He eyed his bare chest, suddenly seeming uncertain of himself. “Should I go?”
“No,” I said immediately, unsure why I was wholeheartedly sure that I didn’t want him to leave now. Or ever again. Just because we’d given in to our urges, that didn’t mean we could be together in the real world like an actual couple. How would it work? But then again, even thinking about not repeating tonight at our very next opportunity made my heart start to rip apart at the seams.
No, I needed him in my life. I wasn’t sure how or in what way exactly. But somehow, we’d make it work. If he wanted it as well obviously…and judging by the way he’d fucked me, I didn’t think he’d be letting me go anywhere any time soon. There was just the small matter of my father being on the run and this whole night making me wonder if I was even going back to Everlake.
I moved across the space parting us, taking his hand and a smile pulled at his mouth. He tugged me into his chest, wrapping me in his arms and I dissolved against him.
“Stay here,” I sighed. “I want him to meet you. Besides, he might not arrive for hours.”
“True,” he growled then shoved me back against the wall, making my heartbeat quicken as he penned me in. “You’re in trouble if that’s the case though, princess.”
“Step away from my daughter,” my dad’s booming voice filled the room and my heart leapt as Monroe flinched back, raising his hands in innocence as he turned towards him.
Dad had a pistol pointed at him as he stepped into the lounge. He must have come in around the back of the house and I just hoped he hadn’t been lurking out there for long or he would have heard…things. He was dressed in all black, his stubble grown to a beard to cover most of his face, but I would have known him anywhere.
“Dad,” I gasped. “It’s okay, he’s with me.”
He didn’t lower the gun, his eyes narrowed on Monroe’s naked chest.
“I’m not here to cause trouble, sir,” Monroe said earnestly.
“I’ll decide whether you’re trouble or not,” Dad growled then his eyes swung to me through his dark rimmed glasses. “Who is he, kiddo? And where’s his damn clothes?”
“He spilled coffee on his shirt. And he’s…” I wet my lips, figuring it was best to lie. “My boyfriend.” Monroe could pass for my age, especially in the low light of the cabin. “And he’s protected and cared for me my entire time at Everlake. Which is more than I can say for you,” I accused hotly.
I hadn’t planned on being angry, but now Dad was standing in front of me pointing a gun at a man I deeply cared about, all my emotions welled up and drowned me.
Dad lowered the gun, but didn’t put it away, his eyes creasing at the corners. “That true?” he asked of Monroe. “You’ve been looking out for my daughter?”
“As best I can,” he confirmed. “Though things haven’t been easy on her since everyone at school knows she’s related to the man who released a deadly virus on the world.”
My heart pounded like crazy and I stepped toward Dad with so many questions, but I knew which one I had to ask first. The one that had been eating me alive like locusts in my brain for weeks on end. “Did you do it? Is what they’re saying on the news true?”
Dad sighed, taking a step closer to me like he longed to drag me into his arms, but I didn’t want to let my walls down until I heard the answer to this. No matter how much I ached for that too.
“I took the virus from the Apollo Company, yes,” he started.
“But?” I asked, desperate for there to be a but. Please be a but.
“But, I didn’t unleash it on the world, Tater-tot. I wouldn’t do that. Everything that’s happened since that day has been…” He shook his head and I realised how tired he looked. Goddamn exhausted. The relief at hearing him say that and the truth written across his features finally gave me the answer I needed and it felt like the entire weight of the sky lifting from me. He didn’t do it.
I directed him to the little table and chairs by the window on the other side of the room and he gave Monroe a suspicious glance before walking towards it.
“I won’t say more in front of him.” Dad sank into a chair and placed the gun on the table.
I looked to Monroe apologetically and he stepped forward, squeezing my arm. “I’ll wait outside. Just call if you need me.”
“Okay.”
He pressed forward and kissed me boldly and my breath hitched as I automatically leaned into it. Then he was gone just as fast, striding to the front door and opening it, pausing for a moment as he looked to my dad. “Just so you know, sir, you have raised an exceptional daughter who I care for very much. And I’m not saying that to be an asskisser. Frankly, I don’t give a fuck if you like me or not. But I’m telling you because I will stand against anyone who hurts her. Even if that someone is her own father.”
My heart did a mad backflip at his words and Dad eyed him, his fingers trailing over his gun. “A man is made by his actions not his words. If she says you’ve looked after her then I believe
