Playing for Real - Book 2

Chapter 16

Quinn 

My heart is beating so hard I can hear it. I hail a cab, and thirty minutes later, I'm standing in front of my father's door, pounding my fist against it. He pulls it open with a frown. He doesn't bother to ask what I'm doing here. He already knows. He glares at me with disapproval through his reading glasses. I push past him into the foyer and the large main living room. He's mad at me anyway.

He follows me to the bay window overlooking a large wraparound deck and the ocean.

"How could you?" I spin around, cutting right to the chase. "Did you and Aiden think I wouldn't find out? I can't believe you went behind my back and confronted Cash. Admit, you are the one who bought me this plane ticket." I wave the ticket in front of his face. When he remains silent, I shout, "Admit it."

He studies me with a look of frustration. "I'm your father. My job is to protect you. I simply led the horse to the water. I didn't make him drink it."

The bitterness from knowing he confronted Cash, purchased a plane ticket, and convinced him to push me away makes my blood simmer. I'm tired of his double standard regarding me and Lyndsey. I'm tired of constantly having to prove myself through self-discipline and academics to have him accept me. I'm sick of being pushed. And I'm sick of him thinking he knows what is best for me. He's never even given Cash a chance. Yet he expects me to do as he says. I've idolized him from the time I was a little girl. Now, a part of me hates him.

"I can't believe you." Those four words go much deeper than I know he takes them.

Everything has changed, except him. He will always want to control things, including me.

"I hope you're here to thank me for saving you from tossing away everything you've worked for. Do you think Cash Brooks cares about you? That's bullshit, Quinn. I told you to stay away from him for a damn good reason. He's a drunk like your mother. He'll never change. If anyone should know that, it's you. Did you know the night his brother died in a car crash, Cash was all hammered up behind the wheel, for Christ's sake? Did he tell you that? Did he tell you he's been to rehab and through programming? Did he? And let me guess, you're okay with his choice to marry his brother's ex-fiancée. You're okay with him pouring his hard-earned money into her bank account? His life is a mess. Do you think that is the kind of man I want my daughter to be with? No red-blooded man would be okay with his daughter being with a guy like Cash Brooks."

He doesn't understand that there is so much more to Cash than his past. My father is a man of surface and appearance. He doesn't like to give people second chances. He only cares about his image and growing power in the professional hockey world. I grit my teeth and hold my curses and insults in. They won't help matters now. I am so done with him.

"I love him," I say, keeping my voice even. "And I know all about his past, and I know about Daniela too. I'm sorry, Dad, but you had no right to interfere. You don't know him the way I do. All you know is the hot-headed hockey player with a callous exterior and messy past. But what you don't know is that he's gentle and kind and loving, and his future is bright. And whether you want to accept it or not, I love him. And he loves me."

"He loves you? Is that what he tells you?" The amusement in his voice is lost on me. There is nothing humorous about the fact that we love each other. My father studies me and crosses his arms in front of his chest. "How many times do I have to tell you? Love doesn't get you anywhere. It isn't forever. It leaves you. When reality sets in and times get hard. He's sneaking drinks behind your back and snorting cocaine in a bathroom stall because alcohol isn't enough of a high anymore. Believe me when I tell you that when the love disappears, resentment sets in, and you are suddenly left with nothing. I lived it, Quinn. And you saw firsthand what it was like for me to love someone like Cash. It's a disease. We know they want to change; they promise us they will, but they can't. They are sick. You need to be with someone who wants the same things as you. Someone like Aiden. He can push you to achieve success and live a stable life. The life of a hockey wife is not stable or ideal. Cash is not stable. And you are out of your mind if you think I will stand by and let you repeat the past."