I knew the confrontation was coming even before the door to the bedroom I shared with Calvin came slamming open.

It was only a matter of time before she went running to her big, bad protector to tell him what I'd done when she confronted me a little over a week ago.

In all honesty, I'd assumed he would've come at me that very night after I'd backed her up against a tree, her sweet big brown doe eyes staring up at me in shock and anger transforming into confusion and then finally dread when she realized exactly who I was to her. 

There was some sort of sick satisfaction that ran through my blood at seeing what the truth was doing to her—like I was being vindicated in some way because she was finally feeling the anger and the hurt that I'd been enduring the entire time I'd known who she really was. 

Seeing her mother—that home wrecker—sitting there all innocent in that cafe alive and breathing, unlike the woman whose life she destroyed.

If I couldn't make her understand what she'd put me through, then maybe I could make her daughter feel it, instead. 

Maybe then that would fill up the hole in my chest that swelled open every time her fucking face swam in my periphery. 

She was everywhere—the dining hall, my fucking classes as a TA, strolling the quad, in my actual fucking home when she came to visit Hart. 

Hart, who was currently beating down my door and standing in the entryway like a raging bull breathing heavily with smoke about to billow out of his ears and nose. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Eyeing Calvin who'd sat up from his spot on the bed while icing his rolled ankle and watching old games on his phone, I shrugged my shoulders after pulling my headphones from my ears.

This was my relaxation time after three practices and seeing as it was a Friday, I was going to be getting as much sleep as possible before my rest day and Hart was seriously fucking that up. 

"Gonna have to be more specific there, Hart."

Colby Hart crossed his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes, mouth set in a sneer.

"Don't play fucking dumb, Rush, even though I'm sure it's not hard to play at something you're so good at."

I was rising from the bed before I even knew what I was doing, but then Calvin was there with a hand on my shoulder to keep me from doing something I would regret in the morning, even if punching that smug bastard in the face would be more than satisfying in the moment.

It wouldn't boost 'team morale' to sock a fellow teammate in the face, and an underclassman at that.

"Watch it, Hart.  What do you want?"

Hart cocked his head at Calvin and let out a disbelieving breath. 

"What do I want?  I want this asshole to stop harassing my sister's best friend!"

"Harassing?  She was the one who came up to me, last I checked."

The words might've left my lips in a growl, but I didn't regret the power of their truth as Hart flinched slightly, then balled his fists up just as Calvin took a step between us, like he was protecting Hart by doing so. 

"You're the one who decided to spout some shit about her family, like you have any right to talk to her about that, you have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, I don't, do I?  Then why do I know her mother's name is Jennifer Gatlin, and that she had an affair with my fucking father twelve years ago?"

That seemed to do the job of shutting the asshole up. 

Even Calvin was gaping at me in surprise and shock, his brown eyes crinkling at the edges.

"Bet your little girlfriend didn't tell you that part, did she?  What did she say, I wonder?  Come to you crying about me and made some shit up to send you over here to defend her honor?"

"No, I had to hear it from my sister, actually asshole.  She wouldn't tell me a goddamn thing about you."

"Well, color me surprised.  Everything I told her was the truth, so I'm not really sure what else you're trying to accomplish here with this conversation."

Hart was backpedaling already, resignation on his face and a wary energy all around him.

"Just—just stay away from her from now on, alright?  She doesn't need anymore shit to deal with this year, especially not from someone like you."

"And what are you gonna do about it if I don't?  What, you scared I'll make that crush she has on you go away, and you won't have her in your back pocket in between girlfriends?"

Hart stepped up a little too close and Calvin pressed on his chest, edging even more in between the two of us while Hart just glowered at the both of us, pure murder written on his features but all I could do was smile. 

"You shut your fucking mouth about her—it's not even like that!  She doesn't need someone like you in her life, fucking things up even more than they already are, okay?  She's a nice girl, and she doesn't deserve how you've been treating her, alright?  And besides, you don't even fuck around, with anyone, so just treat her like you do with everyone else and ignore her.  Is that so hard to do?"

