He chuckles. “Fine, if you must, you can pay me back, if it makes you feel better.”
“It doesn’t, but it helps.”
He kneels down in front of me between my knees, takes my face in his hands and presses his lips to mine, my arms winding around his neck.
“Thank you,” I say against his lips. “You don’t know what this means.”
“You’re welcome.” He touches his lips to mine one more time before pulling us both up to standing. “I’m going to make a couple of calls.”
“Okay. I’ll be downstairs."
He nods.
I kiss him on the cheek before I leave him in my room, head back downstairs and re-enter the living room.
“Hayley, I won’t take money from that man,” my dad says.
“Like how you didn’t take his money when he offered it to you in exchange for me,” I throw back at him. His head drops. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. For the record, I don’t like this anymore than you do, but we don’t have much of a choice now do we? He’s making some calls, I’ve told him the only way we’ll go through with this is if he lets us repay him.”
My dad shakes his head disapprovingly. “I just don’t like him Hayley.”
“Yeah, you’ve made that pretty clear.”
“What is his hold over you?”
I love him. That’s the hold he has on me.
“Dad, I lo-” I’m cut off by Kyle’s return to the room.
He comes to stand next to me, he smiles down at me. “All done.” He looks up at my dad. “You don’t have to worry anymore, the mortgage and all of your debts are paid.”
“Thank you,” I say, as I lean into his body.
My dad remains silent, stubbornly, his face hard. “Dad?” I prompt.
Nothing. My blood boils with anger. “Kyle, get me out of here, please?”
He begins to steer me away, but he turns to look over his shoulder at my dad. “Nice to see you again, Jack.” He nods politely at my uncle. “Pleasure as always, Mr Roberts.”
“Prick,” my dad utters under his breath.
Kyle stops. “You know what, I came here to make amends, for your daughter’s sake. I love your daughter, more than I ever anticipated, and I have no plans to leave her any time soon. I figured I’d try to make peace with you, to make it easier on her. Hayley misses you, she won’t say it out loud, but she does, that’s why I’m here, she already lost her mother, don’t make her lose her dad too.”
My dad stills, his eyes flick to mine, his face softening a fraction. “I don’t want that. I never wanted that.” His gaze flicks back to Kyle. “We were fine until you muscled your way into our lives.”
“Dad,” I warn. “I don’t want to lose you, and I’m tired of fighting. You have to drop this vendetta you have against Kyle, he’s here to stay, I love him too and I want him in my life, you need to accept that.”
My dad sighs. “I know you’ve heard it before, Hayley, but I really am sorry. I never wanted this mess, I never wanted to drag you into it,” he says. “I love you, Hayley. I’m your dad, I’m supposed to protect you from all of this, but I messed everything up.” He sighs, his voice softening. “After your mom died, I needed to find a release, the gambling started as a hobby, if you can call it that, a way to make me forget for a while, but before I knew it, I couldn’t stop, it turned into an obsession. The truth is, I’ve never gotten over your mom, that’s no excuse but… Hayley, please, forgive me.”
My heart squeezes. I can’t bear to fight with him anymore, it hurts too much.
He didn’t ask to lose his wife, he didn’t ask to be heartbroken, so he did what anyone tries to do when they are hurting, trying to take their minds off of the pain.
“I love you too dad,” I say quietly. “So much.”
I rush up to him and his arms engulfs me in a hug. My arms wrap tight around his waist. I feel him let out a deep sigh against me as I rest my head on his chest.
“You need to get help, dad, please get help.”
“We’ll get through this, Hales, I promise. I’m seeing a counsellor next week, I’m going to get help. It’ll all work out. I just need you with me.”
I nod against his chest, hugging him tighter.
We finally let go of each other and I turn to leave with Kyle. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Bye, Hales.” He smiles, something that I haven’t seen in a while. He then turns his attention to Kyle. “If you hurt her…”
“That won’t happen I assure you.”
He nods slowly, eyeing him skeptically.
“I expect to see you bright and early at work tomorrow young lady,” Uncle Jack chimes in.
“Okay, Uncle Jack,” I laugh. “Bye.” I say to them both, as Kyle guides me out of the living room and out of the house.
We climb into his car drives me back to Gwen’s.
He walks me to the door and kisses me deeply.
“Thank you again, for today, for everything.”
“No problem.” He smiles. He leans in and presses his lips to mine. My palm touches his cheek, holding him to me, not ready to let him go just yet. The kiss deepens before he pulls away, his lips brushing mine ever so slightly. “I love you,” he whispers against my lips.
I smile. “I love you too.”
He pecks a quick kiss to my lips before he turns and disappears out of sight as he rounds the corner to the stairs.
Chapter 30
Hayley
"So, this is my office,” Kyle says, leading me by the hand into the room. The decor is Kyle through and through, white, and grey. Modern and stylish, spacious, and not cluttered. A wide, antique desk that is a close match to the one in his study
