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I already hated Piper’s dad based on what she’s told me. Then to see the way he looked at her, like he was a snake and a fresh mouse had just been dropped in his cage… I wanted to strangle him with his own IV cord.
“Yeah, that’s him.” Piper tries to smile, but it’s thin. Almost as thin as her father’s sweat-soaked hospital gown. “Charming, isn’t he?”
“No,” I correct. “He’s fucking scum.”
I expect her to nod in agreement. Instead, she spins towards me, jaw set. “Your father employs a hitman. A hitman who tried to kill you! I don’t think you should be the authority on what makes a good father.”
I step back, taking in all of her at once. Her tense shoulders and narrowed eyes.
Even though I rushed Benjamin through town like a Formula fucking 1 driver, I’ll never be a good enough father in Piper’s eyes.
Even though I took him in off my own fucking doorstep, I’ll never be good enough.
No matter what I do, how far I go, how much I spend or how hard I fight to make the world safe and pure for him—to her, I’ll never be good enough.
“It isn’t—” she starts quickly, blowing out a frustrated breath. “I didn’t mean—We both have shitty parents, okay? That’s been confirmed. We don’t need to dwell on it. That’s all I meant.”
“Except we do need to dwell, if you’re going to keep footing the bill for him to treat you like shit.”
“It’s none of your business!”
“Youare my business!”
Without meaning to, we both started to yell. I look down the hall and see two nurses moving towards us at a quick clip.
I grab Piper’s shoulder and steer her towards the elevators.
“Don’t touch me!” She tries to squirm away.
“If you’d like to be let back in the building tomorrow for Benjamin’s surgery, I suggest you hurry. We’re about to have security called on us.” I gesture to the nurses hot on our heels and Piper lets me lead her into a waiting elevator.
The doors close when the nurses are still half a hallway away. Then we’re alone in a confined box.
Which might be worse.
“My relationship with my father has nothing to do with you,” Piper says, picking up where we left off. “If I want to take care of the people in my life, you don’t get to tell me I’m wrong.”
“I can if you let useless people who aren’t worth your time or money suck you dry.”
“Useless.” She shakes her head. “I didn’t know a human being could be ‘useless.’”
I grit my teeth so hard my molars groan under the pressure. “He isn’t the least bit grateful, Piper. He’s manipulating you.”
“You’re no stranger to that concept, are you?” she fires back.
“What exactly have I manipulated you into, Piper? Because I seem to recall you begging me to show you what you wanted just a few nights ago.”
Her cheeks turn pink and she stretches onto her toes to close the distance between us. “You remind me a lot of my dad. Have I ever told you that? The hot and cold, the push and pull. Every good thing you do comes with a price tag. It’s why I can never, ever trust you.”
The words are a slap in the face, but I don’t flinch.
Instead, I take a step closer, forcing her down to her normal height and then back against the wood-paneled wall. I can see in her face as she realizes how small this space is, how weak and feeble she is, how not those things I am. “Your father is a drain on society. He is a helpless, thankless leech who has no issue taking his fill without ever offering anything useful in return. I’ve worked hard to get to where I am. I’ve earned my place and the luxuries I have, and while he wants to suck you dry, I want to give you everything. If you’d just stop being too fucking stubborn to let me.”
Piper’s eyes widen at my confession, but there isn’t any time to process it.
The doors open. Outside, there are people waiting to get on the elevator.
Piper politely maneuvers around the small crowd, but I stay perfectly still.
