Page 75 of Bound by Family
He chuckles. “She’ll teach you a thing or two. Who does she want to beat the hell out of now?”
I laugh because that comment doesn’t surprise me in the least. “No one. She’s a good woman. I like her.”
“Good, since you’ll be seeing a lot of her.”
“Yeah.” Lifting on my tiptoes, I plant a kiss on his lips. “Glad you’re home.”
“Me, too.” He lets out a deep breath. “But we gotta talk about somethin’.”
“This is the same thing as Leah telling me her harebrained idea of meeting that jerk at the rally. If it’s bad, Cooper, I don’t wanna hear it.”
“Your dad.”
This stops me.
“What about him? Is he hurt?”
“No, beautiful. He wants to talk to you, and I really think you should.”
It makes me nervous, which is confusing. I thought we would talk about anything else. Now, everything is messed up.
He’s sorry, and I get that, but it doesn’t change what he tried to do. My heart can’t take any more breakage from my family. At the same time, it hurts not having my father and brothers in my life. It’s almost like reliving the pain of losing my mother all over again, only now I have the power to do something about it. Forgiveness comes easier when you lost someone so precious to you.
It’s time. He reached out, and I’m ready to close this door so I don’t have to live in the past any more.
“I’ll call him.”
“No need. We’re headin’ down tomorrow.”
My eyes widen in shock. “What?”
“He called the clubhouse and asked if we’d come down. He apologized to me and said he wants to do it with you in person. And your brothers want to talk to you.”
“Wow.” It takes me a moment to gather my thoughts. It’s so sudden, likebam,in my face, but it’s all good. “Okay, that’s fine. I can do this.”
“Beautiful, you can do anything you put your mind to.” He leans down and kisses me. His lips are the softest thing I ever want to touch mine for the rest of my life.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
BRISTYL
“Why am I so nervous?” I ask Cooper, wringing my hands for the hundredth time as he comes back to the truck with the key to our room.
We are in Crest at one of the chain hotels, and I can’t stop fidgeting. My body is a tight wire, ready to snap and zap everything and anything around me. He’s my father. There’s no reason to be nervous, yet I can’t help it. Those feelings of never belonging and him wanting to push me to do something I didn’t want to, they ride me hard. They pull me to a place I don’t like. Nevertheless, I’m a grown-ass woman, and I will do this.
“Because he’s your dad. I can still go with you, Bristyl. You don’t need to go alone.”
I suck in a breath, hoping it will calm me. It does a little. “No, I need to go to him on my own and do this. And tomorrow, we’ll go to breakfast as planned.”
We get out of his truck, and Cooper leads us to the room. After pulling myself together, it’s time to face the music.
“I’m gonna sleep for a bit. When you get back, you can take me to dinner.”
I laugh. “I thought the guy was supposed to take the woman?”
“Beautiful, you’re from here; you’ll know where to get me a steak.”
I stand up on my tiptoes, hand on his chest, and kiss him. “You got it. I’ll only be a couple of hours.”
