“I bet Ace would prefer someone he knows to come in and teach you,” Zevon hedged.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
“I don’t want him to keep sending people tohelpme. I got this. All of it. I’m doing perfectly fine.”
“Says the girl who had a three-day panic attack,” he grumbled.
“That’s because of the nightmares, which according to Dr. Mayes are normal for what I’ve been through. They would have happened no matter where I was. So don’t you dare hold that against what I want to do,” I said, my anger quickly rising. My look would have turned him to ashes with how quick my emotions changed. I stood up, my hands going to my hair as I tried to figure it why I kept going back and forth.
“I didn’t say I was,” he said gently. I almost wished he’d yell at me instead of being all calm about it. “But I know how protective everyone is about you. Ace won’t be happy; you have to know that.”
“Ace or Caesar?” I dropped my hands, wrapping them around my middle.
“The latter, most likely,” he grimaced. “Sorry, but you know it.”
“I’m eighteen, Zevon,” I said. “I don’t need his permission to do anything. Everyone knows I’m here to better myself. Taking some self-defense classes shouldn’t be a big issue. And it’s not like he has anything to say to me anyways.”
“He’s doing a lot, you know,” Zevon said. “Just because you aren’t in the loop doesn’t mean he isn’t doing what he can to track down Alan. But he does care for you.”
I almost brought up the fact that I was getting texts from an unknown person. I was leaning towards it being Alan. I didn’t have any proof, but I was at least fifty percent sure that he wasn’t anywhere near where I was staying.
“Sure,” I huffed. I was his daughter—that was the only reason he was trying to track down the man who kidnapped me.
“The two of you really need to sit down and talk.” I took a seat beside him on the couch.
“You aren’t the first one to tell me that,” I whispered, my anger leaving as quickly as it appeared.
“Your therapist seems…nice.”
“I like her,” I agreed. “She’s not what I had expected. I figured she’d just demand me to talk, and she’d tell me it wasn’t my fault and to grow up. But she really pushes me to see things in a different way that makes me realize things on my own. It’s refreshing.” Although she was also making me see things I wasn’t really wanting to.
“She’s one of the few, then.”
We lapsed into silence for a few minutes, both lost in our own thoughts. Before long, the ringing of Zevon’s phone caused me to jump as he answered it.
“Collin.” I didn’t hear what he said, but seconds later Zevon put the phone onto speaker. “Put him on.”
“Here ya go,” Collin’s voice said.
“Hey Sage,” Zevon said, softening his voice. “Collin says you aren’t eating since I left.”
“Put it on video,” I whispered.
Instantly, Zevon’s cell phone was on video chat and I could see Sage sitting on the bed, his legs pulled to his chest. His eyes bounced from the screen to around the room. His hair, dark against his pale complexion, covered the sides of his face since he had his head bent down.
“Hey,” I greeted after scooting over so both Zevon and I could be seen.
At my voice, Sage’s head popped up. The poor boy. Well, Sage wasn’t a boy, but right now he looked so lost and alone. His gray eyes were emotionless.
“It’s good to see you,” I went on, giving him a smile.
“You need to be eating,” Zevon said, giving out a look across the phone that said he wasn’t in the mood to be tested.
“But—“ Sage began, an excuse at the tip of his tongue before he clamped his mouth shut.
“I know Collin’s cooking, and it’s as good as what I can do,” Zevon said. “You can’t say you don’t like it.”
“Yes, sir,” Sage said, dejected.
