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"Oh, two lovely women in one room. If only my son could handle the bounty."
I grimace and then snap at him. "Leave her alone. She's just doing her damn job."
His eyes flash to mine and then narrow. I can tell he wants to say something, but he doesn’t. Instead, he shoves the girl away, discarding her like trash. She skitters out of the room, her chin ducked low, but I don’t miss the shades of red painting her cheeks.
We are all standing, eyeing each other. Drew’s body is strung tight with tension. His father eyes us both, and it’s hard to tell what his next move will be. It’s like waiting for a bomb to go off. After a minute, Drew's dad lets out a boisterous laugh. It echoes through my head, and when he lifts his hands, taking a step back, I flinch.
Drew notices and grits his teeth, anger pulsing through him. He wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me tight to his side.
“I think it’s time for you to leave,” Drew orders.
After a moment, he senses that neither of us are going to give in to his fucked-up game.
"Okay, well, I'll leave you two kids to enjoy the rest of your evening. I just wanted to make sure things were going well."
It's on the tip of my tongue to ask him why he cares, but inviting conversation with him is like walking a tightrope. A tightrope with piranhas circling a lake below, and I’m not about to step out on that line.
Almost like he wasn’t here to begin with, he disappears from the room. The second the door shuts behind him, I release all the air from my lungs. I break out of Drew’s hold and walk back to the table. I slump against it, bracing both my hands on it to steady myself.
I turn to face Drew. "I’m trying really hard not to react, but I really, really want to react. So please, tell me. Was this a setup? Did you willingly agree to play your father’s game or…?” When he opens his mouth to speak, all I can do is shake my head. “Drew, I’m trying, okay? I’m meeting you halfway, but I’m struggling because as long as your father has control over you, there will be no us. There can never be an us. How can there ever be? He’ll always be there pulling the strings."
Drew reaches for me, his arm wrapping around my waist like a band of steel, refusing to let me escape.
“As long as there's breath in my body and yours, there will always be an us.”
“No, there won’t. Your father will use me against you for the rest of our lives. I won’t be a willing or unwilling pawn to him.”
“You don’t have to be. Just…I can’t lose you.”
I tense and force myself to breathe. “Then talk. Tell me what happened.”
He slumps forward, his body loosening behind mine as if in defeat, and I hate it so much. I almost turn around to face him but talk myself out of it. He doesn't need or want my empathy.
"It's not something we can talk about here. Can I take you on a real date? Please? Somewhere that is us and where there’s none of this bullshit. If you want to go home afterward, then I'll take you without any argument."
I roll my eyes. As if Drew wouldn't argue. I don't believe that for a second, but I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt after his conversation with me the other day.
I let out a sigh. "Fine, but I want you to give that server an absolutely obscene tip before we go. She deserves it after dealing with your father."
He chuckles, his breath against my neck. "I’m fine with that. Let's get out of here, Flower."
29
DREW
She’s right. I know she is, and that’s why I have to ensure he dies. It feels wrong to think about my father’s death, much less talk about and come up with a plan to kill the fucker and not feel a lick of remorse, but I can’t bring myself to feel anything but hatred for the man. I’ve considered all the options.
From blackmail, to leaving the family behind, to simply disappearing. None of them will ever allow me to be free of him. None of them will protect my mother. There are no other options. I don’t try to think about what kind of person that makes me. I’m fucked up in so many ways. I know this. Nothing I do will change that.
Guilt is an emotion I’m still learning to wrap my head around. Many days, when I think of Bel and all that I’ve put her through, the guilt becomes overwhelming. I don’t deserve her, not at all, but now that she’s inside me, wrapped around my brain, pumping in my veins there’s no letting her go. I’m a piece of shit for bringing her here and playing into my father’s game once more. I have to remind myself that it won’t be long until he’s no longer here to ruin our lives.
It’s one small step in the direction we need to go, a necessary evil. It’s also something I need to explain to Bel. I was hoping to shield her from the gory details, but there’s no way around it now. I can’t possibly gain her trust while keeping her locked in the dark.
I can’t risk losing her, which means I’ll need to tell her everything, from my plan to kill my father down to the fact that my parents aren’t even my real ones. If I can make her understand and hold on to her a little longer, then I can fix this.
I just need to make her understand and see it.
I keep my hand on her lower back as I escort us outside, waiting for the minute she shoves my hand away.
