Did I think the man loved me? Yes.
Did I think he knew how to show it anymore? No.
And at this point in my life, I just couldn’t work with that. I picked up my napkin from my lap and dropped it on my plate. “The student housing office said they would refund eighty percent of my housing costs for the fall. You should be getting a check in the mail within the next week.”
He scoffed. “And I guess you expect me to give you that money so you can rent a place with Sophia.”
I turned my head and looked at him somberly. “I don’t expect anything from you. I’ll give you back the twenty percent you lost too.” I stood and looked around at my family. “Thanks for dinner.”
When I started to walk out of the dining room, my father said, “I’m serious, Taylor. Your tuition is already paid, but beyond that, if you don’t return to school, I’m not helping you with anything else.”
I blinked back tears as I walked to the door and reached down to grab my purse from the chair I’d left it on. My dad had a clear line of sight of me as I walked back, withdrew my wallet, took out my credit card, and dropped it on the table next to his plate. “You want me to leave the car?” I asked, my voice ragged.
He looked from the credit card to me, seemingly stunned silent. He cleared his throat. “No. That was a gift.”
I smiled, but it was joyless. “Got it. Gifts I can have. Your understanding I can’t.”
His mouth opened and closed as if he were trying to figure out how to reply, but I didn’t wait for him to. I walked around the table so I could drop a kiss on Lila’s and Sawyer’s heads and then got the hell out of there.
Sophia hadn’t prepared me for that conversation at all, and I couldn’t wait to tell her how bad her fortune-telling abilities sucked.
Chapter Two
R A N S O M
“What the fuck is on your face?”
I could see Brody’s reflection in the mirror of the apartment gym, and I slowed down my run to a steady nine point five so I could answer. “It’s a training mask. You’ve never seen one?” The mask was a black Under Armour one, and like any training mask, it covered the majority of my lower face.
“Nope. But you should probably know you look like a cross between Bane and Hannibal Lecter.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been compared to a hybrid of two iconic villains, and it’s actually not as insulting as you probably meant for it to be.”
“Not an insult, really.” Brody put his water bottle on the floor next to the leg press machine and began contorting his body into different positions that he seemed to think were stretches. “More of an observation. You know, in case any females come into the gym. I wouldn’t want you to be reported or anything.”
I slowed to a walk and pulled the mask off before wiping the sweat from my head and neck with a towel. “Shouldn’t you be the one who’s worried about being reported? You don’t even live in this apartment complex.”
I met Brody when he was hanging by the pool, even though his girlfriend, Aamee—the one who actually lived here—was nowhere to be found. He’d also gone to a few of the events the complex had held for its tenants.
“Whatever,” Brody said, waving me off as he hopped on the leg press machine and moved the pin down on the weights without really looking. “I’m here all the time. I’m sure people think I live here.”
He was probably right, and I couldn’t exactly blame him for spending so much time at Aamee’s place because one, the property was gorgeous with high-end amenities, and two, for most of the summer, a woman named Veronica was staying at Brody’s while the two of them faked an engagement so Brody’s dad wouldn’t think he was irresponsible and would invest money in a bar that Brody and Drew wanted to eventually open.
“I’m gonna miss this place when Aamee moves,” Brody said after struggling to push the weight he’d chosen.
“The gym?” I couldn’t help raising my eyebrow at him because I was here almost every day, and this was one of the first times I’d seen him.
“Yeah. Well, all of it, I guess. But the pool will probably close soon anyway. It’s almost Labor Day.”
“Nah, they said they heat it in the cold weather so people can use it and the hot tub in the winter if they want.”
Brody gazed off into some imaginary place I couldn’t see. “I forgot about the hot tub,” he said slowly. “I feel like I didn’t really take full advantage of it while I lived here.”
“You didn’t live here,” I reminded him as I walked over to grab a barbell and load it. “So when’s Aamee actually moving?”
“Saturday,” he said through a long sigh. He’d stopped his reps a little while ago and was resting his feet against the platform, looking like a toddler who’d just been told he couldn’t have dessert.
“You should put your feet down.”
“Huh?” My suggestion seemed to bring him out of his own mind long enough for him to look over.
“Your feet. In between sets you should put them down to allow the circulation to go back to normal in your legs.”
“Right,” he said, placing his feet on the floor. “Thanks. What’s the mask do anyway?”
“It regulates air intake so you can breathe more efficiently. Trains your lungs like you train the rest of your body, pretty much.” I’d used them when I’d played college football, and since I’d found them effective, I’d made them a habit even though now my
