Page 69 of Pour Decisions
“What the fuck, Dad?” I say, even though I try to never swear in front of my mother. “You’re doing this now? It’s Thanksgiving.”
“I can do it whenever I want.”
“Sweetheart,” Mom says, pasting on a nervous smile. “He’s right. It’s Thanksgiving.”
Dad levels me with a stare, then looks at Katrina. I want to throw myself in front of her so he’ll never fucking dare to look at her like that again.
“First it’s all these weird little ideas at the office instead of the planImade,” Dad says.
“Weird ideas based on everythingyoutaught me. You don’t want your plan—you want to control everything.”
Rage burns me up from the inside out. Why have I been trying to please this man so hard, to show him that I’m worthy oftaking over the business and growing it? All he wants is control. Hehascontrol. And he can yank the rug out from under me whenever the fuck he wants to.
“Then it’s this woman again who I thought you dumped a decade ago,” Dad says as if I didn’t speak at all.
“Don’t bring Katrina into this,” I hiss.
“She led you astray back then. Is she doing the same now?” Dad asks, spearing a slice of ham.
“Led me astray?” I say, my voice raising despite my attempt at keeping myself under control. “I’m an adult man. I’m not led astray by having a normal, loving relationship. And yeah, I messed up by fighting her stepdad, but you have no idea what he was saying. If anything, you caused more problems by paying that guy off to make the problem go away.”
“You beat someone up?” Wes asks. “Someone who wasn’t Ash?”
“We beat each other up. It wasn’t one sided,” Ash says, as if what we did as stupid kids matters at all right now.
“Wait, what are you talking about, sweetie?” Mom asks me, frowning. “You’ve never gotten into a fight in your life. Who paid someone off?”
Dad’s intensity wavers, and he avoids Mom’s gaze. My stomach drops and Katrina goes still next to me. I hate that she’s witnessing this, but I can’t stop now that we’ve started.
“You didn’t tell her,” I say to Dad. “You didn’t tell her that you paid off Kat’s stepdad so he wouldn’t press charges against me. You didn’t tell your own wife that you strong-armed me into breaking up with Katrina the first time.”
The whole room goes deathly silent. Duke’s scream-howl outside doesn’t help cut the tension either.
“What?” Mom goes pale. “John David, is that true?”
“It’s complicated,” Dad says.
“It’s not that complicated,” I say with a bitter laugh. “Katrina’s stepdad was verbally abusing her. I came to get her and lost my temper. Her stepdad said he’d press charges, but Dad said he’d pay him off not to. Then he used that to strongarm me into breaking up with Katrina to focus on my career.”
“It wasn’t me who came up with that idea,” Dad says. “It was her mother.”
Katrina’s hand on mine starts trembling immediately. I lace my fingers in hers and squeeze, but her hands tremble harder.
“Her mom was the one who brought up the idea of paying off her husband. At first, I didn’t want to pay it. I wanted you to suffer the consequences of your own actions,” Dad says, suddenly looking tired. “But she really wanted that money for whatever reason, and said I could use it to my advantage since you clearly didn’t want to deal with the legal battle. So I decided to use that to break you two up. Am I proud of that? No, but?—”
Katrina pushes back from the table and I get up with her. But she waves for me to sit down as she passes by me.
“I can’t believe you’d do something to hurt our son like that,” Mom says, heartbroken.
“I’m not proud of it,” he repeats, as if that’s an apology.
“Holy fuck,” Ash says with a dark laugh. “I didn’t think you could be worse, but you are. And for your favorite son.”
His “favorite” son. It’s a dubious title, and it’s not one I want anymore.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
KATRINA
