Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
“Well, that was costly,” he sniped.
I was confused.
“I’m sorry?” I asked.
“Taking care of your situation required a donation that was costly.”
My…
Situation?
I shook my head. “Dad, I don’t—”
“Fortunately, it’s early in the semester. They’ll be removing you from the class you share with that young man…”
That young man?
Not, that absolute cretin who attacked my daughter in her dorm room?
“…you’ll be re-enrolled in it next semester,” Dad went on. “And this situation will be expunged and not reflect on your record…or his. It will be as if it didn’t happen at all.”
My mouth dropped open as my lungs hollowed out, mostly because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Really, Diana,” Dad carried on. “What were you thinking, studying late at night with a young man who made it clear he had a crush on you? Of course he’d read that particular situation a certain way.”
Uh-oh.
Oh no.
Oh crap.
I was going to start crying.
Angry tears.
Very angry ones.
And maybe yelling.
Loudly.
I couldn’t do either. I’d learned that.
Boy, had I learned.
I had to be strong, smart, ambitious, hardworking, busy doing things that mattered, and although tears weren’t verboten, they were discouraged and only accepted in certain circumstances.
Those didn’t include when I butted heads with my dad.
“He’s agreed to steer clear of you,” Dad shared. “I suggest you do the same.”
“Well, yeah, Dad, I’ll do that since he attacked me,” I snapped.
“Diana—”
“You’re telling me you didn’t come here to make absolutely certain, at the very least, this predator was expelled from this institution, but also doing what you could to make certain what should happen actually happens, that being he’s arrested and charges are filed. Instead, you smoothed things over for him, and I have to change my schedule to avoid him?”
“Listen to me,” he said in his well-known and oft-used I fear you’re too dim to understand, but I’m going to try to explain anyway voice. “You haven’t had a great deal of experience with men—”
I cut him off again. “I’ve dated a lot, Dad, and none of the guys I’ve dated have wrestled me to a bed and tried to tear my clothes off.”
I’ll hand it to him, when I said that, he flinched.
But he recovered quickly.
“Those were boys in high school,” he retorted. “They were not men.”
Like boys in high school might not have the same inclinations.
Was he crazy?
“I’m a sophomore here,” I reminded him. “And I didn’t do a nun impression my first year.”
“Diana—”
“So what you’re saying is, now that I’m dealing with ‘men,’ I can’t be safe in my own space and instead have to have a mind to how some loser might feel about whether he wants to have sex with me or not. But he doesn’t have to have a mind to me about whether I want the same, and maybe, you know, use his words to share what he wants and asks me instead of attacking me in order to simply take what he wants.”
“It’s the way of the world,” Dad said stonily.
Oh yeah.
I couldn’t believe I was hearing this.
I should believe it. This was my dad. Nolan Armitage. The epitome of the heartless, power-mad, money-hungry, workaholic attorney who found his way to getting what he wanted by any means necessary, and what he wanted, obviously, was power and money. All other things—his daughter, his wives (yes, plural, though not at the same time)—didn’t factor.
Not to mention, he was the man who ground my mother to dust.
But still, I couldn’t believe it.
I thought I’d learned how to deal. I thought I’d built appropriate walls that would keep the pain at bay. I didn’t think he had the capacity to hurt me anymore.
Every day you learned new things, though, and today, this was my lesson.
And it hurt like hell.
“Do you have any clue how terrified I was?” I whispered.
He softened, slightly.
But not enough. Not near enough.
He proved that with what he said next.
“You need to have a mind to keeping yourself safe.”
“I was safe. In my dorm room. With people right next door on both sides and across the hall. On a study date with some guy I barely know, so obviously, I don’t want him ripping my clothes off.”
“You barely know him, and you let him into your room?”
“I’m not on trial here, Dad,” I bit out. “Save the courtroom machinations for re-traumatizing assault victims your rich clients pay you to get off.”
Dad’s face got hard. “That was unnecessarily nasty.”
I stared at him.
He scowled at me.
He honestly didn’t see what was happening here, what had happened to me, his daughter, and what he was doing to me, his daughter.
He didn’t freaking see it.
But I did.
Oh, yeah, I so totally did.
Crystal freaking clear.
I shouldn’t have wasted time building walls.
I should have used that time to form an escape plan.
“I’m done,” I stated.
Dad nodded. “Yes, it’s done. We’ll have an early dinner and then I’ll head back to Phoenix.”