Page 12 of Wreck Me

I looked away, not liking the sadness in his eyes. “It needs to be.”

“Sky, I know you had some trouble back there, but we dealt with it. Off your mom’s radar, too, so there’s nothing to worry about. If you want to go back, nothing should be stopping you. Unless there’s something you’ve neglected to tell me.”

Shit. Of course there was.

And I couldn’t.

Ever.

I didn’t want him to know the whole deal.

It was bad enough I’d had to get his help with the other thing, bad enough that he knew that much.

I couldn’t let him know about her.

About Onyx.

Besides, it was moot, because it wasn’t me anymore.

“It’s nice being back here. You’re here now too. We’re a family again. All in the same place for the first time in so long. And it makes Mom happy me following in her similar footsteps with the whole Architecture thing.”

He reached out and gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Who scared you?”

I swallowed hard as worry and understanding bled into me, urging me to confess all, urging me to allow him in.

My dad and I had always been close. We had a very tight relationship. He let me be myself and even encouraged it, while my mom had been more about reeling me in and wanting me to follow a more appropriate path. She’d still tried her best, but she’d never understood me the way my dad had. She wasn’t good with anything going against the grain. The only time she’d deviated from that was when she’d gotten involved with my dad, instead of marrying one of the business tycoons her parents had wanted her to. But that had been her only bold moment. She might differentiate herself from the toxicity of the hoity-toity rich here in Rossun, but she was still one of them in some respects.

“Nobody, Dad,” I managed to force out. “I just needed a change.”

“You mean, safety, security.”

“Can we not? I don’t want to get into a whole thing about this.”

“Although your mom might not understand it fully, she still wants you to be yourself.”

“I know, yeah.”

“Good, because she wouldn’t want you to be something you’re not.”

I sighed. “I guess I’m just trying to figure out what that is.”

“The institute called that into question?”

I nodded.

“Well, in that case, it’s par for the course. You’re only twenty, still finding yourself. So long as that’s all it is.”

“I just need to lean into this new chapter. And then I’ll see from there.”

I could see his need to push it.

But, fortunately, he smiled and stepped back, relenting.

Well, at least for now.

He’d made his point, given me something to think about, and he knew it.

I had little doubt he’d come at me with it all again once it had been given time to percolate.

---