The scumbag has the decency to look ashamed.
“Listen to me.” I lean in close, so much so that I smell booze and stale cigarette smoke wafting from his body. “I’m gonna walk you out. You will not come back here. You will not contact Eve, and from this point on”—my teeth grind together painfully—“you don’t have a daughter.”
“Listen. You’re hearing lies from the girl.” He holds his hands up and stumbles back a step.
“The girl is no longer your concern.” I jerk my chin toward the doors. “Now, let me help you find your car.” My lips pull back over my teeth, and I’m salivating at the opportunity to throat punch this pathetic excuse.
“I don’t want any trouble,” he says in a whisper meant only for me.
Jonah pushes closer to me. “Want, no. But you’ve fucking earned it. You mess with Eve again, those loan sharks will look like guardian angels compared to the shit we’ll put you through.”
His tiny brown and bloodshot eyes dart between us. “You guys threatening me?”
“Bet your ass, we are.” I swing my gaze to Jonah and he nods. “Right, so let’s get you on your way, Cass.” My muscles coil. Ready. “Come on.” I head outside and don’t look back, but as I walk away, I sense Jonah’s shifted to stand behind Eve’s dad, most likely breathing down his neck so that he doesn’t have any other choice but to follow me out.
Seconds later, the little shit skirts by me in a full sprint. He’s running just as fast as his feeble legs can carry him.
“Nice try, bitch.” I hook him by the elbow and search for a more private area.
“Teach him a lesson he won’t forget,” Jonah says to my back. “Want good news to share with my girl when she’s out of surgery.”
He digs his heels into the ground. “Wha—no!”
“Ten-four, man.” I continue to lead—drag—him outside and tell myself I can’t kill the guy.
“Hold on, I . . .” He bucks in my hold as we turn toward the alley behind the hospital. “What do you want? I’ll pay you—”
I stop, whirl the lanky shit around, and throw him against a brick wall. “With what? Your daughter’s money?”
He claws at my fists, which are gripped into his shirt. “What? I don’t know what you’re—”
“You lying sack of shit. I picked up the pieces of the girl you left behind after you robbed her.” I slam him against the brick again. “Your own damn daughter!”
“I was desperate!” His voice is high and shakes with a fear that fuels my irritation.
“You’re her dad! You’re all she has, and you steal food from her mouth.” My hand flies, knuckles first, and I backhand the little bitch. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
He spits blood, and his forehead beads with sweat.
“She needed you. Every kid needs their dad.” My heart cramps, and I slam him into the wall again. “You abandoned her. Never looked back, did you?” A lump swells in my throat. “It’s because of you she’s locked up in the hospital all alone.” My nose burns and my legs wobble.
“Let me go—”
“She’s lived her entire life without a family because you weren’t strong enough to take care of her. And now she’s dying and totally alone!” Fuck! I release Eve’s dad and take a few steps back. My eyes prick with emotion.
“Eve’s dying?” he whispers.
Hands on my hips, I breathe deeply. “No. She’s not.” I push both hands through my hair and try to relax.
What the hell just happened there? One second I’m talking to Eve’s dad, and the next minute I’m yelling at an older grayer version of myself.
Am I really all that different from Cass?
A wave of what-the-fuck numbs my legs, and I lean against the wall for support. The answer comes in a torturous trickle of self-realization.
He put his addiction before his daughter, and I put my crusade to regain my career before mine. He’s written her off as if she doesn’t exist and I . . . Fuck. How did things get so fucked up? At what point did I lose focus on what matters?
Whatever shit’s going on in my chest when it comes to Eve is working like a magnifying glass and forcing me to inspect my life.
This isn’t me. I don’t want to be the coward who runs from his problems or the guy who insists on living in the past. I can’t fix what was, but I can fix this for Eve.
“How much will it take?” The words rasp from my lips and Cass jumps, but his eyes spark.
“I don’t under—”
“How much!”
He steps close. “Total? Fifteen grand.”
“How much more will it take for you to leave your daughter alone?”
He opens his mouth to answer then slams it shut. I don’t miss the lack of offense in his expression but not the twitch of excitement in his jaw.
“Don’t fucking act like you don’t have a number going through your head, man. You and I know good and damn well that you do.”
He shrugs one shoulder. “Double what I owe.”
Just like that. Pathetic.