Her Collateral Bride: A Lesbian Age Gap Romance

her dad’s reputation in the kitchen. About how he made

people, male and female alike, cower and even cry on an

almost nightly basis if the smallest detail was off or wrong.

“Yes. I am.” Haley swallowed past the painful wedge in her

windpipe. “I am listening to myself. She didn’t want to hurt

me. She didn’t use me. That’s the truth. That’s all there was

and is. She didn’t want me to have to choose between staying

there and being with her and between my family because she

knew nothing between us would ever work.”

“No!” Her dad wouldn’t accept it. He’d never accept it.

She’d been idiotic to even try. “She didn’t feel anything for

you. She used you and she did hurt you

. I can see it. You’re

wounded You think that you’re, what? That you feel

something for her? Are you infatuated with her? That was her

plan all along. To hurt me where it hurt the most. By

destroying you.”

Haley wanted to sob. She wanted to run to her room and

hide under her covers and block out the sunlight and the sound

of her dad’s voice and the horrible reality that was her life.

She wasn’t going to hide. She was done with hiding. She

tilted her chin and faced her dad head on. She made sure her

voice was strong and clear.

“No. That’s not what happened. I’m not destroyed. I didn’t

want to leave, so yes, I’m sad about that. I’m so much sadder

because I know what you did. However it happened and

whatever you’ve used to justify it to yourself, it was wrong.

You were wrong.”

Her dad was just standing there, looking like she’d slapped

him. Hers was the betrayal now. He’d never be able to see that