Page 55 of Forever After All

"Alice is finishing up with her mum. I wanted to give them a moment." He nods at me, and I nod back in return, but struggle to form any words.

"I'm sorry, sir," I start, but the words get caught in my throat and come out sounding like I spit them out altogether.

"I told you to call me Alex," he replies.

"Sorry, sir, I can't do that. I want to explain. I don't want you to fucking hate me.Sorry,I don't want you to hate me when I love your daughter so much," I start to plead with my future father-in-law, desperate for his approval.

"Youlisten to me, Carter," he begins. "I'm never going to hate you for protecting my daughter. I'm never going to hate you for telling us the truth. I just wish I knew sooner, I could have saved her myself." Alex’s voice thunders in the warm sunshine.

"I don't think Alice needed anyone to save her, she just needed to strength to save herself…and I took that away from her by telling you." I sound a little defeated, because I am. Warring with myself for breaking her trust.

"What are your intentions with her, son?"

And without even needing to think about it, I say, "I'm going to marry her. If she ever forgives me."

"Carter, I've been pissing Hope off for the last forty years. These Barretta women can hold a grudge, let me tell you." He begins to chuckle a little. "Good luck, you're going to need it." Then he slaps me so hard across the back that it sends the wind right out of my lungs.

"Do I have your permission to ask her?" I question Alex.

"Son, I gave up a long time ago giving Alice permission to do anything…but if it helps, yes, you do. What I think does not matter nearly as much as what she thinks, and she thinks you're pretty damn great." He beams at me, and I shake Alex's hand as Alice walks out of the door.

"Dad, I love you, but we need to go now." She doesn't look at me and not having eye contact with her is punishment enoughfor me. "I'll call you tomorrow before we fly home, okay?"

"Sure, sweet pea." Alex stands, pulling his daughter into a hug. "Don't go too hard on him, he did the right thing," I hear him whisper.

"Goodbye, sir." I give a firm nod as Alex returns into the house and the heavy wooden door closes behind him with a thud.

Chapter 27

Alice

"Let's go back to the hotel." My voice wavers without me intending it to. I look down at Carter, sitting on the bench outside of my parent's home and feel an overwhelming fury at him for that fucking stunt he just pulled.

I had to spend the last twenty-five minutes explaining to my parents about everything that happened to me—and I didn't want to do that, I never wanted them to know. I wanted to protect them by harbouring this burden. Then I had to leave because we're flying home tomorrow. There was no time for them to process, and no time for them to ask questions.

Let me tell you, the look on my dad's face when I had to tell him how his little girl was ground to nothing by a fucking man—ornarcissistic misogynist—will stay with me until the day I die.

I put my trust in Carter, and he’s the first person I ever told. It meant something to me and I was stunned. How could he dothat to me?

"Alice, I'm so sorry," Carter tries to apologise to me, but I stop him abruptly.

"Stop. I am not talking about this now. I can't talk about this now."

"But—"

"I said, stop. We'll talk when we get to the hotel, we're not doing this now."

"Let me explain, I—"

I cut him off again. "Carter, if you say one more fucking word, I’m not going to wait to get back to the hotel to shout at you. The only reason I’m not doing it right now is because I respect you too much not to scream at you when I know my parents can hear." My voice starts to shake with outrage. "Please, get up off that goddamn seat so we can argue in private."

Carter nods his head and, to my surprise, he stays quiet on the walk to the car and the car journey back to the hotel.

At least it proves he can keep his mouth shut about something.

The hotel room door clicks shut behind us, and I erupt.

"How fucking dare you?" I rage. Carter sinks onto the end of the bed and looks down at the circular-patterned carpet as Istand in front of him with lava coming out of my mouth. "Look at me, you coward," I shout.

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