Repair Me (Kin #1)(51)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Her party had been moved to her new release date and even though Ford still didn’t want to attend, he was going to it with me by his side.

The morning of the party, his whole family started arriving to help set up, while his father went to pick her up from the hospital. Ford was in rare form as he was forced to participate.

I was a little jealous of the amount of cousins that he had. I didn’t have many cousins my age, so to see him with all of them made me envious. It wasn’t like they were all best friends. Ford kept to himself, while the others goofed around. Sometimes I wished he would not be so uptight all of the time, but Ford was Ford and it was something that I also loved and appreciated about him.

Joey tried to flirt with me every time he got a chance. It drove Ford crazy. On this particular day I was wearing a dress. Joey came up in front of Ford and deliberately asked me if I was wearing panties under it. Ford put him in a headlock and forced him to apologize, just as the car pulled up with his mother in it.

I’d never really met the woman, but had heard so much about her that I didn’t know what to think. She was just a little lady, maybe a couple inches shorter than me. I’d seen pictures of Harley and could see where she got her beauty from. Sure, she’d had some hard years and it really showed on her face, but underneath I could see where she was once a stunning woman.

Ford let go of his cousin and stood up as she walked toward him. I grabbed his hand, trying to make sure he didn’t turn away and lock himself in his apartment. He was dreading this moment and she was doing it in front of the whole family. The look on his father’s face showed hope and I didn’t want him to be hurt by his son’s actions.

She reached for his other hand and he didn’t pull away. “Thank you for saving my life.”

He said nothing.

She looked down at the ground, sadly. “I know you don’t think I deserve to be here. No matter what it takes, I’m goin’ to prove you wrong, Ford. I want to be a part of this family.”

He nodded, but still wouldn’t say anything to her. Ford just stood there like some statue made of stone.

Finally, she let go of his hand and looked at me. “You must be Ashley?”

I was shocked when Ford corrected her before I could. “This is my girlfriend Skylar.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I kept gettin’ cards in the hospital from Ashley and Ford. I figured that was you.”

I could feel the blood boiling inside of me as I put on a fake smile. Ford must have been equally as pissed off. “Ash and I were together last year. We aren’t even friends now.”

The woman grabbed my hand and smiled. “Forgive me for the mix up. It’s so nice to meet you Skylar.”

“You can call me Sky.”

After the introductions, she walked back over to Ford’s dad and started talking. It was about all Ford could take of the party, so we retreated back to his apartment. Joey came up and we watched a football game on the couch. After about a half hour, someone knocked on the door. It was sort of weird since everyone at the party was family, but Ford still got up and answered it politely. “Councilmen Tilly, what brings you over here?”

I had no idea who the man was, but he gave me a dirty look before turning his attention to Ford. “We need to talk in private.”

Ford turned and looked at me and Joey. “Joe, can you give us a minute?” He turned to the man. “Anything you have to discuss with me, you can say around my girlfriend.”

“Son, I’m afraid that I’m goin’ to ask you to reconsider. This is a little more serious than I am comfortable talkin’ about.”

I walked over to Ford. “It’s okay. I’ll go down with Joey and mingle. Just find me later.”

Ford didn’t look like he felt comfortable and I didn’t understand it.

In fact, it wasn’t until I saw Shayne and Lacey that I knew who the man was.

“What does he want?” Shayne asked.

“He said he needed to talk to him in private. Who is he?”

“That’s Ashley’s dad.”

My stomach dropped. To say I had a bad feeling would have been an understatement. A million thoughts ran through my mind, but I felt confident in the end of my self-torture to know that Ford and I would be okay.

Nothing could tear us apart.

Ford

“What’s this about?”

“We need to sit down and have a talk about some things, son.”

I kept standing. This guy wasn’t going to tell me what to do. “I’m fine here.”

“I need to know what your intentions are with my daughter. You can imagine that this predicament can cost me when it comes to the voters.

“What are you talkin’ about? We aren’t together and we’re not goin’ to be. If you haven’t noticed, I have a girlfriend.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Ford, I’m not happy about this, but I’ll be damned if I sit back and watch my daughter go at this alone.”

I was lost. He must have had me mistaken with someone else. “Look, I’m tryin’ to understand why you’re here, but for the life of me, I can’t figure it out.”

“Her pregnancy. I’m here because she is going at this all alone and that needs to change.”

I didn’t know what to say to the man. Clearly he had me mistaken with someone else. “First, I didn’t know she was even pregnant. Second, I’m not the father!”

He stood up, but did not walk closer to me. “She said she spent the night with you a couple months ago. My daughter was adamant about not bein’ with any other man. You and I both know she’s tellin’ the truth.”

I didn’t know that, but he was right about one thing. I did sleep with her that one night. It hit me like a ton of bricks, but instead of thinking about being a father, all I could think about was losing Sky “I’ll be a good father, but I have no plans on bein’ with your daughter. She knows that already.”

He walked up to the kitchen counter and handed me his phone. “Do you see what the screen says?”

On the phone screen was my father’s name. It was a copy of a tax bill and he was in arrears for nearly twenty-grand; fifteen thousand to be exact. I stared at it. “Is this some sort of joke?”

“I’m afraid not. You’re father hasn’t paid his taxes in nearly four years. Now, I’ve held off on account of you bein’ a part of our family, but I’m afraid that I won’t be doin’ you any favors from now on.”