“It’s not a lie, sweetheart,” he calls out. “Ask Blane. Tell him to quit treating you like a child.”
“Mom would never do something like that.” She shakes her head quickly as tears roll down her face.
“Taylor,” I say softly trying to get her attention. I knew this was a bad idea.
She looks up at me with a tear-streaked face. “She wouldn’t …” She swallows. “My mom wouldn’t have done that to herself. She loved us.” It breaks my heart. I wish I could tell her she’s right. I have no doubt her mother loved her, but I can’t speak for her. “She also loved herself.”
“There’s no greater love than addiction,” her father spits.
I feel her body stiffen under my hands, and her dark blue eyes narrow on her father as she looks past me. “You’ve proven that time and time again, Father.” She yanks her body out of my hands and takes a step toward him. He has the audacity to smirk at her. As if he truly believes he’s winning an argument with her. “You know, Blane thinks you can change. He thinks there is still hope for you, but I know the truth.” The smirk drops off his face. “I know you’re never going to change. I know you will always place yourself ahead of anyone else.”
“I have to!” he shouts.
“But you didn’t,” she cries out. “I tried so many times, Dad. I ran to you when you called at two in the morning. I drove hours to pick you up when you had no one to call.” She reaches up and wipes the tears from her face. “I gave you money when you called crying that you owed someone and they were after you. Where were you, Dad? Where were you when Blane and I needed you? You missed graduations. You missed birthdays. You were never there when I needed you after Mom passed,” she cries.
He hangs his head and takes a deep breath. When he looks back up at her, he has tears in his eyes. And I wanna punch him in the fucking face. He’s playing her. She’s the only one in this room who doesn’t see it. “Your mother was my world,” he whispers. “When she died, I didn’t want to live anymore.”
I feel a tightness in my chest at his statement. It reminds me of my parents. And that makes me want to punch him twice because I know he’s full of shit. He may have loved her, but like he said, there’s no better love than addiction.
“Not even for Blane and me?” she whispers.
He shakes his head. “You two were a constant reminder of what I lost.”
A sob wracks her body, and she places her hand over her mouth. “I want you to change, Dad. Please,” she begs. “Prove me wrong and show us that you want to change.”
“I can’t,” he says without hesitation. “And I don’t want to.”
She shakes her head in disappointment and then squares her shoulders. “Then I have nothing left to say. Good-bye, Dad.” She spins around, and with tears rolling down her face, she walks out the door.
“Taylor!” he yells as he chases after her. I slam the door shut, and he runs into it, pounding his chained fists on the metal door. “You little bitch …”
I grind my teeth as I fist my hands down by my side. “She’s done with you,” I announce flatly. He spins around on me. “But I’m not done with you.” I bring my fist back and punch the fucker in the face.
***
“You punched a cuffed man in the face?” Jones yells in my ear. “What in the fuck were you thinking?” he demands.
I slide a glance over at Taylor as she sleeps in the backseat of my truck. Miller snorts from the passenger seat, and I glare at him. “I did what needed to be done, sir.”
“Godammit, Case,” he snaps. “You always say that, but it always seems to cause more fucking problems than good.”
“You’re welcome,” I say with a smirk, and Miller throws his head back laughing.
“Case! Stop being an arrogant son of a bitch! What if he wants to press charges?”
“He won’t,” I say matter-of-factly.
He sighs. “Do I wanna ask how you know that?”
“Better if you don’t, sir.” I know all the men who work at Pekin. He doesn’t stand a chance against what I can have done to him. And if he ever tries to contact Taylor again, I may just make him disappear … just because I can.
“Jesus Christ,” he hisses. “Just get your ass back here and I expect you and Miller in my office tomorrow at noon.” The line goes dead, and I throw my phone down in the center console.
“Well, that didn’t go as planned.” Miller sighs.
“It went about as good as I had imagined it would.” I look at her again, and I can’t help but feel proud of her. I know her heart is hurting, but she stood up for herself. She went and saw for herself what she needed, and she didn’t back down. I was afraid she was going to fall for his shit, but she held her own. That’s my girl!
“Do you think he’ll talk? Rat you out?”
I shrug. “If he does, he’s done. I don’t think he wants to die,” I say in all honesty. “I’ve killed before, and I don’t mind doing it again. Especially someone who is willing to put his daughter’s life in danger. A woman I’m in love with.”
“Shit, son.” Miller whistles. “I can’t say I’m surprised. I saw it coming.”
I chuckle. “Could have warned me.”
“Nah. Where’s the fun in that?”
It takes us a total of three hours to get back to my house. And as soon as I get home, Miller hops in his truck to head back to the hospital to see Brecken. And promises to see me tomorrow at Jones’s office.
I open the back door and pick up a very sleepy Taylor out of the truck. I carry her into my house and put her on my bed. She doesn’t even move as I cover her up. I leave her there as I walk into the kitchen to get a drink. My hand fucking hurts, and I have a headache.
“How did it go?” Blane asks walking into the kitchen.
I unscrew the cap on the gin. “Not good.”
“What happened?” he asks with a frown.
I look over at him. “Well, I punched your father in the face.” I tighten and release my fist. It may be sore, but it feels good.
“You what?” he demands.
“He asked Taylor to offer herself as a drug dealer in order to set him free. After she informed him our deal was off.” I fill him in as his eyes widen. “I felt he deserved it.”
“Son of a bitch!” he yells out.
“My thoughts exactly,” I say as I tilt back the gin and swallow a good size gulp of it.
“Can you guys keep it down in here?” Savannah asks walking into the kitchen as she rubs her eyes. I’m surprised Blane was even up. It’s almost eleven. Today has been a long ass day and the fact I spent six hours driving, three hours to and from Pekin, isn’t even the exhausting part of it.
“Sorry, baby, go back to bed,” Blane says as he bends over and grips the countertop.
“Blane.”
We all turn to see a very shaken up and sleepy looking Taylor standing in the hallway. She wraps her arms around herself and rubs her upper arms.
“I’m so sorry, sis …”
She lifts one hand to stop him and then goes back to rubbing her arms. “You can save it, Blane,” she mumbles as she looks up at him with puffy red eyes. “I just need to know one thing.”
“Anything.” He nods to her.
I take a deep breath and hold it because I know what is it she is about to ask and it’s gonna kill her.
“How did Mom die?” She sniffs.
His face falls, and he swallows nervously. “Taylor, you know …”
“No!” she shouts, and her small body shakes as she interrupts him. “Quit treating me like I’m twelve and tell me the truth.” She takes a deep breath. “How did Mom die?”
He reaches up and rubs his hand over the back of his neck. He takes a few deep breaths of his own before he lowers his head to look down at the floor. He can’t even look her in the eyes when he says it. “An overdose,” he whispers. “Mom died of an overdose.”
Her shoulders shake, and her eyes well up in tears. A sob comes out and she doesn’t even try to disguise it. My heart breaks for her. This beautiful woman has been filled with nothing but lies for as long as she can remember, and I hate that I was part of that.