Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 764(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 764(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
“Callum! Wait up! I want to say goodnight, too!”
It takes too long for me to register the voice now echoing through the hall outside the partly open door.
Bianca. Filled with panic and tension.
Calling out to…
“What the fuck?”
Callum. She was calling out to Callum.
Who is now standing in the doorway after flipping the light on, staring at us with his mouth hanging open. His daughter is straddling me and I’m halfway to pulling my dick free, both of us now frozen in fear.
Tatum finds her voice before I do. “Daddy. Let me explain.”
I know him too well for that. He’s not in the mood to listen.
He’d much rather kill me for this and ask questions later.
CHAPTER 38
TATUM
This is a nightmare, right? I’m still asleep. Of course, I had a dream about making out with Romero since that’s the kind of thing I usually dream about lately, anyway. That is when I’m not dreaming about the nonprofit that’s getting bigger and bigger in my imagination.
There is no way Dad just walked into my room unannounced and found us like this.
Bianca bumps into him from behind and propels him further into the room. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, red-faced. “I tried.”
“Tried?” Dad glares at her before swinging his attention back to us. “Tried what? You knew about this?”
“Dad, please.” I scramble off Romero‘s lap and straighten out my pajamas, feeling very small and afraid. I could live to be a hundred, and I would still be afraid of my father. Not that he would hurt me–I know he wouldn’t. It’s his disapproval I’m scared of. His disappointment.
More than anything, I’m afraid of what he’ll do to Romero, who awkwardly lurches to his feet with a raging erection I was only grinding against a few seconds ago. I doubt it will last long now that the worst has happened and we’re both basically fucked.
“Please, what?” Dad’s question is a bark, loud and vicious enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up and my skin erupt in goosebumps.
I am not a child anymore, but I’ll be damned if he doesn’t make me feel like one.
“You.” He jabs a finger in Romero’s direction, and that finger is shaking because his entire body is trembling with rage. “I trusted you. I treated you like a member of my fucking family, and what did you do? You took advantage. All this time. How long has this been going on? Tell me. How long?”
“It’s not that simple!” I’m shouting, but then I have to if I want to be heard.
“I don’t remember asking you a thing,” Dad snaps. “You and I will have this out, but right now–”
“No! You’re going to listen to me!”
Wow. Where did that come from? Even I’m shocked, my mouth snapping shut. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Bianca staring at me, looking worried and surprised all at once.
Dad lowers his brow. “Excuse me?” His whispered tone chills me. “Since when do you shout at me like that?”
Don’t you dare back down now. “Since you won’t listen, though that’s nothing new, is it?”
“Tatum…” Romero murmurs.
Forget him right now. No, what I have to say goes deeper than this moment. I’ve got almost twenty-three years of pent-up frustration to vent.
Dad takes a breath and releases it slowly. “I am going to let that go for now. You’re upset and confused.”
“You’re damn right, I’m upset. Since when do you walk into my room, anyway?”
“Your room is in my house.”
“This is my room. Mine. It’s the only thing in this house that is mine. It’s the only thing in my entire life that belongs to me. Me!” I tap my palm to my chest, where my heart pounds furiously. “It’s the only thing you’ve ever really let me have to myself.”
“What are you talking about? Don’t turn this around on me.”
“That is what this is about, Dad. You don’t get it, but then I’ve spent my whole life trying to be who you want me to be, so I understand how you wouldn’t have the first clue what I need.”
The laugh he blurts out might as well be a fist flying my way. It hurts that much to hear his disdain. “You’re not saying you need him, are you?”
“So what if I do?” With my hands on my hips, I lift my chin and look him in the eye. I’m shaking like a leaf, but I won’t back down. Not now.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Dad, I’m a grown woman. I know what I want. And I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but not everything can be exactly how you want it. I’m sorry. You know I love you, but I must draw the line at you making all my decisions for me. I don’t want you to do that.”