“I had people texting me today asking me if I knew Penn and Leah were engaged. They wanted me to verify the rumors.” He chuckles darkly and takes a long sip of his liquor.
A little early in the afternoon to be hitting the bottle, Dad.
“And?” I sneer.
Unperturbed by my attitude, he sips his drink again. “I told them the rumors were true. But I also told them you were taking it hard since you’ve always been in love with the Collins girl.”
This prick is always kicking the hornet’s nest.
“Good one,” I grumble, hoping to hell it doesn’t get back to Ivy. I don’t care about Ivy being jealous, but what I do care about is her taking it out on Leah. I know my ex-girlfriend. She’s vindictive as fuck.
He slightly sways on his feet and I arch a brow. You’ve got to be kidding me right now. This guy is fucked up in the middle of the day?
“Are you drunk?” I ask, disgust in my tone.
He snorts. “Don’t try that holier than thou shit on me, kid. I know you drink all the damn time. Who do you think buys all your liquor?” With his intense glare on me, he drains the rest of his glass.
“Why do you hate Jason so much?” I blurt out.
I know why I hate Jason. He’s a cunt to Penn. Whips up on him more than Penn lets on. Dad is always coolly polite to Jason and Lisa, but they’re far from friends. At least not anymore. It was around the third grade, after a New Year’s party at Penn’s that Dad suddenly stopped hanging out with Jason.
“You have to care about someone to hate them. I don’t hate him. I just want to watch him suffer.” He shrugs.
Sadistic bastard.
“Okay,” I mumble. “Well something happened to change your friendship.”
Dad’s gaze hardens as he looks off into space as though he’s remembering something. “He told me something that pissed me off. I know it’s not true, but it still pissed me off.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“He told me he’d been sleeping with Halle for years up until she left,” he growls. “Your mother was a whore, there’s no doubt about that. But even she had standards.”
“How did you know she didn’t fuck him?” I challenge.
Dad’s smile is pure evil. “Because I tracked her every move. Her phone. Cameras on the house. Email. Her car. Your mother was mine and no one but me was allowed to have her. I know how these rich bitches are. They think they can have their cake and eat it too. Not in the Justice house.”
“Is that why she left?” I ask, my voice small. Once again, I’m that toddler asking my dad where Mommy went.
“Who the hell knows,” he grumbles. “But she didn’t just leave me. She left you too. Don’t paint me as the villain in your story.”
I shake my head as I walk away.
Everyone’s a villain in my story…including me.
The only hero is Penn.
Penn
“Right there,” I moan. “Feels good, Leah.”
She lets out a giggle as she moves the pen back and forth under my cast. It itches like fucking crazy.
“All better, fiancé?” she asks.
I nod and pull my hand away as I shut off the Jeep in front of her house. It’s been three weeks now that we’ve been playing this game. Three weeks of secretly being with Cope in the afternoons and on weekends, but putting on a show during the day. At least now, most of the kids have accepted me and Leah as an official couple. We’re getting better with the act.
“When do you get that thing taken off?”
I grumble. “This afternoon. The doc thought I might need surgery, but it’s doing better. They’ll take it off if everything looks okay.”
“Just in time for the football game tomorrow night!” she exclaims.
I wince at her words. Everyone thinks as soon as the cast comes off, everything goes back to normal. Nothing will ever be the same again. Why the hell would I start playing football again when I could be spending that time with Cope?
The simple act of defiance toward my dad has me standing behind my decision. Football was fun for a while there and it kept me distracted from the pain I had when it came to Cope hating me. But it was simply that. A distraction. Now that Cope is mine and we’re happy, I couldn’t care less about football. Or anything for that matter.
All that matters is him.
I think about how close we’ve gotten to sex lately. He makes me so fucking horny. All the dirty shit he says to me is maddening. All the things he wants to do to me. But it pisses me off that they’re just words. Sure, he’s been fingering my ass more and the intrusions are no longer so foreign feeling, but I want his dick there. I’ve told him as much.