I hate waiting to talk to Vi. I’ve been by her place at the bakery twice now, and she wasn’t there either time. Last night I waited there for hours. She never showed, and I was pissed. If I’m honest with myself, I was worried, too.

She had to have been staying somewhere else and the thought that she was with Slade is a real possibility. When I finally dragged my ass back home, I saw her car in her parents' driveway. I almost stormed over there, but I stopped myself, thinking I should wait till it wasn’t the middle of the night and I wasn’t making an ass of myself, acting on jealousy.

This morning she wasn’t there and she wasn’t at the bakery either. The note said she was doing deliveries. I’ve been gone for years, and now that I’m back I can’t get one fucking minute with her. Figures.

My pops drops the wrench on the floor of the garage with a loud bang, startling me from my thoughts. He’s digging through his old toolbox taking an inventory of what he’s got.

“Careful, old man,” I joke with him. He looks up at me with a raised brow before bending over with a loud sigh and picking it up.

“Careful yourself, son,” he says as he sets the wrench down on the steel bench.

“So what’d ya think?” I walk over to him and lean against the steel counter, looking at the old junk of a VW buggy in the garage. It was supposed to be my sister’s car, but we never got around to fixing it. I brace my hands on the bench and look over to him as I say, “I could be a mechanic, I think.” Ever since Jared planted the seed, the idea has been growing and giving me an outlet to focus on. I think I’d fucking love it.

“Sure you could,” he says, but he doesn’t look me in the eyes as he adds, “It’ll cost a pretty penny to get it up and running though.”

I nod my head; I know it will, but I’ve got the cash flow to get it started. I never really spent a dime in the Navy. I didn’t have to. So I’ve got enough to get it started. I’ve already looked into it. I’ve got more than enough.

“I’m not sure the bank is gonna go out on a limb for you without you having any income right now, but-”

I cut my pops off right there. “I don’t need the Whites' money for this.” My voice is louder than it should be. I look past him and stare at the tools hanging from the pegboard on the back wall. “It’s not a matter of getting money.”

My words still come out a little harsher than I mean for them to. I push off the bench and stalk to the buggy to calm my ass down. Pops doesn’t need my anger. No one does. I just don’t like seeing Slade’s hands on my girl. I don’t like the way his father talked to her either. Vi doesn’t deserve that, she’s better than both of them. The Whites can go fuck themselves.

“Something wrong with the Whites?” Pops asks me as he closes the toolbox and leans against the buggy, eyeing me like he doesn’t know what’s going on.

“I don’t care for either of them, Slade or his father, to be honest.” I turn my head to look him in the eyes. “I don’t like Slade and Violet together.”

“You’re wound up over a girl you have no claim to.” It pisses me off that he has the balls to say that, but then he keeps going, “And to make matters worse, you’re giving that girl a bad name.”

I temper my anger slightly as I ask, “Oh yeah, how’s that?”

“That she’s fooling around with you again.” He shakes his head and says, “She doesn’t need that, Hunter. You gotta let it go.”

“I’m not letting it go. I’m not losing her again.”

He looks exasperated. “It’s not losing when you haven’t got anything to lose!”

My voice is hard and I hold his angry gaze. “She’s mine. She’s always been mine, and she’ll always be mine.”

“Don’t be stupid, Hunter,” he scoffs at me, pissing me off. “She’s moved on, and you need to lay that puppy dog love to bed where it belongs.”

I push off the car and take a step closer to my father. I’ve never been so fucking angry at this man. I’ve always looked up to him. Always taken his advice. But right now, all I wanna do is beat the shit out of him. “I never should’ve let her go.”

“Is that the son I raised?” He kicks off the car and meets me chest to chest as he adds, “A selfish prick who’d make a woman wait on him?”

“It was her choice.” I keep my ground. “She wanted to wait on me coming home. If she wanted that, I should’ve given her that. 'Cause I wanted it, too.”

He huffs a humorless laugh and walks around me. “You’re being a damn fool, Hunter.”

“I was a fool to listen to you.” I bite out my words, my hands balling into fists. I mean it, too. What we had was real, and it was worth fighting for.

He flinches at my words, and the hard lines on his face slip for a moment. “Do what you want, Hunter.” His voice is lowered and full of disappointment. “All you’re doing is hurting that poor girl.” With that he opens the garage door and lets it close silently behind him as he goes back inside.

My chest heaves with anger, and I take a minute to calm myself down. I feel like everyone’s rooting against us, but I don’t give a fuck.

She’s mine.

I don’t care where she is. This town is small; I’ll find her. I’m not going to leave her alone until I make it damn clear that I want her back. I just need one chance. Just one.