Page 39 of Hollyhocks

“Last I checked, I disowned you the moment I walked out the door when I was eighteen.”

“Well, I want to retire, Fitsgerald. You need to come home. Enough of this nonsense. You need to take over the family business.”

Fitz spreads his arms. “I have my own business already.”

“Changing oil? Going home with grease all over your body? Please, this isn’t a job for a man with a family fortune. Enough of this. Come home.”

“No. I meant it the day I left. You’re dead to me. You know the way out.”

“Don’t make your sister pay for the mistake you’re about to make, Fitz. Maybe I’ll bring my grandson into it. He’s old enough to learn all the tricks of the trade now. What is he? Twenty? By now?”

Eli is twenty-one years old now, why doesn’t his father know that?

Fitz opens the garage door and grabs his father by the jacket, slamming him against the wall. My tentacles rub over my clit, giving me a constant buzz of pleasure while I watch my mate defend his family.

“Don’t you dare bring Heather or Eli into this. You left her, remember? You disowned her when she was pregnant. Eli has no respect for you. You have no right to do that. Leave her and my nephew alone.”

“I will if you come to work with me. That’s my offer. Wallsworth Candy Canes will not die because my heir isn’t thinking clearly. We have expanded, you know. We’re Wallsworth Candy now. Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it?”

Fitz tosses his dad to the right with more strength than I thought he possessed.

“Take your family history, your money, and that fucking candy out of my shop. I never want to see you again.”

“We’ll see about that, Fitz.”

Mmm, we will see about that.

No one threatens my mate or his sister. Whoever he claims as family, is my family. The man who calls himself Fitz’s father is about to get a rude awakening.

And he’ll never be able to see anything ever again.

Fitz rips his hat from his head and tosses it against the wall as he watches his dad drive away.

“Fuck!” he yells at the top of his lungs. He digs into his pocket and calls someone. “Heather, you two need to come move in with me right now. Dad just came to see me, and he said if I don’t take the job, you would be at risk. Pack up. You’re living with me. No arguments. Pull Elijah out of college and get him transferred here. We aren’t risking Dad getting his hands on either of you.” He hangs up, leaving no room for her to argue or say a word. He laces his fingers behind his head, trying to calm himself.

It doesn’t work.

He takes a deep breath, then chucks his phone against the wall. It shatters to pieces, clinking on the ground. Plastic slides across the shop floor and a chunk of glass from the screen hits my foot.

I’m going to crush his father’s bones just like his father seems to have crushed my mate’s soul.

So many people to kill. My list is getting longer.

It takes a lot for me to get angry. I consider myself a pretty calm, collected, fun guy. I think I’m a happy person. Probably too happy. I’ve been told I have ‘golden retriever’ energy once or twice—whatever that means.

Nothing or no one ruins every ounce of good I have inside me like my parents—my father—specifically.

He makes me forget about being kind or understanding. A vile hatred always takes over my mind when he enters my life. It’s been five years since I’ve heard from him and you would think after we both got a few punches in, he would have taken the hint to never see me again.

The man is relentless. He never gives up when it comes to what he wants. He has been hounding me to join the family business, and I don’t want to. I never want to risk putting myself in thatline of work. Not if it means there is a chance I turn into a soulless, mean, conceited, selfish, bad, and irritating person.

If I see him in another five years, it would be too soon.

This time felt different. He seemed desperate. I’m too out of the loop with the company to know what’s going on and I’m going to stay that way. I don’t know what else to do when it comes to my father. I could try to file a restraining order. Maybe then he will take me seriously about wanting nothing to do with him.

If he died, I wouldn’t care.

That statement is so opposite of who I am, but my dad brings out the worst of me. He brings out that part inside me that is too much like him. It’s part of the reason why I go the extra mile for people. I do not want anyone to think I’m anything like that lying, cheating, self-centered asshole.

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