Savage Love (Ash and Innocence 2)

Because that’s what it felt like. Even after ten years away and a relatively short time back in Silver Falls, I felt like I knew him better than that. Cassian wasn’t the guy to make sweet, romantic gestures—not for the sake of romance, at least. Cassian only knew the ruthless pursuit of what he wanted and what he thought was his. He’d exhaust every tool in his box to make it a reality, and I had to keep reminding myself that all the things he was doing were just that: tools.

Behind it all, I kept circling back to the question he’d asked me in my room the night after his fight with Clint.

Why didn’t I go back to live with my dad?

There were the obvious answers: alcoholism, lack of trust, anger, resentment, and about twenty other compelling reasons. Except none of the obvious answers seemed quite right.

He’d shown me he was trying to change. He’d gotten his job back. It was the first real chance I would have in over ten years to talk to him sober—to maybe take a step toward healing the wounds he’d stopped from scabbing over for so long.

I was in the backyard of Cassian’s house with a water bottle in my hand and sweat dripping from my chin. It was getting hotter every day, and even though I was becoming more fit, I felt more exhausted than ever from my training.

I startled when footsteps crunched across the grass beside me. Looking up, I saw my dad with his hands on his pockets. “Working out now, huh?”

“Track practice.”

“Is that, uh, something that can get you into a college?”

“That’s the plan.” I tried to keep the fact that my heart was racing out of my voice. I felt mingling fear and excitement. He came. He was still trying.

“Good. Yeah. Because we both know you weren’t going to get a scholarship on academics, right?” There was a light, joking tone to his voice, but that didn’t stop it from going over about as smoothly as sandpaper.

“Do you even know me?” I asked shakily. “Do you realize I’ve kept my grades up even though I’ve spent most of my life taking care of you and the things responsible dads are supposed to? Like cleaning the house. Mowing the lawn. Calling to plead for extensions when they turn off our power for the tenth time because I need the internet to finish an assignment?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and hung his head. “Charli. I’m trying, baby.”

“Don’t ‘baby’ me.” I was standing and my hands were shaking now. “You don’t… You don’t get to be that person for me. You haven’t earned it.”

“I’m your dad.”

“We share DNA. That’s all.”

All the docile calm in his face melted into an angry mask in a moment. “Bullshit. I’m still your father, and you’re being an immature brat. You come fuck around at this mansion and think it means you can talk down to me? Is that it? You’re just chasing after the Stones and their money, aren’t you? I’m too poor for your tastes.”

Before I could respond, Cassian stepped out from the back patio. “Hi, Mr. Rhodes.”

My dad’s eyes shifted to Cassian. “This your boyfriend?”

“No,” Cassian said. “Your so-called gold-digging daughter is doing everything in her power to avoid that. Funny, isn’t it? If she really cared about our money, you’d think she would jump at the chance to date me. But she hasn’t. And that kinda makes you wonder if the answer is that she’s here because you’re a piece of shit.”

I didn’t feel like I needed someone to protect me anymore. Not from my dad, at least. But I still felt a swelling of appreciation for Cassian and the way he’d come in to stand up for me. “Dad, maybe you should just go.”

He shook his head. “Nah. I don’t think I will. Not without my daughter.”

“What do you think is going to happen if you force me to go back home with you? We’ll eat popcorn and watch movies together? Pillow fights and Christmas cards? Dad,” I softened my voice. “Someday, maybe months from now or maybe it’ll be years—I have no idea. Someday, I might be able to forgive you. But it’s not today.”

He lunged toward me and grabbed my wrist. I tried to pull back, but he didn’t let go.

The next thing I knew, Cassian’s huge body was between my dad and I. Cassian hadn’t laid a hand on my dad, but his presence seemed to say enough. My dad, who was big, but not Cassian’s size, took a cautious step backward.

“What? You going to hit an old man?” My dad laughed, looking weak and desperate in Cassian’s shadow.

“No. Your daughter doesn’t like it when I hit people for her. But I’m going to fucking stand right here between you two unless she tells me to move. And I’m not going to let you put your hands on her. So you can leave, or we can stand here all night. Your call, Mr. Rhodes.”