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“I’ve explained what happened with Angela, and I hardly believe this is the place for this conversation.” He looks at Stassia’s friends who are no more than a few yards away pretending to look busy so that we don’t know they’re eavesdropping. “Stassia asked me to be here, and so I am.”
Stassi seems uncomfortable and when she looks up at me, she looks almost like she feels guilty, though I can’t understand why.
“I…thank you for coming, Micah.” She nods and smells the flowers that look bigger than her. She looks at her grandparents and then at me, and to my shock, Kate’s voice infiltrates again. “Stassi, some of the other cheerleaders want pics. Let’s go!” Kate grabs her arm and pulls her out of the tense group of adults and I watch Kate wrap an arm around her neck and squeeze her as they walk away.
That’s a good friend if I ever saw it.
“You should go,” I speak up.
“What, are you jealous or something? What is your issue with me?”
“That you hurt the woman I love and you’re going to do the same to her daughter. Angela left me with a responsibility I am not going to take it lightly.” I take a step towards him and Micah takes one as well.
“She’s not yours.”
“The hell she’snot,” I growl back. “She doesn’t need you, Micah.”
“And what, she needs you? A pathetic widower that’s trying to hang onto the memory of her mother through her? She’s not Angela.” He yanks his sunglasses from his face and points a finger towards me. “Maybeyoushould go. Since you’re the only one here not related to her by blood.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Pamela states. “He’s her guardian. Something that Angela and Stassia both stated. Angela died while Stassia was still a minor. While she’s eighteen now, Dominic has been more of a father to her than anyone, he deserves to be here.Youdo not,” she barks. “If she wants you here, fine, but I’ll be damned if I let you stand here and insult the man that was here whenyouweren’t. Sit your ass down and be quiet or don’t come around.”
“Did you honestly expect we’d welcome you with open arms given everything we know about you?” I ask. “Do you honestly think Stassia, who’s a very intelligent woman would just let you assume thatdadrole? It’s not that simple. That title isearned.She doesn’t trust you and neither do we.”
Stassi rejoins us and I’m pleased to note that she stands next to me. “I didn’t mean to cause such a thing.” She lowers her face sadly and shakes her head. “This is my graduation day; this should be about me.”
“It is, honey,” Pam speaks up.
“No, it’s about my birth father, who I called while I was under the influence mind you, and didn’t even expect to come.” She looks at Micah. “You said you were busy and then I didn’t hear from you.”
“I said I would move some things around and that I would be there. I never said busy, Stass.”
“Already in the running for that father of the year title, I see.” I shoot daggers at Micah, hating that he even insinuated to Stassi that he wouldn’t be able to make the most important day of her life thus far.
“I really threaten your sweet little place in her life, don’t I?” Micah growls and Stassi takes a step forward.
“You can’t. No one can replace Dominic in my life. That’s what it seems you aren’t getting. I don’t need a father. I thought you wanted a shot at being in my life. I thought we could be friends at first, and maybe one day, years down the road, we could talk about a more familial place in my life. But the spot of father is spoken for.” Stassi is visibly shaking at this point so I pull her back into a hug.
Micah runs his hands down his pants and shakes his head. “Congratulations again, Stassia.” Without another word, he turns on his heel and walks away.
Her head moves off of my chest and watches him walk away with a devastated look on her face. “Well, it’s not the first time he’s walked away from me.”
“So, I was thinking about heading to Charleston this weekend. Go to the house? We’ve been cooped up in here since the start of summer and I think we both deserve to have some fun.” Dominic decided years ago that he wanted us to have a beach house, a place we could go every summer and unwind. Somewhere not too far, but far enough that it was truly a vacation when we made it down there. I stopped going two years ago because I cared less about the quiet beach and more about throwing a party since my parents would be out of town.
“You want me to come with you?” I look up from my Kindle. It’s the third book I’ve read this week, but seven years late, I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about Christian Grey. Three books and three sleepless nights later, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d definitely let him take me for a spin in the red room of pain.Marriage, though? Eh, pass.
“Yes, Stassia I do. I don’t want you alone in the house.”
He can’t be serious.I sit up and stare at Dominic from across the room. “Now you don’t trust me? You know I’ve been throwing parties while you’re gone for a while now. Now that I’m eighteen, suddenly I need a babysitter?” I’ll admit my tone has a bit of sass, especially when we’d been doing so well…at least until my graduation when Micah showed up. I wasn’t expecting Dominic’s reaction. I especially didn’t expect him to react so coldly towardsme. He’s barely spoken to me all week, only to ask if I’m hungry and to let me know when he’s leaving the house. It’s strange considering everything that happened prior to my graduation.It couldn’t be that he thought I wanted Micah to take his place in my life? Right? I mean I made that clear that day.
A sigh comes from deep in his chest, letting me know that his irritation is building. “It’s not about that. Quite frankly, if I knew that’s what you were doing, I’d be glad to leave you. But you’re not yourself. You haven’t been out since graduation. You don’t even see Kate.”
“I’m sorry, my mother died. Forgive me for not jumping to go to the mall and cruise for guys.” I scoff and move off the couch with every intention of leaving the room, but he grabs me by my forearm, stopping me in my tracks. His grip is firm but not painful, and I’m amazed at how his large hand completely wraps around my arm. I look up from his grip into his blue eyes that don’t look angry despite my asshole comment.
“I wasn’t saying that, Stassia.” He shakes his head and loosens his grip on my arm. “I’m just saying, I don’t want to leave you here alone…and I don’t necessarily want to be alone down there either. I was thinking maybe you could bring Kate? Or a few of your friends? I’ll stay out of your way, I promise.” I’m used to the Dominic that consistently goes round for round with me. A man that is equally stubborn and combative and always has to have the last word. I’m not used to this man that is practically walking on eggshells around me. That doesn’t completely bulldoze over me when I don’t want to do what he wants.
I mean it might be nice to get out of the house. What am I doing here that I can’t do in South Carolina?“Can I think about it? I’ll…talk to Kate.”
“Of course.” He finally lets me go, with a nod. “You let me know.”
