I shook, staring at him. My brain had gone full stupid and I couldn’t think of a single thing to say. Hot, angry tears spilled down my face, but I still couldn’t move or make a sound. God I was tired of crying.
My father bowed his head and covered his face with his hand, shaking his head. “Don’t, don’t do that, Daisy. Stop it. You know I can’t stand to see you cry.”
I wiped my face, but the tears still came. My breath came in shuddering sobs now, no matter how I fought to control it.
“Damn it,” he whimpered. “Daisy, please.”
“I’m trying,” I said through clenched teeth and I really was. The only thing worse than succumbing to my emotions was succumbing to them in front of my father. I didn’t need or want his understanding or his pity.
He sat down hard, his shoulders slumped defeatedly. He gestured limply then passed a hand over his head. “Look. I’m sorry I shouted, okay? It’s just, you make me worry about you, Daisy. After what happened with your brother—and you’re still not over it—and with Kash back in town, and staying out late when I know you gotta work tomorrow—what’s happened to my little girl?” His voice broke and he wiped his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I sobbed. “I know you’re just worried. I know that. But you have to understand, Daddy. Please. I’m a grown up now, and even if I wasn’t—this is a small town. It’s safe. I know everybody here, and none of them have any reason to hurt me. I just wanted to go for a walk.”
He clenched his fists and ground his teeth, shaking his head. “You know what your problem is? You’re too trusting. Always have been. You think you’re safe because you’re pretty, but you’re not. Pretty is a liability. You’re gonna go out there and one person is gonna make you feel good and the next thing you know you’re gonna be dead in a field with your legs out to—”
“Daddy!”
“Well? I’m just saying, small town or not, there’s bad people in the world. You can’t keep wandering around at night all by yourself. It’s not safe. From now on, I want you in your bedroom by eight. Every night.”
“You’re putting a curfew on me? Are you serious? I’m twenty-four years old!”
“You’re my daughter! You live in my house, you play by my rules. Eight o’clock, every night, you’re in that bedroom. Do you hear me?”
I crossed my arms again, feeling like the petulant teenager he was pretending I was. Deep down, I wanted to handle this like an adult, but I didn’t know how. Anything I said would only prove to him that I was the child he thought I was. The only option I could see was to move out, but I knew I couldn’t get far enough away to be out of his grasp. Not on my own. He knew everybody. I’d be watched like a hawk every second of the day and as soon as I stepped out of line he’d be there to drag me right back in place.
A noise in the hallway caught my attention. There stood my mother, my second reason to stay. She was so gentle, so fragile, so beaten down by life and Dad and everything else. I couldn’t just leave her here with him. Hunter wouldn’t have done that and Hunter wouldn’t have wanted me to do it either. I shook my head, feeling the weight of the world move from side to side with it.
“Fine,” I said flatly. “You win.”
“Damn straight I do,” my father said, jerking his chin up. “Get me a beer.”
Chapter 10
For the first time in almost a decade, I woke up with music in my head. It spilled out of my mouth as I got ready to work, then sang a few bars as I pulled up the video tutorial I was going to be following for the day.
“Gonna replace those wires, yeah—make sure this place don’t catch fire, yeah, yeah, yeah—gonna save the man some cash while he’s sitting on his ass, yeah ye—oh… hi, Leroy.”
Leroy took one shaky step closer and peered at me over the brim of his glasses. “Sittin’ on my ass, huh? You got somethin’ to say to me, boy?”
I grinned at him. “Just rhymin’ with cash, boss.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay. What’s got you steppin’ so pretty today? You get’churself some rhymes-with-cash?” He laughed at his joke until he choked on it, then cleared his throat and sipped his tea.
“Nah, just feelin’ good about today is all.” I raised a brow at him, watching as he scrunched up his face with each sip he took from his cup. “When did you start drinking tea?”
“Doctor says I had to,” Leroy said. “Said my heart ain’t right, gotta lay off the caffeine.”
I leaned on the counter and looked at him from under my brow. “Caffeine? I don’t think it’s your coffee addiction screwing with your heart, man.”
He sucked his teeth at me and grinned. “Man, you rehabber’s blame rock for everything. Get goin’, ain’t you got work to do?”
“Just sayin’, man, maybe it’s time to lay off. Switch to green, it’ll be legal soon anyway.”
He snorted. “That’s what they say, anyway. But how they gonna make somethin’ legal and then not let the people go? It ain’t right. I swear to you, boy, if they open up one o’ them fancy dispensaries around these parts, they can forget about it. They won’t be getting my money, no sir, not till they let J.R. Smalls out of prison and scrub his record.”
“Man, J.R. was pushing heroine and you know it.”
Leroy sniffed and raised his brows in a mockery of righteous indignation. “It’s the principle of the
