I’m hanging onto this one.
I know what it’s like to try to brush rifts and awkward situations under the rug. I did that when Sulli made her confession in the funhouse.
All it did was postpone the inevitable. Me. Waking the fuck up.
Ryke nods, and Daisy smiles over at him. He finds something inside himself to hold my gaze. “You’ve been around the fucking world with my family.”
“Yeah.” Around the world. I’ve touched almost every continent. I’ve been to Thailand several times with the Meadows, only one time with my mom, and I never had the chance to go with my dad.
I regret that the most.
He never asked. Never booked a trip.
Never really wanted to go. All his family was in New York.
It’s okay, Nine.
Is it?
Ryke drops his hand from his neck. “I still see you like a son, Akara, and I did consider you a brother to my daughter.”
Did.
Past tense.
He continues, “I know you’ve been Sulli’s companion, her best friend, when she needed one.” He pauses, struggling with speaking this deep for this long out loud. “Just like my father-in-law never expected I’d fall in love with his daughter, I did, and you’re right, I do understand how this could fucking happen between you two. It just does. It just did.”
I inhale, feeling understood for a brief second. “Then why the disappointment?”
“You’re a trained bodyguard. Besides the fucking fact that she pays you for those services—”
“She doesn’t pay me,” I cut in. “Not anymore.”
His hardened face seems to soften. He soaks this in. What I’m doing to make this right for me, for her, for everyone.
He nods, but some raging thought causes Ryke to shake his head, his face contorting. “You have to know what you and him are about to put Sulli up against. It’s your job to know.”
The media circus.
The headlines.
The loss of privacy.
“Of course we know,” I say strongly.
His scowl darkens. “And you don’t fucking care?”
“I love Sulli—”
“If you loved her at all, you wouldn’t do this to her.”
His words ring in the pit of my ears.
“Ryke.” Daisy stands. “Sulli loves them, and you’re telling them to give up.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.” He exhales a ragged breath. “Two bodyguards dating a Meadows girl…there’s never been a more salacious truth. Out of decades, that takes the fucking cake. You guys say you love my daughter, that you want to protect her? Then one of you stays, the other needs to fucking go.” He points at the door. “She can’t have both of you.”
“Ryke,” Daisy says from her core.
He looks physically pained.
Silence ekes.
I scrutinize the backdoor for a beat. Secured, I remind myself. The gated neighborhood has 24/7 security posted at the entrance, so I didn’t need to follow Sulli out into the dark.
She’s been a while.
Banks is watching the door too.
Ryke smears a hand down his mouth. “Daisy and I spent how many fucking years protecting Sulli from what tried to rip the two of us apart, and you’re about to throw her to the fucking wolves.”
Banks chimes in, “She is a wolf, sir. She’s not a little girl.”
Ryke’s jaw tics. “We didn’t fucking prepare her for this. And maybe it’s my fucking fault, but I expected more from you.” He’s looking at me. “I thought you’d protect her, not obliterate her.”
She’s not obliterated.
He’s scared she might be. He’s scared what the media will do to the girl who’s largely been sheltered.
His fear is a toxin, and I’m worried about inhaling the fumes.
The door suddenly whips open.
“Dad?” Sulli storms inside, and I zero in on the leaves and twigs caught in her hair. In Winona’s hair, her sister slipping in behind.
“Sulli? What happened?” I catch her hand as she bounds over, not out of breath, but her eyes are saucers. “Sulli.”
Shit.
Shoot.
Banks and Ryke push urgently towards the backdoor, and I’m about to follow.
“They’re gone,” Sulli says in a sharp breath, yanking me back to her side. “They took off, Kits.”
I cup her face, seeing the dread pour through. What’d they do?
They did something.
“Sul?”
I’m going to kill them.
“Who?” Daisy asks her daughter, wrapping her arms around Winona.
She looks up at Daisy. “The douchebros. Kinney calls them the three T-bags: Tate, Topper, and Tristan—they all live in the neighborhood.”
Ryke is murderous. For once, it’s not towards Banks and me.
“Banks, check the perimeter,” I order.
“Roger.” He’s gone.
Ryke grabs two flashlights, charging out behind Banks, and while I pull out my phone, I ask Sulli, “Did they hurt you or Winona?”
“They threatened her, Kits.”
I feel my jaw clench with my teeth. “What’d they say?”
“You want the exact words?”
“If you have them, Sul.”
While she thinks, I text Price Kepler with one hand.
“They said, you are lucky, bitch. Like they would’ve done something if she’d been fucking alone out there.” She pants hard, distressed.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay.” I tuck her close, and I ask her sister, “You okay, Nona?”