Pulling out of Nate’s arms, I head down the stairs.He follows right behind, and for some reason, I find his presence comforting.At the very least, he can maybe help me explain why it's so low.
By the time I reach the end of the stairs, my dad paces back and forth while Linda does her best to soothe him.Not good.Not good at all.
"Care to explain this?"He snarls, holding out his phone out in front of me.But there's no need.I already know what it says.
"Yes.If you can just let me explain?—"
"No.You can't.You're going to un-enroll from that school and start going closer to home.I knew it.I just knew it.Language, out partying.You can't handle it so far away from us.The freedom is too much."
"But I wasn't partying!"I wail, desperation coating my insides."I promise."
"Then how do you explain this?You don't get a D from staying in your dorm and studying.You knew the deal.I never made it a secret.You get good grades, and I'll help pay so you can go.Your grades slip, and you're back home."
Linda reaches out in a pathetic attempt to soothe him, but he just shakes her off."Oh, but Bobby?—"
"No," he snarls."She and I made an agreement.If she can't keep up her grades, then she comes home.That's it."
"Or," Nate cuts in, his voice low and calm, "there's another explanation."
"Were you there?”he growls out, gaze narrowed at the intrusion.“No.I've claimed you like my son, but don't pretend you know what's going on over here while you were over in Germany gallivanting all over the continent.She's not like you.She's not serious or studious.She can do her little scribbles near us.She doesn't have to go to some fancy school for it."
My stomach drops as I hear his tirade.I know part of it's because he's angry.He's scared for me and wants any excuse for me to be home where he can "keep me safe," but the fact that he still doesn't see merit in my chosen field cuts me to the core.
Mom would have understood.She would have celebrated my choice to be an architect.Hell, she probably would have loved nothing more than to have me come home and show off my blueprints and sketches while I looked at her flowers and nature paintings.It's something we would have continued to bond over.
But Dad doesn't get it.Even with Mom, it was more of an indulgence since he loved her so damn much.Maybe he could feel the joy it brought her through their bond.But we don't have a connection like that.He can't know what I'm thinking and feeling, to truly understand how this is the biggest dream I've ever had.If he did, he wouldn't so casually, so cruelly, threaten to take it away.
"I wasn't gallivanting," Nate corrects as he straightens up and shifts to stand between my dad and me.For a moment, his body is a solid wall of protection as he allows his Alpha presence to fill the room in a way that makes me want to hide behind him and let him handle everything."What I do is hard, serious work.What leisure time I had, I mostly spent in my dorm catching up on what little sleep I could.As for Lila, I do know how hard she tried.She actually called me for help."
Dad tilts his head to look over at me."Is this true?"
"Yes," I respond, doing my best to keep the tears out of my voice.Besides, it's not like they work on him, anyway.
"And you didn't think to warn me you were doing this badly?"
"I couldn't.I didn't even know until we were prepping for the final.My teacher?—"
"Don't you start up with that.You know I'm not that parent.I will back the teacher straight up."
Of course he would.For all that he wants to "protect me," he still never has my back.
"Can I see her grades?"Nate asks as he holds out his hand for my dad's phone.
"No.It's no business of yours.You're still under my roof by my good graces.Just because you're an Alpha as well doesn't mean there isn't a pecking order here.You may be grown, but you will not undermine me in this house.If I say she's pulled, she's pulled.And nothing you can say will change my mind."
I stare up at Nate, my soul screaming out for him to do something, say something.To help me, to protect me from this.Hell, I even glance over at Linda, but she just stands there off to the side, wringing her hands as distress wafts off her body.But she doesn't say a fucking word.Shocker.She never says a fucking word against my dad.
"Yes.You are correct.You are the Alpha of this house," Nate concedes.
At that, everything in me threatens to collapse.But then, why am I surprised?It's not like he's been here.It's not like he's really seen what my dad is like.Granted, the few years he was here, it was far different than now.
Maybe it was the newly blossoming love between him and Linda.Maybe marrying and bonding with her finally brought him back from the brink of death, where he had hovered for years after Mom's death.Only, now that he's in full health, he's on a rampage to find some sort of wrong and root it out.Even if that wrong is me.
"However," my stepbrother says as he steps just a touch closer to Dad, "I do have some information you don't.May I please see her grades to confirm?"
With a grunt, he hands over his phone as heat creeps up the sides of my face.It's one thing for him to spank me like one of the romance heroes I read about, but to have him peering at my grades like some stern schoolmaster is a bit too much.
Even now, in the midst of the sorrow of possibly losing my dream, my body aches for his touch.My ass is still far too warm and my pussy far too slick from being draped over his lap.It’s as if I’m craving another hit, another moment of his control.Just once more.Just another swat or two.Something, anything to take my mind away from what’s happening now.
