AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m going to ask Dani to marry me tonight,” I say.
His eyes twitch. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am. After the premiere.”
“And I’m saying no.”
“I didn’t come here for permission, Bennett. I came here to tell you, in person, so you didn’t hear about it from someone else.”
“How kind of you.” He shifts in the chair and it squeaks beneath him. “Is that all?”
I scoff, holding my anger inside. “What the hell is your problem with me?”
“Where would you like me to start, Fox?” he asks, smirking.
“It’s not my fault you married my mother,” I say. “We were teenagers, not children. We didn’t grow up together. Our relationship isn’t as big of a taboo as you think it is.”
“You think that’s it?”
“What else is there?”
“While I don’t exactly like the idea of my stepson diddling my daughter under my own roof, that has little to do with my dislike of you. You’re a fucking punk, Fox. A stupid jock who never would have amounted to anything if I didn’t kick you out of my house. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don’t approve of your relationship — not because I married your mother — but because you’re just not good enough for her?”
I flex my jaw. “You have no idea what I went through to get back to her.”
“And I don’t care.” He rubs the stubble on his face and laughs. “None of it will make up for the fact that you shot her three months ago. Or am I the only one who remembers that part?”
“I knew what I was doing.”
“Oddly enough, the fact that you know how to shoot my daughter through the chest without killing her isn’t actually a huge comfort to me.” He leans forward over his desk. “Whatever you went through over the last five years doesn’t matter. What you brought home with you does and, honestly, you scare the hell outta me. I can’t stop you from doing whatever you’re going to do, and I can’t control her anymore either, but know this: anything that happens to her from now on is on you.”
“I know that.”
“Then, we’re done here.” He sits back and shakes his head. “Congratulations on your engagement,” he says with no feeling at all.
I resist the urge to argue with him some more. It won’t change his mind and that snark in his tone tells me everything I need to know.
I walk out of the study, feeling even worse than when I walked in, but I did what I came here to do.
“Fox?”
My mother stands at the top of the stairs.
I smile. “Hey, Mom.”
“I thought I heard your voice.” She picks up her pace to meet me at the bottom. I extend my arms out to her and she gives me a hug. “Is everything okay with you?”
“Yeah,” I answer. “I’m fine.”
“And Dani?” She releases me and takes a quick step back. “How is she?”
“She’s...” I glance at the closed office door. “She’s great.”
“I miss having her around, not gonna lie,” she says.
“Well, you’re always welcome at our place. You know that.”
She nods slowly. “So, you two are still...?”
