Page 73 of Wreck Me

It was something I was working on with Caleb’s teachings. Basically learning not to react to every provocation or to escalate just because I could. It was about letting things go in order to achieve a balance and turning that agitation into something positive, and when that wasn’t the case, seeing a given situation from the other person’s perspective. In the case of my mom, I knew it was just coming from a protective place despite the internalized misogyny that was also bleeding through. I knew that wasn’t her intent. She just didn’t want me to get hurt and she had a need for things to be done in what she deemed the proper way, and this was that for her.

Besides, she had a big deal she was on the verge of closing, and what this trip they were taking today was all about. It was such a big thing that they were even doing business over the weekend. She would be gone for three days to close it. It involved a lot of meetings, a lot of contracts to be signed, a lot of specifics to be worked out, and a ton of dotting the proverbial i’s and crossing the t’s. Her lawyer had already gone on ahead to smooth the way for her and get things aligned the way she liked it. And now she was heading out with my dad. Normally, he wouldn’t come along. But this was a massive revitalization project of a really rough neighborhood, so he’d insisted.

It was also why I was hiding a certain something on my person that I’d retrieved from the basement safe while my mom had been distracted finishing up packing.

I hurried out down the corridor and through to the entryway.

My dad was coming back through the front door as I reached it.

I held the sleek black secure case out to him. “Here you go, Dad.”

“Thanks, baby girl.”

“How are you gonna actually carry this gun without Mom finding out?”

“I have my ways.” He frowned. “Don’t worry, okay? It’s just an extra precaution.”

“Yeah, I know. I get it.”

“I know you do,” he said, pointedly.

“Dad.”

He reached out and laid his hand on my shoulder. “I’m not here to judge you. Me, of all people, Sky, all right? So keep that in mind. I hope it gives you the impetus to come to me soon with what’s haunting you so much that it’s thrown you off track with your career and had you moving home. You, the highly independent type.”

Oh dammit. He really knew how to tug at my heartstrings.

For as long as I could remember, I’d always told my dad everything. He was easy to talk to, sure, but he also got me like nobody else really ever had, and he didn’t judge or condemn either.

But I also didn’t want him to see such a dark part of me up close.

“So either you go to your father—who I’m betting you don’t want to for fear that he’ll see all that darkness in you and be disgusted and never see his baby girl the same way again.”

Caleb’s words swirled around my head. Although I knew he’d said that to get a rise out of me, to convince me to go his route and let him help me which was doubling as allowing them to pull me closer for whatever purpose they had in mind, those words had also possessed a ring of truth that couldn’t be denied.

I didn’t want my dad to see that dark in me, the bad and unlovable parts of me. Sure, he’d had to do things that haunted him during his time in the military, but he’d been a war hero. I’d just been Onyx, a vigilante. It wasn’t the same. And I’d made mistakes and lost sight of the mission along the way and given into the fucked-up parts of me. Yeah, Jett had made that all the worse and dragged me further under, but it had still been me who’d gone along with it. It had still been my mistake to bear.

Besides, if I told my dad about all of that, beyond the little that he already knew from me needing his help that one time, it could pull him into it too. He certainly wouldn’t let the situation with Jett lie. He’d go after him and, given who Jett was connected to, that would be beyond dangerous. It would be catastrophic in all honesty.

So that was why I merely smiled and gave his hand a squeeze, then told him, “I’m good and I’m starting to get the hang of everything at Luxe too.”

“Skylar—”

“Mom wanted your help with the second one of her unwieldy suitcases. She’s waiting at the top of the stairs.” I gestured at his gun case. “You better hide that in the car, then head up there.”

Thankfully, Mom’s call hastened the need for him to snap into action. “Frank! Are you coming?”

He sighed and stepped back from me. “We’re going for three days and she brings her whole closet. She’s really stressed about this development deal.”

It wasn’t exactly unlike her to pack so heavily, but this was more than the standard for her. “It will help to have you there with her this time.”

He smiled. “Yeah.” And then he hurried to the car and stowed the case inside, before rushing past me and heading up the stairs.

I walked over there as he was hauling the mammoth thing down with my mom following.

As she reached me and my dad dragged the suitcase out to the car, she wrapped her arms around me, then held me to her as she said, “Have a nice few days. You can invite those friends from your study group over if you want. I would tell you not to make it an actual party-type thing, but I know I don’t have to with you. But I’m glad you’re shedding your loner disposition a little.” She thought for a moment, her mind clearly going a million miles a minute. “Just make sure you activate the security system every night. Any issues and we’re a phone call away.”

I smiled. “Mom, I’m going to be fine. I was living on my own for two years before this. It’s all good. And this deal is going to be fine also. Better than fine. You’re amazing at what you do and you can negotiate with the best of the best.”

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