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“Okay. And how exactly are you planning to repair things with Romeo and River?”
“Your mother tells me you’re dating him and that it’s gotten serious.” He cleared his throat. “You do know that his father served time, and he and River were not innocent kids backthen. They’d ditched school and had reputations for getting into fights.”
“Well, your son and Ronny ditched school that day, as well, didn’t they? And Romeo was going through a hard time. His father had just gone to prison, Dad. His family was falling apart, and you made everything worse. Who cares if a teenager ditched school all those years ago?”
“His father had three DUIs and could have killed someone.”
“And my father is a liar who sent two teenagers to a hellhole to save his son and his pathetic friend.”
His brows narrowed as he studied me. Anger flashed across his gaze, but he quickly fixed his features. “I am truly sorry for what I did. I did not want your mother to suffer because Slade made a stupid mistake. I was trying to protect my son. My wife. My family.”
“At the expense of someone else’s.” I shrugged. There were no tears left to cry for my father in this moment. “Dad, that isnotokay.” There was a disconnect here, and he wasn’t understanding the magnitude of his actions. “He’s such a good man, Dad. And you owe him an apology—you owebothof them an apology.”
He looked away, staring out the window at the water in the distance. “So, this really is serious between you two, then? You’re in love with a boxer. One who has no college degree or plans for the future outside of getting into a ring and getting punched in the head. Are you doing this just to prove a point to me?”
A maniacal laugh left my lips, one I didn’t know I was even capable of. “You’re serious? You think I’m in love with Romeo because I want to teach you a lesson?”
I pushed to my feet. I didn’t know that I could leave this house more disgusted than I’d been when I’d arrived.
“Demi. Stop. That’s not what I meant.”
I whipped around. “You don’t even know him. You judged him back then, and you’re judging him now. Judging me!” I was pissed. “So what if he doesn’t have a college degree? Ronny has one. Slade has one. And look at their goddamn lives. Romeo is a professional boxer. He runs the gym his father started so that he can help take care of his family. He’s honest and hardworking and strong. And I love everything about him. Shame on you for thinking that money and power make someone a man. I don’t know that Mom is looking at you the way that I look at Romeo lately,” I spewed. “Let’s face it, Dad. You were going to let Ronny get away with what he did to me because it was going to cost you money. If I hadn’t fought him off, and Liz hadn’t been home and walked in, he most likely would have forced himself on me, Dad. But at least he has a college education, right?”
I stormed out of his office and found my mother standing in the entryway.
“Demi Crawford, you get back in here right now. This conversation is not over!” he shouted as he followed me into the foyer.
My mom looked between us, exhaustion written on her features.
“It’s time for you to go,” she said to my father as she glanced at the front door.
“Agreed,” he said as he looked at me. “You come back when you can show me some goddamn respect.”
My mother chuckled. “I was talking to you, Jack. And from now on, I’ll meet you at our therapy appointments. You are not welcome here.”
He sighed and shook his head. And then he marched out of the office, grabbed his keys, and stormed out the front door.
“I’ve made a mess of our family, haven’t I?” I whispered.
“Nope. You’ve done nothing wrong. Your father has made a mess of our family all on his own.”
She wrapped her arms around me, and I wondered if our family would ever recover.
twenty-three
. . .
Romeo
“This is so nice of you,”Demi said, as we munched on breakfast on the plane with Lincoln and Brinkley.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, and this will give us a few hours together,” Brinkley said. My sister-in-law was an amazing woman. She’d played a huge role in Lincoln and me building the strong relationship that we had now. If it had been up to the two of us, we’d probably have been too stubborn to give it a chance.
“Yeah, me, too. Romeo talks about you guys all the time,” my girlfriend said as she smiled up at both of them.
“Easy now. I don’t talk about them all the time.” I rolled my eyes, and everyone chuckled.
We spent the next few hours talking about the fight and all the shit that had been going down.
