Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
“You’ve got a lot of nerve trying to threaten me, boy,” he growls, pushing off the wall and forcing space between us. “If you knew the things I’ve had to do to keep your nose clean, you’d be keeping your ungrateful mouth shut.”
Understanding hits me like a fucking wrecking ball. I’ve gotten into plenty of trouble, but only once have I ever been involved in something so horrendous it made me sick. Channing mentioned my father’s name, but I didn’t believe it, not until right this minute. My gaze narrows and my father shrinks back, finally understanding just how far I’ll go to protect this secret. “You knew,” I accuse. “All this fucking time, you knew what went down that night and you didn’t say a fucking thing.”
My father nervously glances toward Bri in the corner before fixing himself with the kind of untouchable confidence that is no doubt how he got into this mess in the first place. “Of course I fucking knew. Orlando Channing came to me the second this shit was about to go public. Who do you think paid off the authorities to lose that evidence?”
I shake my head, unable to believe what I’m hearing. “I was a fucking kid. I should have been charged for my involvement in that, but you … fuck, Dad. Paying off the authorities meant the Hardin brothers got away with what they did in that fucking house, and that’s on you. You’re just as fucking guilty as I am.”
“Don’t you put me on the same fucking level as you, Tanner. You’re a fuck up. Always have been.”
I scoff, more than ready to take him out when Addison barges through my door. “What the hell is going on—” she stops abruptly when she finds Dad in my room, and her demeanor shifts. She glares at him, the hurt from his betrayal on full display. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Addie,” Dad says, taking a hesitant step toward her, his hand raised as if to express some moronic show of innocence. “It’s not what you think. I swear to you, my sweet girl, just give me a chance to explain everything.”
“Are you or are you not having an affair?” Addison demands, tears welling in her eyes, but there’s no way in hell she’s about to let them fall for him.
“That’s not fair, sweetheart,” he says, a strange tone in his voice as he tries to tiptoe around the question. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”
“Yes or no, Dad,” she shouts, her jaw clenching. “It’s not a hard question. Did you or did you not screw around on Mom while she was waiting here for you every fucking day, praying for you to be here with her, with us.”
“Honey—” he says, not denying it one fucking bit.
The tears finally fall and it breaks my heart. “I hate you,” she says, swallowing hard as her voice breaks. “I never want to see you again.”
Addie goes to bolt from my room but my father’s booming tone keeps her locked in her place. “Don’t you walk away from me.”
She wipes her eyes on the back of her sleeves. “Why not?” she throws back at him. “You walked away from us first. You replaced Mom with some Australian bitch and got yourself a whole fucking tribe of kids to replace the two fuck ups you already have. Are we not enough for you? Are we damaged goods, not worth your time? Not obedient enough? What, Dad? What is it about us that you couldn’t stand to be around?”
Dad just stares at her, not having a fucking clue what to say, but why would he? He’s never here. He doesn’t know how to console her, especially now after everything she’s been through. He’s no father to her. “I … I don’t want you talking like that, Addison. I love you all, you know that.”
“THEN WHY DID YOU REPLACE US?” she cries, her hands trembling as the pain makes her voice shake. She doesn’t hang around for a response, turning on her heels and taking off like a bat out of hell.
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath, turning to Bri, but she’s already grabbing her phone off my nightstand and racing for the door.
She holds her phone up, not bothering to even look back at me. “Already calling him,” she says, reading my mind and knowing a situation like this calls for none other than Hudson Bellamy. Relief pounds through my chest, but I catch my breath as Bri comes to a stop and glances back at my father with a condescending smile.
Oh fuck, this isn’t going to go down well.
“Killer,” I warn, but she’s not having a bit of it.
Despite her smile, she manages to look at my father with such hatred it almost knocks me clean off my feet. “Respectfully,” she starts in a sugary sweet tone just as the loud BANG of Addison’s door slams down the hallway, “you’re a piece of shit who never deserved this family, and I hope to God you spend every day of the rest of your life despising yourself for hurting them like this.” Her smile widens and she’s right back to looking like the sweetest angel. “As always, it was such a pleasure seeing you again.”