If the Sun Never Sets (If Love 2)
Page 77
“Is it just me, or is it really fucking hot in here?” Sweat beaded on Blake’s forehead. The air thickened, choking him. He needed to get out of here, but it was his party. He couldn’t leave.
His head pounded in rhythm with his pulse.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“There are a ton of people here.” The concern on Landon’s face escalated. “Maybe you should—” He stopped short. “Whoa. Is that who I think it is?”
“Yeah,
Pat spoke to her publicist, and she agreed to—”
“No, it’s not a celebrity. Blake. Look.” Landon’s eyes gleamed with a strange excitement.
Blake looked.
And looked again.
His jaw dropped.
What the hell were they doing here?
“Blake!” Joy waved at him and pushed her way through the crowd, channeling Tinkerbell with her green dress and blonde waves. “Surprise!”
Behind her trailed Blake’s mother, looking star struck by all the celebrities surrounding her, and a man Blake never thought he’d see step foot in one of his bars: Joe Ryan. His father.
Chapter Thirty-Four
He’d entered the Twilight Zone.
That was the only explanation Blake could come up with for his current predicament: sitting in his office at LNY on opening night, across the desk from his father.
His father. Here. In New York. Wearing a suit, of all things.
Joe never wore a suit unless he was going to a funeral.
Maybe this was Blake’s funeral, come too little, too late. He’d already been in hell for the past month.
“Quite a party you got out there.” Joe looked wildly uncomfortable in his formal outfit. No doubt Blake’s mom put him up to this. His father would never wear a tie of his own volition.
Blake steepled his fingers beneath his chin. He hadn’t spoken to his father since their argument on Joe’s birthday. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Perhaps not the nicest way to start things off, but his patience ran a short fuse these days.
Joe’s eyes sharpened. “Watch your tone.”
“Or what? You’ll send me to timeout?” Blake leaned forward and planted his hands flat on his desk. “I’m a grown-ass man, Dad. I have my own business and my own money. You don’t scare me anymore. You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Did I come in here telling you what to do?” Joe roared. “You think you’d be more goddamned grateful, considering your mother, sister, and I flew all the way out here for your big night. You know I hate airplanes!”
“One night out of how many? A dozen?” Blake sneered. “I’ve invited you to every opening, and this is the first one you’ve ever attended. You didn’t even show up for the Austin celebration, and that was right in your goddamned city, so excuse me if I’m not falling all over myself because you’re here.”
His ugliness boiled to the surface, grateful for a target to take itself out on.
Hell, Blake’s personal life was already in shambles. He might as well continue the trend and take a match to his already-frayed relationship with his father.
Watch everything burn and get all the agony out of the way in one fell swoop.
“I can’t talk to you when you’re like this.” Joe stood and loosened his tie with sharp, angry jerks. “I don’t care what your mother says.”