I almost laugh. “Dad, the ceiling was falling in over the stove,” I say. “You told me a very specific way that I had to close the fridge, including tying it off with string to make sure it stayed closed.”
“I have a system,” he argues.
I give him a flat look. “Dad.”
“Bon.”
A huff of amusement leaves me. “Dad, the place is yours. It comes with new appliances, all the furniture. I’m taking care of it. And whatever’s left of her medical debt, I’ll take care of that, too.”
Tears line his eyes. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You don’t have to,” I reply. “I can’t begin to make up for the ways I hurt you or the pain I caused her. But you’ve taken care of everything I ever needed, given me the grace and space that I never deserved. So, let me take care of this.”
His jaw tenses, dark blue eyes glistening. He crosses the space between us, and I turn into a little girl when he hugs me.
I don’t deserve this hug.
I don’t even deserve his smile.
But I’ll fight like hell to make up for it.
“She’d call you a stubborn ass for arguing with me, you know,” I say, and he chokes on a laugh.
“Yeah, yeah,” he says, pulling back. “You know what she’d tell you?”
“What?” I ask.
“She’d tell you to stop beating yourself up about the things you can’t change,” he says. “And to sit down and eat a muffin.”
I bark a laugh. “She always had muffins.”
“Endless muffins,” he chuckles. “No recipe to be found.”
“What?!Nowhere? Maybe we can find it while we’re packing the house this week,” I tell him.
His smile softens. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
BONNIE
The entire driveto my dad’s, I hold onto Gemma’s waist and try to keep my shit together.
The day is a blur. Thank fuck for that nap on the couch, otherwise, I would have passed out on the back of her bike and fallen off.
As we ride, it gives me time to process everything—who Gemma really is, the miserable men who attacked me, Rad…
GoddamnRad.
The thought of him and what he did to me makes me want to vomit each time it crosses my mind. The truth makes me feel so much more violated. The fact that it was someone I knew, someone who the guys once trusted, even if it was forever ago. What’s worse is how he’s gone on acting as if it was a perfectly normal thing to do to someone. He’s only back in my life to get his revenge on Gemma for killing his friend. He only pissed because he lost the job he thought was owed to him because a friend died due to his own greed.
And he wants to blame all of his problems on me as if I was the one who asked for it.
I knew he was a creep, but this… it feels personal.
My mind wanders to the night he cornered Reed and I at our album party, how he thought I had drugged him the day I joined the band. I barely remember that party, but I can still see the rage in his eyes when he accused me of it, still see glimpses of Mads laying him out for talking shit to both Reed and me.
I’m beginning to wonder if Rad’s vendetta includes him, too.
