The Blood of a Nightlock

Chapter Nineteen

"How's the shiner, superstar?" Mitchel asked as he leaned beside me on the balcony.

I glanced back at the empty bedroom and then at him. The surprise was evident.

"Raven told me you were up here and gave me her key."

"I'll be fine." I told him as I stared out at the field ahead.

"Are you hiding?"

"No. I just needed to think."

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"I was thinking about Dad." I said quietly.

He shifted. "You wanna talk about him?"

I gave him a reassuring smile. "You don't have to. I know it's hard for you too."

He was quiet for a moment. "I have a terrible relationship with my Dad."

I glanced up at him.

He snorted. "If we're being honest, I hate him." He thought about it. "He used to beat the shit out of me."

"I'm sorry."

"I used to skip a lot of classes. I was afraid that if I did better than him, he'd only hit me harder. I got into a fight one day, an actual fight, on the field with a guy two years older than me. He kicked my ass. Your Dad came by and broke up the fight. He took me to the nurse and got me checked out. That was the first time he took care of me. He found out a few weeks later that my Dad stopped paying for my meal plan. He needed money for his vices. Your Dad picked up the expense." He said. "He started following up with me. If I wasn't in class he'd come find me. If I wasn't at training, he'd drag me out of bed or wherever I was and take me to training. He sat me down one day and told me, "he might not care about you, but I do. You can be so great." And that was the first time someone had ever said something so nice to me. I wanted to do well after that. Jeff took me in for a little bit. He taught me everything he knew and he made me good. He stood by my side and he was my biggest fan in the background." He leaned towards me. "Of course, Greg helped, but mostly your Dad took care of me. It was really hard to not save him." He said. "He saved me. He saved me from my Dad, from bad decisions, from repeated behavior, and most of all... he saved me from myself. His words that day haunt me. And I can't deny that I miss him too."

"I used to hear him talk about you when Fremont was over." I said. "He loved you."

He took a deep breath. "I loved him." He said. "He was like the Dad I never knew I needed."

"He was pretty great." I said with a smile.

"The best." He smiled as he watched me. "Thanks for sharing him with me." I leaned towards him, placing a head on his shoulder and hooking an arm around his. He didn't even hesitate, he just let me curl into him.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked him as my right hand traveled up his arm to his collected hands over the railing. He let my hand slide into his and he squeezed my fingers against his.

"I wanted to tell you that you did great today. Start to finish. The fight, handling the George thing, and then the whole Nightlock blood situation. You did a great job."

I smiled up at him. "You came to see me because you missed me."

He chuckled.

"Admit it, you're into me."

He smiled at me, our gazes locking. "I've never denied it." He whispered.

"You've never admitted it either."

"Wren," he sighed, "something between us could be really bad."

I watched him.

"People will think I promoted you because there's something between us."