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“Oh God.” I ran my hands through my hair, my thoughts a scattered mess. My dad was a horrible drunk. He was mean on his best sober days and the devil himself when alcohol was in him.
I turned to my sister, where she sat on the edge of my countertop, watching me with sad, tired blue eyes.
“I’m sorry, Sam. I never meant for you to have to do that.”
Because that was my job. It’d been my job for as long as I could remember now. I did it. I took care of Dad so that he would never have a reason to call Sam or even Tanner. That was my priority. Frustration clutched at my throat.
“Are you okay?” I asked, knowing the answer before she even looked up at me.
Sam took a drink from the water bottle dangling from her hands. One small nod. “I have to know. Is he always so out of control when you pick him up?”
I swallowed, my lips pulling in a rueful smile. “Depends on the night. What was he like for you?”
Her gaze flickered to Ian, who had ducked inside the penthouse, closing the door behind him. “He ranted, raved, threw things around the bar. He yelled at me.” She hesitated a moment. “I think he thought I was Mom at first. He yelled about her leaving him.”
I groaned. “I’m so sorry you had to see that.” For all that Sam was a high-powered woman, bright and brave as they come, I knew that deep down she wanted to believe our father was a better man. While I knew otherwise, there was something final and heavy that hit the bottom of my stomach as I watched her. Crossing to her, I wrapped my arms around my baby sister.
I hadn’t been there to protect her. My worst nightmare had come to life.
“Stay here today. I’ll get a crew over to Dad’s to be sure everything is alright.” I looked over my shoulder, to my best friend standing there silently. The look in his eyes was soft, unjudging. “Ian can probably stay with you for a bit.”
Ian nodded in agreement.
Sam took another long drink of water then nodded.
I leaned my elbows on the granite countertops. “Where did he go this morning?”
“I’m not sure. After I got him to sleep at his place, I locked my door and went to bed.”
I nodded. That was par for the course. Dad wouldn’t actually want to be forced to see the effects that his nights “out on the town” had on the people who had to clean up after him.
“I’ll take care of it. Okay? You just stay here, take the day off. Stream all the movies and trash television you can find.” I looped an arm around her shoulder, drawing her close.
She gave me a watery laugh at that, shoving against my shoulder in an echo of her usual exuberance. With a nod to Ian, who subtly followed me down the hall, I went in search of my phone.
Cursing, I found where it had fallen into some sweats from last night. The sound had been muffled. There were eighteen unread texts. Four phone calls. The majority of them from my father, a steady depiction of his deepening drunkenness as the night went on. The first, as usual, started out warm and almost friendly. And then quickly dissolved into the unwelcome, aggressive version of the man who had raised us.
Dad: Hey, want to come join me for a beer? I’m up at Bert’s.
Dad: I’ll buy the first round if you come out here.
Dad: Where are you?
Dad: You better answer me kid.
Dad: They took my keys answer me
Dad: Come get me
And so on. Slowly the words got harder to understand and the texts further apart. It was the group from Sam that really yanked at my heart. She just wanted to know what to do with Dad. The bar had called her when they couldn’t reach me. And then finally, the texts from this morning from Ian.
As he sensed my growing despair, Ian stepped closer. “I’m sorry if I overstepped. Sam called me last night after she got him to sleep. She just wanted to know what to do with him if he was still there today. I told her I'd be there early in case he needed to hurry along.”
I gripped his shoulder. “You never have to apologize for taking care of my family. You know that.” He should never have to. What family had to have their own head of security? Not even just bodyguards, but we had those too, but an actual real-life man who spent his work days being sure that the Macklens didn’t do anything stupid or have anything stupid done to them.
No wonder Ashlyn and Ian got along so easily. They were both tasked with this nearly impossible task.
I shook my head. For a few days there, I’d forgotten what it was like to be me. Ashlyn claimed she could brighten up my image, offer me a new look, a new brand for a brand-new leader.
