“Would you like to explain why you thought it was a good idea to interfere with my relationship?” Panther asked.
“Interfere?”
“Yes. Telling Solo to cut me off? Why would you do that?”
His father took the artfully folded napkin from his plate, snapped it straight, and laid it on his lap. “Surely you know better than to come into my house with accusations you can’t back up.”
“So you’re going to lie to my face and say you didn’t tell Solo to leave me alone? Seriously?”
“I never said such a thing. And certainly not in those terms.”
“That’s bullshit,” Panther said, his skin flushing an angry crimson. “At least be honest about what you’ve done. About what you say.”
“I believe my words to Mateo were that he should do the right thing.” Captain Hughes turned his penetrating stare on me. “Interesting that you interpreted what I said as an opportunity to break things off with my son.”
What…the fuck.
I wasn’t often at a loss for words. “Excuse me?”
“If I remember correctly, and I always do, I asked you a series of questions you couldn’t answer about the future of your relationship with Grant. I told you this isn’t what I would’ve wanted for my son—”
“Which is none of your business,” Panther interjected, but his father continued.
“—and that I expected you would have his best interest at heart—”
“You told me to ‘do the right thing,’” I said, getting annoyed now.
Captain Hughes nodded. “I did. But not once did I tell you what that was.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but what he’d said struck me right in the chest. Had I really jumped to the conclusion that he hated me and wanted me to end things with Panther before graduation? I mean, it had definitely read that way to me at the time, and I never had reason to think otherwise. Obviously he wasn’t a fan of mine. He’d definitely said the thing about not wanting this for his son, but I’d assumed the “this” in question referred to my relationship with Panther, not anything else. What else could he have meant? Of course I’d take it the way I had.
I thought back, replaying our run-in in my head, and trying to pinpoint when he’d alluded to breaking things off.
Had he actually ever said it?
The roar of blood in my ears was all I could hear as my heart pounded faster, sweat beading on my brow.
No. No way. It was impossible that I’d read the whole thing wrong, that I’d formed an assumption that wasn’t true. Right?
Oh, Jesus Christ.
I looked at Panther and got out a single word: “Fuck.”
“What?” Panther asked, reaching for my hand. “Tell me.”
My mouth was suddenly dry, and I reached for my water only to realize Panther’s mom hadn’t returned with the drinks. A mix of emotions roiled inside me, and I wasn’t sure which was going to come out first. I turned toward Captain Hughes and said, “But you hate me.”
“Hate is a strong word. I don’t hate anyone.”
“You severely dislike me, then. You don’t think I’m good enough for your son.”
Captain Hughes inclined his head. “When you’re a parent, you’ll realize no one on earth is good enough for your child.”
“Especially me, though. That’s what you meant when you said you wouldn’t have chosen this for Grant. You meant us together.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
I set my jaw. “And that wasn’t an answer.Sir.”