"I don't know, Hart.  You tell me.  Is it hard to ignore that girl?"

His eyes blowing wide from my question, Hart backed up a few steps—enough for Calvin to edge him out the door and swing it almost completely shut in his face. 

"Calm the fuck down and knock next time, dude."

He tried saying something in response, but Calvin already slammed the door shut before whirling around to turn his attention on me, his gaze almost as angry as Hart's was a few moments ago.

"Are you gonna tell me who the fuck this girl is that's causing drama in our house, then?"

I groaned. 

"How long do you have?"

"Hi, Dad."

My father's breathing could be heard on the other end of the line, and nothing else. 

Warm sprays of water fell in sprinkles to the grass as the humidity from the air steamed up the pavement.

"Dad?"

He grunted through the phone as a girl nearby popped open her umbrella and a few more people ran underneath an awning as the rain picked up, fat droplets slapping the asphalt as fog hissed up from the ground.

"Dad, I know you're mad at me, but—"

"Mad at you?  No, no I'm not mad."

I waited a breath, then two. 

"Okay, so you're not mad.  You're...disappointed?"

"Nope.  That would mean that I actually had expectations of you in the first place, and after the last time this happened, I stopped expecting you to act in your best interests altogether."

"That's not fair, Dad.  You know I would never—"

"But you did, Gracie!  You did.  You went and saw her, again, even though I told you time and time again that she was nothing but worthless, but you never believed me!"

"It's not that simple, though!"

"It's very simple, Gracie.  You either support me and want to be on my side, or you want a relationship with her—you can't have both."

My father's gravelly voice broke on the other end of the line and soon I wished my tears would fall like the spatter of raindrops on the earth but they'd dried up for him long ago. 

"I'm not going to talk to her again, I promise.  Now that I've seen it in person, how she actually is, I made up my mind."

"You didn't have your mind made up about who she was when she left us, though, did you?  Why wasn't that enough?"

"Because I had to be sure, Dad!"

"Sure about what?  What more could you possibly need to know about a woman who could do that to her own family?"

"I wanted to know if it was about me, or if it was about her.  If it was about her, then I could live with it.  If it was just because she was some evil, selfish person, then it would all make sense.  But if she wasn't?  Then...then she left because of me, and because of you, too.  But she didn't take me with her, did she?"

"And what did you realize on this little outing with your mother?"

The angry bitterness coating his words reminded me of a time when there was nothing in his eyes but pain. 

He used to scale the walls of his addiction and topple over them, to the point that there was no returning from where he once came.  

He'd aspirated twice already, and with no one at home to watch out for him aside from the neighbors that had taken me in as their own, there was no telling if I'd ever be able to yank him back from the precipice of no return if it happened yet again.

"It wasn't about me."

"Damn right, it wasn't.  Just like I've been telling you this whole time."

I imagined him sitting in his recliner on the phone with me, his baseball cap on and a lukewarm opened beer sat beside him on the end table, his face overgrown with wiry brown and grey beard hair.

He definitely had the tv paused, one of his favorite crime shows waiting in the background.  

"It was never about you, sweetheart.  It was always her fault that she left, don't you ever forget that."

A lone tear finally slipped down my cheek like the rain, just as a hooded figure emerged from the nearby science building, his form hulking and imposing as others shooed out of his way while they darted to and from classes in the drizzling weather.

"I won't."

Standing up after ending the call, I strode with purpose towards him as he stalked through the quad like he knew I was on his heels and he was trying to evade me. 

He wasn't going to get away that easily.

***

Author's Note:

Short and sweet, because the next 2 chapters are going to be LOADED with drama, action, suspense, and spiceeeeeee so you don't want to miss the next 2 weeks of updates!

What do you think about Gracie's relationship with her father, and how do you think it will affect the outcome of the story overall?

Thoughts on badboy Kalen?  He's going to be such an asshole to everyone...but her ;)

What do you think will happen next?

What do you WANT to happen next?

Until next time my lovely readers,

Kristen :)