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A man with no hope was a man drowning, and that’s what I saw when I looked at him.
He wasn’t even reaching for a rope.
“Dad, I need you to keep fighting. Ineedyou to come home.”
“What home, kid?”
I shoved up, standing to press against the barrier.“Me…I’m home, aren’t I?”
“Sit down!” the guard called.
I sank to the chair once more. There was a flare of anger in dad’s eyes as he glared at the guard. I held onto that glare. He hadn’t given up completely, not yet. I still had a chance.
“I hear the wedding is soon,” he said quietly. “I need you to do whatever your mom needs, Ry. Do that for me, because I can’t. I can’t give her happiness, but you can.”
“I will…if you promise me you’ll keep fighting.”
“Time, Castlemaine!”the guard called.
I shook my head. “But we haven’t had our hour.”
Dad just shook his head and rose cautiously, without even a fuss.
“Dad, we haven’t had our hour.”
He gave me a smile and stepped away. “It’s okay, honey,” he said carefully. “We’ll have plenty of time once I’m out.”
He shimmered as fresh tears filled my eyes. I watched helplessly as he shuffled away. With a nod to the guard, he stepped through the open door and was gone. I understood then.
Understood what had taken him so long.
Understood why the visit was cut short.
He didn’t want to see me.
A moan bubbled up from inside me and tore free. I clasped my around my waist and rocked under the weight of it. But it wasn’t enough…nothing was enough to ease the agony inside. I shoved up from the chair, and in a haze of agony, I stumbled out of the visiting room and along the hall.
I hardly heard the guards when they spoke to me, barely saw my hand move across the page when I signed my name. By the time I stumbled out into the sunshine, that agony bubbling inside me was turning into a scream. I stumbled forward, unable to see a thing through my tears.
I was going to break down…
Going to crack.
Going to fall…
“I got you.” Arms wrapped around me. “I got you, Ryth.Hold on to me.”
I dropped my head against him as the shudders tore free.
He was all I had to hold onto.
My anchor in a turbulent sea.
Shudders overtook me. Nick eased me back along the walkway to the Mustang. “Get in, princess. I’m getting you the fuck out of here.”
I didn’t fight him this time, just let him open the door and ease me inside before buckling the seatbelt across me. I flinched with thethudof the passenger door, then he was striding around the front of the car in a blur of black and climbed in behind the wheel.
The car started with a roar and the tires howled as we tore out of the parking lot and were gone.
