Page 98 of Forget Me Not

Me as a dad? What a fucking joke. My kids would hate me. Their mother would hate me. I’m not cut out for a family.

Some people just aren’t and that’s the cold reality of it.

Nova seems to think I’m the good guy. The one that saves people. I’ve saved one single person in my life and it was only because . . . some part of me fucking had to.

Now, I pay the price for it.

Because I can’t have what I want. Who I want. I can’t be the man that she needs and I’m for damn sure not worthy of a woman like her.

Now, being with Nova on this shitty little island . . . I don’t know what I did in my past life, but it must have been something good to make up for all the bad shit I’ve done in this one.

Or maybe, because it took pity on me, the universe sent me an angel to try and save my damned soul.

All I can say is good luck.

I cut the shower water off, my mood dark. This is why I avoid thinking of Dad.

Just like me and Nova, Mom was too fucking good for him and look where it got him. He didn’t deserve her anymore than the next guy, but she didn’t see it that way. She was the best part of him and then she died, sucking all that out of the world with her last breath.

I dry off, slipping on some clothes to head out and meet Nova. She should be getting off any second and I’m ready to have her alone. Just the two of us without the fucking world needing something from her.

I swear that girl’s phone goes off more than anyone I’ve ever met. And I’ve traveled the world.

I realize this obsession is unhealthy, but I honestly don’t give a shit. The need to bury myself inside her, forget who I am and what I’ve done is heavy today and with the way she was flashing those pretty eyes at me earlier, I hope to God it’s sooner rather than later.

My cock’s been rock hard since I left the school.

I step out into my room, looking for a shirt when a giggle from the doorway startles me. I look up, expecting to see Nova, but finding Sophie there, instead.

Oh, this isn’t good.

“Do you need something, Sophie.”

She blushes, smiling brightly and looking around.

“I just came to say you really turned this place around. It was falling apart when you arrived. I was surprised Nova didn’t close the doors.”

Okay, it wasn’t that bad. I know there’s some secret rivalry between the two half-sisters, but I don’t want to get in the middle of it. Whatever happened before is before. I’m here now and I’ll be damned if I get sucked into family drama.

I had enough of that when I was a kid.

“How did you get in here?”

She uncrosses her arms, holding up a keycard.

“No one was at the desk, so I took what I needed.”

She steps toward me, and I shrug a shirt on, ignoring her when she reaches out and runs her fingernails down my arm.

I need to get out of here. I need to get her out of here.

“I’m about to leave,” I murmur, pulling on my flannel and making it evident, I’m not fucking staying around for her to one-up her sister. Not when it’s her sister I can’t get out of my fucking head. “I’m meeting Nova.”

“Why?”

I pause, unsure what she wants from me.

“Did you really need something, or did you break into my room because you think it’s going to go well for you?”

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