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“Fine.” I lowered my hands and stared at his handsome face. His full lips were pursed into a thin line, and his gray eyes were narrowed with a slight wrinkle between them. If I hadn’t thrown up minutes ago, I would kiss him.
“Good girl.” He pecked my forehead, grabbed me by the hand, and led me out of the kitchen and straight to their table.
“Ella,” my mom said in a chiding tone. “You should’ve told me the boy you were hanging out with was him.”
“Dad knew.” Yup, I threw him under the bus, because no matter what, I wouldn’t give up Rocky for anything. I had dirt on my dad and wasn’t afraid to use it.
Mom gasped, her eyes bulging at my father.
“She’s sixteen and needs to figure out who to trust and not trust.”
“Ella can trust me,” Rocky replied in a tight voice. “Unlike you.”
“Excuse me?” Mom blinked, wholly taken aback.
“Let’s not do this here.” I moved in front of Rocky. Bad move. He snaked his hands around my waist and tugged me against him. I should punch him in the face for being so brazen in front of my mom. “What would you like to order?”
“I’ve lost my appetite.” My mom scooted out of the booth. “We’ll talk about this at home.”
“Tomorrow would be better,” Rocky replied, as if he were theofficial speaker for Ellassandra Hill. I should kick him in the nuts. “She’ll be with me tonight.” And it just got worse.
Could the floor open up and swallow me now?
“I don’t think so, young man. I want my daughter home tonight!” Mom squared her shoulders and glared at Rocky.
“Mildred, it’s fine. We can’t pick who Ella likes. She’ll just have to figure it out the hard way.” Dad stared at me, then raised his gaze to Rocky. “Better not hurt her.”
“Or what, Mr. Hill?”
Dad shook his head, putting his arm around my mom, and they left.
“I am the worst daughter.” I wobbled toward the booth and collapsed onto the seat.
“No, you’re not. Your father is an asshole, and your mother is judgy.” Rocky sat next to me and reeled me against his side.
“Jeez, tell me how you really feel.” I rested my head on his shoulder. “They’re going to argue about this on the way home and into tomorrow.” I felt awful for blindsiding my mom. She’d been a great parent, for the most part. She loved and cared about me, kept me involved in activities, and played with me when I was young. But she wanted me to be with a respectable, honorable Christian man like my dad. She might feel differently if she knew how unholy he’d been.
“So? Your dad is worse than me. I’ve never cheated on you.”
“And you better not if you want to keep me.”
“You’re all I want, Ella.” He wrapped me in his possessive embrace. “I’m never letting you go.” His words soothed the ache in my chest.
“After only two months, you know this, huh?” I was testing him. He wasn’t a big talker and kept his thoughts to himself, but I needed to hear it.
“After one day with you, I knew.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, wow. Tonight will be the big test.”
“What do you mean?”
“To see how compatible we really are.”
“Oh, we’re compatible, all right.”
“You might hate being chased.”
