“Think I’m an idiot, princess? Bitch said I gotta sign something.” He stabs a finger into his own chest. “Means I’m on thefuckinghook!”
“Jesus, Bobby, you don’t owe anything,” Kai says, trying to block me from my dad’s angry glare.
Shame hot enough to melt metal burns through me.
“Let’s talk someplace else, okay?” I grab Dad’s arm, feeling the sharp angles of bone beneath his paper-thin skin, and try to tug him to the fringes of the crowd.
He plants his feet, his wiry strength catching me off guard. He used to be burly, but addiction melted his muscles and stooped his back. “Ain’t getting rid of me that easy. You run off without a word, take my fucking car.” He grabs my arm, givingme a violent jerk that rattles my teeth. “That how you get in here? You sell my fucking car, you cunt?”
His breath is a toxic cloud that makes my eyes water. I try not to flinch, try not to show how much it makes my stomach turn, but it’s impossible. People closest to him draw back when they catch a whiff of the liquor oozing out of his pores.
“I’d have to pay someone to take that fucking junker, Dad.” I yank myself free, and, surprisingly, he lets go. Or maybe he’s used up all his strength for the day. He looks strung out—sweaty, pale, shaking. Cut off from his supply by now, I’m guessing.
Withdrawal’s a bitch.
A flutter of satisfaction somehow works its way past the panic.
He deserves every godawful second of it.
“She got a scholarship,” Kai says, and I swing to glare at him, because this has got fuck all to do with him.
“That why you disappeared on me, you ungrateful little bitch?” He lets out a laugh wetter and more ragged than his smoker’s cough. “Here I thought you gone and offed yourself like Ginny.”
Coldness crashes over me, like I’ve been dunked in ice water.
“When did youevergive a shit about me?” I spit out.
His face hardens. “Don’t you talk to me like that. I’m your fucking father.”
“Yeah?” I laugh bitterly. “Could’ve fooled me.”
A flash of anger crosses his weathered face. “Now listen here?—”
“Back the fuck off.” Kai shoves him before he can finish, sending him stumbling back a step. The crowd parts even more, until there’s an empty swathe around the three of us.
Dad’s eyes narrow, his gaze flicking between me and Kai. “You’re the one that put all these fancy ideas in her head, aren’t ya?”
His voice is getting louder. Or maybe it’s because everyone around us has fallen silent. My eyes prick with tears of humiliation as I feel their stares boring into me.
“Please, Dad, let’s just go talk somewhere else.”
But he’s too far gone, too caught up in his rage. “Think you’re too good for Riverside, don’t ya? Too good for your own family!”
“Shut up,” Kai hisses, stepping forward like he’s ready to throw a punch.
“Or what, son?” Dad sneers. “You wanna try your luck with me again? Promise you’ll eat dirt just like you did last time.”
Kai shows him his teeth, hands curling into fists.
I press my palms against my eyes, wishing I could disappear. Wishing I’d never come back to this fucking town. Wishing I’d stepped off that cliff when I had the chance. Wishing I’d taken that gun and turned it on myself after?—
“Excuse me. Is there a problem here?”
A smooth voice slices through the chaos, and my blood turns to ice in my veins. I don’t need to look to know who it is. My body already knows, already reacting—skin tightening, pulse skyrocketing, core clenching like the treacherous fucking thing it is.
Bastian.
He moves to stand beside me, his presence a dark, solid weight. Impeccable, despite the gusting wind ruffling his hair. The crisp scent of his cologne cuts through the stench of my father’s unwashed body, and for the tiniest second, I’m so fucking grateful I could lick his fucking shoes.
