Break My Fall(68)
“You dipshit, don’t you care that there’s probably fifty guys right now trying to get in your girl’s panties.” And my girl’s.
I grabbed my keys and headed for my truck, not waiting for Derek’s reaction.
“Ah shit,” I heard him shout a few moments later.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lee
“What are you going to say to him when we get there?” I knew what Cam was asking, but I honestly had no answer for her. I didn’t know what I was going to say.
What do you say to the man who raised you, tortured you your whole life and was now lying in a hospital bed? A heart attack, he had said. I was not surprised.
Daddy smoked cigarettes like he breathed air; constantly.
“I’m not sure Cam. I’m more worried about what he’ll say to me to be honest.” We had been driving all night and we had another two hours to go. I planned on using those to plot how I was going to approach my father.
“You know, you don’t have to do this Lee. We can turn around be home by nightfall. You can walk away from this. You owe him nothing.” I nodded, but didn’t say anything.
There was no point. Nothing I could say to Cam would redeem my father in her eyes.
I kept thinking that this was the right thing to do. My mother wouldn’t have wanted him to be sick and alone.
Kyle
My head was bursting. I had a headache to kill all headaches and Derek would not shut the fuck up. “Dude I swear if she’s with another guy when we get there, then I’m totally done. I mean it this time. I’m not taking her shit anymore.”
His rants didn’t even render an answer. He was talking out of his ass. I just nodded or shook my head when he looked over at me, which seemed acceptable.
To be honest, my mind was nowhere near Cam and Derek’s fucked up relationship, it was fixed on mine and Lee’s fucked up one. Why did she need to go home? Was she sick? Was she running again? Was she leaving me? I sounded fucking pathetic; I wasn’t hers to leave. I wasn’t anything.
“Dude did Cam mention anything about why Lee needed to go home?” This was the fourth time I had asked Derek that question since we hit the road. Every time he distracted me with some sob story about Cam. I wanted to puke. I should have caught a flight, but I hadn’t fucking thought it through. When Derek told me where Lee was, I’d gotten in my truck and started driving.
His phone rang just as he was about to answer me. “Who is it?” I asked.
“Fucking Camryn,” Derek grumbled as he looked at the screen.
I wanted to grab the phone off him. “Answer it dumbass.”
Derek pressed a button and put the phone up to his ear. “Babe, are you okay? Did you get there safely?” What a pussy. So much for his ranting…
“Oh, that’s good I guess. How’s Lee holding up?” I strained to hear Cam’s voice on the other line, but it was too muffled.
“No, I didn’t say anything.” Didn’t say what?
“Cam baby, I didn’t tell him.”
Derek looked at me and shifted uncomfortably. “Can I call you back later, I can’t talk right now.” Oh, this was getting interesting.
“Yeah, Kyle’s here. Gotta go.” I waited until he put the phone back in his pocket to speak.
“You’ve been holding out on me buddy. Talk. Now.”
Lee
My feet shook with every step I took towards the hospital room. “Do you want me to go in with you?” Cam asked.
“No, I have to this myself.”
I stepped inside. “Delia, baby?”
I approached the old man in the bed in front of me. Tubes and machines were surrounding him. I swallowed the vomit that threatened to spill.
“Hello daddy.”
His face looked much older than when I had last seen him. I felt like crying. I knew he had done some terrible things to me, but this was my father; the only family I had in the world.
“I’m so happy you came, didn’t think you would, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t.”
I sighed and sat on a chair beside his bed. “I almost turned back twice.”
He patted my hand and I flinched, pulling it away. “We’ll I’m glad you changed your mind.” He whispered.
“How bad is it daddy?”
He shrugged and tried to pull himself up, but winced in pain. “Don’t you worry about me darling, I’ll be just fine.”
“It’s kind of hard not to worry considering you’ve just had a heart attack. I am worried about you.”
He visibly shook when I said that. “Awh darling, you don’t know how happy it makes me to hear you say those words. I thought that you’d hate me after what I did.” I had no answer. “Delia, I’ve stopped drinking. I’m taking meetings, every day. I’m sorry baby, so sorry for what I did to you.”