Page 100 of Bound By My Father's Best Friend

Evelyn: I’ve been messaging him all night! He said he would be gone for about an hour, but that was three hours ago! And he’s not answering his phonee. I think something happnned to him.

Evelyn: pls answer.

The more messages that came through, the less and less they were legible. She was truly worried about him.

Me: Sorry, I don’t know where he is.

Me: I haven’t talked to him in a while. He didn’t call me today.

Wow, I sounded like a bitch, but it was just the truth.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek and glanced back to the office doors, eyes growing wide. Maybe … Dad had actually come down here to check on the alarm, and someone had gotten to him. Maybe someone had hurt him.

After thrusting the door open, I jumped out of the car and tossed my blanket into the back seat. Hector might not want me to come in there, but if Dad was in here and something happened to the both of them …

Just as I hopped onto the sidewalk, the doors opened. My jaw slackened as Hector had one arm around Dad’s shoulders, and Dad was stumbling out of the building with the support of his enemy/business partner.

“Oh my God! What happened?!” I exclaimed. “Was someone?—”

“Jacob broke in,” Hector said. “He’s drunk.”

“I’m not drunk,” Dad slurred, lifting his head. “I’m sad that?—”

When his gaze landed on me, he stopped his sentence short and stared at me through drunken, sad eyes. I furrowed my brows, so confused and heartbroken and then even more confused because why the hell was he here of all places, getting drunk?

“Dad, what are you?—”

“I’m sorry, Heather,” he slurred, leaning toward me, but Hector held him steady and away from me. “I-I’m so sorry … I didn’t think … I wasn’t sure. I should’ve called you. I’ve been thinking about you all day, and I’m such a bad daaaaa …”

I stared at him, tears pricking my eyes. “It’s okay, Dad.”

Hector glared at him like it wasn’t okay.

“You should get home,” I said to him, stepping forward and gently placing my hand on his shoulder. “Evelyn just messaged me and said that she’s worried about you. Why didn’t you tell her that you were coming down here?”

“I’m sorry,” Dad continued to slur. “I’ve been such a bad dad to you.”

“We need to get him home, Heather,” Hector said.

After nodding, I opened the back door. Hector helped him into the car, and Dad rested his head against the headrest. I headed around to the other side and hopped into the passenger seat, adjusting the rearview mirror to see him.

“I’m sorry, Heather,” Dad said, shutting his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

CHAPTERSIXTY-ONE

HEATHER

Chewingon the inside of my cheek, I glanced into the guest room. Dad slept on top of all the blankets, his mouth half open and snoring as loud as I remembered from when I had lived with him and Mom. But somehow, it was nostalgic.

After I had searched everywhere for Dad’s keys and couldn’t find them, we’d brought him back to Hector’s penthouse and patiently waited for Evelyn to come pick him up. She was about an hour outside of the city with her family for Christmas. But she was worried about him.

So, here we were, waiting up at nearly two in the morning for her.

Hector gently placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “You okay?”

My lips quivered. Once I shut the door so I wouldn’t wake Dad, I turned around and wrapped my arms around Hector’s waist, burying my head into the center of his chest and sniffling softly. “I’m okay, I think.”

To be honest, it had been such a long night that I didn’t know if I would be okay in the morning. All I knew was that I was so fucking thankful that I had Hector with me. And not only that, but he … had given me a collar tonight.

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