Page 107 of Their Property
“That’s what breast pumps and four daddies are for,” she laughed, rubbing my back. “Anyway, Chris and Tiff are having a ball with the twins. They’ll survive without Mommy for an hour or two.” She pulled back to look at me, genuine concern in her features. “We heard what happened. You doing okay?”
“Uh, no. I’m pretty far from okay.” A mirthless, exhausted laugh escaped me while I gestured around to my trashed room. “Pretty much the worst case scenario happened, as I thought it would.”
“Your dad won’t condemn them, as much as he would like to,” Mari said. “Reap and Gun are in his ear right now. They figure he just has to cool off on the realization that his daughter had sex, and then he’ll let them go.”
“No offense, Mari, but if that’s what they think, they don’t know my father at all.” I sighed and sank down on the one spot on my bed that wasn’t covered in broken stuff. “No one knows the side of him that I do, really.”
Mari frowned, then pushed aside some debris to sit next to me. “What do you mean?”
I told her everything in broad strokes, because the individual stories were too many to tell in one sitting. My father was overprotective to the point of paranoia. He valued my safety over my growth and even my happiness. I even told her I didn’t know the Collapse had happened until a week later, because he wanted to protect me from that information. He thought I was safest within these walls, but Malcolm Blake successfully lured me out of here because no one gave him a second glance. All because he was the son of a governor. But T-Bone, Dyno, and Grudge were thrown in a cell when they did nothing but care for me.
Mari listened without interruption. We weren’t especially close, but I’d never had a girlfriend I could just vent to. And bless her, she let me air it all out.
“It’s funny that you mention paranoia,” she said after I’d finished. “The official reason I’m here is because your dad put it out to the hospital that he wanted you to have a mental health evaluation.”
“Ugh, of course he did,” I groaned. “I wanted to fuck the three hot guysheassigned to guard me. That can only mean I have some loose screws.”
Mari chuckled at that. “He clearly doesn’t understand women.”
“Nope. My mom’s been gone too long.”
Mari gave a gentle squeeze of my knee. “That kind of explains why he’s so protective of you.”
“I guess it’s better than him resenting me for her death.”
“That still doesn’t make it okay for him to treat you like this.”
I sighed, tilting my head until it landed on her shoulder. “What do I do, Mari?”
She took a deep sigh of her own, leaning the side of her head against mine. “In my experience, there’s only one thing you can do when you’re stuck between a wall and a man who won’t listen.”
“And that is?”
“Youmakehim listen.” She rubbed across my upper back, soothing as well as encouraging. “It’s never easy, but your choices are either folding to his demands or sticking to your guns. There is no middle ground at this point.”
I knew what she was saying, but it still took me a while to voice it. “If I ever find a way out of here and want to be happy, I might never speak to him again.”
Mari squeezed my shoulder. “It’s hard to draw that line in the sand. Especially with family, the people you love. But if you want to liveyourlife with the men you love, you have to maintain that line.”
“You’re right. I know you’re right.”
She hugged me from the side before releasing me and scooting away. “I’ll tell your father everything came up normal in your mental health evaluation. He’ll probably be ready to talk to you after.”
“Thanks, Mari.” I smiled weakly at her. “It was good to see you.”
“You too, Kyrie. Hopefully it’s not the last time.” She went to the door, then paused to look back at me. “Not now, but when you’re ready, I know a good tactic for opening a line of communication again. On your terms, of course.”
“What’s that?”
“Grandbabies.” She smirked before slipping out the door.
My father summonedme the next day for lunch. After Mari left, I spent the following afternoon and morning cleaning up my bedroom, only because I felt bad for the maids. I slept just as restlessly as the night before and was now convinced I could only truly rest with warm bodies pressed to me on all sides. With a heartbeat under my ear and muscular arms draped over me.
It had been just over a day, and I missed them with a gnawing ache that threatened to swallow me whole.
I dressed for lunch, and my soldier escorts led me to my father’s office. Governor Vance sat behind his large wooden desk, a hand on his forehead as he poured over some documents. “Thank you, gentlemen,” he said, barely glancing up when we arrived.
My guards left, and I stood where they deposited me, trying to keep from glancing at the spread of sandwiches, salads, cheese, olives, and more on a buffet table near the large window. I still hadn’t eaten anything and wasn’t about to break my hunger strike now.
