August, 2018

Seven:

Happy grunted when he came, then pulled out of me to rest on top of me, leaning his weight on the elbows on either side of me. He smiled at me so tenderly that I could have burst into tears. "I'm going to marry you."

My heart skipped when he dropped on my bed beside me, and I put my head on his chest while I tried to steady my breathing. Even though I knew that he loved me and I loved him, that we were committed to each other and I had his Crow inked on my skin for the remainder of my life, it was the first time that he'd been so forward about our future. "Oh yeah?"

"Yep." He popped the 'p'. "I'm gonna marry you, buy a house, have a kid. You and me, Free Bird."

I traced my fingers over the tattoos on his stomach. "Marie for a girl, Harrison for a boy."

He chuckled sleepily and ran his fingers up my bare back, trailing over his Crow on the side of my ribs. "I like it."

"I like you." I kissed his chest over his heart, ready to initiate another round of love making when I heard it.

The front door opened and there were loud footsteps coming towards my room.

Happy's body stiffened underneath me and he looked at me with a carefully blank face, but I could see the panic that swam in his brown eyes when I got to my feet and pulled my robe around me.

He hadn't made it out of my bed when the door was tossed open and my father's furious red face looked back and forth between the two of us. "Jasmine Elise Michaels, what the fuck is going on here?!"

Happy growled and I put my hand on his forearm to try and calm him down. "Daddy-"

"You." My father pointed his hand at Happy. "Get dressed and get the fuck out of my house. Jasmine, get your ass out into the dining room. Now."

He slammed the door so hard that it rattled and I felt my chest concave in on itself. I'd planned on telling my parents about my relationship with Happy, I really had, but I hadn't planned for him to walk in on us naked.

Happy and I dressed in a tense-filled silence and I grabbed his arm before he could open the door that my father had just stormed out of. "This is going to be ugly. But nothing that he can say is going to change the way that I feel about you, Hap. I love you. Nothing he says is going to change that."

His brown eyes looked conflicted before he pulled me into his chest and kissed my forehead. "I love you, Free Bird."

"I love you, too." I kissed the spot above his heart and took his hand.

With a final breath, we walked down the hallway and out into the dining room where my mother and father were seated at the table, watching us.

I was surprised to see that my mother looked shocked, but there was no anger residing in her gaze. In fact, it could have been my mind playing a trick on me, but I swore that her lips tugged up slightly when she saw Happy's protective stance from where he was angled slightly in front of me.

"Daddy-"

Rupert Michaels was a bad tempered bastard to begin with, had been because that's the way that my grandfather had raised him so that he could carry on the family fortune. But I'd never seen him as angry as he was in that moment, not even when he'd come home and found me passed out on the floor surrounded by my own vomit.

"Get him out of my house, then sit down." He said bluntly.

I looked up at Happy's stoic face and saw him understand what I was asking. I just needed a moment to get things to calm down and get him out of hearing range from the venemous words that my father was sure to send his way.

"I'll wait on the porch." He kissed my forehead, squeezed me tightly, then began walking towards the front door.

When he gripped the handle, he looked over his shoulder but didn't look at me. Instead he looked at my mother. "I'm sorry that you had to find out this way, but I'm not sorry that I'm in love with your daughter."

"Get out!" My father screamed and the door shut quietly behind him.

I dragged my feet when I walked over to the table and dropped into the seat across from my mother, next to my father who was sitting at the head of the table.

Before he could speak, I began sobbing. "I'm sorry that you're mad, but what does it matter who he is? I love him."

"No, this is over." My father shook his head. "This is over. It is done. Finished. OVER!"

I felt the tears running down my cheeks and hit my square on the chest. "I love him, daddy!"

"Do you really think he's going to be with you long term, Jasmine? Are you that naive to think that he's not going to jump into bed with the next girl that catches his attention?! You are just a young slut to keep him going until he finds the next girl who's willing to open her legs."

"Rupert!" My mother scolded him with red cheeks. "She's our daughter, don't speak to her like that."

"You've got no idea about him, daddy! He's been here for a year!" I sobbed. "He's been here every night that you've been gone. He's been taking care of me. I've got his fucking Crow, he's not going anywhere."

"You've got his Crow?!" He screamed. "You let him put his mark on you?!"

I sobbed harder that he'd turned something I loved into something that sounded dirty.

My father pointed his finger at my chest. "This is over, go and tell that boy goodbye, or I'm cutting you off."

"Rupert!"

I got to my feet and threw my hands in the air. "So cut me off! Take all of the fucking money out of my account, that's fine! Happy and I love each other, daddy, no amount of threatening to take my savings will stop that. I'll get a job and move in with him-"

"You're willing to give up enough money to set you up for three lifetimes to be with that trash?!" My father got to his feet.

"HE'S NOT TRASH!" I screamed louder than I'd ever been in my entire life. "He's not trash! He's a good man, daddy! If you gave him a chance you'd see that-"

"Go and say goodbye to that boy or get your shit out of my house."

"Rupert!"

I listened as my mother yelled at the man that she'd spent practically her whole life loving, but ran out the front door. The porch window was open, Happy had heard the whole thing, and I felt my stomach sink at the look on his face. "Happy, I'm sorry that you had to hear that. He doesn't mean it, he's just angry."

He didn't reply and I stepped up to cup his face, which was completely blank of any emotion. Even his eyes were stormy, carefully blank so that I couldn't read him. For the first time in the year that I'd known him, he'd shut down and shut me out, and it left me feeling like I was drowning.

Happy took a step away from me so that my hands hanged by my sides. "Your dad is right."

I frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Your dad is right, we're not going to work." He muttered, shaking his head. "This is over."

My heart sunk. "No, Happy- don't say that."

He wouldn't meet my gaze when he shrugged his shoulders and walked off the porch down to his bike. He'd just sat on it when I came to my senses and ran after him.

He turned the key to start the ignition and I grabbed his arm. "Happy, you don't mean this. You just told me that you're going to marry me-"

"I was talking out of my ass, little girl." He finally met my gaze. "We're not going to work out, you know it as well as I do. Time to stop playing pretend and get back to real life."

Happy shrugged my arm off and I stepped in front of his bike so he couldn't ride. "Look me in the eyes and tell me that you mean that. Tell me that you don't love me."

His eyes narrowed before he levelled me with an unwavering stare. "I don't love you. I loved the thrill, you were just another girl in a long line of girls, and I got what I wanted. The chase is over, the thrill is done, and I've got a Crow Eater waiting for me back at the clubhouse. Get out of my way."

My whole body went completely numb as I stared at the man who I loved so endlessly, who had just torn me shred from shred. "Happy-"

"Get out of my fucking way!" He yelled, making me flinch.

I stepped out of the way and felt the tears pooling down my cheeks. "Happy."

He rode off without a backward glance.