The Princess And The Criminal

21

SAWYER

My dad smiled when I walked into his hospital room.

He looked so frail on the bed. His cheeks were sunken and he could barely move. Tears pricked the back of my eyes.

"Aw Sawyer." He croaked out, a pained smile on his face.

"I–" I choked up and grabbed his freezing hand.

"I was so scared."

My dad patted my head softly. "But I'm alright now."

I took in a deep shaky breath. "Yeah, you're alright."

"I hear you met Oslow."

I nodded. "He's nice."

Dad hummed. "He is nice."

We were quiet for a little bit.

"Sawyer, why don't you and Noah come over for dinner sometime soon."

"Yeah of course." I looked up and held his hand tighter.

"Hunter has been complaining that you're always busy."

I sighed and slumped into my chair. "Well, yeah... Caesar said something similar."

Dad smiled and sighed. "When your mother got out of prison she was just like that."

I frowned at him. "Really?"

He nodded and looked up. The smile still on his face like he was reliving good memories. "Viper was always on the move. There was always some work to do. She took a gap year to serve her time."

My frown deepened.

"She knew she was going to jail."

"What?"

Dad's smile turned sad. "Her dad had wrecked their car, the insurance company refused to help because he was drunk. He was an angry agressive old man... So he destroyed some property and Viper framed herself."

"There were eye witness reports but she had gone great lengths to make sure she took the fall."

I swallowed. "Why have we never met either of your parents?"

Dad sighed. "Viper's dad OD'd and her mom was never really in the picture. My parents kicked me out when they found me with my boyfriend during my senior year of high school. We were all each other had at the time... looking back we probably should have never started fucking."

I scrunched up my face and my dad laughed.

Though he started coughing loudly.

"Hey, hey." I soothed as I rubbed his chest.

He sighed. "I will always love your mother, she was my best friend. But we never loved each other in the way we should have. We had our shit and we thought sharing it would magically make it go away... we should have tried to get shrinks."

I smiled. "Therapists?"

Dad waved his hand. "Oslow is a therapist you know?"

I frowned. "Uh... good for him?"

Dad laughed, shaking his head. "Oh Sawyer. I said all this because I want you to go see a therapist."

I clenched my jaw. "Why?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Why? Kiddo, your mother messed you up, I messed you up, prison messed you up."

"You didn't mess me up." I growled.

Dad pursed his lips disapprovingly. "Saw, I was also a bad parent. For the longest time I was angry at Viper. So I allowed you all to think she was to blame for everything–"