Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 34938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
But here we are. There's no going back, he knows now. And he hates it.
Kent throws a hand through his hair, and looks up at the ceiling. “Look,” he starts to say as he moves his eyes back to my father.
Crack!
In a matter of a single second, my father slugs him in the face. Kent's head whips to one side, and he lets out a quick grunt.
My father is breathing heavy, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he just stands there.
“Dad! Stop!” I yell as he takes a step forward like he's going to strike him again. I grab his arm and try to yank him back.
Kent lifts his head, rocking his jaw side to side as he wipes blood off his lip. “You feel better now that you got that out of your system?” he asks, his voice a hair away from laughing.
“Fuck you,” my father spits out at him. “This is my business, my house, I own it. Not you, not her, I do. Who do you think you are?” he asks, taking a step forward. “And she's my daughter. My daughter! I thought we were friends. Obviously I was wrong because it’s clear you don’t respect me at all!”
“Bryce, I'm really sorry, I swear I didn't plan this. I never meant for anything to interfere with our company or our friendship. But I'm not backing down from this. I love your daughter. I love her and I'm not going anywhere. I told you that when I talked to you, and I meant it. I wanted to do this right, I wanted to ask you first before I asked her. I thought it was the respectful thing to do.”
Wait. . . what? He told him about us? He told him he loved me?
I glance at Kent, and his eyes meet mine. Arching a brow, he gives me a small flash of a smile and shrugs his shoulders.
It finally makes sense now. The phone calls weren't just to tell my father about how I was doing, he was also telling my father about us, about how he feels, about wanting to be with me. I can feel my chest tighten and tingles jump down my body as his words sink in.
He really wants to spend his life with me. . .
“Why do you think I'm here? I didn't just come because of the storm, I came because I had to see it for myself.” My father strokes his chin and looks back at me over his shoulder. “What am I supposed to think, huh? I thought you took me seriously, I thought you respected me, but you don't give a shit about our name, do you? You'd rather just shit all over the Dean name, right? You want to make a fool of me? Is that why you're doing this?”
I can feel myself shrinking, my shoulders roll forward, and my body is getting smaller. But this isn't going to help, I can't shy away from a confrontation. I need to be honest with him. I need to stand up for myself.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I inhale a deep breath and straighten my back. “No.”
“Excuse me?” he asks.
“I said no. No, I don't want to shit all over our name. No, I'm not doing this to embarrass you or make you look bad. News flash, Dad, not everything is about you.” Side stepping around my father, I hold the sheet up high, and tuck myself into Kent's side. “I love him, and I'm not going to pretend I don't. I'm a grown woman, not a damn child, and you need to stop treating me like I'm one.”
“You promised me you'd take this seriously, Perri. Sleeping with the tenant is doing the exact opposite.”
“What about you?” I ask, crooking my jaw. “What about you planting him here to spy on me? How is that taking me seriously? To me, that was you shitting on me. By planting him here, you told me that you don’t respect me or trust me. So, what am I supposed to think of that?”
“I did it to protect you. I did it to make sure you did your job right.”
“And she did,” Kent says right away. “She took care of the pool, she got a plumber out here to fix the clog in the shower, she made sure the lawn was cut and those gorgeous flowers out front, yeah, she planted those herself. This woman knows design, Bryce, and you've been too blinded by your own misconceptions that you haven't even seen how amazing your own daughter is. Everything I told you on the phone was true. I didn't lie to you about that. And I'm not lying to you now. I love this girl, and one day I'm going to marry her, with or without your blessing.”