“I'm going to be good and act like this whole thing never happened,” I said, not bothering to deal with his overbearing attitude.
Daimon was being far too much for me and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with his childish behavior, especially when it came to our friend. I turned around to leave, but Daimon wasn’t going to have that. He came at me and took my arm, pulling me to him.
“Do you think you can just fuck with me? That I'm somehow your bitch? I don’t think so, Addie. You are mine for the next three years and no matter what you do I will remind you of that,” he gritted through his teeth.
“Let go of me!” I shouted.
“Fine, Addie, go.” he nudged his head to the elevator.
“You’re unbelievable, you know that right?” I shook my head at him and left. I couldn’t believe how he was acting.
I arrived home to yet again a quiet house, my father fast asleep. The porch light had not been lit for me. Yeah. My passive aggressive father was still angry with me. It was my fault, it had been a few days and still we hadn’t had a real conversation about the diner. Here I was too busy with Daimon and my job to not realize he was stuck at home with nothing to do for the first time in his life. Tonight took me by surprise to say the least. Darren admitting how he felt really bothered me. Was I so blind not to see it? Did I really take advantage of him and our friendship? By the looks of it, everyone else knew but me. Thankfully, I didn’t have to work the next two days. I would spend tomorrow with my father and try to salvage what I had done. Hopefully Lucifer would leave me alone tomorrow, but knowing him, he wouldn’t stay still when he’s angry. I guess I’d have to wait and see.
“Daddy?” It was late in the afternoon. I had slept in, not realizing how tired I was. My body felt groggy from such a heavy sleep, but I really wanted to see my father and speak to him. This ignoring bit was getting out of hand. “Daddy?” I walked around to the kitchen but he wasn’t there. I picked up the pace and walked around the house, but I couldn’t find him. I went up to his room and opened the door. My dad had left. I had no idea where he was. My father usually stayed home and rarely went out. His attacks happened at any time so if he wasn’t at the diner he was home nursing his pain; then again he wasn’t sick anymore. Fuck. Where did he go? My shoulders slumped and I felt sick to my stomach. My father never went to this extreme when he was angry with me. I went to the kitchen and made myself breakfast. My stomach growled the moment I started making food. Man, I was hungry. I sat down at the table and picked up my phone. No messages from Daimon. At least this day had a silver lining.
I had finished my food and wound up on the couch. The images of Darren’s face came to my mind as I was channel surfing. I had never seen him look at me like that. What the hell was I going to do now? My attention was diverted when I heard the front door open and my dad walk in with bags full of food.
“Dad?” I called out as I stood up to help him with the grocery bags. “What are you doing?” I asked.
“Getting us food,” he said as he walked in. I took some of the bags back to the kitchen and placed them on the counter.
“I thought you left to avoid me,” I said quietly, not realizing I was crying. My father gently placed the rest of the bags on the table and slowly made his way to me. He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it.
“I understand why you did what you did and as each day goes by and I feel better, I know you did the right thing for me. But I need time, time to understand what happened and why it all went wrong. I failed your mother and our little dream and it hurts to know I did that,” he said ruefully.
“You blame me. I know you do,” I said without looking at him.
“Part of me did, but only because I needed to be angry at someone. I'm sorry, Addie. I’m sorry you had to go through this all alone. I’m sorry I put you in that position.” He pulled me closer and hugged me.
“It’s okay,” I murmured as I held onto him. I never realized how much I needed my father’s arms around me, holding me close and making me feel safe.
Two days went by without one word from Daimon. Not until Sunday morning that is, when my father called out to me, “Addie, hurry up and come downstairs.” I managed to make it downstairs to my father, who was holding a bottle of champagne in one hand and a New York Times in the other. “It was delivered for you,” he said gesturing for me to take the items. I took the bottle and placed it on the floor. I looked at the newspaper and wondered. He couldn’t have, could he? I pulled out the sections and found what I was looking for.