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When Gunner beams as he puts me down, I’m reminded of the guy I thought I was friends with. It’s his easy-going smile, the one that puts you at ease and makes you lower your guard.
Never fucking ever again.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you this,” Gunner says, pulling me from my thoughts. “But if you displease me in anyway, I’ll burn the fucking present in front of you.”
As soon as the words leave his mouth, I want to slap myself for being so fucking stupid. I was right with the carrot analogy. He did indeed dangle it in front of me, and I’m the idiot who jumped and fell for it.
I don’t think he ever doubted how much I wanted it, but now he’ll never have to. I inadvertently showed him just how much I want it. Which means that for the next week, he can make me jump through rings of fire, and I’ll do it to get Leslie’s present—and for a chance at my freedom.
Though he doesn’t know about the last part, I can’t be sure he isn’t suspecting it. So I’ll have to make him think I’m starting to warm up to him, without being obvious about it.
I’m so busy trying to plan how best to go about it, when there’s a knock on the bedroom door. Gunner crosses the room in a few strides, throwing it open so hard it bounces off the wall.
“What?” he barks.
“Is Zoe here?” my dad asks.
I suck my bottom lip between my teeth and bite until I taste blood. This is the first time he’s come to see me, and I’m not sure how to feel about it.
Since Gunner told me that my dad is the reason mom and Leslie are dead, I’ve been torn between wanting to confront him, and wanting absolutely nothing to do with him at all. So far, the latter have won out.
“She is,” Gunner drawls. Then he takes a step forward, so he’s filling most of the opening. “But I don’t recall seeing your name on the guest list.” Though the words on their own might sound teasing, the bite in his tone makes them anything but.
“Listen up, Gunner. Zoe’s my daughter and I have a right to see her,” my dad insists.
“Says who?”
I can hear the smirk in dad’s voice when he says, “Rusty.”
Gunner shrugs. “Then he can come tell me himself. Until he does, I see no reason to let you into my room.”
As they bicker back and forth, I eye an opportunity to show Gunner I’m on his side. I inhale deeply and mentally count to twenty before moving to his side.
“In case anyone wonders what I want, I don’t want you in here,” I hiss as I point an accusing finger at my dad. “And before you can even think of suggesting it, I’m not going anywhere with you either. I don’t belong to you. Hell, as far as I’m concerned, I’m an orphan.”
Seeing the stricken look on my dad’s face is a bittersweet victory, because it tears at me to even say the words. It’s not that I don’t believe them, I very much do. But just because he’s a dick unworthy of anything from me, doesn’t mean I can just shake him off like an unwanted bug.
He’s the man who raised me, who drove me to my tutor sessions. Every year since I was thirteen, he took me to Harvard’s Visitor Center, and he always bought me a new keychain to add to my collection.
Despite my now ambivalent feelings about the man who feels like a stranger as he stands in front of me now, there’s history between us. I’ve known him for my entire life… well, not really. I thought I knew him. Now…
“You don’t mean that,” dad pleads. “No matter what, you’re still my daughter. And I have a right to spend some time with you.”
Steeling myself, I take the opening. “Do you? You fucking served me up to the Cruz Kings without looking back. You left me—literally.Just because I come from your sperm doesn’t give you the right to anything.”
The shocked look on my dad’s face spurs me on, and I’m unable to stop the toxic words on the tip of my tongue.
“If it wasn’t for Gunner, the Kings would have eaten me alive. And you never even cared, did you? No, you were too busy screwing around with your mistress…” I hiss the word. “To care about what I was going through. If whatever fucking game you were playing backfired, that’s not my problem.”
“Baby girl—”
I let out a scream of outrage. “Don’t fucking call me that after you sold me like a fucking brood mare.Me!Your daughter. How fucking dare you stand here right now and demand to spend time with me.”
The only good thing about the things my dad has done is that I don’t have to fake my outrage and anger, it’s very much the way I feel about him. He did those things, and in the beginning I had to buy protection with my body. So technically, nothing I’m saying is a lie.
Almost nothing… the part with Gunner’s involvement isn’t exactly the truth. He didn’t protect me, but since he also didn’t directly add to my suffering while Gray tormented me, it’s close enough.
Gray… fuck. I need to stop thinking about him. He can’t save me from beyond the grave.
