It doesn’t take long to get to Aunt Darcy’s. I pack my shit, my wallet heavier with some borrowed cash from Aunt Darcy, and make sure Haddock’s fed. I’m about to leave when someone knocks on the door.
Fuck.
I freeze wondering how Sheriff Beauchamp got here so fast.
“I know you’re in there, boy.”
Dad.
My blood runs cold, but not from fear. Deep, dark hatred for my father blooms inside of me. I consider sneaking out so I don’t have to deal with him. But that would be the easy way out. Nothing about my life is easy, and I’m beginning to embrace it rather than ignore it.
I think about the way Sage so fearlessly went up against my father—our father. Tapping into her braveness and quiet strength, I grit my teeth and sling open the door.
Dad’s muscular frame fills the doorway. He narrows his eyes in a skeptical way when he notices my bag. “Goin’ somewhere?”
“Out.” Not a lie. I’m going out. Indefinitely.
“Ricky’s out lookin’ for you,” Dad sneers. “What the fuck did you do? You back on meth?”
I let out a snort of disgust. “No, I’m not on meth. I’m staying out of trouble. Whatever he thinks I did, he’s wrong.”
“I don’t believe you,” he bites out.
I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t care anymore, Dad.”
“You’re an ungrateful little shit. Always have been.”
Emotion burns at my throat but I refuse to be the poor, unwanted boy my father knows me as. I’m a man. I’m a man who knows what he wants and will do what he has to in order to get it. “Goodbye, Dad.”
A car pulls up and I tense up. The headlights are blinding, but I can tell it’s not a squad car at least. Once the car shuts off and someone steps out, bile creeps up my throat.
Eleanor.
I hate that of all people in this world to be my fucking nemesis, it’s my girlfriend’s—my sister’s—mother. Sage loves her mom so I have to tread lightly, because I don’t ever want to hurt her in the crossfire.
“Ellie,” Dad growls. “I told you I’d deal with this shit.”
Eleanor shakes her head as she approaches. She looks out of place in Duncan in her cream-colored pantsuit and perfectly done up hair. Her heels make a clacking sound as she climbs the steps of the porch and curls her lip up in distaste.
“I don’t think you understand the importance that this shit remains quiet,” she hisses to Dad. Then, her venomous glare is on me. “How dare you try and ruin my daughter’s life.”
I gape at her in horror. “Ruin it? I don’t want to ruin her life. I just want to love her.”
Dad curses and shakes his head. “If that kid is mine…” he trails off and glowers at Eleanor.
“She’s yours,” she bites back icily. “I’m not a whore. I only slept with you and when I realized you didn’t love me back, I did what I had to do to give our daughter a good life.”
Dad takes a deep breath and exhales heavily. “If that girl is mine, then that makes what you’re doing with her fucked up, boy. Understand? Sleeping with your sister is stuff even us Duncan dirtbags don’t get ourselves mixed up with. It ain’t right.”
I can’t deal with this shit.
The darkness seems to cloud around me in a dizzying fog. I can’t escape it. This town suffocates me.
I need Sage.
She’s my breath of fresh air. My light leading the way out of this dark haze.
“I’ve gotta go,” I grumble at both of them as I push past Dad, shutting the door behind me. “It’s been a blast.”
“Don’t start with your smart mouth, boy,” Dad snaps, grabbing my arm.
“You may as well do my daughter a favor and turn yourself in,” Eleanor says, her words practically spitting at her feet on the porch.
I jerk my arm out of Dad’s grip and turn to glower at Eleanor. “Turn myself in for what?” I seethe.
“Everyone knows you and my nephew run around together. Nicky was brought in earlier for dealing. They seized Ed’s trailer and now they’re looking for you.” She flashes me a predatory grin. “You’re going down for your part.”
“Ellie,” Dad warns, fire burning in that one word. “What have you done?”
She clacks her way up to him and pokes my dad in the chest. “Doing what I have to do to protect our daughter from your degenerate son!”
Dad grabs her shoulders and physically pushes her away from him. “Enough and don’t fucking touch me.”
Her hands fly to her hips and she lets out a scornful laugh. “You choose now to defend him? From me? Newsflash, Nathan, he’s the problem here. He was the problem back then too. And back then, I was willing to put up with you having that baby and your grief because I loved you. I would have waited. In fact, I did. But when I got pregnant and realized you were never going to love me like you loved Sunny, I bailed. Now, my moment of weakness over you has come back to haunt me. I’m not letting a McKinney ruin my daughter’s reputation like one ruined mine.”