Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(59)

I hung up and then readied the phone with 911. My pulse quickened as I slowly eased out of the car. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. I couldn’t f*cking believe he was here.

God! Couldn’t he get the picture that I didn’t want to get involved, and Grant didn’t want to talk to him?

No, clearly not.

I took a deep breath in and out. He needed to be told. That was what the officer had said.

I closed the distance between us on shaky legs. “Hello, Mr. McDermott.”

“Aribel Graham,” he said.

“What are you doing, staking out my apartment?”

“I’m not staking out your apartment, darlin’. I gave you plenty of time to contact me. You did get the phone number from your friend Cheyenne, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“Now, I’m simply following up on that conversation since I never heard back from you.”

“Did it never occur to you that I didn’t want to speak with you?”

I would be civil. I could be civil. This was possible. I wouldn’t stand before this man, terrified and shaking, like before. I would tell him the truth and then make him leave, or I’d call the cops again.

“I considered that, but this is too important to me. I don’t generally take no for an answer.”

He smiled devilishly at me, and I cringed away from it.

“I’m trying to talk to my son, and since he won’t answer you and you’re dating him, I thought we could have a chat.”

“A chat,” I said hollowly.

“Yes. A chat where I explain I need to see my son, and then you convince him to do that.”

“I won’t do that.” I crossed my arms over my chest, still tightly holding the phone in my hand. “Grant doesn’t want to have anything to do with you. I don’t want to either! You should leave both of us alone. Let him live his life without you. He’s done fine so far.”

Grant’s dad dangerously narrowed his eyes. “Well, I didn’t ask for your opinion on the matter. If he cares for you, then he’ll listen to you.”

My face paled. “You can’t use me to get to Grant. I know what happened that day, what you’ve done. The last thing he wants is to confront a very messy past. So, take it from someone who knows him, he’ll never want to see you again.”

“You don’t know the half of what happened or what I’ve been through. And Grant can’t escape his past any more than I can. While he might be gallivanting around the country with his band, he has to come home sometime. It would be easier for everyone if you agreed to get him to speak with me.”

I saw red. I couldn’t believe he was trying to convince me to do this. “No! I’m not going to do anything for you, and you don’t deserve anything from him, not after what you put him through.”

“What I put him through?” he bellowed. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. He sent me to prison.”

“With all due respect,” I said, slinking up the first step toward my place, “you killed his mother in front of him. You sent yourself to prison.”

“So, this is my son’s opinion of me?” He sounded dejected yet furious.

His eyes were murderous, and it made me take another step away from him.

“You’ve given him no reason to see otherwise, and stalking my apartment isn’t really helping.”

Grant’s dad nodded. But I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, if he was even considering my words. Then, without another word, he left.

I stared after him in confusion. All of that, and he had just left? It didn’t make sense. What did he want from Grant? The only thing I could guess that wasn’t sinister was some type of closure. But then, why would he say Grant had sent him to prison?

There were too many questions, and my brain was running away with me. His dad could have hurt me if he had wanted to, and nothing had happened. That didn’t necessarily mean he wouldn’t hurt Grant if given the option. I’d seen the look in his father’s eyes. I’d seen the anger bubbled up under the surface at the mention of what had happened that day.

I knew the last thing Grant wanted to do was meet with his father, and I didn’t want to play into his hands by convincing Grant otherwise. But it might take Grant talking to him to get him to leave Grant alone. He was determined, and if I knew anything about McDermott persistence, then Grant would find no peace from his father anytime soon.

Aribel.

I’d finally get to see my girl. It didn’t matter to me that I’d also have to go through the likely painful encounter of meeting her judgmental parents. In fact, I was the one who had pushed her to tell them about me in the first place. Though telling them about me and officially meeting them was a different story.

But it would be worth it as long as I was finally with her again.

“Grant’s getting his dick wet tonight.” Trevor cracked up on the bus as we pulled into Boston.

“Fucking finally,” Ridley joked.

“I can’t wait to f*cking meet this chick who has you so whipped,” Nic said.

Vin snorted. “Just wait. She’s this tiny little innocent blonde. You’d never peg her as a f*cking groupie.”

McAvoy smacked him upside the head. “That’s because she’s not, dipshit.”