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In one month’s time, I’ll be his wife.
This is going to be one hell of a business deal, but I’m not sure which will make me crazy first. Jericho or my father.
ChapterSeventeen
River
“No.” Dad holds up his hand to stop me from saying anything else. “Absolutely not.” The wrath in his grimace could incinerate me if such a thing were possible.
I’ve just dropped the bomb on him that Jericho and I got back together, and we’re getting married next month.
At first, Dad looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. Now he looks like he wants to strangle me.
The angle I’ve gone with is that Jericho and I ran into each other months ago and realized we should never have broken up. I mixed truths with lies and deserve an award for my acting skills because I served up a story so believable, I could believe it myself.
It took me several hours to gather the courage to speak to Dad. I would have left it until tomorrow or even another time, but as Gina’s surgery is scheduled for later today, I wanted to get it off my chest as early as possible, so I can keep my focus on her.
I wish I could have told Gina first, but when I got to the hospital, she was asleep and looked so much worse than yesterday. The fearful thought hit me that we might just be in time to save her with this surgery.
“Dad—”
“I said no,” he clips. “How dare you do this? There’s no way in hell you’d think I’d be okay with you marrying that boy. No way.”
“Dad, this isn’t about you.”
“Jesus, girl, how can it not be about me? You’re my daughter, and you’re about to marry Tobias Grayson’s son. The same fucking guy who made my life hell for so many years. High school, college, and after. How do you think I’m going to feel on your wedding day while he’s standing there with his wife, and I’ll be there in my wheelchair?Me—divorced, paralyzed, and on minimum wage.”
God knows I understand where he’s coming from, but there’s a bigger picture to think about.
“Dad, I completely understand how you feel, but this is my life we’re talking about.” I feel absolutely terrible for lying to him and for the same lies I plan to tell Gina, but this is what you call survival. Everyone will thank me in the end, including my father.
“I can’t believe this. You’ve been lying to me this whole time.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“But you did. On Sunday when I saw you, you had every opportunity to tell me you were seeing him, but you kept it from me.”
That was when he was ranting about Tobias Grayson on TV.
“Jericho proposed this morning. I didn’t know things were going to get so serious.”
Dad gives me an incredulous glare. “That’s not good enough. At least Sasha had the balls to ask me for your hand in marriage and propose to you in front of people who mattered to him. And he had a fucking ring.” He glares at my bare finger. “That’s love and decency.”
My blood heats, and I can’t restrain the hot flash of anger that flows through me. “I keep telling you he didn’t love me, so for the love of God, please stop talking about Sasha.” My voice is way too loud, but I can’t help it.
“You think this Jericho is a saint? He’s not. He’s the same kind of asshole as his father. Just look on the Internet. It’s all there for you to see. You know I’m not lying to you or trying to poison your mind against him. It’s there in plain sight. Him with one woman or another. That guy is not good for you.”
“He can take care of me,” I snap back. “He didn’t even hesitate to pay for Gina’s surgery when he found out she needed it.” I told him that already, but he just glossed over it.
He winces and grits his teeth. “I’m not against saving Gina, but we could have fought harder to find another way. Seriously, River, don’t you think there was another way to get that money?”
His crude words cover me like droplets of fire. They sear into my mind, burning straight through to my heart, and I realize there’s more I have to tell him to set him straight.
“Dad, I’ve been working at Club Edge for nearly two months,” I blurt, staring back at him with sharp eyes.
His face pales at my declaration. I always thought I was going to have to explain to him what Club Edge was, but he knows.
“What the hell are you saying to me?”
