“Who feels she has to!” I yell. “I have to walk on egg shells around you because I'm afraid that you're gonna lock me in this house and throw away the key! I have missed out on so much because I don't wanna hurt you or disappoint you or have to deal with the lengths you will go to to try to stop me from doing something you don't approve of!”
On a long exhale he shakes his head. “I don't approve of things that can harm you. And drug dealing street racers fit into that category!”
“And me having a car?”
“There are so many accidents-”
“And my dress being short-”
“Rape statistics say-”
“And my eating shellfish? Working a job in the evening?” His mouth moves but I cut him off. “There's always something to be afraid of and I'm tired of being afraid. I wanna live dad. And as much as it kills me to say this, that's what I'm going to do. From this point forward, I am going to actually live my life.”
He points a firm finger at me. “Not with trash like Ben.”
“You didn't even know him!”
“I know the case files on my desk. I know the crimes he's committed.”
“He's so much more than a case file.”
“And that's supposed to matter to me?”
Cold blooded much?
“Wow...”
“He was a pain in my ass, Jovi. The laws he broke. The tax dollar he's cost. The lives he put at risk-”
“He was a good person dad. He had a good heart-”
“I don't give a damn if he had the heart of saint! He still chose to live above the law. He chose to put his selfish ways above those of this city and that is a problem.”
“Kind of like you chose to put the needs of this city above those of your only daughter?”
He looks wounded by the words, yet I don't regret them.
They needed to be said.
“Jo'-” His voice is cut off by his work phone.
He hesitates to grab it, so I encourage. “Go ahead. Work always comes first.”
On a short grunt he answers it. “Hello?”
Knowing he's going to be a minute I lean against the edge of his desk moving the photos out of my way, so I don't bend them. In the process one in particular catches my eye.
“No. He's in jail for a reason Jon,” my father grumbles turning his back to me, which is when I pull the photo closer. “I don't care. He needs to be there.”
Cautiously I lift the photo. With a trembling bottom lip, I run my finger across it.
“I will not let him out as a favor. Jon, has it occurred to you that maybe he should be behind bars? Maybe he'll learn a lesson for once. Maybe this will stick.” There's a muffled uproar on the other end of the phone before he lets out a deep sigh of surrender. “Yeah! Fine! Fine! I'll come in, but doesn't mean I'm letting Tyler go.” There's a few more mumbles before he hangs up and looks at me. “I have to go in.” When I don't reply he questions, “Something wrong Jo'?”
Swallowing the lump in my throat I point to the photo. “That's a Lotus Elise.”
His voice hardens. “How do you know that?”
“I um...” Clearing my throat becomes difficult as I look up into his eyes. “We watched a movie with Ben one night and it had one of these in it.”
“What was it called?”
Taken off guard by the follow up question I shrug. “Adrenaline something. I don't remember the name.”
“Those fucking movies are all the same,” my dad grumbles. “Always show how much 'fun' it is and never the actual lives that get lost during it. One of the many problems with those movies. Encouraging the youth that that lifestyle's acceptable. Encourag-”
“This is a picture of Ghost,” the words clog my throat again.
“Haunting me as always.”
“Was this recent?”
“Few weeks ago,” he denies. “I just got it a couple days ago. It's hard to tell that's him, but I know it is. I know that mask. I know his build.”
So do I...
“Last documented sighting. This one was only caught because someone was trying to snap the car and happened to get the tiniest glimpse of him as well. Doesn't do me much good, but more evidence is more evidence.” Reaching for his coat he sighs, “I have to go back into the office to meet with Jon. Looks like Tyler's been arrested and he wants a favor to get him out.”
He's barking up the wrong tree. Dad breaks the laws for no one. Not even sure he's ever bent them aside from using his extensive reach to search for the person who caused my mother's death.
I nod and lower the photo back to the desk, casually sliding it under the calendar that stay on his desk instead of back in his file.
“But this conversation isn't over, Jovi.”
With my mind completely occupied on a different subject, I whisper, “I know.”
He gathers the photos he can see and shoves them back in the file before slipping them back in his briefcase. On the way out of the room he presses a kiss on my forehead. “I'll always do whatever I can to protect you. You're my little princess Jo', no matter how old you get.”
Softly I smile and let him exit the office before I grab the photo and a random photo album off the shelf to conceal the evidence that I need just as much as he does.
Did you know? Did you know this entire time? You knew this entire time and didn't say a goddamn thing? No it's too late now! Much too late!
I send Merrick a quick message giving him the go ahead to come over before preparing to have the worst conversation I ever will in my entire life.
Maybe if you would've been a good friend it wouldn't be this bad, but you weren't. You didn't even try to warn me! How could you betray me like that? How could you let him do this to me? Put me in this position. No! I don't wanna talk to you right now. Space. Just...go. Give me some space.
Jovi
It takes Merrick longer than he had planned to come over. In fact, I end up nibbling through an awkward dinner with Nadie before he even sends me a message finally telling me he's on his way.
The sound of his car grabs my attention before the sight of it. As he pulls up to the curb outside of my house, nausea rocks back and forth in my stomach.
God, I hope I don't throw up. Oh and you....I'm still not talking to you.
He climbs out, the disheveled look proof of the restless days he's been having. Instinctively my fingers reach out for him, but I quickly fold my arms across my chest, gripping the photo tightly.
Nope. Can't cave right now. Can't.
“Baby,” the whisper weakens my knees and trembles my jaw.
Fighting the urge to fall into his arms, I simply clear my throat.
Merrick gives me one glance before he questions, “What's wrong?”
My heart starts to race as the words do their best not to shake as they fall out of my mouth. “You promised if I ever asked you something you would never lie to me. That you would be completely honest. That if I asked you anything you would tell me.”
“Right...”
Bluntly I bark, “Are you Ghost?”
The look on his face gives it away before his mouth does, but that's not enough. I don't want a look. I don't want to be right. I want be wrong. I want to be so wrong that it hurts to breathe. Merrick wets his lips slowly and adjusts his baseball cap, silence still swaying between us.
Finally he replies, “Yes.”
The three little letters are enough to have me slightly doubling over with instant tears. Shaking my head I simply whisper, “How could you...”
“Baby-”
“Don't you fucking baby me!” I snap harshly. His bottom lip lands between his teeth. “Is that why you wanted to be with me? So you could keep an eye on how close my father is to finding you?”
“Fuck no,” he rushes to say. “I had no fucking idea he was your father before you said it! And by the time you did it was too late. I was...I was already in love with you.”