Page 122 of Rebel Romeo

I took another drag of my cigarette, inhaling the bitter smoke into my lungs. “My Dad got to her. That’s what happened.”

Just like he got to my mom.

Katherine snorted and picked up my pack of cigarettes from the console. “I can handle your dad.”

I shook my head and grabbed my cup of coffee from the cup holder. “You may think that, but you don’t know him. You don’t know the Dorseys. They’re like wrecking balls, ready to take down anything in their path.”

She narrowed her eyes and grabbed my wrist gently, stopping the cup of coffee before it reached my mouth. “Oh, I know your dad. I’ve known men like your dad my whole life. People who think they’re better than me and my family just because we own and work in a little pub while they handle Fortune 500 companies. People who think they can buy everything in this world… even people.” She released her hold on my wrist and picked up my nearly empty pack of cigarettes. “Trust me. I can’t be bought. Not like this. And not by him.”

For the first time since I’d met her, I didn’t see an inexperienced girl. I saw a woman. I saw the person who’d been burned. And I could smell the smoke.

Maybe my mom was wrong. Maybe Katherine and I could do this. Really do this. And succeed.

“Just remember when shit hits the fan… that I’m not my dad. And I never will be.”

Tipping it over, my single last cigarette fell out into her palm and she turned it over in her hands, examining it. “Can I have a light?”

I snap my gaze to her before bringing my attention back to the road. “Why?”

From the corner of my eyes, I saw her shrug. “I’ve never smoked. My dad does and it seems so disgusting, but… I don’t know. I’m kind of curious. There’s gotta be some reason he likes it so much, right? Some reason you keep smoking.”

Mom’s words ring in my head like I was in an echo chamber. I was a sweet, strong girl once.

“Absolutely not.” I reached over, keeping my one hand holding my lit smoke on the wheel and tried to rip the cigarette from Katherine’s hands. But she was faster than me and leaned away, lifting it in the air.

“Why not? You smoke.”

“Yeah and as you’ve pointed out, it’s a stupid, disgusting, dangerous habit.”

Her brows lifted. “So you’re allowed to be reckless and I’m not?”

“Exactly.”

“That’s sexist.”

I shrugged. “Sorry, not sorry.”

“How about this?” Katherine started. “I promise to never smoke a cigarette ever in my whole life… as long as this cigarette is the last you ever buy. And it never gets lit.”

I gulped, looking down at the lit cigarette in my fingers.

I’ve been wanting to quit. And I couldn’t think of a better reason than to also ensure Katherine never starts.

I brought my cigarette to my mouth, take a long final last drag before I tossed that fucker out the window. “Deal,” I said. “But I get to keep that cigarette.”

Her brows scrunched. “Why?”

“I just…” I put my blinker on and pulled into the theater building parking lot. We were still almost forty-five minutes early for rehearsal. “I just need to know that I have one on me.”

She dug through her purse and pulled out a Sharpie and wrote a tiny KH on the cigarette before handing it back to me. “There. Now I’ll always know if you just switch this one out for a different one.”

I pulled into a spot in the theater parking lot, then turned to stare at her. But Katherine didn’t look at me. Her gaze was locked on something outside the window.

“Holy shit,” she whispered. “Isn’t that your dad?”

I followed her gaze to where she was pointing. Sure enough, that was my dad’s Land Rover double parked in front of the theater building.

But Dad wasn’t the only one in the front seat. Sitting beside him, a woman pulled the front visor down, checking her makeup in the mirror.

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