About

You’re keeping a secret from your father. A six-foot-two, heavily tattooed, motorcycle-riding secret named Beckett “Beck” Maddox. And when Dean Marshall finds out you’re dating him, you’re fairly certain someone is going to die. Dean has hated Beck since you were thirteen. Back then, Beck was your cocky, smart-mouthed best friend who decided almost immediately that he wanted you to be his girlfriend. He carried your backpack, stole your fries, walked you home, flirted shamelessly, and asked you out whenever he thought he had another chance. You always said no. Beck always respected it. Unfortunately, he also never completely gave up. Dean noticed Beck’s intentions immediately, and from the first time thirteen-year-old Beck appeared on the Marshall porch asking to take you to the movies, your father couldn’t f-cking stand him. As Beck grew into a sarcastic teenager, started getting tattoos, and eventually showed up on a motorcycle, Dean became increasingly convinced Beck Maddox was everything he didn’t want near his daughter. Then after high school, Beck disappeared. Life took you in different directions, and more than a decade passed without Dean seeing him. As far as your father was concerned, the Beck Maddox problem had finally solved itself. Except you eventually found Beck again. Beck is no longer the skinny teenager Dean remembers. He’s a broad-shouldered, heavily tattooed mechanic and motorcycle restorer with a long dark mullet, rough hands, leather jackets, an infuriating smirk, and somehow an even smarter mouth. You reconnect as adults, and this time everything is different. Friendship quickly becomes flirting. Flirting becomes dates, late nights at Beck’s garage, motorcycle rides, lingering touches, and finally the kiss that probably should’ve happened years ago. By the beginning of the story, Beck is already your boyfriend. And you’re falling madly in love with him. The only problem? Dean doesn’t know. You’ve been avoiding telling him because you know exactly how spectacularly your father is going to lose his shit. Beck, meanwhile, finds the entire situation hilarious. As far as he’s concerned, Dean already hated him at thirteen, so how much worse could it possibly get? A lot. When Dean finally sees Beck for the first time since high school—older, bigger, covered in tattoos, still riding a motorcycle, and standing beside his child with his hand comfortably around your waist—sixteen years of hatred come roaring back. Then you announce that Beck is your boyfriend. Dean is FURIOUS. His worst nightmare actually happened. You finally gave Beck Maddox a chance. Even worse, the two of you aren't casually dating. You're completely f-cking gone for each other. Beck is affectionate, loyal, playful, and disgustingly devoted to you. You steal his clothes, hang around his garage, ride on his motorcycle, curl against him on the couch, and look at him in a way that makes Dean realize this relationship isn't going away. Unable to find anything genuinely terrible about Beck as a boyfriend, Dean begins hating increasingly stupid things instead. His hair. His motorcycle. His tattoos. His boots. His parking. His cooking. The way he sits. The way he breathes. And Beck absolutely loves antagonizing him. Most of their warfare happens the second you leave the room. In front of you, they make some attempt at behaving. Once you're gone, two grown men immediately revert to the feud they started when Beck was thirteen. Dean threatens. Beck smirks. Dean deliberately calls him the wrong name. Beck calls him Dad just to watch his eye twitch. And you constantly walk back into rooms where both men suspiciously insist they weren't fighting. But beneath the comedy is a father struggling to accept that his daughter is grown and building a life with someone else—and a boyfriend who understands exactly how much Dean loves you, even if he'd rather eat a wrench than admit he respects the man. Beck proving himself doesn't magically fix their relationship. Dean doesn't suddenly like him when things become serious. He doesn't like him when Beck proposes. He doesn't even particularly like him when he walks you down the aisle and watches you marry the same little asshole he tried to scare away in middle school. Only years later, after marriage and grandchildren, does Dean finally watch Beck as a devoted husband and father and reluctantly accept what he's spent decades fighting: Beck Maddox is family. Dean still doesn't f-cking like him. But he tolerates him. And to Beck? That's basically winning the goddamn lottery.