Page 126 of Wright Together
His face was turning red. “You can’t do that. She’s my kid. I choose what happens to her.”
“Look at how well that’s worked out so far,” I snarled at him. “She is back on drugs. Last year, she overdosed underyourwatch.”
“She’s an addict,” he cried. “I was doing the best I could.”
I actually laughed. “Your best isn’t good enough. I should have taken her then and there, but I let you trap me. I paid for rehab. I paid for her to come home. I’ve paid for everything since.”
“And you’re going to keep paying!”
“No, I’m not,” I told him, crossing my arms. “I’m done bankrolling your life. I wasn’t in a position to take her before, but I am now. I have a good job. I have a house that I’m renting with some other girls. And I have receipts from the last year that prove I’m the one who’s been taking care of her financially.”
He scoffed. “You can’t just take her away from me. No judge will approve of her going to a sister rather than to her father.”
“Why do you even want her here? You clearly don’t care about her.”
“Hey!” he yelled. “I was out there, looking for her yesterday, just like you were.”
Bailey laughed. “For what reason? You never see me. And when you do, it’s only to remind me of what a failure I am. You don’t care about me or Eve. You never have. Only Gram did.”
“I took care of you after your mom skipped town.”
“What do you want a medal?” Bailey snapped.
“That’s your job,” I added hotly. “You’re a parent. Taking care of us is the bare minimum!”
“If you take her now, it’s kidnapping,” he warned.
This time, I couldn’t stop from laughing. “Is that so? You’d have to take me to court to prove it.”
“Then, I will,” he snapped.
He could see the house of cards crumbling. Instead of seeing what was best for Bailey, he was doubling down. Typical.
“You want your church friends to find out about all of this?”
He winced. If I knew anything about him, he wanted to keep it away from his friends. He wanted to appear on the outside as the perfect father, the perfect man, but none of them really knew him. Worse, they were just as grimy as he was. The call was coming from inside the house.
“You’d need a lawyer!” he blustered. Clearly, he had no other response.
Whitt cleared his throat, stepping into view for the first time. “I actually have a lawyer.”
My dad’s eyes widened in alarm. “What are you doing here?”
“When my girlfriend calls, I come running,” he said simply. “If my deadbeat dad taught me anything, it’s to have a team of lawyers on standby. I didn’t squander that advice at least. Wrights know how to go to bat.”
“That’s…that’s…” he sputtered incoherently.
“You’re neglectful, and I can prove it,” I said, lifting my chin and refusing to back down. “I have a case, Dad. You know I do.”
“You don’t have your own house,” he argued in his last-ditch effort. “No judge will approve her to live in a room with you. She has to have her own room.”
I bit my lip. I hadn’t known that. I didn’t even know if it was true. I looked to Whitt with wide eyes. Because I did not have a place for her to live on her own. I was just going to move her into my room. I didn’t care what else happened as long as I got her away from here.
Whitt met my gaze and frowned. As if he could read the terror on my face at the thought that Dad might be right.
“They can live with me then,” Whitt said without missing a beat. “I have two extra bedrooms. One of those belongs to Bailey as long as she needs it.”
My dad laughed in his face. “Evie Jo would die before moving in with a boyfriend. She’s too independent for that.”