The rest of dinner went as expected with their hatefulness being anything but subtle.
As we were leaving, Gracie’s father stopped us at the door. “Liem. I’d like to talk to you for a minute.”
I turned to his daughter, my Gracie, and she exchanged looks with her father.
“Daddy,” she warned.
“It won’t take long, sweetie. I love you.” With a kiss on her father’s cheek, she gave me one quick look of apology before she headed to my truck in the driveway. Her mother disappeared upstairs while her father basically sized me up, arms crossed over his chest. “My daughter is very special to us. She has a kind heart. She’s spirited. Talented. And she’ll go far.” He paused. “However, I believe you will hold her back in more ways than one.”
My blood heated at his words, but as much as the rage ran through me, so does the rejection. I worked hard to get where I am. To find a sustainable life for myself. And for some prick with an expensive suit to tell me I wasn’t worthy of his daughter…
I counted to five before I answered, “I love your daughter. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.”
“That may be true, but you’re not the… right fit for her. You’d be doing her a favor by ending it now. Before things get too involved.”
“No disrespect, sir. But we are already very much involved.”
His eyes hooded over, and his breathing sharpened. “What would it take for you to walk away, Liem? Hundreds. Thousands.” He pulled out a checkbook from his suit pocket.
This motherfucker.
I took a step forward. “I don’t give a damn what your opinion of me is, and you can take your money and shove it up your ass.”
Fuck this.
I turned on my heel without looking back and aimed for the only person who mattered to me in this god forsaken world.
My Gracie.
Back at home, I finally relaxed a little.
“Are you finally going to tell me what my father said to you?” Gracie took a blanket from the back of the couch and sat down next to me, encasing us both inside of it.
She had asked me twice on the way home what our conversation was about, and both times I’d ignored her.
“He told me how proud of you he was.” I would never tell her what was said. What her father asked me to do. What he bribed me to do. There was going to take a lot more than waving money in front of my face for us not to be together.
She glanced up from the side of me. “Liar. But I’m too tired to fight over it.” She yawned, laid her head down on my shoulder and we both slept.
With a jolt, I’m awake feeling a warm body next to mine. “Gracie?” I whisper, but when the female stirs, I realize it’s not her and only another dream.
A fucking nightmare.
My heart races and I stare down at Danika who’s lying inside the crook of my arm, the blanket still enclosing us. The sun begins rising but the house is still a frigid temperature.
The guilt stings my skin because I wanted her to be Gracie in that moment, wanted to wake up and find out it was all just a nightmare, but I’m left reminded once again that she is in fact gone. The reality of her not being here with me is an agonizing one.
The vanilla scent invades me but it’s not the same scent. It’s not fucking hers and all I want to do is be with her.Why can’t I be with her?My chest burns in despair, igniting me from the inside out.
Danika groans as she wakes, and I freeze. “Hush?” Her morning voice slithers its way into my veins.
This can’t happen. Being here with her like this. It can’t happen again. I move from the couch standing in front of her as she peers up at me from where she still sits on the sofa.
“I should take you home.”
She swallows, looking around, noticing the morning light shining through the windows. “Right. Yeah, of course.”
On the way back to Danika’s apartment, it’s silent. Neither one of us knows what to say.
