Page 11 of Bullet
“I do. You joined this club searching for something and got fast-tracked for saving Natalie. You sometimes feel like you don’t belong. I see it in you. You do belong, though, and that girl who is falling to pieces deserves the man willing to spend a lifetime putting her back together.”
“I know. I just…”
Her voice cuts me off.
I spin, finding Harlee in her father’s face, and he doesn’t look happy.
“You are a piece of fucking shit!” she screams at him.
“Harlee Anne. Don’t you dare talk to me that way. I am your father,” Honk tells her as I move to her side.
“Let’s all calm down,” I say, trying to defuse the situation.
Honk glares at me. “Are you fucking my daughter? I will kill you.”
“Even if he was, it’s none of your fucking business. Where have you been for the last two years? Fuck,Dad.” She spits out the term like an insult. “Do you even remember my graduation today?”
Honk startles at her words. He doesn’t remember because he was already drunk when we picked him up. When he stumbledfrom the room, it was to puke in the hall. He’s drunk again now, like he always is.
“He’s a brother. Brothers don’t fuck with family members,” Honk growls out, ignoring the other half of her words.
“Well, good thing we aren’t family anymore then, huh?” Harlee spits at him.
“You don’t fucking understand, Harlee. I hope to God you never do.” Honk is as angry as she is.
He is where she gets her temper, after all.
“You’re right. I don’t get losing the love of your life, but I do understand loss because that night I didn’t lose one parent. I lost them both. You know what? I’m done with this shit. I’m out of here.” Harlee storms out of the room, leaving silence in her wake.
Honk goes to step after her, but I stop him. “Leave her. I’ll go get her once she calms.”
Honk growls at me. “So you’re an expert on my daughter now?”
“He is,” Reaper says, stepping up to my side. “He’s the one who has made sure she went to school and turned in her work. He is the reason she repeated a year instead of dropping out. Do you even remember the past two years, Honk? Or have you been in such a drunken stupor that it’s all a blur?”
“I don’t give a fuck if you are the president, you don’t get to speak to me this way.” Honk steps to Reaper, showing just how far he has gone.
“Look at yourself,” Colt says. “You’re stepping up to your president? Showing him disrespect for caring if you live or die? This has gone on too long, Honk. You lost Eleanor, and that is terrible, but you still have a daughter that needs you. She has been drinking herself silly since the day Eleanor died. Where do you think she learned that habit from?”
“She is going to keep down this dark path until it destroys her,” Chap adds. “I have offered her counsel, and she wants nothing to do with it. She wants to bury her feelings, much like you have. We cannot force you to do anything, Honk. We can ask that you get help for your daughter’s sake, but it wouldn’t help. You need to want to get better for yourself.”
Honk takes a step back, rubbing his hand over his face. “When did she graduate?” he asks softly.
“This morning,” I tell him.
He looks up at me, haunted. “I wasn’t there?”
“You left before they read her name.”
I can see the way that hits him. He is ashamed of himself.
“What do you want me to do?” he asks Reaper.
“I want you to go to rehab and stop the drinking. I want you to talk to someone about your grief. Then I want you to come home and show Harlee that it is okay for her to let go of the pain and move on.”
“There is no moving on from her,” Honk whispers.
“Maybe not, but you can move on from the pain and keep her in your heart.”
