“You had the best parents on the planet.” I’m on a roll. “You’re a self-centered prick who couldn’t handle it when the spotlight was no longer on you, because you were so high on the admiration of your fans and the endless attention of puck bunnies. Thanks to that vasectomy you had after I was born, you could fuck and duck without repercussions.”
He takes a step back, and his mouth drops open.
Even after my grandparents died, I kept turning the other cheek every time he came after me with his insults and put downs, but it all ends today. He wants to air our dirty laundry? Bring it fucking on.
Harley places a hand on my forearm. “That’s how narcissist parents operate. It was all fun and games when you were his mini me, but when you started shining on your own merit, that was no longer acceptable to him.” Her lips twist. “And that’swhenOperation Destroy Kazimirat any cost begun. He had to find conniving ways to ruin your accomplishments and your relationships to inflate his ego.”
I’m stunned by Harley’s assessment. She just met the man and she was able to figure out what took me years of therapy to understand and accept.
“You hope and pray that someday,” she says, “things will change, but they never do, no matter how much effort you invest—or how much you bend over backwards.” She shakes her head. “It’s not normal behavior. It’s toxic.”
Her words hit hard.
I bite the inside of my lip as emotions surge through me.
Myriad scenes of my father eviscerating my self-confidence when I was a kid during practice, flash through my mind.
She turns to my father and points a finger at his chest. “He’stoxic.”
“This isoutrageous.” My father looks down at Harley from over his nose. “I won’t let this piece of trash talk to me like this.”
“Fuck you for talking about my girlfriend like that.”
He flinches.
Harley crosses her arms over her chest and extends a leg in front of the other. “I see,” she says with a slow nod. “One second I was a goddess on legs, and now I’m trash?” Another slow nod. “Typical of a narcissist. You lash out when you can’t get your way or when people see through your bullshit.” She sticks a finger in his face. “Loving parents aren’t jealous of their children’s achievements. That shit is fucked up.”
My father blinks.
My eyebrows are hanging out in the vicinity of my hairline.
My feisty little blonde bombshell is a pocket-sized powerhouse.
“Oh, and one more thing,” Harley says. “Small minds are often attached to big mouths.” She looks my father up and down. “Case in point.”
Oskar Lindström’s head jerks back as if she had slapped him across the face.
The spitfire of a woman laces her fingers into mine. “Come on, Kaz, the air around here stinks. One would think it’s because we’re so close to the bathrooms, but it’s… the company.”
With that, we leave my father standing there with his jaw on the floor.
I let her pull me to the restaurant.
She parts groups of people by droppingexcuse mehere and there. She stops at the terrace’s threshold and turns to face me. “I should’ve kept my mouth shut. It wasn’t my place to tell your father off like that, but how he’s treated you makes my blood boil. I couldn’t hold my tongue. The man is a certified douchewaffle.”
Expectant green eyes stare up at me.
I’m too shellshocked to speak.
She grimaces. “I was out of line. I’m sorry?—”
I cup her face in my hands and claim her mouth in a hot, possessive kiss.
Chapter 30
So. Damn. Good
Harley
