Page 126 of Altered

He laughed and joked and played around, but he was serious about me.

"She might have made a mistake," Dad snarled, once Derek had filled him in on what a cheating whore I was. "But you did, too, by walking into my house and speaking to my daughter like that."

"A mistake?" His eyes bugged in her head. "She's a fucking cheat, Kyle."

"She'smy daughter," he corrected with a snarl. "It doesn’t matter if she's eight or eighty, she'sstill my baby. My child. My first born. She always will be. And nobody, and I meannobody, is gonna talk about her like that. Not while I have air in my lungs."

"Then she's learned it from you," Karen hissed, coming to stand beside Derek. "Must run in the family."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Mom demanded, snapping her head up.

"Well, let's just say your daughter has a lot more of Camryn Frey running through her veins than you, Lee," Karen stated coldly.

Ouch.

"Well aren’t you mother of the fucking year," Dad hissed, jumping to Mom's defense. "Throwing in your two cents about twenty years too late."

"Kyle!" Derek warned.

"Kyle nothing," my father shot back angrily. "She wants to talk about parenting fails then she needs to take a good fucking look in the mirror."

"Like you're perfect, Kyle," Jordan's mom choked shakily.

"Never claimed to be, sweetheart," Dad countered. "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I love my children. Every single one of them from the tops of their heads to the tips of their toes."

God.

My dad.

I knew he had to be feeling angry and confused, but he was here, defending me, letting the whole world know he loved me just the same as always.

This was the definition of unconditional love.

Loving despite the disappointments and hurt.

My mother loved me just as much, I knew she did, but she was fearful and worn down.

Dad was the strength in this family.

In that moment, as I looked at my father, I was reminded of the man who I'd spent my life adoring.

The man who had been my hero.

The man who wasstillmy hero.

"And I made a promise to each one of them the day they were born that I would protect them from the moment they took their first breath to the moment I take my last," Dad continued to rant. "And I'm sure as hell not stopping now."

"Fine," Derek barked. "You handle your family, and I'll handle mine."

"Damn straight I will," Dad growled.

They stared hard at each other for the longest time before Derek shook his head and said, "I'm out." With that, he stalked past my father and straight out of the house with Karen following close behind him.

"I saw this coming twenty years ago," Dad muttered. "Always knew it would end in tears, Lee." Shoulders slumped, he walked over to the table and slumped down on the chair beside my mother. "Fucking told you all then, the two of them getting together was a recipe for disaster. But of course, no one ever fucking listens to me."

Mom reached over and placed her hand on Dad's hand. And then she looked up, eyes locked on Hunter, and said, "You are no longer welcome in my home."

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