“I don’t even know what recovery entails. I don’t know what make amends even means. How the fuck is he going to do that? It’s been such a long time.”
“Why don’t we call your brother so you can hear it from him and anything we don’t understand I can google? I won’t even call him an asshole.”
“Thank you, Aurora.”
She leans over and kisses my cheek before sitting back down. “Thank you for not making me sit here in silence for four hours.”
I walk into my bedroom hand in hand with Rory and instantly get déjà vu.
That Russ, the one who was pretending to be confident, would not have believed that this would be the situation we’re in a couple of months later. Not one to dance around the obvious, Aurora struts straight around me and sits on my desk.
“Wanna roleplay us doing it?” I roll my eyes as I walk over and step between her legs, gripping her under her thighs and throwing her on my bed, making her squeak. “Hey, you weren’t this rough with me!”
“Yeah ‘cause I was fucking terrified,” I say, throwing myself down beside her. “I don’t get girls like you and I was very worried I’d watch you come and it’d be game over for me. In my pants.”
“Confident you could then,” she teases, rolling to lie on top of me. “How’d you know I wasn’t faking it?”
“I’d have suffocated between your legs before I’d let you fake it.”
The guys are at JJ’s for the housewarming party and after the day I’ve had, I think taking out my stress in a healthy way is a good idea. I spread her legs over my hips and run my hands along her thighs until I’m under her sundress, when her cellphone starts ringing.
“Are we destined to be interrupted forever?” I groan. “I thought this would end when we left Honey Acres.”
“You know who it’ll be,” she says, climbing off me and reaching for the phone. She holds up her screen to me and man who pays the rent stares back at me.
We haven’t really talked about the fact Aurora is supposed to be in Palm Springs right now. I was too distracted with my own problem and I guess she didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t have anything to add when she pointed out that he’s never punished her before.
She presses the accept call button and puts it on speaker, but even before she says hello, she does something I haven’t seen her do in weeks: she forces a smile onto her face.
“Hi!” Her voice is unnatural, not the voice of my girl and I hate it.
“Where the fuck are you, Aurora?”
Six words and my blood is boiling.
“I’m not coming, Dad.” She chews on the inside of her cheek and I pull her along the bed, letting her sit between my open legs with my head resting on her shoulder. “Something came up, I’m sorry.”
“That doesn’t answer my question. I asked where the fuck are you?”
“I’m in Maple Hills.”
“Get your ass in your car right now. I am so serious, Aurora. I’m not playing your games this time, do not ruin this for everyone.”
I hold her a little tighter. “I said I’m not coming.”
“I’m coming to get you.”
“I’m not at home.”
Leaning around her I press the mute button so her dad can’t hear us as he launches into a rant about how selfish and immature she is. “I’m so fucking proud of you. You’re so strong, Rory. Don’t let him bully you into doing something you don’t want to do. You’re worth more than some photographs in a magazine. If you have to force a smile you deserve better.”
She takes us off mute as he finishes yelling. “I don’t care that you’re upset with me, Dad. I don’t like who I am when I let you dictate how I act.” I hold her a little tighter. “I’ve spent a really long time being reckless to get your attention, because at least then you’d remember I existed. You make me feel like I’m not worth sticking around for. I’m not letting you burn me anymore because I have people in my life who do like me for me.”
“If you arrive in the next two hours, we’ll pretend this conversation never happened,” he says, not an ounce of emotion in his tone.
“I hope your marriage is happy, but I won’t be there. I’m not faking smiles for you. Goodbye, Dad.”
She disconnects the call and I expect her to burst into tears, but she doesn’t, she sinks into me and pulls my arms tighter around her. “I’m going to crush you if I hug you any harder.”