When I'm with You (Hope Town #3)(17)

I hear another door slam, and I throw the door open and move to the window in my parents’ room just in time to see Ember running to her car and jumping in. It’s gotten darker out, but her dome light is illuminating her, and the second I see her swipe at her eyes, I kick my own ass.

If I could just get her to talk to me, without it turning into whatever just happened in the bathroom, I could fix this. We could go back to the way things were. With my mind made up, I rush out of the room and down the stairs, taking them two at a time. I open the front door just as she turns the engine over.

“Ember!” I yell and race down the driveway.

Before I can reach her car, she’s backing out so fast that her tires protest against the speed.

“Ember!” I bellow, running down the driveway trying to catch her. A feeling of pure helplessness starts to crawl up my throat when she looks over at me with tear-filled eyes before gunning the gas and taking off. “Em,” I whisper, pleading with her taillights for what, I have no idea.

“Figure it out yet?” I hear behind me but don’t look until the glow of her taillights is completely gone.

When I turn, Maddox is standing at the end of the driveway, arms crossed over his chest, stoic mask in place.

“Not even a little,” I tell him honestly, hoping that he’s going to be more of a voice of reason and not a pissed off father right now.

“You aren’t a stupid man, Nathaniel, so it really shouldn’t be this hard. I’ll help you out because I love my little girl and her happiness means more to me than kicking your f*cking ass right now, but you best believe that moment is coming and I’ll be nice enough to give you time to prepare for it.”

A normal man would probably shit himself right now, but I match Maddox in size, and if anything, I’m bigger than he is, so if I’m looking at a beating to come, I’m fairly sure I could hold my own. I think.

“You know I respect the hell out of you, Maddox, but I’m not sure what I’ve done to earn that anger from you.”

“You aren’t now, but you will be and I suspect that you’ll come willingly when I tell you it’s time for that fight.”

Cryptic motherf*cker.

“My little girl’s had a crush on you for way too long. I didn’t mind when she was younger because I knew you had too much respect for her—and me—to cross that line, even though you wanted to. However, my baby isn’t a baby anymore and those feelings she has for you still run deep.”

I open my mouth to say something, f*ck if I know, but close it when his eyes narrow.

“Don’t insult my intelligence by denying that, Nate. You might act like a little shit, but you have a good head on your shoulders. You f*cked up, so what are you going to do about it?”

“Can I talk now?” I ask him after a moment of silence, my head spinning.

He doesn’t speak. I watch as his jaw ticks and his eyes grow harder.

“I’m pretty sure she doesn’t, um … have those kind of feelings for me,” I hedge.

“I told you not to insult me.”

“Right.” I sigh, dropping my head and looking down at my booted feet. “Are you saying you don’t have an issue with your twenty, almost twenty-one-year-old daughter crushing on a man who is almost thirty?”

“Didn’t say that, did I?” he growls at me. He uncrosses his arms and steps up until he’s in my face, and I brace, thinking he’s changed his mind about that ass kicking. “What I said was my little girl’s happiness means more to me than kicking your ass. Seeing her smile is the reason I f*cking live, so when I see the reason for her smile runs hand in hand with her feelings toward you, I’m willing to put my own feelings aside, for now, to get that back on her face where it belongs.”

“I respect you there, Maddox, I do, but what I’m asking you isn’t about her smile.”

“You want my little girl.”

His response is enough to shock me stupid. The venom in his voice says enough. He knows my ‘want’ is a f*cking lot more complicated than that. I f*cking crave her.

“I’m going to ask you again because I would really like to not have any surprises here. You do understand what you’re saying … right?”

Again, he doesn’t talk. His eyes don’t even blink as he continues to level me with those black orbs of intimidation.

“I’ve been in love with her since before it was legal to feel that way,” I tell him honestly, voicing my feelings for her for the first time out loud.

One eye twitches, and on the opposite side of his face, I see his jaw tick.

“She hates me.”

That gets him, and he steps up until we’re chest to chest. “She doesn’t hate you, you clueless f*ck. She’s hurt because you f*cked up major. That’s my baby girl, so I really don’t like talking about this shit, but she’s a woman and I’m not stupid. Remember. Think really f*cking hard, Nate, and remember your sister’s reception. Fix this shit and bring back that smile, but I warn you … the next time you call my daughter babe, you’re going to know how she felt that night before she ran off and her smile died.”

What. The. Fuck.

No. That’s not possible.

My breath stills in my throat when his implication hits the mark. Vivid images of that night—that dream night—hit my brain, only this time I know the same thing that’s kept me up night after night has also been keeping her up, but for different reasons.