A Love Like This (Mature Jocks Series #1)

Chapter 24 || Please Don't Leave Me

L I Z

I don't want to meet my dad.

I haven't seen him since the epic argument.

And I don't think I want to see him.

The only time he cared about me was when it was just the two of us, when we were alone, when he showed me how to skate, and when he told me bedtime stories. When everyone was home, he'd become completely distant, like we were strangers.

He called earlier today after I spoke with Aaron, said he wanted to see how his baby girl was doing. His baby girl. Those words hurt. Because they have never been true, ever.

"You sure you're good?," Diane asks, hitting the locks. "I can come with you if you want," she offers. For some reason I think she's offering because she knows I'm a bit upset at her. But then......

"Yeah, I got this," I force a smile. I don't got this.

"Liz, you know you don't have to meet with him, you can just tell him you're busy and shit, he's not going to kill you," she says. And I think she's a little bit right. But I'm not an ungrateful person. He might be distant, but he raised me.....so I'm going to meet, hear what he wants to talk about. After all, I'm going to be twenty one in a couple of weeks, so no more we-are-sending-you-back-to-the-orphange shit. I can do this.

"I got this," I say again as we hug and she lets me off.

Just like expected, it's a super expensive restaurant. A French restaurant. So quiet that the only sounds I hear as I walk in are sounds of glasses and the French music playing.

"Miss Summers?" A tall blonde man dressed in a black and white waiter's uniform approaches me.
When I nod, he continues, "Your father is over there," I force a smile as my father's gaze meets mine.

He's dressed in his usual expensive clothing and he's talking to a few men, who he dismisses at my arrival. His hair slightly as dark as mine, but his eyes a deep shade of brown. Yeah, a constant reminder that I am not blood but adopted.

"Elizabeth," he says as I approach the table and sit.

"Father," I force a smile as the waiter comes to our table. I don't want anything, I just want to be done with this.

"You're not going to order anything?" He asks.

"Sparkling water, please," I tell the waiter and he smiles, walking away.

Father looks at me. I look at him. This is going to be a hell of a long dinner.

"I see you started a business," he starts and I just nod. "Do you need help?" What-- "financially, I've got a lot of connections--,"

"I'm doing fine, I don't need help," That's all he sees me as, someone that always needs help, someone that always need assistance and money.

"Running a business is not easy Liz," He continues as the waiter arrived with his steak and my water.

"I knew that before I started," I say through my teeth. He looks at me for a second and then faces his food.

"You're seeing West?," He asks. And then I know exactly who he is talking about. Aaron. "Rumors spread Liz, people are saying that he's just using you, like all the other bunnies,"

"You don't know him," my teeth clatter. I know I'm doing my best to sound angry and pissed off, but do I really know Aaron? Yes, I do....I know him.

"And tell me, do you?," Now our eyes are locked.

I take in a few deep breaths, and then I gulp, "I know him better than you do, he's a better man that all those bunny stories all over the internet,"

"I played hockey sweetheart, I know how this goes," now he's angry. For what?