Page 90 of Penalty Kick

Talia whipped around, eyes wide, a new rush of anger hitting her. Gunnar stood directly behind her, solemn look on his face, his hands shoved into his pockets. It was about as contrite as she’d ever seen him, but that did little to make her feel better.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. She could hear the venom in her voice. It was stronger than she wanted, but she didn’t stop it either. He needed to know that he was not welcome at the moment. Bunz was her safe place.

“Hoping I would find you. It’s Wednesday, trivia night, so I figured you’d have a shift after class.”

It wasn’t bad logic on his part. Normally she would be working trivia night, but she had swapped shifts with Axel yesterday, thinking she and Dash might use the rare night off to celebrate her acceptance into the Renaye program. So much for that thought.

“Can we talk?” Gunnar asked.

“No.”

She hadn’t wanted to talk about anything before, and that was with Heather and Felicity, people she wasn’t currently upset with. Right now, Gunnar was the last person she wanted to have a conversation with. No, make that second to last.

“Five minutes, that’s all I’m asking for. Then you can come back and finish your girly shit.”

“It’s not girly shit!” Felicity scolded, not bothering to look at him. Smiling, Felicity placed her hand over Talia’s, giving it a squeeze. “Give the man five minutes, even if all you do is tell him to fuck off in the end. I promise not to eat all the fries.”

“My office is open,” Heather encouraged.

Talia nodded, silently getting up and making her way toward Heather’s office. Based on the heavy footsteps following her, she assumed Gunnar was behind her. Once inside the office, she slouched into the big comfy desk chair. The click of the door latching filled the small room, anxiety starting to grow within her.

“I’m sorry,” Gunnar said, walking over and leaning against the desk.

“Are you though?” she sassed back.

“I am. For one, you are my daughter and I don’t want to see you hurt. Ever, for any reason. For two, I fucked up.”

Well, that had Talia’s attention. Sitting up, she looked him up and down. Hands still in his pockets, shoulders hunched forward slightly, he really did look contrite. Like he was in just as much pain as she was.

“I could give you all kinds of excuses about how I was not expecting to walk into that weight room and find you there. Like that. I was already caught off guard by the chick showing up to begin with, since I thought all that was behind us, and then…it pushed me over an edge.”

That edge was a place Talia understood all too well. She’d been there. Hell, the last time she’d been there, it was Felicity who caught the brunt of it.

“Kind of like intercepting a dirty text message from your dad?” she said, shivering at the memory.

Gunnar chuckled. “Much like how I assume you felt when you read that text. That was never meant for your eyes.”

“My eyes like to pretend they never read it.”

“I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. You’re right, you are an adult, and while I’m here to give you the best advice I can, I certainly don’t get to make any choices for you. And if your choice is Dash, I will learn to deal with it.”

“It’s not anymore. You were right. Footballers are bad news.”

Talia blinked hard, trying to fight back the tears. The ache inside her was just too much though. Gunnar’s apology was fully accepted—there was no way for her to stay mad at him for too long. She’d always known that his reaction to the relationship would be grumpy at best, and that was part of why they had waited to tell him. She also didn’t have much of a leg to stand on when it came to that—since she’d thrown her own version of a fit when she’d discovered him and Felicity doing the exact same thing. But hearing Dash’s name made all that feeling of betrayal overflow again.

“Oh, Talia,” Gunnar said, scooping her out of the chair and into a hug. His big arms wrapped around her, holding her as she cried. It was a comforting embrace, making the tears flow that much harder. “Footballers are bad news. But, we can also be really great guys. I wouldn't have Dash on my team if I didn’t believe that deep down he’s a good guy.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“It does. It matters a lot. Because…” Gunnar heaved out a heavy breath, loosening his grip on her, leaning back enough to look down and meet her gaze. Talia could tell that he was looking for the right words, not wanting to say the wrong thing. “The night that Felicity’s father died, she made me make her a promise. That no matter what, I would be there for you and support you in whatever it was you wanted out of life. At the time I thought it was an easy promise, not just because I loved her and wanted to stop her hurt, but because, at the time, I thought we were just talking about your career choice. I knew it would never be an issue for me to support you following whatever your passion was when it came to that. What I didn’t realize was that it meant supporting all the choices in your life. Including who you spend that life with.”

“Even if it’s a footballer? Or I choose wrong?”

“Even then.”

A loud knock at the door interrupted them. Felicity stuck her head in as she opened the door, a concerned smile greeting them.

“Making sure everyone is still alive. Need a ref?” she asked.