Page 71 of What Was Meant To Be

“Are you kidding me? Fuck you, Jacob.” He looks away from us and then back to me. “How fucking long and don’t you dare fucking lie to me, Whitney?”

Jacob presses off the wall and gets in front of me. Jacob and my father are about the same height so they’re now staring at each other eye to eye. “Do not use that tone with her. I let you do that bullshit choking move but you and I both know Iletthat happen. Donotpush me.”

“Then you tell me, tough guy. When did you touch my daughter for the first time? Was it even consensual or—”

“How could you even ask that?!” I interrupt. “Dad… what makes you think JP would ever doanythingto hurt me?”

“You hear that,JP?” he snarls, looking at Jacob. “That name she called you because it was easier than saying Jacob when she was learning to talk?” His eyes well up with tears as he shakes his head in disappointment. “Almost thirty years we’ve been best friends. You were there when she was born.” I feel like the boiling anger is slowly starting to fall away and we are crossing into pure hurt. “That’s my little girl, man. And… you! YOU! Of all people!”

“I know.” Jacob’s voice breaks and I wonder if seeing my dad cry is triggering something in him. “I know… but I love her. She’s everything to me.”

“YOU CAN’T LOVE HER!” my mother screams with a look of horror. “SHE’S NOT FOR YOU TO LOVE!” She lets out a sob and takes a breath. “Answer him,” she grits out before gesturing toward my father. “How long?”

“I was eighteen. I was eighteen.” I look back and forth between both of them. “I swear. I… swear.”

“And this… whole time?” My mother asks. Her eyes are narrowed as if to sayhow did you hide this from us for so long?

“No. No. He left. He went to Mexico, and we broke up. He said we couldn’t be together because of you two.” The tears have started flying down my face rapidly. “It crushed me.” I let out a shaky breath. “He chose you two over me and it crushed me!” I scream.

My mother’s eyes widen and I think she’s connecting the dots of when this all happened. “Oh my God… you.” She points at Jacob. “That’s why you were so depressed! You weren’t eating or sleeping.” She puts both hands over her eyes. “YOU BROKE HER! You sick, twisted ASSHOLE!” She screams at Jacob. “Get out.” She points toward the door. “I never want to see you again, Jacob Price, so help me GOD!” she yells and then she storms out of the room and up the stairs before slamming a door to what I assume to be her and my father’s bedroom.

“You know how this looks to us, right? Like you preyed on her,” my father asks, his voice quiet but full of venom.

“You know it’s not like that, Kevin. I swear. I… I know how this looks but I never saw her like that before she was eighteen.”

“Oh? Then what the fuck is it like Jacob because I don’t know how you go from being her godfather to herwhatever this isovernight,” he spits out angrily. “From evidently seventeen and three hundred and sixty-four days to all of a sudden when she’s eighteen just… what a whole new person? Fuck you for trying to rationalize this bullshit.”

“Dad, I came onto him. I… I told him I had feelings for him. I always did, Dad. And… if you thought about it, you’d know. Think about how I was, how I always wanted to be around him. There were signs!”

“Of course, I knew. Your mother and I both did. Of course, I saw how you looked at him, how you idolized him. I thought it was an innocent crush! And I surely didn’t expect him to reciprocate these wildly inappropriate feelings you were having!”

“So, I went to him…” I bite down on my lower lip, knowing that I need to come clean about all of it. “I was older, and I looked different and he hadn’t seen me in over a year and…Ipreyed onhim, Dad. He was kind of drunk and… I did it. I kissed him that first time and then things changed and I’m sorry. I am so sorry,” I choke out. “But please, do not blame him for this. You can’t hate him! You’ve been best friends forever.” I wrap my arms around myself suddenly freezing and I wonder if my body is going into shock.

“He betrayed my trust, Whitney.” His eyes look at Jacob. “Michelle and I trusted you. We let you around our kids. You helped raise them! Just to… do this?” He shakes his head, the tears in his eyes have started to fall. “Last night, when I was at your house and Whitney was there… I felt like something was off. Something I couldn’t put my finger on and then it hit me out of fucking nowhere. I couldn’t even believe my mind went there.” His hands ball into fists so hard that I hear his knuckles crack as he draws in a breath of air through gritted teeth. “You knew I could see it. I saw the way you looked at me. Like you were apologizing. When we were in your office, I could sense it but I couldn’t believe it. There was no way that Jacob Price, my best friend and the most trustworthy, honorable man I knew would ever touch my daughter. My baby… my pride and joy.” His nostrils flare. “I thought I knew you. But this just proves that you’ve been fooling us both forthirty fucking years!? You lied to us about who you were for this long!?”

“Kevin, I am still that person. I would do anything for you and Miche and…”

“NO! You don’t get to say that after this,” he yells. “You gave up our friendship the second you touched my CHILD.”

“I am not a child! I was never a child when we did this,” I scream, wishing I could drive home that point so they stop looking at Jacob like he’s a predator or that he groomed me for this.

“Semantics and you fucking know it, Whitney. And maybe if this was something you were exploringnowfor the first time, I may be handling this differently. Trust me, I’d still be pissed but all the lying and sneaking around three years ago!?” He shakes his head. “I will never forgive you for this, Jacob.”

“Dad—” I go to touch him when he moves back quickly out of my reach as if he doesn’t want me to touch him. I place a hand over my heart as if I’m trying to shield it from the pain he’s causing at this moment. He used to tell me that my hugs were his favorite thing in the world.The Whitney Bug Hugshe’d call them and now he can’t even bear me touching him.

“And you, Whitney. I can’t imagine you’re going to leave him now so I don’t know what kind of relationship this allows you and I to have.” My heart thumps painfully as a flash of a life without my father appears in front of me. “You’re my daughter and I will always love you, and I’ll always be there if you need me but I don’t support this and I won’t be around…this.” He says pointing at us.

“I’m in love with him, Dad. I know it’s hard to wrap your brain around but he’s the love of my life. I can give you time to…”

“Time to what? Get on board with this?” He scoffs. “Grow up, Whitney. You both just destroyed this family.” He shakes his head. “I hope this was all fucking worth it.” He storms out of the room and up the stairs and I can hear the door open and close with the same force of my mother’s slam.

I turn to Jacob and I’m in his arms instantly, sobbing into his chest. “Shh, I’ve got you. Baby, I’m sorry. I am so so sorry,” he whispers in my ear before he presses his lips to my temple and I cry even harder that he’s the one comforting me when he got the brunt of their anger.

“Don’t apologize. I’m sorry. Do you hate me?” I hiccup as I look up at him. I can barely see him through my tears that I can tell he’s trying to brush away.

“Never,” he whispers against my forehead. “Do you hear me? This is not your fault.”

I frown and look up at him. “It’s not yours either,” I whisper and I realize that Chloe and Mason are probably still in the room but when I turn toward them, I only see Chloe who’s got tears in her eyes. “Where’s Mason?”

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