Page 4 of After All This Time

"Jesus, I think I'd rather be unpacking with Mills than watching you two sappy fuckers."

"One day, you're going to fall in love, Tobias, and you'll be just as gone for someone as your boy here is." She smiles confidently and with good reason—Harry is completely in love with her—no doubt about it.

"Well, when that day comes, I'll allow you to say I told you so. Sound good, Jennifer?"

"It does," she says, smiling triumphantly.

"Right, I'm gonna grab some food and take it home," I say as I push myself up off the couch with a lazy stretch. "Amelia won't stop to eat if I don't."

"That's unusually thoughtful of you."

I flip Jen off before snatching my keys off the table.

"See you later," I shout over my shoulder as I head toward the front door. Behind me, I hear a couple of muffled goodbyes before I step outside.

I walk around Harry's car and settle into the driver's seat of my baby, my red Audi, a bribe from my father to get me to move in with Amelia.

But, honestly, I would've done it anyway.

Amelia and I have always been close, and while it wasn't my intention to house-share with her, it works for me. She's been my constant—the only person who's ever made me feel less alone, and I guess, in a way, she grounds me.

I never really understood what it felt like to have any kind of family until Amelia and her mom moved in with us. Before that, "family" was just an empty word, and for a guy like me who has some deep-rooted issues with being alone, Amelia became my family and my safe place in a home that had done nothing but bring me pain.

But when you've spent your entire childhood being given the silent treatment, you'll cling to any semblance of connection like it's a lifeline.

Which is exactly what I did with Amelia.

My father has always had a clear plan for my future, and if he had his way, I would've moved back to Pennsylvania the second I graduated college. He would’ve had me working for the family business, watching my soul get sucked out the same way his was all those years ago.

By the time he was my age, he'd already sacrificed anything he wanted for himself to work for his father's payment processing firm.

Yeah, it's as dull as it fucking sounds.

I guess he always assumed I'd follow in his footsteps.

Suit. Tie. Numbers. Figures. Fucking no. Never going to happen.

If my father had actually taken the time to get to know me over the years, then maybe I would be a different man now. Maybe I would've become a man who resembled him—successful, respected, and entirely ignorant.

Perhaps if he'd been a father instead of treating me like another business deal, leaving me in the hands of multiple nannies who raised me in his absence, then maybe I would've grown up respecting his views, and his wishes would've had some kind of sway over me.

However, he doesn't know me, not really. He never wanted to try and know me, keeping his distance emotionally, and because of that, he gets my middle finger and zero fucks given to whatever he expects of me.

I know he holds onto the hope that one day I'll move back home and magically transform into the son he always wanted—a presentable, clean-cut, high-powered CEO type of guy.

But that isn't who I am, and I've never sought his approval.

Not gonna start now either.

I'll do what makes me happy, and if he doesn't like it, that's not my problem.

I'm pretty sure he looks at me and sees another trust-fund brat just fucking around and wasting my life by living off my family's money. But the truth is, my grandfather's trust fund sits exactly where he placed it years ago—a financial safety net that I have no interest in using. I'm focused on building something for myself—no handouts, no shortcuts—just relentless drive, countless hours of learning, and the determination to be the best at what I do.

After grabbing a large pizza on my way home—Margherita because Amelia refuses to experiment with food and hates every topping known to man—I head back to our apartment, which my father has paid out of his ass for, but it keeps his wife happy.

When I first met Kayla, she didn't seem to care much about the material shit, but over time, my father's influence and the pull of wealth and privilege drew her in.

Now she's obsessed with it.

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