last night. I called Dad and told him not to worry, that I was on my way home. He had a thousand questions, but I told him we’d talk when I got here. I expected him to be standing vigil, ready to read Rob the riot act as soon as we showed up, which is why I had him drop me at the end of the street. This is between Dad and me. But the house is empty when I get there.
I go to my room and strip off my clothes, then look at myself in the mirror. I’m not the same person I was when I left here.
I glide my hands over my breasts and down to my hips, remembering Rob’s hands doing the same in the shower this morning.
But he’s leaving.
I hesitate before grabbing my robe and heading to the shower. If I’m never going to be with Rob again, I don’t want to wash what little I still have of him away. I can still smell him on me. I don’t want to let it go.
But I have to face my father, and if I smell of Rob and sex, it’s not going to go well.
I shower and slip on a blouse and jeans then look at myself again. I have to come clean with Dad. Not about Rob. He can never know who Rob really is. But I have to tell him we were together. I can’t keep hiding behind Chuck.
When Dad doesn’t answer his cell, I call the station.
“Adri,” Doris, the night dispatcher says. She’s worked for Dad since before I was born. “Where have you been, girl? It’s been forever.”
“Hey, Doris. Is my dad in?”
“He’s a little tied up at the moment. He just brought someone in. But I can leave him a message to call you back when he’s got a sec.”
“I think I’ll come down there. I really need to talk to him.”
“Well, the paperwork will keep him busy for a while, so he should be here.”
“Thanks, Doris.”
As I head to the T-Bird, it feels like my intestines are tying themselves in a bow around my stomach. When I get to the station five minutes later, I still don’t have words.
Doris is behind the bulletproof glass up front when I step through the door.
“Hey,” I say. “He still here?”
She nods. “I’ll buzz you back.”
I go to the door and she buzzes me through. I turn up the hall toward Dad’s office, and when I push through the door, he’s hunched over paperwork.
“Dad?”
He looks up at me and his face hardens. “I’m not letting him go, Adri.”
My eyes widen and a sick feeling rolls through my insides, because I don’t have to ask to know who “him” is. “What did you do?”
“He took you off to God only knows where, and he was carrying a concealed weapon.”
“What did you do?” I repeat, louder.
“It’s my job to protect you when I can. This is one of those times.”
Something cold tightens around my heart. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m not going to let that lowlife near you again.”
“Dad, we can’t keep doing this. I’m a grown woman, and you can’t dictate who I see or how I spend my time.”
He stands, pressing his palms into the desk and leaning toward me. “He’s a troublemaker and a criminal. He was carrying a gun, Adri. He’s not someone you want anything to do with.”
Tears pool in my eyes. I can’t form a coherent thought. I don’t know how much Dad knows, so I don’t dare ask anything for fear of saying the wrong thing.
“I’m going to protect you,” he says after a long pause. “I’m never going to let anything hurt you.”
I back toward the door, then turn and bolt past the exit to the holding cells. I peer through the gloom and see a shape in the one farthest from the door.
“Rob!” I yell, rushing toward him.
He stands, but before I reach him, Dad has me and is pulling me back from the bars.
“I need you to go home,” he barks.
I spin on him. “This is wrong!”
“Adrianna,” he warns. “Let me do my job.”
I’m not going to win this by standing here screaming. I need to think. I stop struggling and Dad lets me go. I look at Rob, then back at Dad.
Dad gives my ponytail a gentle tug. “Go home, punkin. Please,” he says, softer.
I give Rob a last glance, where he stands grasping the bars, then turn toward the door and walk away