Page 53 of Unforgivable

“Don't call me that! I am not your son,” I snarled, more hot tears blurring my vision. “You didn't care about being my dad before. Just tell me what the hell happened to my money? Did you steal it? Is that what this is?”

He started shaking his head before I even got my words out, brows drawn down over his blue eyes, ones that matched half of mine. I hated that I had anything in common with this man. His nose and part of his eye color were too many similarities for my taste.

“Absolutely not! I wouldn't do that to you. Yes, your payments have been coming from my account, but it's only because I have your money, the full amount, in a separate account that Blair can't touch. I didn't want you dipping into those funds until you finished school, so I'vebeen giving you what I could each month for your expenses,” Jack explained, his gaze never wavering from mine.

“That doesn't make any sense. Why keep my money in another account? Why have you been paying me?” My head spun with every new revelation I learned today, and I was dangerously close to spiraling. I could feel the grip on my sanity slipping fast, and I wanted to scream.

“Blair always thought that your mom's life insurance should have come to us because we took you in, and I didn't want her to have any access to it. I also wanted to ensure you were set for after you got your degree. Your scholarship was a blessing, but it wasn't right that you would have lost almost the entire payout just to get through college. So I paid your expenses instead and put your money somewhere safe. It's waiting for you when you graduate. All $50,000 of it. It's what your mom would have wanted.”

That knowledge somehow broke me. I sank to the ground, sobs wracking my body as everything about this fucked up day crashed over me. Jack knelt down next to me, his hand rubbing soothing circles over my back. It reminded me so much of how he used to be with me before mom died. When he was around a lot more and had been the father figure I never had.

It all made sense when mom had finally come clean about my parentage, but it was too late at that point. I had been pissed that he had never told me the truth or claimed me as his own, staying married to Blair and letting mom and me struggle without him.

Then when I came to live with him, he abandoned me to his sadistic wife. He stopped being my fun, loving Uncle Jack and became a stranger to me. And when he didn't listen to me about her abuse? He became dead to me.

I jerked away from his touch, unable to take solace from it like I used to.

“Get away from me! Blair was right, this was all your fault. You're the reason I was born, but you never wanted me in the first place! Why the fuck would you act like you care about what happens to me now or in the future?” I retorted angrily.

He gave me my space, but he pinned me with an intense gaze. “That is not true. You were the best thing to ever happen to me and your mother. I loved you from the moment I learned your mom was pregnant. I have always cared about you, but I know I've done a shitty job of showing it. I lost my way when Leana died. I wasn't the sameman,” he choked out. “You're right though…this was all my fault. Blair should hate me, not you. You're innocent in all of this, Callum. I am so sorry I wasn't there for you,” Jack cried, cheeks wet and flushed like mine.

“I don't care if you're sorry. It doesn't matter. None of it matters because without my scholarship, I can't stay at UT. I looked into it a while ago and because you claimed me and you make just a little too much money, I can't get the aid I need to pay for school. I'm screwed over again because of you,” I growled, hopelessness bearing down on me mercilessly.

“Don't worry about that. I'll take care of it, I promise,” he replied.

“I don't want anything from you.”

“I'm your father, it's my responsibility to take care of you. Even if I messed up in the past, it's still the truth,” he grumbled, leaning down to catch my eyes but I refused to look at him.

“You are not my dad. You weren't back then and you certainly aren't now. Just give me my money you've “protected” for me and I can pay for school with that.”

“No. That is for when you graduate. You are not using it for tuition when I can find a way to pay for you. I told you I will take care of you and I will, whether you believe me or not. You may not want me to be your father, but you willalwaysbe my son, Callum. I love you,” Jack said firmly.

I had reached my limit. I had no energy left to argue and I couldn't take one more second of being around him. I dragged myself off the ground, stomping off down the street to wait for an Uber to come get me.

“I'll take care of everything, Callum! Trust me!” he shouted as I took off.

Trust him? Not fucking likely. I didn't know what he planned to do about my tuition, but I couldn't find it in me to care at that point. Everything inside felt numb, my nerves fried after this disastrous day.

As I was ordering another Uber back to campus, my phone rang in my palm. When I saw the name, irrational anger and bitterness melted the ice that had settled over me, hot and potent.

Rhys.

I declined the call and sank into the fierce resentment that worked its way past the turmoil in my brain. This was all his fault. I thought after my talk with Coach I was safe, that my scholarship wasn’t indanger. I thought it was safe to back off my plan and befriend Rhys after he had unintentionally calmed the beast inside me. I thought the easy comfort and peace I felt being around him was a good thing, that he was meant to be in my life.

I was wrong. He was the real cancer, that guileless presence of his disguising the damage he did to my life once I dropped my guard. I never should have let up on him. I should have pushed him until he crumbled and went crawling to my coach to take back what he said. Because of him, I lost the scholarship I fought so hard for and now I was at the mercy of my…fatherto keep me in school.

My hate and helplessness coalesced into one singular thought.

If I had to face this Hell, I would drag Rhys down with me. It was about time I kept my promise to myself and made him regret ever having met me.

15

RHYS

Three days. That temperamental turdweed hadn't answered my texts or calls for three days. I didn't know exactly what had sent Cal running on Wednesday morning, but it was probably a safe bet it had to do with his panic attack. I woke up to him whimpering and twitching behind me on the couch, clearly in the midst of a nightmare. I wrestled with the decision to wake him or not since I vaguely remembered reading that pulling people out of nightmares was a bad thing. Or was that sleepwalking?

Either way, I didn't have long to think about it before Cal had crashed to the floor and started hyperventilating. Pain and fear were prominent in his eyes and my heart had broken for him. I remembered learning about grounding techniques from a psych course I took, but I never thought I'd have to use them. I was hit with a ridiculous amount of satisfaction that I had been able to soothe him and bring him out of it.

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