I stare at him. “So, this is the ultimatum.”
He nods once. “Join the new team. Step into the spotlight that you were meant for. Or stay here and throw your career away because I will just have you replaced if you fight me on this.”
I laugh at him mockingly. “You’re unbelievable.”
“I’m realistic,” he replies. “You’re wasting time. You’re wasting talent. And you’re wasting your time on a girl who?—”
“Finish that sentence,” I tell him in a low tone.
He hesitates. Just for a beat, but enough.
I rise from behind my desk. “You think I’m going to leave the Blaze because you snapped your fingers? You think I’m going to walk away from people who actually give a damn about me? From the place where I finally feel like I’m not drowning?”
His expression hardens. “You’re choosing comfort over greatness.”
“No,” I say. “I’m choosing myself.”
“And Hendrix?” he asks. “Are you choosing her too?”
I glare at him. “Yes.”
Dad’s jaw clenches. “Then you’ll be making a big mistake.”
“No,” I reply. “I made a mistake when I let you dictate my life all those years ago. I’m not doing that again.”
I watch as he shakes his head. When he speaks again, his tone is a warning. “If you stay here, you’re done. No new team to build and you’re out of the will.”
I shake my head. “If the price of that future is losing myself, or hurting her again, then I don’t want it.”
Dad stares at me, stunned. Like this was not the outcome that he was expecting from me.
I sit back down and pick up my pen, ready to work again. “We’re done here. And if you try and go through Hendrix to get to me, that’ll be the last time that we speak.”
“You have no idea what you are doing, August.” He says it as a warning.
I don’t respond to him. I don’t need to. My dad walks away and for the first time, I actually feel a little proud that I have stood up for myself and that I might have won this round.
But the war is far from over. He’ll never let it go this easily.
I pick up my phone and dial the only person that could possibly understand right now. I dial Drew and wait for him to pick up.
“What’s up, man? How are things? How is Hendrix after last night? Did you make it over to see her yet so that you could apologize for our asshole of a father?” Drew asks me in a rush.
I shake my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. “No, I haven’t spoken to her yet. She is ignoring my phone calls and texts. I may go over there and talk to her but right now I’m trying to give her some space. I decided to talk to Dad instead.”
“Oh, August,” he says, sighing into the phone. “How did that go?”
I chuckle. “Well, it didn’t go as bad as I thought it was going to go. He was eerily calm. However, he is not bending on not wanting me around Hendrix, nor is he bending on letting me out of managing the WNBA team. He thinks the space from Hendrix and a new team will help me get over her.”
“I thought you were going to let me handle the WNBA thing?” Drew asks, sounding a little annoyed with me.
“Well, in my defense he brought that back onto the table. I was just letting him know that he should not be treating Hendrix that way. That she deserved better than being called ‘the help’ last night.”
“Yeah, that was low even for him,” Drew says. “I was hoping that you would have gone home with her last night.” He says the words tentatively, like he’s not sure this isn’t going to piss me off.
“I know that I should have, but she was so angry with me. I wanted to drive her home but, believe me, she was not going to let that happen,” I inform him. “What else was I supposed to do? Take her anyways?”
“Maybe space was a good idea then,” he says, agreeing with me. “Do you think that you’ll be able to fix this with her?”
