Page 39 of Vicious Titan

“Okay. Give me a call later if you want to talk. Or you can come by and hang out if you want to get away from everyone,” Quinn says, giving me a pointed look as she steps away.

“Be sure and put in a good word for me with Ashy Poo.”

Quinn doesn’t share in my humor and I don’t blame her. I’m not feeling it either, but it’s easier to do than get shut down by the enraged beauty in front of me. Whatever, but there’s no way I’m leaving her alone.

Victoria pushes past me, heading downstairs as I follow. “I don’t want to talk, Elliot. Being alone includes you leaving too.”

“You really don’t know me at all if you think I’m going to leave you alone right now.”

“You’re right. You’ve never been good at knowing when to back the hell off.” She snatches a bottle of water out of the fridge, quickly making her way back upstairs with me right on her heels. “Just go away. I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to have sex. I don’t want to play games.”

I follow her into her room so she can’t lock me out again. “Me either. I just want to be here with you for whatever you need. That’s it.”

She opens the bottle of water, unscrewing the cap as she takes a sip before calmly stating, “I don’t need anything.”

“Liar.”

“You should know.” She sets the glass bottle on her nightstand before heading into the bathroom.

I plop down on the edge of her bed, sitting as patiently as possible until she reenters the room about five minutes later, though it felt like an eternity.

She ignores me, shuffling around her room but not doing anything, just busying her hands.

I can’t resist any longer. Walking behind her, I gently grab her hand, turning her to face me. Thankfully, she gives in and allows me to pull her into an embrace, my arms encircling her. Finally. She reaches up, hands gripping my shirt, and tucks her face against my chest.

“I’m mad at myself.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want anything bad to happen to him but he’s a terrible person.”

“That’s because you’re a good person. And he’s still your dad, even if he isn’t that great of one.”

We remain there in silence as I keep her against me. The best thing that can happened to Victoria, Asher, and Monica is for Victor to be locked away forever, but I won’t say that to her. He’s her dad and I get that she grew up with a different version of him than Asher did. Hopefully, for her sake, she never sees the true evil in him. There’s a huge difference between hearing about it and living it, and Victoria’s the last person who should experience the latter.