Page 41 of All of My Life

He let out a deep sigh. “What’s going on?” he asked, following me back into the kitchen. “I left your mother in New York, and she wasn’t too happy about it.” He let out an annoyed scoff. “She had planned on doing some shopping, not make apologies for my sudden departure.” He eyed me. “Her words, not mine.”

I was the exact replica of Randall Carver, and because of that, I could read him like a book. With us both having the same face, his expressions were my expressions, usually telling me what he was thinking, and I knew that he was worried about me right now.

With both of us standing on the opposite sides of the kitchen island, I said, “I need you to take down Councilman Thomas.”

His head reared back in surprise. “What?”

“I need you to take down Councilman Thomas,” I repeated. “While I really want the man dead, I’ll settle for ruined.”

My father’s blue eyes regarded me carefully. “Okay,” he replied evenly, not questioning me on why. “I can make that happen.”

I let out the breath that I hadn’t even realized that I’d been holding. “His wife, too.”

Randall Carver straightened to his full height, but since I had caught up to him a couple of years ago, he wasn’t as intimidating as he’d been when I’d been younger. “While I have no trouble going after anyone that deserves it, I need a reason why I’m going after a woman, Chasin.”

“I’m dating their daughter, Jett Morgan,” I announced.

His eyes widened in surprise. “Since when?” he asked. “I’ve never known you to have a girlfriend before.”

“That’s because I haven’t,” I clarified for him. “Jett’s the only one.”

“And how long have you been dating?” he asked, getting all the details like any good businessman.

“Almost two years,” I answered honestly.

“Two years, and you’ve never said anything?”

I stuck with the same lie that I’d told the cops. “She thought that dating me would cause problems if people found out.”

“And has it?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“So…is this about her parents not approving or something?”

I shook my head. “Her father beats her, and he’s been beating her for years,” I finally told him. “Her mother looks the other way because their image is more important to her than her husband abusing her only child.”

As big of a dick as my father could be, child abuse had never been in his wheelbarrow. Truthfully, it should never be in any parent’s wheelbarrow, but the world was a fucked-up place, filled with a lot of fucked-up people.

“Chasin, I need you to tell me everything,” he said. “No matter how personal, if you want this done, then I need to know everything, so that I can move forward accordingly.”

I leaned back against the kitchen counter, then told him everything from when I couldn’t find Jett after school to putting her to sleep in my bed. I told him about the attack, and how her physical exam had disclosed the truth of her abuse. I told him about the cops and doctor knowing, and I also told him that I planned on visiting her father after we were done talking.

“Chasin, I can’t keep you from getting arrested if you go to Councilman Morgan’s house,” he informed me.

“I don’t need you to,” I countered. “Just bail me out when they do arrest me.”

“Chasin?”

“Yes?”

“Is Jett Morgan going to be my daughter-in-law?”

“As soon as I can get her to admit that she loves me and says yes to marrying me,” I answered.

“This is the part where I’m supposed to tell you that you’re too young to become this serious with a girl,” he replied. “You’ve got a new life waiting for you in California. At least, for the next four years.”

“And this is the part where I tell you that I will walk away from it all and be happy living in a cardboard box as long as I have that girl with me,” I told him. “She’s not looking for anything more than getting her diploma and working at Taco Bell. Do you have any idea what that means to a guy like me?” I eyed my father. “I’m marrying for love, Dad.”

---