Hothouse Flower (Addicted #4)(122)

Jonathan raises his brows and leans back against the couch, his arms outstretching over the top. He waves him on. “Please, Loren, tell me what I’m doing. Enlighten me, since you think I’m so dimwitted.”

Lo grinds his teeth.

Jonathan just smiles and says, “I’m waiting.”

“You can’t use her to get to him,” Lo retorts. “Just leave her alone.”

“Is that it?” Jonathan asks.

Lo stays quiet.

His dad straightens up on the seat. “Let me educate you, Loren,” he says, “when there are paths to be taken to achieve a goal, real men don’t stare at them with their cock in their hands. They take the goddamn path whether it f*cking works or not.” He points at him with his finger. “And I will do everything I possibly can to get my son back, just as I would do for you.”

The first half of that speech makes me cringe, and the second makes me reevaluate the first half. Now I can see why it’s confusing having him as a father. I don’t know whether to run away or stay and hear him out.

Lo looks at me again. “Go, Daisy.”

“Stay,” Jonathan snaps, his voice harsher after all the booze. His gaze heats on Lo. “You’re a goddamn terrible listener.”

“You know what, so are you,” Lo sneers. “Because if you’d listen to anything I’ve been telling you or what Ryke has said, you’d know that he’ll hate you if you bring her into this shit. You can’t be forgiven for that. So I’m helping you. Open your goddamn ears.” He turns around and grabs my wrist, tugging me into one of the plane’s bedrooms.

“Loren!” Jonathan yells, but Lo just shuts the door and locks it—truly closing his father out.

It makes me nervous that he’d switch the lock—that somewhere, he’d fear his dad rushing in and doing what? Cold blows through me, and I shiver.

Lo stares down at me and says, “This is about the hundredth reason why I don’t want you dating my older brother.”

“I’ll be able to handle it,” I say. “It’s not like my parents make Ryke feel warm and welcome.”

Lo shakes his head. “Greg’s third-degree and my father’s are not even comparable, so don’t try.”

I realize this is the first moment I’ve been alone with Lo since he learned about my relationship with Ryke. “I love him, you know? I’ve been with a lot of awful guys, and he’s the only one that’s ever made me happy.”

Lo stares at me for a long moment and then a knock on the door makes me flinch back. The knob jiggles. We both stiffen, and then a rough voice calls through the wood, “Fucking let me in, Lo.”

I relax as Lo unlocks the door, and Ryke scans his brother’s features quickly before turning to me. I hear the door shut, and Ryke hugs me to his chest immediately, his hand on the top of my head.

“Was she left alone with him?” Ryke asks Lo.

“No, I was there.”

“Just you two?”

“Yeah, it was fine,” Lo says. “Nothing happened.”

“Then why the f*ck did I hear Dad scream your name at the top of his lungs?”

I look up and Ryke’s dark gaze focuses on his brother, but he keeps holding me like if he lets go something bad may happen.

“We had a disagreement,” Lo says, sitting on the edge of the bed. He rubs his eyes like he’s just tired from everything.

“About Daisy?” Ryke frowns. “Or about me?”

“Both.”

Ryke’s eyes flash murderously. “He needs to leave her out of our family shit.”

“You need to talk to him or else he’s going to bring her in it.”

“Fuck,” Ryke curses. He lets out a deep breath and then he looks down at me. “You okay?”

I nod. “Yeah.” I give him a smile. “I get all of you, right? This is just another part.”

“This isn’t a f*cking part I wanted to give you, ever.”

“Something we agree on,” Lo chimes in with a half-smile. And then all of a sudden, a body stirs underneath a mass of pillows and blankets. Lo turns his head and pats what I guess are feet.

Lily sits up like she rose from the dead, rubbing her eyes and stretching. The way Lo is watching her—it’s like he’s witnessing daylight for the first time. It makes me smile because their love is so transparent, and it immediately slices through any awkward tension that clung to the air.

She sees us and smiles shyly. “Oh hey. What’d I miss?”

“I talked to Ryke’s dad,” I tell her.

Her eyes bug out. “Whaaa…”

“It was interesting,” I say with a small shrug.

“What a weird day,” Lily says. I think that defines the whole situation very nicely. She whispers in Lo’s ear, and he nods, whispering back, and then they both turn to look at me, their expressions morphing into something serious and real. Lo nods and says, “Welcome to the family.”

The words hit me straight in the heart. For so long I considered Lo a part of my family; even though he had his dad, even though he’s a Hale, he always felt like an extension of Lily. A Calloway.

Now I’m starting to think that maybe all this time it’s been the other way around, and I’ve just been too narrow-sighted to see it. Lily’s always been a part of his family.