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He sighed and poured two glasses—ignoring what I’d just said—handing me a glass before claiming the spot across from me.
“You should probably have a sip,” he encouraged. “You’re going to need it.”
I put the drink down petulantly and crossed my arms, glowering at him.
“You’re not going to distract me with liquor,” I insisted. “I want to know—”
“Your father put you up as collateral for a loan,” he interjected. “That’s all there is to it. He has three weeks to pay it back. If he doesn’t, you’re mine to keep.”
Like everything else he said, the words were even, unemotional. Yet they cut me as if he had screamed them in my face with passion.
“You’re lying!” I gasped.
“Am I?”
“You’re just trying to turn me against my father,” I cried. “You’re a demon, and that’s what you do.”
He took a long sip of his drink, settling back.
“All right. If it’s easier for you to believe that you’re here for no good reason, I won’t stand in the way of your delusion.”
I gulped the stone forming in my throat. My fear was coming true. The answer that I’d desperately wanted was right in front of me, but I didn’t really want to accept it.
But what other explanation was there? I didn’t owe anyone anything. I hadn’t done anything to earn this kind of treatment, and aside from Father, who else could have used me as collateral?
This still doesn’t make any sense. It’s Father. My father.
“I don’t believe it,” I blubbered, but even I could hear the lack of conviction in my tone.
“Are we done here, then?”
Tears pooled in my eyes. “Why?” I whispered.
“Why what?”
“Why would he do that?”
Ash’s face softened almost imperceivably, and he leaned forward, putting his own drink next to mine.
“I can’t speak to your father’s motives, Briar, but I have seen desperate men do desperate things.”
“But he’s not desperate!” I protested, rising to pace, my hands rubbing furiously over my arms. “He’s a doctor—well respected. We have money, Ash! You took the wrong person!”
Ash groaned softly. “He delivered you, Briar. I didn’t take you.”
It was another slap in the face, and now, the tears did slip out of the corners of my eyes.
“Do you need to see the paperwork?” he sighed, also standing. “I can have Rachel dig it out for you.”
My knees buckled. “Paperwork,” I repeated in a whisper.
“It was all business, Briar.” He paused as my tears flowed freely now and lowered his eyes. “I warned you before. Your father has done some very bad things. He’s not who you think he is.”
Conflicted and hurt, I threw my arms around him, needing to feel the security of something at that moment. He didn’t resist me when I pressed my trembling lips to his, the current igniting between us when our mouths finally met. It was every bit as electric as I had anticipated, and my breath was stolen entirely.
For half a minute, I forgot that my father had considered me his property, and that Ash had accepted me as chattel. I allowed myself to be caught up in the attraction I’d been fighting from the minute I’d first laid eyes on Ash.
Abruptly, he ended the kiss, setting me back to shake his head vehemently.
