“Why not?”
“Because.”
He was not about to explain adult problems to his fourteen-year-old child. Not only that, she adored Taylor and badmouthing her was a recipe for disaster.
“Because why?” Cass took a tone with him, and he didn’t like it one bit.
Fuck. It was so much easier as Wolf. Cass seemed taken with the furry side of him. Now, she looked at him with that look. The one she’d normally reserved for her mother—and that was a knife to the chest.
“So, you cheated, she will forgive you.”
Without thinking, Prowler blurted out … “It’s not my infidelity, but hers, that’s the problem.”
He’d fucking done it anyway, he badmouthed Taylor. Cass and Taylor had a beautiful relationship. One that transcended what he had with Taylor or what Cass had with her mother.
Cass stared at him wide-eyed.
“Way to deflect.” Her disappointment was thick and heavy in the air between them. He could practically taste it.
He took a deep breath because he was getting heated, and he didn’t want to add his relationship with his daughter to the pile of things that were fucked up.
“Listen, Jellybean. The thing with your mom was, well, it looked a lot worse than it was.” He had to dance around it somehow, while still being honest. “She was not invited to my bed, nor was I awake while she was in it.”
Her forehead furrow relaxed. “You promise?”
Prowler nodded.
“I knew she was up to something when she packed a bag.”
In hindsight, he should’ve known too.
“Be that as it may, Taylor came to the same conclusion as you did. So, we will have to address that.”
“She’ll forgive you, Dad. Taylor has the biggest heart of anyone I know.” Cass stood and came to his chair, wrapping her arms around him from the side. He leaned into her embrace.
“I know, Bean, but I don’t, and I don’t know if I can forgive as easily.”
“Why … Wait. Is this about that guy on camera you were snarling about the other day? The one you wanted me to ask about but didn’t tell me to ask about.”
Prowler laughed. His daughter had his number. “For the record, you’re far too perceptive. Let’s drop it for now. This is a me problem, and I’ll work it out.”
Cass let him go and scooped up his plate then hers, walking both to the sink. “Well, then, I guess I won’t tell you who he is, since I have to drop it.” Her voice lilted.
Prowler leaped from his chair. “You know who he is?” It took every ounce of restraint not to command her to tell him. But he’d already promised himself he wouldn’t do that.
“Yes, and she most certainly didn’t sleep with him.”
His first emotion was relief, his second was disbelief. How could his daughter possibly know that for certain?
“Who is he?”
She put down the dish towel she was wiping her hands with.
“Her brother. But she told me to run if I ever see him, so he must be some piece of work.”
The emotions that flooded Prowler and Wolf were too many to process and too intense to contain.
They howled.
