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Dad looks up from the suitcase propped on the bed, the guilt shining on his face.
“Jade, baby…”
He takes a step closer, but I move back, shaking my head, my eyes still glued to his suitcase.
He was leaving.
Again.
“What. Is. Going. On?” I ask each word coming out clipped.
“You saw what happened. I can’t… I can’t stay here. Nixon doesn’t want me here.”
Nixon doesn’t want him here?
“What about me, Dad? Huh? What about me? What about what I want? Doesn’t that matter?”
“Jade, it’s just…”
“What?”
“Too hard. It’s just too hard.”
The words he told me all those months ago when we found out Mom’s cancer was terminal, and there was nothing that could be done echo in my head.
“I should have known better,” I let out an unamused huff as tears threaten to fall. Clenching my fingers, so my nails dig into my skin, I fight them, refusing to let him see me cry over him. Not again. “Nixon was right. Go. Leave. That’s what you’re best at, after all.”
Only this time, I don’t let him do it first.
No, turning on the balls of my feet, I leave. The sound of the door slamming follows me as I walk away from my father first and don’t look back.
* * *
Looking up, I see Nixon standing by the counter and flirting with Yasmin, a big smile on his face.
My big brother is finally getting back to the person he was before our lives crashed down. He’s finally happy, and he’s been killing it on and off the field. There is no way I’ll let our father mess with that.
I didn’t doubt Nixon could deal with him, but doing so would mess with his head. I still remember that fight they had just after Mom died, and Dad showed up in our lives, drunk and expecting us to welcome him with open arms. After he’d been gone for months, leaving us to deal with Mom being sick and watching her die before our very eyes.
I wanted to forgive him. I would have done it, too. My mom was gone, and I just wanted that little bit of peace and stability back. I wanted mydad.What I hadn’t realized was that he was already completely lost to me.
So yeah, while Nixon could do it, I didn’t want him to. I wanted him to be happy. He deserved it, dammit. He had his whole life at the tips of his fingers, and knowing Dad’s back could put that in jeopardy.
“Jade?” A hand touches my shoulder, making me jump in surprise. My phone falls out of my hand and lands face down on the counter, making all heads turn toward me. Just what I needed, attention.
Nixon frowns as he looks from the phone to me. “Are you okay?”
I shrug Prescott’s hand off of me, my heart still beating wildly in my chest. “Fine. I have to go.” Grabbing my things, I slide off the chair. “I have work to do.”
“Are you going to shoot?” Yasmin asks. “Did you get an idea?”
“I—” I shake my head. “Not yet. I’m still thinking.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll come up with something good that will get you that gallery exhibition.”
Nixon shakes his head at Yas and gives me a big grin. “Smalls can do way better than good. She’s going to kill it. You better mark the calendar for when the exhibition is.”
The pride and trust in my brother’s eyes—thelove—are my undoing. There is no way I’ll let our father destroy everything that he’s been working so hard to get.
