale, I thought he was going to faint.
With my brows furrowed, I studied the man I used to love and wondered what the hell had happened to him. The lingering pain I’d been feeling over how he’d left had all but disappeared, only to be filled by a sense of worry and concern about why he’d changed so much in such a short amount of time.
Shaking my head, I sighed and patted him gently on the shoulder, only for him to wince in what looked like pain. My frown deepened as I paused long enough to narrow my eyes at Brett, who was looking anywhere but at me.
