Page 91 of Wrath

“A friend, but not a father?” I stand up in anger, and even though my feet feel a little wobbly, I manage to stay up on them.

“Don’t get mad, not until you’ve heard me out.” He narrows his eyes at me.

“Oh, I have to listen now, now thatyou'reready to explain?” I can feel my anger building. I don’t feel ready for this conversation. I’ve been blindsided and I wish Raze or Aaron could be here with me.

“Yes, Eden, ya have to listen because you're about to make a huge mistake. One I’ve been tryin’ so hard to help you avoid.”

“So, my friendship with you,” I look from Laura to Mark, “and my relationship with you was all based on a lie?” The thought puts a hollow feeling in my chest.

“To be fair, you were the one with the fake identity.” Mark gets up from his chair and tops himself up.

“You… You were going to marry me! Why… because your daddy told you to?” I stare at him in disbelief. Up until now I always thought he was so powerful and in control.

“No,Eden.” He starts walking toward me. “I was going to marry you because I fell in love with you.” There's a raw pain in his eyes that doesn’t just make me believe him, it makes me feel a little sorry for him too.

“We were supposed to be like a surrogate family to you,” Trisha interrupts, looking across to my father warily as she takes her son’s arm and pulls him slightly back from me. “Your father wanted you to enjoy all the holidays and family vacations. He just wanted to give you all the things he couldn’t.” The way she looks down her nose tells me that she was never happy about the arrangement. “Nothing about what Mark felt for you was faked. Believe me, I tried to talk him out of it. The fool fell in love.” The way she looks at her son has him ripping his arm away from her, angrily.

“There's nothing foolish about being in love, Mom. Maybe if you tried it yourself you might have an idea–”

“That's enough!” Mr Collard shouts over him, pointing his finger and scolding him like a child.

“Eden, I promise I never had to fake it, either. I loved spending time with you. I had no idea that Dad had been involved with the club, or your real father until the day I argued with them. I came to the club to tell you that, but I couldn’t.” Laura takes my hand, her tears look genuine and so does her disappointment. “When Dad first told me I was going to study in Utah, instead of here, I was so scared. It seemed so far from home and I’ve never been good at making friends.”

“You weretoldto make friends with me.” Saying the words out loud makes them hurt even more. Knowing our friendship was staged for her seems like the worst betrayal of all.

“At first, yes. But I’d only spent a few hours with you before I knew we were going to be real friends. None of it ever felt fake to me.”

“I can’t take all of this in.” I sit back down when I start to go dizzy.

“Eden, I know it’s hard to understand but your father was only looking out for you. He was trying to give you a life you deserved.” Grahame tries to make all this sound justifiable.

“Do you know how bad I used to feel lying to all of you?” I look around the family that used to be mine, who now suddenly feel like strangers. “I had to make up a past that didn’t exist because I was so ashamed of who I was, and where I came from. Everyone around here knows who the Souls are, and I dideverythingI could to make sure you never found out I was one of the girls repeatedly raped by Cliff Adams.”

“What?” I can tell by the shock on my dad’s face that this is the first he’s hearing about it. His skin has turned white and I swear I can feel the heat coming from the anger in his eyes. “Are you tellin’ me that he…?”

“Yes,Dad,that’s what happened.”

“No, Stacey said that you were at the house, she said you were hangin’ out there. She never said anythin’ about you bein’ raped.” I see his fury getting stronger.

“I know, I’ve spoken to her since. She thought I was on the same path as her, she thought I was just a young girl hanging out with the wrong crowd. But she got it wrong. Andyougot it wrong when you thought this whole fake family charade was what I needed. All I neededyou.” The tears I’ve been holding back release, and my father lowers his head. “That’s when I needed you,Dad, not now when I’m happy. This whole ‘drugging me to get me away from the club’ is ridiculous. Aaron loves me. He was at that tournament tonight, fighting to get me the money to…” My voice fades out when I realize something, and I quickly turn back to look at Mark. “You were still going to blackmail me, use the business against me even when you knew all this?”

“He was followin’ my orders.” Vex’s voice comes out weak, and when I look back at him he’s looking guilty.

“I was the one who invested that money into you. I may not have been present in your life but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want ya to have the best of it.” He coughs and splutters some more. “Grahame told me how ya would talk about ownin’ your own studio, and that it was your dream to make costumes for the movies. I made it happen because that was all I could do for ya.” He manages to get out his words and when Grahame offers him some water he shakes his head in refusal.

“So, you ordered him to use that dream to blackmail me back into a life that I didn’t want?” I let him see how much that hurts me.

“I’m prepared to do anythin’ I have to, to keep you away from the club,” he tells me, with determination eliminating the guilt from his eyes. “I don’t want this kinda life for ya. Your mother would’ve wanted better.”

“Youdon’tget to talk about my mother. And youdon’t get to choose.” I shake my head at him. “Aaron makes me happy. Raze is an amazing brother, even if he isn’t quite sure of it yet, and he’s doing amazing things, not just for the club but for Long Beach too. You weren’t there for me when I was a kid. You weren’t there for me when I was going through all that shit with Cliff, and Iwon’thave you storm into my life now, and take all that’s good away from me!” I’m not crying out of hurt anymore, I’m crying out of anger.

“While you were planning all this, did it never occur to you that I might have just needed my dad?” I stare across at him, waiting for an answer.

“I’m not the dad you need.” He swallows thickly, his eyes filling with tears. “Just ask Raze.” His voice is full of emotion.

“Raze loves you. He hates the way you treat him, but he loves you,” I tell the stubborn, old fool.

“Can we have the room, please?” Vex lifts his head to Mr Collard, who quickly gathers his family and ushers them out the door.

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