Chapter Forty-nine
My father walked into the kitchen and regarded each of us individually. Josh slowly stood up.
For a tense moment, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. A part of me thought—and hoped—maybe my father might surprise us all, stroll forward to shake Josh’s hand and say, “Nice to see you. Welcome.” He could certainly be charming when he wanted to be. I’d seen it many times. Most of the time, in fact.
His eyes met mine. “We were worried about you,” he said.
“You didn’t need to be,” I replied. “I texted Mom and told her I was okay. That I was staying with a friend.”
He turned to Josh. “And you’re the friend, I assume.”
“That’s right,” Josh calmly replied.
A sharp feeling of agitation rose up in my throat.
“How do you think Paul would feel about this?” my father asked me.
“It’s not really any of his business anymore,” I explained, “because I ended our relationship a few hours ago.”
Dad closed his eyes briefly, then gestured toward Josh. “Because of this guy.”
“Yes,” I admitted, denying nothing, making no apologies.
My father’s head drew back as if I had swung a wooden plank in front of his face. “What are you saying? That you want to be with this man here?” He pointed at Josh, who exercised remarkable self-control by remaining silent. “Is that it?”
“Please stop talking about him like he’s not here.” I moved around the kitchen island to stand before my father, who was a full twelve inches taller than me. “We came here tonight to tell you that I’m moving out. I’ll be looking for my own apartment, but in the meantime I’ll be staying with Josh. And yes, we’re involved. In fact, we just got back from a trip to Montana where we visited Riley for three days. And guess what? Josh stayed in my room. We slept in the same bed.”
“Holly!” my mother scolded.
Maybe I was more like my brother than anyone realized—myself especially—because I had no regrets about what I’d just said. In fact, I wanted to rouse my father’s anger. I wanted to provoke him.
Dad regarded me like a bull about to charge. I was prepared to drop into a karate stance if I had to, but to my surprise, he balled his hand into a fist and swung a punch at Josh.
Before I could shout at him to stop, Josh had grabbed him by the shoulder, twisted his arm and dropped him firmly, face down, on the floor. He continued to restrain my father with a knee to the spine, arm leveraged, a tight grip around his wrist.
I knew Josh could dislocate my father’s shoulder in an instant if he were so inclined.
“Are you all right, sir?” Josh calmly asked.
“No, dammit!” Dad shouted indignantly, but it was his ego that was bruised, not his body.
“I’m going to back off now.” Josh let go of Dad’s wrist, rose to his feet and took two steps away. Grimacing with pain, he lay a hand on his abdomen over the incision and bent forward slightly.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
He nodded, but bit down hard on his lower lip as he leaned on the center island.
Mom watched the scene in silent horror, both hands covering her face.
“I’m sorry,” I said to her. “I didn’t want it to be like this.”
Dad rose awkwardly to his feet. “I told you not to contact Riley!” he shouted at me.
“Really Dad? That’s all you have to say right now?”
He scowled and took a deep breath. “Mark my words, if you walk out of here with that man…” He pointed a threatening finger at Josh. “Don’t expect to ever come back. That’s not how it works in this house.”
“No?” I said. “That’s not how the great machine operates? Did I push the wrong button?”
With a shake of my head, I turned to hug my mother and whispered in her ear: “Please call me. I’ll text you my new address. You can visit.”
Deeply concerned about Josh’s condition, I took hold of his hand and left the kitchen. “I hope you didn’t tear anything,” I said quietly as we crossed the hall.
“I’m fine,” he replied. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t apologize. You were perfect. And you’re not fine. I’m going to check that incision as soon as we get in the car—and I’ll be driving.”
We grabbed our coats and walked out.
“You don’t have to look for your own place, you know,” he mentioned as we descended the stairs. He moved awkwardly, clearly in pain. “You can stay with me as long as you like. Rent free.”
“I may need to take you up on that.” I stayed with him on the stairs in case he might suddenly pass out. We reached his car and I took the keys from him. “Because nothing would give me greater pleasure than to drive my father completely stark raving mad.”
“Who knew you were such a rebel?” Josh asked with an attractive, devilish grin as he got in on the passenger side.
“Certainly not me.”
As soon as we were seated, I reached up and flicked on the interior light. “Lower your seat back.”
He did as I asked and allowed me to open his jacket, lift his shirt and inspect the incision. “It’s not bleeding,” I said. “It looks all right.” My eyes lifted to find him perspiring heavily. “What about your leg?”
“Hurts like hell.”
I glanced down at his thigh. “There’s no blood on your jeans so that’s a good sign. I’ll check it as soon as we get home. And you shouldn’t have done that.”
There was a look of raw determination on his face. “I didn’t even realize I was doing it until he hit the floor.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I know that feeling.”
A moment later we were pulling out of the driveway. I didn’t let myself look back.