“You okay?” Luna looks up, narrowing her eyes.
“My father’s an ass,” I mutter, blinking back tears.
“I’m sorry.”
I huff out a breath and try to regain some semblance of control. I usually have no problem fighting back but it seems as though I may have left some of my fighting instinct with my captors.
And that pisses me off all over again.
“Why does he never take my side?” I ask, even though it’s rhetorical.
“Allora.”
Dad’s voice.
“What?” I snap without turning around.
“I’m…sorry.”
I can’t remember the last time he apologized for anything and it takes some of the wind out of my sails.
“You know how the boys can be.”
But not all of it.
I whirl. “Why can’t you tell them that’s not acceptable with me? I’m not an old lady. I’m not even part of the club. I’m your daughter, and I didn’t deserve what happened to me!” Tears slide down my cheeks, and my fists clench at my sides as I turn to face him.
“It’s just that Tex is still in love with you,” he says gently, using Pete’s road name.
“It’s been ten fucking years!” I cry, throwing up my hands. “We were teenagers. I don’t even think about him anymore.”
“I’m just trying to explain. He was crazed when he found out you were…assaulted. He worries about you. And the whole club is pissed that I’m letting these outsiders protect you. I’m on your side, Allora. I’m doing my best.”
That’s the problem.
Heistrying.
It’s just that our worlds are so far apart, I don’t know how to reconcile them.
“He can’t talk to me that way,” I say finally. “Victim shaming isn’t okay. Not under any circumstances.”
“I’ll talk to him,” he says. “I just can’t do it in front of outsiders.”
I huff out a breath. “Fine.”
“Don’t cry, okay? Let’s try to find these fuckers so we can put this behind us.”
“Dad?”
“Yeah?” He cocks his head.
“I’m never going to love Pete.”
He gives me a soft smile, one that he used to reserve for my mom. “I know that, darlin’.”
Chapter Nineteen
Landon
