Page 23 of The Revenge Plan (Forbidden Descendants 1)

Suddenly, her dad stepped in between us as if he were trying to sever the force of our stare. “Yeah, he really did. And asshat that he was about it, it seems he at least kept his word and watched over you until we arrived.”

“Yeah,” Haven murmured vaguely, glancing down at herself to make sure she really was okay. “I guess he did.” Then she frowned and lifted her foot. “Except I’m missing my flip-flop.”

“Oh!” Izzy burst forward, a flurry of motion as she raced to her pile of bags on the chair in the corner. “I stuffed it in a bag for you. Since Wick carried you, you didn’t really need it, and besides, we didn’t have a ton of time to put it on you. We had to move quickly and get you out of the building undetected because your boyfriend—I mean, Topher—and some of his friends were staking out Dandridge Hall, looking all over the place for you.”

“Wait. Topher had his friends looking for me?” Haven shuddered in alarm over that bit of news as Izzy handed her shoe back. When she took it, she looked down at the flip-flop dazedly for a moment before lifting her face to Iz and hugging the shoe to her chest. “You went to a lot of trouble to help me get away from him, didn’t you?”

“Well…” Izzy shrugged as if suddenly bashful. “You said you didn’t want to talk to him.”

Haven nodded. “I didn’t want to. Thank you.”

Izzy glanced my way. “Actually, it was Wick who did most of the work of getting you out of there.”

“Oh.” Haven glanced my way again. She didn’t tell me thank you, though. She just stared at me as if trying to figure me out. I didn’t know how the fuck to respond, or even if I was supposed to, so I just stared back.

Which seemed to freak her dad out. He once again stepped between us before gripping Haven’s arm. “Well, thanks for keeping her safe until we could arrive.” He turned her toward the door. “But we’ll take it from here.”

Haven paused, frowning up at him. “No, whoa. Take me where? I’m not going back there.”

“I know. So you’re coming home with us.” Mr. Gamble opened the door and then reached for one of the handholds to his wife’s chair.

Except Haven stepped out of his reach, shaking her head. “No. I’m sorry but I can’t go home tonight, either. I have classes tomorrow. I’m in the middle of a semester. Dad, I… I can’t.”

He nodded as if to agree with her even as he reached out to grasp her arm again. “Don’t worry. You only have two days left this week. Two days won’t change anything. We can talk about the rest of your semester this weekend. At home.”

“But I’m not going home,” she insisted softly, her gaze turning apologetic as she studied him. “Don’t you get it? I can’t,” she repeated with more force. “I refuse to let him send me running back to the safety of my parents with my tail tucked between my legs. He’s not going to make me crumble and he’s not going to take my education away from me. I have to stay here, in town, and go to class tomorrow.”

“God,” Mr. Gamble muttered, his eyes watering as he set a fist against his mouth. “You always have to be my brave, stubborn little girl, don’t you?” Then he turned to his wife. “Sarah, talk some damn sense into her, will you? She doesn’t have to recover from this in one fucking night.”

“And I’m sure she won’t,” Mrs. Gamble answered, smiling at her daughter as if proud of her before she reached out a twitching hand to congratulate Haven for her fearlessness.

Haven gripped her mother’s fingers and squeezed. “Mom.”

“Where exactly are you going to stay, though?” her mom asked. “Since you’re not going back to your dormitory.”

“I…” Haven looked suddenly lost, and her chest heaved as if she might start hyperventilating. “I don’t know,” she nearly whispered. Her fingers trembled as she cupped the sides of her throat. “I can call…someone. One of my friends. Except…”

“Except what?” her dad encouraged.

Haven shook her head and cringed. “All my friends these days are part of Topher’s group. And if I call them, they might call him. But I just…” She lifted her hands and took a step back. “I really don’t want to deal with him tonight.”

“I could call Mason,” her mom suggested. “He’s the closest family, only half an hour away. He and Reese would take you in for the night, and you could still make it to class in the morning, no problem.”

But Haven kept shaking her head back and forth, rejecting that idea too. “I just… I feel as if I shouldn’t go to family right now.”

“What?” her parents exploded together.

“Why the fuck not?” her dad demanded.

“That’s just ridiculous,” her mom added. “Family is the first place you go in a situation like this.”

“Yeah, but…” Haven’s eyes turned huge and begging and miserable. “I have to do it this way. I have to do it on my own, or I…” Her voice cracked as she addressed both parents, “Or I know I’m going to rely on you guys too much. You’ll turn into my crutch, and then I’ll never really pull myself back together again. But I don’t want

to do that to you. I don’t want to do that to myself. So, I just…I have to stay in town tonight or I’ll fall apart completely. This is the right decision. I feel it in my bones.”

“Stupid, stubborn bravery,” her dad muttered under his breath as he hastily ripped a hand through his hair. Then he turned to his wife, scowling.

Simultaneously, they said, “She gets that from you.”

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