A laugh burst out of me, one filled with bitterness and resentment. The entire time I laughed, I could practically feel the way he was seething on the other end of the line.
“What family?” I snarled the question.
He didn’t heed the warning and tried to sound magnanimous, “Our family. The Page and Prescott family.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because this is where you belong. You owe me.”
And just like that I knew what the phone call was really about. I had to take a few deep breaths to keep myself under control. “What do I owe you exactly?”
“You owe me for the years we took care of you. We gave you a home, clothed you and fed you. I paid for your education,” he tried to justify his own bullshit.
The worst part was knowing he believed every word. He didn’t see a damn thing wrong with what he was saying, and it hurt. He didn’t see anything wrong with insisting that I abandon my child, his grandchild.
Tears welled up in my eyes, but I blinked them back because my parents weren’t going to get any more of my tears. I had spent far too many years bending over backward to keep them happy, and there was no reason for me to do it any longer.
“You think I owe you because you did what is required of you to take care of a child you chose to have. It’s not like I had a say in being born,” I pointed out.
“You’ve always been ungrateful,” he snarled. “Now it’s time for you to forget about this baby and come back home. Eric is still willing to marry you. It’s a good match and it’ll secure the future of Page and Prescott.”
“You mean the same law office where you never allowed me to practice law after insisting that I follow in your footsteps and go to college, studying what you wanted me to, and then to law school?”
“I wanted you to have a good future,” he countered.
“A future you planned, not one I wanted,” I spit back at him. “A future of being married to a piece of shit who would treat me like I’m a second-class citizen and cheat on me?”
He huffed, but it wasn’t because I was getting through to him, it was because he thought I was being ridiculous.
I tsked and shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. “The saddest part of this whole thing is that you could have passed the firm down to me. I’m a fucking lawyer.”
“You better watch your mouth,” he snapped at me.
“Or what?”
And that was when Bridger had enough. He wasn’t interested in hearing what my father had to say. I couldn’t exactly blame him.
“Mr. Page,” his voice was a low growl filled with warning, “I believe I told you what would happen if you didn’t leave Avery alone.”
My father laughed. Fucking laughed.
“You can’t do a damn thing to me,” his voice was smug as hell.
“You better watch your mouth,” I mocked because I couldn’t help myself.
Bridger chuckled, but it wasn’t a nice sound. I wasn’t afraid because I knew it was all directed at my father who dared to call me and put more expectations on me.
My father continued on as if I didn’t say anything, which wasn’t surprising considering my gender, “You’re just a tattoo artist. You don’t have any connections. I had you looked into.”
Bridger made a humming sound. “I guess we’ll see then,” he sounded almost bored.
When he nodded in my direction, I hung up the phone and slumped back down in the seat. I was thankful that we had already pulled up at our house. I looked at it longingly because all I wanted to do was go inside, curl up on the couch and forget about the phone call.
Bridger’s large hand wrapped around the back of my neck, his touch grounding me. “Are you okay Sweetheart?”
“No,” I whispered.
I hated how much one phone call hurt my heart, but it did.
