Page 83 of Pretty Lethal
I give her a respectful nod.
“So, if you aren’t here to change my mind, then why are you here?”
I shove my hands into my pockets, staring fixedly at a knot in the floorboards as I begin. “I was in love with your daughter back at Pac. It would have been impossible not to have been. She had this vivaciousness about her. This vigor for life. It sucked me in until all I could see was her.”
I lose myself for a moment, Emilia’s mom waiting patiently, giving me the time to gather my thoughts.
“What I failed to realize back then was that Emilia had this plan for her life. One you so rightly instilled in her. You taught her to work hard, to challenge herself. You taught her to fight for what she wants in a world that will readily take and take from you. To put herself first.
“I’ll readily admit, when she left for Halston, she broke my heart. Took the shattered pieces with her.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Emilia’s mom asks, her eyes staring at me in confusion.
I shrug my shoulder. “I’m honestly not entirely sure. Perhaps to make you see that our love is not uncomplicated. We’ve both bled freely for what we have. We’ve each delivered fatal blows and taken the other to the ground. And yet, we’ve also helped each other rise. That heart that she shattered… she’s also the only one capable of putting it back together.
“Obviously, I have no idea what your relationship with Emilia’s father was like, and I appreciate your concerns regarding Emilia and her own heart, even if I can’t fully understand them.”
I pause for a second, gathering my jumbled thoughts.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is that, in my experience, a love that has the ability to rip you to shreds yet also the power to lift you up… that’s the kind of love that will survive the ages. A love where the people in it will fight, scream, and yell at one another, but they’ll also support, comfort, and bolster. Because whether it’s fighting or reinforcing, at least they give enough of a shit to try.
“These last few months, the four of us have been in the trenches together. We’ve had each other’s backs. We’ve fought—each other and Mel—we’ve cried and feared for our lives. However we did all of it together—as a team. A family. And every single day, it has only made me love your daughter more. I firmly believe that if our love can survive and bloom under those conditions, it’s capable of withstanding anything.”
By the time I run out of words, I’m not even sure if what I said makes sense. And based on the way Emilia’s mom stares at me, I can’t be sure if any of it has resonated with her. I don’t have anything else to say, in any case—nothing I can give her that could change things.
“Ehh, well, I guess that’s everything I had to say,” I state, rubbing awkwardly at the back of my neck and now seeking a fast escape from the room.
I take a tentative step toward the door, and when she doesn’t stop me, I walk faster, eating up the space until my hand is wrapped around the handle.
As I slipped out of the room, I thought I heard her whisper, “Thank you,” but it’s possible I imagined it.
* * *
“There you are.”
Is he serious? I’ve literally only been on campus for half an hour.
I stifle my groan, that voice acting as a pin to the balloon of good feelings that had been residing in my chest after my weekend cuddled up with Emilia. After her mom left yesterday morning, of course.
I think we were all glad to see her leave.
I don’t think my chat with her did any good as she was still cold and aloof yesterday morning when she came down for breakfast, and she didn’t hang around for long afterward before making her excuses to leave for the airport. I know it left my Angel feeling all sorts of put out, but the three of us did our best to distract her all day yesterday.Allday.
It was an awesome day.
And now this asshole had to go and ruin my good mood.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
My fingers clench around the box in my hands, my entire body pulling taut at the grating of his voice. Every fiber of my being wants to smash the living daylights out of him, as Marie sings a song of violence and bloodshed from her perch at my hip.
Purely because ending up in a prison cell isn’t conducive to my plans for watching my Angel swell with the knowledge of my child inside her and the happy life I vowed to give her, I contain the rage simmering inside me like a boiling pot on the verge of bubbling over.
“You found me,” I deadpan, not even bothering to look at Robbie as I descend the steps of the Kappa Epsilon frat house with my box of belongings in my hand. Hawk and I both agreed we were officially done with this place. He packed up his things while I walked Emilia to class before coming here. I didn’t have much in the way of belongings. Most of my shit is at the brownstone, but I did have some clothes and textbooks that I needed to grab.
Just my luck that Robbie managed to track me down before I could make my escape.
He claps me on the shoulder like we’re fucking pals or some shit, and it takes everything in me not to snap his wrist.
