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The very fact that Rhys is here is causing a lot of tension already. Usually my father is busy at work. He never makes it on time for dinner. The only thing he makes time for is our nightly visits and that too is only done when he wants to visit me.
He wants to know what’s going on between Rhys and I. He knows something, he just can’t ask me what it is, nor can he do anything about it yet. But I know he’s thinking and formulating something in that sick head of his.
“Pike?”
I swallow hard and look up at my father. His grey eyes unnerve me even though they’re the same colour as mine and Rhys’. But unlike Rhys, when I stare into my father’s eyes I just see a strange void and it makes my skin prickle with goosebumps. They’re the eyes of a man who likes control. He hates it when he can’t have that control, especially in his own house. And I’m afraid to know what he’ll do when he goes over the edge.
I remember Rhys standing up to him the other night, but that was only one time and from the tone in my father’s voice that night, I know for a fact there won’t be a second time.
“My classes are fine,” I say, and quickly stuff my mouth with more food so that I don’t have to talk much.
I sense his eyes on me again, so I leave my fork down. My heart thumps in my ears as I draw my gaze up to meet my father’s once again.
“I can do it if you want,” he says. “I can send him away. Give him his share and get rid of him.”
My mouth turns sour at his words. “What are you talking about?”
“I had her money kept in a trust fund. We created it together. There’s a lot of money and I was thinking if I break it and get some of that money out, we can get rid of him,” he says. “Why else is he here? He wants money.”
My stomach turns and I set my fork down. “I don’t think that he wants money. And why do you want to get rid of him?”
My father stares at me like I’ve just lost my mind. “Are you that stupid? What do you think he came for? To make up with you so that we can be a happy family?”
When I don’t say anything, he reaches out and grabs my wrist. “I don’t want him here and neither do you. We’re better alone.”
I glance down at his hand on mine and the nauseating taste in my mouth is instant. He rubs my skin in tiny circles with his thumb. “You know I love you. You’re my pretty girl, Pike. Things will be better if we’re alone again.”
Something hard hits the floor and my head snaps in the direction of the sound, only to see Rhys standing there in the archway with his hockey bag at his feet. He stares at my father’s hand over mine and I watch as the rage in his eyes unfolds.
“Rhys,” I whisper, but before I can say anything else he reaches down and grabs his bag off the floor and then he turns around and stalks out of the room.
I pull my hand away and my father’s face darkens immediately. “I have to go.”
“I miss our evenings together, pretty girl,” my father says. “I’ll visit you tonight and if you’re not where you’re supposed to be, you’ll pay a heavy price.”
My heart pounds in my ears as I push my chair back, scraping it against the wooden floors.
“Is that understood, Pike?”
I nod even though I hardly feel like I’m in the room anymore. Turning away from him, I run all the way up to my room until I’m in it and then I close the door shut and lock it. My chest coils and I can feel the pressure building in my ears.
I can’t be here tonight. I’m not going to let it happen again. My father took advantage of me when I was the most vulnerable and I could never stand up to him, but I’m not alone anymore. Rhys might hate me. He might despise me and the amazing lifestyle he thinks I have, but I’d rather live through the pain he did any day than relive what I had to go through.
If I don’t do anything tonight, I have a strange feeling that my father will try and take things to another level.
Rhys is my only option.
I pace around my room, thinking about what I’m about to do. The clock chimes and I glance up to see that it’s closer to midnight and that means my father will be here in an hour or less if I continue thinking.
My heart clenches with fear once more as I unlock my bedroom and step out into the silent hall.
It takes everything I have in me to do it, but I climb the stairs and make it to Rhys’ other room.
The door is already open when I reach the top and it’s almost as if he was expecting me, because Rhys is sitting at the edge of his bed, his hockey stick resting in the middle, against his right leg and both of his hands clenching the black sheets.
He’s completely naked waist up and Rhys in just a pair of dark jeans with his thorn tattoos on his beautiful, flawless skin is a sight for sore eyes.
I want to reach out, touch him, hold him and truly tell him how much I’ve missed him, but he looks furious and anything I say will either help me tonight or forever keep me imprisoned in this nightmare.
