Stir Me (Rouse Me 2)

"It's always been mine," she says. "Edward wanted me to have it."

"Fuck you."

"Luke, I didn't mean it like that--"

"He was my father."

"I know."

"He was my father a long time before he was your boyfriend."

"I know."

"Do you fucking know? Because every time you bring him up you act like you're the only person who ever cared about him."

"Luke..."

I dig my fingers into the phone. "I dealt with him my whole fucking life. I was there, at my mom's funeral when he refused to cry. I don't care if you loved him. I don't care if he hurt you when he rejected you. He was my father."

"I didn't mean that."

"You think it's your house just because your boyfriend fronted the down payment?"

"He told me--"

"You know what he told me?" Anger seethes through me. I usually fight it back, but not this time. "He told me that he was happy for me. Happy I finally got my life together. I had everything. A business, an ambitious fiancée, and now I'd finally have a home. It was the first time he'd said something nice to me since before my mom died."

"I'm sorry." It's not earnest. It's not "I'm sorry for your pain." It's "I'm sorry you're such a fuck-up."

"He wasn't just the asshole you were fucking behind my back. He was my father."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Did you ever love me or did you just want to get closer to him?" The room is spinning way, way too fast. I shouldn't push Samantha like this, not two weeks after a suicide attempt, but she's trying to take away my home.

"Of course," she says.

"When?"

"I always loved you. I just wasn't in love with you."

"Don't bullshit me with clichés or I'll never speak to you again."

"The first year," she says. "You were so sweet to me. You treated me so well. But after a while, you were different. Farther away."

"So it's my fault you were fucking him?"

"No," she says. "But he was so smart and successful, and he made me feel safe. It only got serious once I started working with him. All those late nights and work dinners." Her voice gets lower. "At first, we only talked about you."

"I asked you to marry me well after you started working with him."

"I know."

"Why did you see yes?"

"Because I wanted to love you. I wanted it so badly. I didn't want to be with Edward. I didn't want to be in love with him."

She takes a sharp breath, but right now I don't care how she feels. Her words are a knife in my chest.