Page 40 of The Forever Play

Her eyes dart to mine and she doesn’t confirm nor deny, causing this gnawing worry to munch away at my insides. Is there more to their relationship than she’s saying?

Shit, shit, shit!

They’re a couple.

Didn’t Russell say he’s the closest thing Zoey has to a father?

Fuck!

But I’m her dad. It’s me. I should be the one protecting her!

“How could you keep this a secret from me?” Thequestion spurts out before I can stop it. I promised myself I wouldn’t accuse her, that I’d be calm and hear her out. I promised myself that I’d do everything I could to win my way back into Sienna’s life so I could have contact with Zoey.

But I can’t stop this emotion raging through me, and so I start snapping.

“She’s my daughter. I should have been involved. I could have supported you through your shitty pregnancy. I could have been there when she was born! You could have called me. Fuck, you could have texted, Sen!”

Her eyes round, and she steps away from my sudden venom. We’ve reached the grove of trees on the edge of the park, and she walks into the shade, her blonde hair losing its golden glow. Perching her sunglasses on top of her head, she spins to face me. I’ve never seen her blue eyes so ice cold before, and it’s unnerving. But it doesn’t kill the fiery wrath still heating my insides to boiling.

I’m enraged by the injustice of all this.

She didn’t even give me a fucking chance!

And I’m about to tell her that when she sucks in a breath, then says, “I wanted to tell you in person.”

Her voice is strained and quiet, but that doesn’t stop me flicking my arms in the air and barking, “So, why didn’t you come to see me?”

“I did come to see you!”

Her shout closes up my throat in a second. Cold dread spreads through my body like a virus as I stand there gaping at her.

She crosses her arms, her voice turning small and shaky. “I came to see you at Kelsey U.” Her chin bunches,her eyes glassing over. “But you were otherwise occupied.”

My heart starts thundering, ready to beat right out of my fucking chest.

What did she see?

What the fuck was I doing?

I press my hand against my rib cage, wondering if this is what a heart attack feels like. The look on her face right now is killing me.

“I can’t do this,” she rasps, sucking in a ragged breath and darting out from under the trees.

“Sparks.” Instinct has me reaching for her, but I stop midway when she snaps at me.

“No! You don’t get to call me that anymore. I’m not your Sparks. I’m not your anything! You made sure of that!”

A bitter ash fills my mind, and all I can do is stand there as she runs away from me, her blonde hair flying.

I have to let her go. I’m too afraid to chase her and find out what she saw me doing.

It must have been pretty fucking bad by the look on her face just now.

Closing my eyes, I dip my head and can only manage a rasping whisper. “Shit.”

CHAPTER 15

SIENNA

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