The Professor (Forbidden Encounters 1)

I gasp and take a step back, not even considering the cash for a second. “I wouldn’t touch it. What I have with Bryce is priceless.”

“It’s foolish and you know it. What if I promise to get your daddy out of prison early on top of a pretty lump sum of cash?”

I clench my fists to the side and grind my teeth together. “I’d say go to hell and shove your offer up your ass.”

“Oh, filthy mouth. I shouldn’t be surprised since you’re a Knight. This the one and only time I will offer this. Take it or leave it.”

“I’m leaving it. I will stay with Bryce and if he doesn’t want to be with me, then that is his decision but no one, not even you, are going to change that. You might not like me because of who my father is, but I am a good person. I work my ass off, I go to school, and the joke is on you that you think I want anything to do with my father. I don’t. Now,” I take a deep breath and tilt my head at the Mayor. “How about we go eat before they start wondering about us?”

“After you,” he says, stretching out his arm toward the dining room.

And after this, the Mayor can kiss my ass. All of my reservations about Bryce and us are thrown out the window because I am determined to prove that we are meant to be together.

I might be a Knight, but I am creating my own future.

Fuck my dad’s footsteps.

I’ve outgrown them anyway.

Chapter Nineteen

Abby

I haven’t spoken to Bryce ever since the dinner. He brought me home, kissed me goodnight until my stomach somersaulted, and left me wanting more. There is a problem though. I can feel it. It’s a heavy weight in my chest and it’s a dooming sense that has me feeling like I’m going to get my heart ripped out. He hasn’t answered any of my calls or texts in the last day and I’m starting to wonder if his dad got in his head. I hope not. I hope he is just busy like I’m about to be.

I’m going to go see my dad today. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him and to be honest, I don’t care to, but I want to make one thing clear.

He is not welcome back in our lives.

It’s about an hour away so I’m currently driving the piece of shit car that I just got back from the shop. Luckily, it only needed a new battery, but it still set us back a few hundred. I refuse to dip into the account Jake is putting money into for us.

I shiver and crank up the heat in the car as I drive. The roads are wet with melted snow, and I have my wipers on as more snow falls.

While I drive, I can’t help but think about Bryce and why he hasn’t talked to me. I thought everything was going well, but I should have known better once he introduced me to his dad. Surely, he wouldn’t believe his father over me? I mean, I would hope not, but what do I know? Maybe he likes his dad more than he lets on.

When I get back from visiting my dad, I’ll try talking to Bryce again and settle things.

I flip the blinker on when I see the exit for the state prison and take a right. My stomach turns for an entire new reason when I see the barbed wire fence enclosing the prison. Snow gathers on the side of the road, the ground covered beyond the fence, unbothered and untouched. It looks beautiful in a way. The huge brick building is in the distance, clouded by the veil of snow falling. It looks haunted and eerie.

And it is.

So many bad things have happened here, so many bad people live here, and so many will die and have died.

I take another right at the light and blow out a breath when I see the welcome sign.

A welcome sign at a prison.

I scoff. The audacity.

I take a left into the parking lot and drive around until I find a spot close to the entrance. I have the beanie that Lucy made me on and hopefully it brings me luck. I unbuckle my seatbelt and get out of the car. I don’t bother locking it. Who would steal this piece of crap? I tuck my hands in my pocket and stare at the building my dad has been in for the last two years. The fence is so tall that I have to crane my neck back to see the top of it.

Snow gathers on the barbwire on top and as much of a hell hole as this place is, for some reason, it looks peaceful right now.

“Here goes nothing,” I say and begin to walk toward the entrance. I pass a dead flower garden that has frozen over and stop in front of the doors. In order to get in, I have to press the button and state my name and reason for being here.

The loud buzz sounds and a bored, unamused voice comes through the speaker. “Name and state your reason for visitation.”

“My name is Abigale Knight. I’m here to see my father, Noah Knight.”