Page 130 of Fierce-Hyde

“And you were the same. All I can say to you is to trust her. If she needs you, she’ll let you know.”

“And if she doesn’t then I’ve got to get over it,” he said.

“Don’t let your pride or ego get in the way,” Raina said. “I’m hoping to do this on her own teaches her something.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“That she doesn’t have to do it on her own. And if she doesn’t learn that, then maybe she’ll get the closure she deserves. It’s a win either way.”

“If you say so,” he said.

He left to go see Ryder after that. Maybe a man would understand better.

Which of course went back to why Tori said she went to Raina for this.

“Dude, you look like someone kicked your puppy and then pissed on it.”

He frowned. “That’s horrible.”

“That’s right,” Ryder said. “And that is how you look. What’s going on? Problems in your love life?”

“Not really,” he said. He filled Ryder in.

“Sucks when they do that,” Ryder said. “I married a woman who tried to do it on her own for nine friggin’ years. Tori has asked for a few days or something. Think about that.”

He laughed. When Ryder put it that way, he realized he was overreacting.

“Okay,” he said. “That makes me feel better.”

“I’m glad,” Ryder said. “But I’m with Raina. This is a good thing. She’s better off going alone as much as it goes against what we’d both want to do.”

“So you’d feel this way too?”

“Definitely,” Ryder said. “Give her a day or so to think it out. Let her make those decisions. It will be better in the long run if she does.”

Hyde nodded his head. It’s not like he had much of a choice.

40

UPSET YOUR WORLD

Tori couldn’t believe she was an hour away from her father’s house three days later.

No matter what she did or what scenario she came up with in her brain, it all came back to her needing to see him one last time.

He was her father.

He talked to her two days ago and said the prognosis wasn’t good. They were buying time more than curing. He didn’t even want to do that but was trying it for Shelly.

Sure, he was going to pump chemicals into his body that would make him feel worse than having the cancer to buy time with a woman he’d been married to for five years.

But not to make amends with his only child.

That went through her brain again and again.

The one thing she’d sat on though was telling her mother. And since she knew her mother was off today, she made the call now.

Would it work her up? Yep, it would. But maybe she needed that too.

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