A few minutes later, the door opens.
“So …” I call.
Then, Rowan steps up to the back of the couch, followed by Gio a second later.
Gio looks a little anxious, and Rowan looks a little unsure.
“I was thinking …” I start, and they both grow rigid. “Chicken wings and Stranger Things?” I scrunch my nose, and the boys laugh, easing the tension for all of us.
“Mind if I use your bathroom a minute?” Gio asks.
Rowan points him in the right direction.
The second he’s out of sight, Rowan moves around the sofa and drops beside me.
With a soft smile, he moves the hair from my face, leaning down to kiss my cheek. “I don’t know what I did to deserve your friendship, Oakley, but thank you for giving it to me anyway.”
I grip his wrist and smile up at him.
My best friend.
A little lost and unsure … but he’ll find his way.
I hope we all will.Chapter Thirty-SixAlec“This is bullshit,” I grumble.
Trick laughs. He clamps a hand on my shoulder, and I shrug him off.
“My daughter is demanding a meeting, one you’re sure as shit gonna be a part of if I have to be.”
“You saying she didn’t ask me to be here?” I give him a side-eye, and he laughs.
“Ask?” He tilts his head. “No. Demanded is more like it. She knew you’d be discharged today, so I was forced to pick you up and keep you away until now.”
“Yeah, motherfucker. I sat in that hospital bed for two weeks, waiting for today so that I could see her, and you show up, promising to take me to her … only to drive two hours in the other fucking direction, just to turn around and come back.”
“Hospital wouldn’t keep you longer, like I asked.” He laughs, and I glare his way. “It was either keep you in a moving car or figure out how to keep you from heading to that academy.”
I wince when we hit a speed bump before we pull into the parking lot. “Yeah, car rides with a busted-ass rib isn’t fun.”
He laughs, whipping the truck around to park.
I glance around, finding only Rowan’s truck.
I swing my glare to Trick. “I wasn’t allowed to be here, but he was?”
“He’s here every day, Alec, and don’t start your shit.” His eyes narrow. “You might have been doing a job for me, one I’ll forever be grateful for, but remember, you took it willingly. Eagerly in fact, and you have to figure out how to come back from that. You know my daughter. A pass is what you won’t get without a solid explanation, and even then, that might not be enough for her.” His face hardens even more. “And you will accept whatever decision she makes.”
The fuck I will.
I know she deserves answers, and I’ll give them to her, but if she chooses to walk away, it’ll be with my shadow at her feet.
He knows damn well I can’t look back, and while he won’t admit it, he’s happy about it. He knows I’d give her everything she ever wanted, die for her in a heartbeat.
And that’s what he wants for her.
“Look, Alec, I should probably tell you now.” He eyes me, and the worry in his stare puts me on edge. “She’s been staying with him since she left the hospital.”
“Staying with him.”
He nods slowly, his gaze flicking between mine. “Said it was where she felt most comfortable, which I can’t say I didn’t understand.”
I try to frown, but son of a bitch if the anger doesn’t instantly morph into a pain I’ve never known. A deep ache only buries deeper with each breath. Pain driven by fear, the type you can’t just bear and brave. The kind that sears your soul.
She chose to be where he was.
That shit burns.
And what happens if she’s decided we are too far lost? Shit, we didn’t even really start. They’ve had a decade of growing together.
Fuck.
“She hasn’t taken a single one of my calls.” I lick my lips, looking over at Trick. “Not one, Trick. Won’t call me back, text, nothing. I know I should have waited and given her space, but I couldn’t help it. I understand why she didn’t come, but I needed to hear her voice if I couldn’t see her face. Just for a minute.”
“I get it, I do. But that was her choice, as was staying at Rowan’s house, and I hate to say it, but you don’t have the right to be upset about it.”
I nod, dropping my chin to my chest. “That’s the hardest part of hearing it.”
He sighs and lightly shoves on my shoulder. “Come on.”
I throw open the door right as Hillock whips into the parking lot, laughing his ass off when he sees me, pale and in need of a shave.
“Fuck off.”
“Just did, son. Bet you can’t say the same.”