“Montana—” she tries to interrupt, but I stop her from saying something we can’t come back from. I know it’s not fair, but I can’t deal with my best friend questioning me on this.
“No,” I say vehemently. “It’s done. We’re done. End of story. I’ve done the questioning of my own instincts with Mark. I believed him when he told me it was all in my head, that I was imagining shit. Only to be proven right in the end. I won’t let Kade gaslight me too.”
“I’m sorry, you’re right. You know I’ll have your back no matter what. If you need me to take care of Kade tell me, and I will. After all, no body no crime.”
I laugh even though she’s deadly serious, pun intended. Just like I would be if our places were reversed. “Love you, Kota.”
“Love you,” she whispers back, her features filled with sadness for me. Something she’s become quite adept at over the years.
I smile at her, trying to reassure her I’ll be fine. I hate seeing her anything but happy, especially if it’s because of me.
I’m about to say something when her phone rings. I half expect it to be Kade, but from the surprised look on her face I don’t think it is. She looks at me and says, “Your father.”
My eyebrows rise at hearing that. I spoke to him as soon as we arrived in Las Vegas, assuring him everything went okay, and we all made it safely. I don’t understand why he’s calling Dakota.
“Hello?” She’s quiet while she listens to Dad; I wish I could hear what he’s saying. “Oh, her battery must be dead.” She widens her eyes at me when she tells the lie. Not like she needs to open that specific can of worms of why my phone is turned off.
“Of course, here she is,” she says and hands me the phone, effectively preventing me from avoiding my family.
I lift the phone to my ear, unconsciously bracing for the worst. “Hi, Dad.”
“Oh, kiddo, are you okay?”
“Uh, sure. Why?”
“I saw the news articles. About the accident.” I can hear the concern for me in his voice.
I breathe a sigh of relief at the realization he’s talking about the mess with Veronika. That I can deal with.
“Oh, I’m fine. Veronika is mad, obviously—”
“You spoke to her?” he interrupts sharply, causing my brows to crease in confusion.
“Yeah, she stopped by as soon as we arrived in Vegas.” I would have known to expect her if I had seen the news in time. She has always had little regard for other people and their lives, everything must be according to her plan. If she wants to yell at you for something you did or didn’t do, she was going to do it regardless of any possible consequences you might face because of it.
“What did she say?”
“Well, in short, she blames me for leaking the story and making her look bad. She wasn’t necessarily pleasant about it.” An understatement if I ever heard one.
Dad hesitates on the other end, and a strange feeling comes over me. I’m not sure why or what it means, but I’m suddenly uneasy.
“Did you? Leak it?” My breath stalls in my lungs at the words and their implication. “I mean, I’d understand if you did it to hurt your mom. I don’t agree with it, but I’d understand.”
“Why would I be the one to leak it?” Conflicting emotions are running through my body at the thought that the first person he thinks leaked the story would be me.
“Montana, your mother has done horrible things to you in the past, I know that. I would understand if you did this to hurt her. Maybe even clear your name.”
I think what hurts the most is realizing in that instant that my father doesn’t know me. Part of him still sees me as this brat who would try to destroy someone’s life just because they hurt me in the past. That realization cuts through me like a razor, slicing me open. If I hadn’t just found out the man I’m in love with is cheating on me the day after I left, I probably would have been able to see where he’s coming from.
Alas, my current state of mind doesn’t register anything but the hurt his words inflict, the fact that he hasn’t changed his opinion of me from when we first reconnected.
Will they ever change their opinion of me? That town? He and his family?
“I didn’t leak it.”
“Well, who did then?” he asks in a tone bordering on accusation, and the anger that’s still shimmering just beneath the surfaces is starting to boil over again. I’m so sick of being everyone’s punching bag.
“Well, I’m not the only one who knows the truth. But unlike others, Hanna and I had plenty of time to reveal it but never did. Why would we now?”
“Are you saying Lizzie, Kade, or I would?” he says defensively.
“I’m saying Kade did,” I say with certainty, because who else would. And after learning of his infidelity I wouldn’t put anything past the bastard.
“Don’t be stupid,” Dad scoffs. “He wouldn’t ever do anything to betray you.”
I stumble back a step, his words like bullets hitting my body one by one. “Wow, thanks for the confidence, Wayne.” I deliberately use his first name, trying to hurt him with even just a fraction of the pain his words and lack of confidence in me are inflicting. “You clearly don’t know Kade at all. He would betray me like that. Hell, he did so much worse not an hour ago.”
“What—” he tries to interrupt me, but I’m done. Done with proving
