I brushed my tears away and took a shaky breath. "Nothing...just my Dad."
"Is he hurt? Do you need our help?" Clark's willingness to offer help only fueled my anger toward my father.
"No, but he's probably going to be when I get a hold of him." I sniffled and forced a smile. "Just check on Finn for me. I guess he went out to try to talk sense into my Dad and it didn't go so well."
"Oh...shit." Clark glanced at Milly.
"I told you to deal with this twenty-five years ago." She put her hand on her hip.
"I've gotta go, but it was good to see you both." I gave them a sad smile and jogged to the SUV, ready to fight for the man I was falling in love with.
* * * *
I made sure to slam the door hard as I walked in from the garage. My brother and father looked up from the kitchen table, Parker's eyes wide as I let my anger bleed all over my face.
"Oh hell. I'm out." Parker stood and turned, walking to his room.
My father leaned back in his chair, and crossed his arms over his chest, as if expecting me to blow up.
"How dare you," I growled at him, and reached out to hold onto the nearest countertop as my hands shook.
"What? Save you from a mistake? He's a big one. Mark my words."
"I'm twenty-four years old. I will date who I want. You are my father, not my jailer."
"Let's throw in your benefactor, your rent-payer, your degree purchaser..."
I cut him off. "Keep your damn money. I don't want anything from you ever again."
He stood as I started for my bedroom. "We're not done."
"Yes. Actually we are. My Dad died the same day my mother did. We were done the day after the funeral. You made sure of it." I was screaming at that point, and tears burned down the same old tracks in my face that they always had. "You've been nothing but a shell since then."
"Chloe," his voice softened, and I pressed my hands to my face as a sob left me.
"No," I whispered as he wrapped his arms around me.
"I just want what's best for you. Finn is..."
I pulled away, and poked my finger in his chest. "Finn is a good man. He's hard working, and he's never once said anything nasty about you. Not once."
"Why should he?"
"Because if I know you at all, then whatever happened between you and Clark was your fault." I poked harder. "Whatever you said to him today has him broken...again."
"I told him the truth." My father swatted my hand from his chest, and gave me a stern look.
"The truth." I laughed darkly. "The truth is that I was going to change all my plans. I was going to stay here with you and Parker. I was going to ask if I could work under your wing and learn what you've learned, or help you build your business. I was going to move my life and dreams around, and Finn is the main reason why we might have gotten our family back."
"Chloe..."
"No. Fuck all of it. I'm done with you. Finn and I will be together."
"I'm not supporting that."
I let out another angry chuckle. "Good. I'd hate to have to hear you touting your greatness when it works out to be the best love affair of all times."
I didn't give him a chance to respond before I turned on my heel, and half-stomped to my bedroom, slamming that door for good measure too. I hated him, and even worse, I hated the way I acted because of him.
Finn and I could figure out everything on our own, and if we didn't work out, I'd do what I'd been doing for the last eight years. I'd do it my damn self.
Chapter 24
Finn
Her father was right. I honestly had nothing to offer Chloe, but my body. I would be her whore as long as she would allow me to, but that was it. I didn't have money or a future that I could show her to prove why our relationship was safe to take to the next level.
She was going to consider staying in Aspen with me and give up on her dreams. I needed to figure out a way to tell her that she needed to go live her life, and when she was done, then to come back to me. My dreams and ambitions were smoke I'd blown up my own ass for years. Nothing was going to become of it, and I knew it.
My phone buzzed as I headed to the newest run for an afternoon of losing myself in the beauty of the mountains.
"What's up, Dad?"
"Where are you?" His voice was pinched, and I figured I had an ass chewing on the way. No doubt Chloe's father had called and given my old man a piece of his mind, much like he'd done me.
"I'm around. What do you want?" I couldn't force fake happiness.
"Finn. Come over to the house and let's talk."
"I don't want to talk, Dad. I worked my ass off for you today. I'm going to take my board up in the mountains and try to pretend like everything is okay." I sighed, and ran my fingers through my hair.
"Everything is okay." My father growled, and I could tell he was holding back his angst. "Look. I want to tell you about what happened with Jonathan. It's a story you need to know, and after I'm done, if you want me to fix it for you and Chloe...I will."
"I appreciate that, Dad, but honestly I'm good. Chloe's a great girl, but she's far too much woman for a simple man like me. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Like you said...I should have listened to you and kept my dick in my pants."
"Finn. Stop it. Get your ass over here." He was losing his grip, and I was done upsetting him.
"I'll stop by later. Love you, pops." I dropped the call, and parked the old truck by the road, not wanting to get a ticket seeing that the slopes were closed. They never would let patrons on the mountain after a hard snow without packing it. I'd been skiing my whole life. It was no big deal. I'd just have to be ready to shift at a moments notice if the ground felt too unstable beneath me.
My phone buzzed, and I turned it to silent and dropped it in my back pocket. After working to get myself layered up with clothes, I started the long trek up the side of the mountain. It took me a damn hour just to get to the top. I'd never appreciated a ski lift so much in all my life.
I checked my phone to see messages from my father, Brian, Parker and my girl. I chuckled and dropped it back in my pocket, not willing to feed their emotions. They were overreacting. I was spending a couple of hours by myself, remembering why I wasn't all the things Chloe's Dad said I was. Somewhere along the afternoon I'd started to convince myself that he was right.
Chloe was far too good for me, and I would tell her that, but letting her go just didn't honestly seem like something I could do. If she shoved me away, I'd go without a fight, but I wasn't going to shove back. I couldn't. I let everything go and focused on the mountain ahead of me. I prayed like hell it would be a long ride down. I didn't know if I had the stamina to walk back up the hill after the long morning I'd had.
My phone buzzed again and I pulled it out, growling loudly.
"What?" I growled into the phone, knowing it was Brian and he would forgive me later.
"Dude. Your Dad's pretty upset. He just called and said that he's coming to find you."
"I'm fucking snowboarding. I'm a grown-ass man, Brian. What's the big deal?"
"Um, there was a blizzard last night, and you of all people know that makes the mountains dangerous. Go home and stop being a dick. He's worried."