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He kissed me again, his nose brushing mine briefly. “It’s a meeting, and you asked.”
“Yeah, but you’re busy.”
“You asked,” he said again, like this explained everything away. The look in his eyes was so tender it made me reach out and hold tight.
“You said Harper is gone for the week?”
I nodded.
He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “How would you feel about staying with me for the week then?”
“Really?”
This made my anxiety lessen, because honestly, the thought of going back to the house, especially empty, was terrifying.
“We can go pick up some of your stuff.”
“I brought that small bag, it will last me a couple of days.”
“Well, we’ll figure out the details later then.”
Jack kissed me, and I got lost. Content to stay in our world just a little while longer.
~
Between school staring up in fifteen days, my job winding down, and staying at Jack’s the past week, life was moving quickly. I’d taken half the day off to go get my textbooks and run a few errands. When I had shown up to my house a couple days ago, I saw my car, parked where I’d left it, with brand new tires on it.
My hope was that it was my dad, but the sight just redoubled the notion that the VanBuren clan, which now included my father, no matter that his last name was Case, was one I wanted to stay away from.
My life was under a microscope when it came to them. Now that my father got what he wanted, hopefully, things could get back to normal. Only this time, I was moving past everything, including him.
Jack was set to meet with my dad—I glanced at my watch—right now. Opening my front door, I put my books down and unloaded some of the groceries. I had been staying at Jacks, but the weekend was approaching. Harper would be home, and if my father stuck to his word, Brock would be packing up and heading back to New York.
Time to get this arranged.
“Isn’t this charming?” A staunch voice came from the front porch.
I spun around to find my step-mother hovering in the entryway. It was daylight out, but I hadn’t gotten back to shut the door all the way, with my hands being full. Something I was really regretting now.
“Is there a reason you’re here, Anita?”
She pursed her lips in a venomous smile. “Just to check in on you. Your father said something about you running into some bad luck with local vandals. Thank goodness no one broke into your home or anything like that. Frightening thought.”
My stomach dropped. Anita just stared at me, her thin lips and beady glare masked by money and pure evil.
“I know what’s going on. You think your father is noble? Brock isn’t going anywhere, and he never was.”
“I spoke with my father, and—”
“Yes, and he made you promises. But I didn’t think you were foolish enough to believe him. Who do you think told him about you and Jack Powell? Pushed him to lean on you?”
“Why are you so awful?” I asked. Nothing else seemed to make sense other than that.
“Going around accusing someone’s son of heinous things can do that to a woman.”
“I understand he’s your son, and it’s hard for you to believe, but it happened.” I tried to stand tall and hold my ground. “I don’t need you or my father to believe me anymore. I just want Brock to stay away from me.”
“Oh? And where has all this fire come from? Surely not the man you’ve been seeing and set up to meet with your father? If so, that may prove difficult.”
