Page 68 of Turn of the Tides
“But... Beau, he’s your dad. He wouldn’t rather you be miserable. That’s... that’s just insane.”
I flipped through the sketchpad to the tattered pages. “He did this. He came into my room one day and saw me drawing you and tore the pages to shreds. I couldn’t have you, so this was the best I could get. But even that was too much in his eyes.”
She reached out, tracing the frayed edges of the torn paper. “I can’t believe it,” she whispered sadly. “He destroyed something so beautiful, something you created. Just to hurt you?” Those warm brown eyes came to mine, tears swimming in them. “What kind of father does that?”
“The one I was cursed with.”
She sniffled, lowering her head and wiping at her cheek with the back of her hand. “That morning in your dorm room,” she said a minute later, finally piecing everything else together. “He called. I answered, so he knew I was there.”
I nodded, hating the sadness washing over her, even if it was for me. I probably didn’t deserve it, but she had too big of a heart to not hurt over what I went through.
“He reminded me of his original threat, so I did the only thing I could think to do. Unfortunately, your father was working a job for my dad, and to prove a point, the son of a bitch fired him anyway.”
“I remember that. God,” she said in quiet disbelief, her eyes going distant as she thought back to that time ten years earlier. “My dad was so angry. Kept going on and on that he was let go for no good reason.”
“It’s true. Your father suffered because mine wanted to keep me under his thumb, and I’ve always blamed myself for that.”
“Hey. Stop that.” She moved then, swinging a leg over my lap to straddle my thighs. She took my face in her small, delicate hands and tilted it up to hers. That honey brown was gone now, replaced with that heat, only this time, the angry fire was for me, not because of me, and I loved it even more. That was her instinct to fight right there, and it was coming out for me. “What happened wasn’t your fault. It was his. A father is supposed to protect his children. He’s supposed to love them unconditionally and teach them right from wrong, raise them to be good people. Your father failed you, over and over, and I’m so sorry you had to suffer through that.” She lowered her forehead to mine, squeezing her eyes closed as she spoke again, her voice quivering. “I wish I could go back in time and make it all better for you.”
I banded my arms around her, holding her to me and pressing her heart against my own. This was where she belonged, in my home and right here in my arms, and I’d spend the rest of my life proving that to her if I had to.
“You have to know, you were the one good thing I had back then. Even if I didn’t act like it, you were all that mattered. I spent too long hurting you, even if it was the last thing I ever wanted to do, and I swear, baby, I’m going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
She smiled, combing her fingers through my hair before wrapping her arms around my neck. “The rest of your life, huh? That’s a pretty bold claim.”
I lifted my shoulder in a shrug. “Not to me. I’ve loved you for more than half my life, Presley, why the hell would I want to stop now?”
Her giggle took those broken pieces of me and put them back together again. “Well that’s a relief to hear. Makes the fact that I love you too all the easier.”
My arms clenched tight around her at those words as a growl rumbled from my chest. “Say it again,” I ordered, fisting her hair and bringing her lips to mine. “I want to hear it again.”
“I love you, Beau. Turns out, it took a lot less time to catch up with you than I thought.”
She let out a shriek that turned to a giggle as I rose to my feet and started moving.
“Where are we going?” she asked, her smile so goddamn bright and beautiful it lit up even the deepest, darkest corners of my heart.
“Bathroom,” I answered on a grunt, finding it hard to communicate now that all the blood in my body had rushed to my dick. “I’m going to fuck you in front of the mirror so we can both watch as you come around me. Then I’m going to take you into my newly unpacked office and do it again so that every time I sit at that desk, I’ll remember you being stretched out naked across it.”
She leaned down, taking my bottom lip between her teeth and tugging before licking the sting away. “Sounds like you’ve got it all planned out.”
I pulled back, giving her a cocky smile. “You have any objections?”
She shook her head, all that golden hair brushing against my arms. “Not a single one.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
PRESLEY
It was actuallya lot of fun to see the man who’d been so confident he could win my parents over, no problem, lose all that cocky swagger as he followed me up their front walkway on the way to Sunday dinner.
I stopped at the front door and looked back at him over my shoulder, trying my best not to laugh. “Will you stop fidgeting? What is wrong with you?”
He tugged at the collar of his button-down and scratched at his neck as he scowled at me. “We should have stopped to get your mom flowers. Itoldyou we should have brought flowers.”
It took everything I had not to burst into laughter. He was so damn cute when he was panicking over whether or not my parents would like him. I already knew they would, especially after I’d shared what he told me about his own father. My mother had gotten all sniffly and weepy during that phone call. Even my dad’s voice had taken on a much gruffer tone as he said, “Damn shame a kid had to grow up like that. Damn shame.”
Even still, I knew my dad would put him through his paces, at least at the beginning, because when it came to his baby girl, he didn’t feel he was doing his job as a parent if he didn’t scarethe living hell out of all my boyfriends before finally taking pity on them.