AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That sounded a whole lot worse when I said it aloud to my father than it had sounded in my head.
"Ariel," he whispered my name in a voice that shook.
"That came out sounding wrong," I rushed to assure him, to ease his pain. I hated the thought of hurting him.
He gave a small nod in acknowledgement. "It's okay, baby girl."
It wasn't. His eyes had turned back into cold, dead things that hurt me to my very soul to see.
"I love you," I said honestly, and for the second time.
He froze, all except for his eyes that were so much like my own. They melted immediately, becoming warm pools of green.
"What?" he croaked in a broken voice.
"I love you," I repeated as if it were obvious, and to me it was. "How could I not love you? You're amazing, Rain. I know I've only said it once before now and should have told you a lot sooner, but that has had absolutely not one thing to do with you and everything to do with me. I tend to keep people at arm’s length because I'm emotionally stunted and I don't want to put myself out there for fear of getting hurt. But, the thing I'm coming to understand with you, is that you're never going to hurt me, so it's safe to tell you I love you. Honestly, I can’t even believe how comfortable I am telling you this now, like I said, I'm messed up."
Rain let out a sound that was filled with so much pain that it had me stumbling back a step away from him and rubbing my hand over my heart. It hurt hearing that noise come from him.
Rain rushed me as I stumbled back. His eyes looked wild, crazed even, as he wrapped his arms around me and picked me up off my feet.
"I love you too, baby girl," he whispered into the top of my head. "So goddamn much, you have no idea. Been waiting to hear those words come out of your mouth foryears.When you said them the first time I shut down and didn’t know how to respond to you without breaking down.”
Without hesitation, I wrapped my arms around Rain's middle and held on tightly. This man meant everything to me and hearing him tell me he loved me for the first time made something important settle inside my soul. I hadn't realized I'd needed to hear the words as much as he'd obviously needed to say them to me.
Quinton cleared his throat from behind us. "Are either of you hungry?" he asked cautiously. "I'm going to make spaghetti."
I blinked, coming back to reality as Rain set me down on my feet and stepped back. I'd forgotten entirely why Quinton and I had come down to the kitchen in the first place, that there'd been an actual reason and that had been in order to feed him.
Rain kissed me on the forehead before walking around me, toward Quinton.
"I could go for some spaghetti," he muttered.
I looked around the room as if I'd never seen it before. What the heck had just happened here? Had my long-lost father and I really just had anI love youmoment for the first time after he'd caught me making out with one of my boyfriends? Just to have him then go off to eat Uncle Quint's spaghetti like nothing had ever happened?
I turned on my heel and watched as Rain pulled out a stool at the island and plopped down across from Quinton. Quinton smirked at me before he moved to the refrigerator and pulled the door open. He came out with a package of hamburger and dropped it down on the counter beside the stovetop.
Rain looked at me over his shoulder and raised a haughty eyebrow.
"Get over here, baby girl, and take a seat," he commanded as he patted the stool beside him. "You're far too skinny and we need to fatten you up a bit so that you look healthy. I hate seeing you so skinny. You can practically see your ribs sticking out through your tank top."
I sighed heavily in defeat as my shoulders slumped forward. Rain didn't see it because he'd already turned back around to face Quinton, expecting me to follow his orders without argument.
I grumbled under my breath about how I needed another male in my life who wanted to shovel food down my throat like I needed a hole drilled into my head.
I had always been skinny because I'd been underfed, and when I did get the chance to eat I'd never eaten anything that was really good for me. That hadn't been my choice though, and if I could have gone back in time and changed things, then I would have and made it so I wouldn't have had to go hungry because my mother spent her money on slutty dresses for herself and alcohol and would have bought food for her child instead. But there was no going back. Vivian hadn't been my mother and now she was dead. I hated to think she got what she deserved, but as I sat down beside Rain the thought certainly did flit across my mind.
I sat there quietly as I watched the two of them interact like they hadn't threatened each other minutes before, like they were somehow friends. It made my heart a little bit lighter to see, which I'm sure they both noticed when my tense body relaxed entirely and I placed my forearms onto the island counter, getting comfortable.
Quinton cooked while keeping up a conversation with Rain about, surprisingly enough, Fortune's for the Unfortunate, of all things. I think he did it just to keep things from getting too heavy again, for my sake.
I thanked him in my own way by eating an overflowing plate of his spaghetti. Neither of them were satisfied with what I'd eaten—even though it had been a lot, more than either of them had piled on their own plates—and tried to shovel more noodles onto my plate.
After rinsing my plate off in the sink and placing it in the dishwasher, I practically ran out of the kitchen and away from the two of them. I didn't even care if they knew I was escaping them.
I needed to get the heck out of here.
Chapter Seventeen
