Chapter Seven
Tessa
‘I have no right to ask you to stay.’
Dylan’s words still echo in my ears as I step outside my apartment on Monday morning. Inside my heart feels broken, its pieces jabbing into my chest, but outward I lift my chin and step into the elevator, ready to face the day.
Ready to descend into hell.
I lived in a bubble for a long time—a bubble where Dylan loved me. Stuck in limbo, I waited for him to make a move. For my parents to accept me. For my memories to heal.
I know now this will never happen. It’s up to me to make my move—and the first one is to confront my parents. No matter what the outcome is. No matter if they’re displeased and angry, and if they threaten to stop supporting me. All I ever wanted was their approval, and it’s obvious I’m never getting it. I wonder if whoring myself out to Sean would have made a difference, and I realize it wouldn’t.
But it’d make a difference to me. It’d take away the last shred of self-esteem I still possess, and if that goes, then I’m gone, too. There will be nothing left of me.
As I climb into my car, I think of Dylan’s expression when he thought I was leaving. How he asked me not to go.
Right before he walked out of my life once more.
I frown as I roll out of the underground parking lot and into the gray, overcast day. He’s such a contradiction. Hot and cold.
Although yesterday he was mostly hot…
I remember our lovemaking, the way he touched me and kissed me and moved inside me, and I swallow hard, my mouth going dry. A dull, pleasurable ache begins low in my belly. It’s as if I can still feel his taut body under my fingertips, silky skin wrapped over sinew and hard muscle, as if I can see the heat in his blue eyes. Nothing brotherly about the way he held and possessed me.
But I know now that nothing more can ever happen. Nothing has changed. It was just sex, and then he left once again.
A glossy black Porsche catches my eye as I drive past my building. Sean owns such a car. Unease stirs in me, and I can’t help a small shiver of fear. I make a mental note to check the pepper spray in my bag when I pull over later. Sean has never stalked me. He gave me nightmares, for sure, but never came around looking for me.
Maybe it’s not his car. And if it is, maybe it has nothing to do with me.
The bad feeling persists, though, as I drive to the new office of Leon & Perez in the center of town, looking for my dad, and later, as I ride up to the sixth floor and enter their offices.
I inform the secretary that I’m going in, and ignore her protests that I have no appointment, and that Mr. Leon isn’t available.
Whatever.
I enter his office and find him at his usual spot, behind his massive mahogany desk, his dark hair slicked back, his suit immaculate as always.
“Dad.”
“What are you doing here?” he snaps, and I fight a flinch. “Can’t believe you have the gall to show up here after messing up business on Saturday.”
Business.
“Where’s Mom?” She’s nowhere to be seen. “Why wasn’t she at the gala on Saturday? What’s going on?”
“No idea what your point is.” My father scowls, but a flicker in his eyes tells me something’s off.
“My point is…” I stop when a young woman enters the office from a side door, holding a folder. She can’t be much older than me. I think I’ve seen her around before but never thought much about it. Now I take in the super short skirt, the cleavage, and the hickey on her neck, I see the way she looks at my dad,
and things click into place.
“What’s going on here?” I ask, even though it’s clear as day.
As she looks up smiling and freezes in the process, I realize I’ve caught my father off guard—maybe for the first time, ever.
“It’s not…” The woman’s eyes flick to my father and then back to me. “I’m...”