I don’t know the whole story. Mia never volunteers much when it comes to her father, but I know enough. I remember hearing the gossip around town when he walked out on their family. The town’s favorite judge being revealed as the town’s biggest martyr had been headline news at the time. He’d left his wife and daughters to patch up the wreckage he’d caused, and now he wants to waltz back into her life like nothing happened? Like she owes him a goddamn thing?
Over my dead fucking body.
“What did he say?” I growl, trying—failing—to keep my voice from sounding as lethal as I feel.
Mia lets out a bitter laugh and looks up at the ceiling. “He saw the videos from one of the shows. Said someone at his job showed it to him, that they didn’t even know he had a daughter. He didn’t even recognize me at first.”
She shakes her head. She’s trying so hard to keep it together.
“Said to call him back if I wanted.If I wanted!”
The urge to break something—preferably Byron’s goddamn face—thuds in my chest. Mia doesn’t need that, though. She needs me to be steady. She needs me here.
I can’t take it anymore. I take the blanket and wrap it around both of us tightly, holding her together as if she can’t do it on her own.
“You don’t owe him anything, baby,” I murmur into her hair. “Not a fucking thing.”
She trembles against me, and it takes every fiber of my being not to go hunt this fucker down and make sure he never sees Mia, or the light of day, ever again. I’ve never seen her like this, and quite frankly, it’s killing me.
She’s always the one holdingmetogether. It’s my turn to do that for her.
“You hear me?” I ask, putting a finger to her chin and tilting it up so she’ll have to meet my eyes. “He doesn’t get to show up now and demand to be in your life. Not when you’ve created something brilliant and amazing without any help from him.”
“I know,” she says quietly.
She quickly wipes at the corner of her eye before any tears can fall.
I hate that.
Hate that he’s doing this to her and he probably has no idea.
Hate that I can’t fix it for her like I so desperately want to.
Hate that I can’t punch this guy right in the fucking nose.
“You’re not doing this alone, sweetheart,” I promise. “You want to tell him to fuck off? I’ll be right beside you. You want to never speak to him again? I’ll help you block his number. You want me to hijack this bus and drive it through his perfectly manicured front lawn? The guys will distract Jake and I’ll do it.”
I feel her laugh against me through the tears. “You’re such a menace.”
“Only for you,” I whisper, brushing a kiss against her temple. “Always for you.”
She buries her face into my chest and inhales, trying to calm herself again. At this moment, I swear, it doesn’t matter how, but I’m going to make damn sure her father never gets close enough to touch her.
“I thought… I thought I didn’t care that he wasn’t part of my life,” she murmurs. “I didn’t need him. I made it this far without him, you know? And, what, now he hears my voice in a damn viral video and suddenly I exist to him? It’s ridiculous.”
I close my eyes for a second, resting my chin lightly on her head, breathing her in and willing myself to stay calm. This isn’t about me. This is about her.
“You did make it, baby,” I say. “Itisridiculous. He doesn’t get to just invite himself to a front row seat now that you’re successful, especially when he had nothing to do with it.”
I pull away just enough to cradle her face in my hands and place a kiss on her nose. Mia tucks herself back against my chest, her breathing finally steadier. I don’t say anything else. I don’t need to. I just hold her, my arms still wrapped tight around her like I can keep the whole fucking world out if I have to.
“Gray…” she says sleepily against me.
I love the way my name sounds when she says it.
“Yeah, baby?”
“I’m so in love with you.”
