Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
“Sabre. You’re the last person I expected to be here,” my mom exhales, displeasure dripping from every word.
“Mom,” I warn her, my voice stiff and unyielding.
“What?” she asks like she’s innocent. “I’m legitimately surprised. He’s all but ignored you for years.”
“You’re right, Annie. I have. That doesn’t mean I don’t love her, though,” he says. “Besides it’s still my name on her birth certificate as her father and if Daph wants me here, I’m here.”
“How convenient, now you’re going to act like a father. Years too late if you ask me.”
I frown. Dad has been cold to me, and I may only remember the best years when I was a child, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried to be there for Cammie and help me when I needed it. He would send money and show up on weekends to play with Cammie. That only stopped a couple of years ago after Mom finally married Nathan—a doctor she consulted for a knee replacement. After that, he mostly avoided all of us and lost himself in a bottle. He’d been drinking more than he should for years, but lately the amount was staggering. I’m actually surprised he has a liver. Still, even if my father was an undiagnosed alcoholic, he’s sober today, and he’s making an effort, and I don’t want my mother to push him away. I need to take control of this situation before it gets out of control and Dad leaves.
I walk over to Dad and hold his hand. “Mom, how about we retract the claws today and put your grandchild first?” I lean up on my tiptoes and kiss Dad’s cheek. “I’m glad you’re here,” I whisper into his ear.
Mom lets out a very annoyed breath. “Whatever you say,” she mutters grudgingly. Dad squeezes my hand as I go to hug my mother.
“Mom you’re looking beautiful as ever,” I murmured while hugging her. The words are said without thought, as I watch my dad walk over to where Cammie and Eli are talking and playing with blocks. Eli has somehow managed to calm Cammie down and has her laughing.
I’m not lying about my mother. She is gorgeous. We probably look more like sisters than mother and daughter. Part of that is because her doctor husband is rich and likes having a younger looking wife, so plastic surgery has kept her looking closer to my age. Part of it is just that Mom has always been beautiful. I’m not really sure she was ever meant to be a mother. She loved us in her own way, but sometimes it felt more like she was going through the motions. Dad once said her parents were kind of monsters. Maybe she just never really had a mom herself. I push those thoughts away. She’s adopted a more older sister vibe with me over the years and as weird as it sounds, it mostly works.
“Who’s the man with Cammie?”
“That’s Eli. He took over Dad’s position with the Devil’s Blaze,” I explain, taking the expensive gift bags from her hands and putting them beside the bags that Eli and Dad brought. The difference is theirs aren’t expensive gift bags they’re just large store bags that have two crudely wrapped gifts a piece in them. Looking at them makes me smile. I have no doubt that Eli wrapped them himself. I’m sure he bought Dad’s gifts too, but that just makes me smile more. He wanted Cammie happy, and in a way, he was protecting my father. My gaze moves back over to them. They’re laughing with Cammie and my heart feels full. I pray my father manages to pull himself out of the hole he’s been in and be there for my daughter, in ways he hasn’t been for me in a very long time.
“I was wondering when they would get around to kicking him out of the club,” Mom mutters under her breath.
“Mom, stop. They didn’t kick him out. Dad stepped down. He’s still a member.”
“He probably only agreed to step down cause he knew what was coming,” she says with a careless shrug. “He’s not half the man he used to be.”
I don’t bother trying to explain that she’s the same. I never met Latch, but I think they both loved him so much that losing him twisted something up in both of them. It’s a shame they couldn’t hold onto one another—instead of tearing each other apart.
“Mom, can we forget about everything and just make sure that Cammie has a good day? She’s already been put through too much having to deal with Dane and his new whore,” I hiss quietly.
“Dane was here?” she asks, surprised.
“Yeah. The court said he could come to Cammie’s birthday party since he wasn’t cleared to have visitation without being supervised. I agreed because I wanted Cammie to be happy. Of course, he showed and caused trouble. He also didn’t bother to bring his own daughter a birthday present. Meanwhile, Serena is dripping in designer clothes, bags and jewelry.”