Why was I in his bed? How did I get there?
I remember falling asleep with Zella.
Rushing from his room, unable to shake the oily feeling, I hunt for my phone. I find it in the bed with Zella, who sleeps peacefully. With a quick kiss to her head, I shove my shoes on, grab my keys off the nightstand, and get the hell out of Jack’s house.
My phone is dead, so as soon as I turn on my Jeep, I plug it in. Within seconds, I realize I have tons of missed calls and texts.
Crap.
Dad. Charlotte. Mom. Aunt Karen. Terrence. Tierra. Cal. Hollis. Roan. Jordy. Roux. Jace. Lo.
Everyone, and I do mean everyone, has tried reaching me. Most of this didn’t happen until about an hour ago. Probably after they woke up and realized I never came home.
I reach a stoplight and quickly reply to Dad.
Me: I’m fine. Be home in ten minutes.
It takes more like eight minutes, but as soon as the door to Dad’s loft opens, I’m met by several extremely pissed people. They all yell at me at once, the sounds beating on into my skull at a maddening level. The tears burn at my eyes, but I refuse to let them free.
“I’m late for work,” Mom says finally, a mixture of fury and hurt on her face. “Call me later, Garrett, and fill me in.”
As soon as she’s gone, I’m trapped with Dad, Jace, and Terrence. I can’t look at Terrence knowing I spent the night with his daughter and the man he hates. He’s so good at reading me. If his stare bores into me, I’ll lose it.
“I’m tired,” I mutter. “I can’t go to school today. Can we talk later?”
“No,” Dad growls. “Not until you tell us where in the hell you’ve been.”
I glance at Jace, who scowls my way. Even my playful, never serious friend is pissed. Great.
“A friend’s house.” Not a lie. Zella is my friend.
“Who?” Terrence demands. “We were worried sick about you. Charlotte and Cal left as soon as you texted to head to school, but they thought…” He trails off with a growl. “They thought you were hurt.”
The reminder that Charlotte was kidnapped, raped, and severely injured is all too fresh in my mind. I’m sure it gave her quite the panic, and I hate that. I hate that I caused everyone to worry.
“I’m sorry, okay?” I croak out.
“Not okay,” Dad grinds out. “You have no idea how fucking worried I was. I thought those guys from the party somehow got a hold of you. I thought I’d lost another little girl to violence.” He swallows, his eyes sheening with unshed tears. “Where were you, Penny?”
“I told you! At a friend’s!”
Jace rolls his eyes in disbelief and Terrence glowers at me.
“Unbelievable,” Dad bites out. “You always had a level head on you, kid, but something is up. Is it drugs?”
Jace finally snorts. “Drugs are bad.”
I want to crack a smile at him, but I know Dad will lose his mind.
“It’s not drugs. I went to a friend’s and fell asleep. When I woke up, it was morning and my phone was in the other room. It’s not a lie. Believe me or don’t.” I lift my chin, meeting each one of their stares.
“There’s more you’re not telling us,” Terrence says. “You can tell us anything. Anything.”
Not this.
Tears threaten once again, but I force an impassive look. “There’s nothing to tell.”
Dad opens his mouth to probably yell at me some more. I hold up a hand, stopping him. Turning on my heel, I storm back to my bedroom. I lock it behind me and then take a long, hot shower where I do let the tears leak free.
He touched me. Again.
That sick, disgusting, cruel bastard touched me.
And I can’t tell anyone about it.
As soon as the shower ends, I dress and crawl into my bed, ignoring the world in favor of some blissful quiet away from everyone.
This knight in shining armor gig is painful and stressful and terrifying.
It’s a good thing the princess’s happiness in the end is worth it.
Terrence
Sunday night, I was worried. It wasn’t like Penny to not reply to me. By Monday morning, I was sick with terror, ready to kill Eli or Paxton or Grayson. I was sure they’d done something to my girl. When she rolled into her dad’s place like she didn’t scare the shit out of everyone in her life, I was infuriated. It’s Wednesday and I’m still mad, but the hurt is starting to sink its claws in to feed on me.
I’m upset that she’s hiding something from me and has effectively closed herself off. It’s not that I think Penny was off getting dick from someone else. That’s not her. This is something else. Penny lives by her own code. Whatever she did, she had her reasons for doing it. Just like she has her reasons for keeping it from us. The part that hurts is that she feels like she can’t include me in those reasons. She’s been allowed front row access to all my shit, but when I probe about what’s going on with her, the door is slammed shut in my face.
Earlier, at practice, she played hard but kept to herself. Even Tierra is getting the cold shoulder. I hate that she’s pushing everyone away. It only makes me want to discover what’s wrong even more.
I stare at my phone, wondering if I should text her again. Every text has gone without a reply. Sure, most of them have been me being pissy with her, but I expected something in return. Not crickets. It’s like she’s mad at me for worrying when I should be the one mad at her.
Rather than texting her for the millionth time, I tidy up Cal’s living room some more before going to the window in the dining room to stare out.
I have something a little more pressing to deal with. My Penny problem will resume in just a bit. Right now, I need to give my focus to this moment. To her. Zella.
Samantha called yesterday to let me know I’ll be having my first meeting with Zella. The social worker is bringing her over so we can meet. It’s something the judge is requiring. I didn’t tell Samantha I’d already met Zella. I’m anxious as fuck because if she doesn’t warm up to me, it’ll kill me. I never cared about being a dad until I locked eyes with her that day, knowing without a shadow of a doubt she was mine. Now, I’ll move hell and earth to make sure I get her in my life.
A sedan pulls up to the cabin, making my heart skyrocket. The driver side door opens and a woman with graying hair steps out. She opens the back seat, unbuckles Zella, then holds on to her hand as they approach the cabin. I open the door, trying and failing to remain casual. I’m buzzing with nervous energy.
“Hi,” I call out, waving like an idiot.
Zella doesn’t look up at me. She chews on her bottom lip, staring at the ground.
“Hello, Mr. James,” the woman greets as they climb the porch steps. “I’m Renee. This here is Zella Teejay Henderson.”
I kneel down in front of Zella. “Hello, Zello.”
Her brown eyes lift to meet mine and she graces me with a small smile. Recognition flashes in her eyes, but not fear. If anything, she seems pleased to see me. Relief floods through me.
“Please, come in.” I stand back up and usher them inside. “Would you like something to drink?”
“I’d like a bottle of water. Zella? You want some water?”