Come to Me Softly (Closer to You #2)(34)
Author: A.L. Jackson

Sick joke.

Guess Dave didn’t feel like keeping up pretenses, either.

To my left, Christopher stood, stripped of the easiness he always wore. “Come on, Aug, let’s go shoot some hoops out back, give these guys a minute to talk.”

Aug seemed reluctant. His gaze slid over the mess of faces, over the worry on his mother and the sadness on his sister. It finally settled on the hostility emanating from his father. Slowly he stood. “Yeah,” he said awkwardly, “would be good to burn off some of this dinner.” He placed a hand on Karen’s shoulder and kissed her on top of the head. “Dinner was great, Mom. Thank you.”

Silently, she nodded and patted his hand before they turned to leave.

We listened to their footsteps retreat, like they were a silent marker, a bell.

Fire struck in Dave’s eyes as he leveled them on me before he set them on Aly. Waiting.

Waiting on an explanation I knew he was going to be none too happy to receive.

Closing her eyes, Aly tightened her fingers on mine where our hands were still clasped on my lap, like she was looking for some kind of strength from me. I squeezed her back, ran my thumb over the back of her hand, not knowing what to say, not knowing how to take this away from her. Because no matter what, I knew this conversation was not going to go well.

Finally, she lifted her face back to Dave. “Dad, I’m sorry. It was never like that. I knew we needed to talk, but I wanted to wait until after dinner. I just wanted us to enjoy the holiday. Enjoy dinner and our family.”

“Enjoy dinner?” he asked, incredulous. “This has been about the least enjoyable dinner I’ve ever had. Your mom tells me Jared is coming to dinner yesterday, but she doesn’t say a word about the two of you, instead making it seem like he’s in town visiting. Sure doesn’t look that way to me. How long has this been going on?”

I gritted my teeth, because he was sitting there talking down to my girl, like she was some ignorant child who had no idea what she was doing. But I saw it in his eyes. Concern. So I swallowed it down, holding in the shiver of nerves that tingled through my limbs, the adrenaline spike I knew so well.

Fuck.

Almost apologetically, Aly glanced at me. Unshed tears blurred her eyes. “This summer—”

“What?” The mention of months gone by had Dave cutting her off before she even had a chance to start. He leaned forward in his seat. Obviously that bit of information pissed him off. His shoulders bunched up like he was trying to contain his own aggression.

“Let her talk, Dave,” Karen demanded, low, almost as intense as what had shot from her husband’s mouth.

A burdened breath seeped from Aly, and she chewed at her lip, like she was gauging the best way to lay this on her dad.

When I was a kid, I’d always thought Dave was a good guy. But even back then, I’d always been a little fearful of him. He’d never let anything get in the way of protecting his family, and he’d be damned if he let Christopher and me play him in any way.

Keen. Quick to judge.

And that was the thing—he’d cast his judgment on me years ago, and there was nothing Aly or I could say that would sway it.

We just were getting ready to seal it.

“At the beginning of this past summer,” she continued, her nails cutting into my skin, “Christopher ran into Jared. Jared ended up staying with us for a few months . . . and he and I . . .” Aly trailed off. Suggestion colored the words. Clearly, she wasn’t going to fill her dad in on all the little details she didn’t exactly relish elaborating on.

Thank God for that, because I was already sitting there f**king squirming on the hard, wooden chair, feeling all those eyes boring into me, searching for my intent.

The f**ked-up thing was Karen looked like she wanted to squeeze me in her arms until I couldn’t breathe, and Dave just looked like he wanted to squeeze the life out of me.

Couldn’t blame him.

He knew it, saw it written all over me. He knew I’d been buried in his daughter, feasting on every ounce of pleasure that this girl could bring me.

But what he didn’t know was how it made me feel, what she made me feel. He had no clue that this wasn’t just some game I was playing with her.

He had no idea how Aly had changed me. Despite all the hate I harbored inside, this girl still managed to make me love her. She’d poured so much of it into me there was no chance I wouldn’t feel it back.

“What do you mean for a few months?” Dave frowned, putting the fragmented pieces together, trying to make it all add up, because the guy wasn’t stupid and he knew he didn’t have the full story.

A soft sigh flowed from Karen as she watched Aly with sympathy, because she knew all about the pain I’d brought down on her daughter. But really, she didn’t know the half of it. She didn’t know how badly Aly had been hurting, how scared she’d been while I’d been away.

“He stayed with us for a few months. Some things happened and he left.”

“He left.” It was a statement. Dave Moore had just found his sum.

Frustration and hope tumbled from Aly in a flood of words, and she leaned across the table, flattened her hand against it in front of him, trying to create some kind of connection with him, imploring with him to listen. “Dad, I know you can’t understand all of this, or maybe you just might not want to, but things happened between me and Jared that he wasn’t ready to deal with. And, yes, I was hurt when he was away.” Honesty poured from her. “But he came back to me. For good. We’re together and we’re going to be.”

She said it like it was the simplest thing in the world when everything between us had always been so complicated, every emotion that flushed through my body complex, the joy hinging on the hate, this reckless balance that could so easily tip and spin us out of control.

But I wasn’t going to let it.

As if he knew it, Dave watched me, like he could somehow see through me, inside me, deep into the darkness that possessed so much of my blackened spirit. And I knew it scared him because he was scared for his daughter, and it was the exact same shit that scared me, too.

“So that’s it . . . he’s just here and you’re together?” Dave shrugged like it didn’t matter all that much, but there was no mistaking the rage boiling his blood. “And I guess it’s safe to assume he’s back at the apartment with you and Christopher.”

Slowly, Aly nodded, carefully wetting her lips, buying time. Dread radiated from her pores, panic thick as it locked up her throat. She fought to get the words through. “Yes, he’s staying with us. But no, that’s not all.” Her voice cracked on the last word.