It was time I went and dealt with my dad.

My mother met me at the door with a frown. She didn’t ask how I was doing or even attempt small talk. She just pointed down the hall and said, “Your dad’s in his office.” Then she walked away without another word.

Most of my life my mother was only affectionate if I was doing exactly what she wanted me to. Whenever I failed or displeased her, she let me know exactly how she felt about me. I should be over it by now. I was a twenty-four year old man. Seeking my mother’s approval was a thing of my past. Still, her conditional love was hard to swallow at times.

I knocked on the door to my father’s office then opened it up. No use in waiting on him to tell me to come in. He was mad at me anyway. He was sitting at his desk with the phone to his ear when I walked inside. His eyes glared at me with disapproval through his glasses that he only wore when he was reading.

“Of course. I agree. Woods has just walked into my office. I’ll speak with him and get back to you on where we go from here,” he said into the phone before hanging it up and leaning back in his chair to study me with a look of disdain.

The bitterness from the knowledge that my grandfather had given him the Vice President title and moved him into the big office the year he graduated from college was always there. He acted like I had to prove so much to him when I’d worked more in that club than he had. He had never gotten his hands dirty or dealt with employees. Yet he expected me to pay my dues.

“I hope you’re here to explain to me why you would toss away everything we’ve worked for because you think you’ll be unhappy? That’s bullshit son. No red blooded man would be unhappy with a woman like Angelina Greystone.”

He hadn’t worked for anything. He wasn’t being told whom he had to marry. I gritted my teeth and held the curses and insults in. They wouldn’t help matters now.

“I don’t love her. She doesn’t even like me much. I couldn’t go through with it. I’m sorry but as much as I want the job I was raised believing would be mine I won’t ruin my life and hers.”

My father leaned forward on his elbows that rested on his desk. “Love doesn’t make a good marriage. It isn’t forever. It leaves you. When reality sets in and times get hard the love disappears and you’re left with nothing. You marry someone who wants the same things you do. Who isn’t expecting romance but success. Angelina gets this. You don’t.”

When my grandmother was sick I had gone to visit my grandparents every chance I got. One day I had been sitting on the porch with my grandfather as he watched my grandmother paint one of her many pictures. The love and affection on his face was unmistakable. He’d turned to me that day and said, “Don’t miss out on the love of a good woman, son. No matter what that old man of yours tells you, love is real. I’d have never had the success in my life without that woman right there. She’s been my backbone. She’s been my reason for everything I’ve ever done. One day your drive to make a name for yourself will begin to drift away. It won’t be that important anymore. But when you’re doing it for someone else, someone you would move heaven and earth for then you never lose the desire to succeed. I can’t imagine this world without her in it. I don’t even want to.”

I hadn’t thought about those words again until today. The man who had raised my father was similar to him in many ways. But there was a difference. My dad did all of this for himself. His drive to succeed was selfish. There was no love in his work. My grandfather had built this business out of love for the woman he married. I’d seen that with my own eyes. I didn’t want to be my father. I wanted to be my grandfather.

“We need to agree to disagree,” I finally said knowing the mention of his parents would only infuriate him. He always thought my grandfather had made bad decisions even though he was the man who built this club.

My father smirked and shook his head. “No son, we don’t because I’m in charge here. If you’re choosing not to do what is best for this club and your future then you’re not ready to take over anything. I can’t promote you if I can’t trust you to make smart decisions. Your job at the club is safe for now but that doesn’t mean someone I can trust more to do your job won’t come along.”

Not only was he not going to give me the position I’d worked hard for he was threatening the position I currently had. I wanted to tell him to f**k himself and walk out. Before this was over I might end up doing just that. However, out of respect for the man who’d built this with the desire to hand it down to each generation of the Kerrington name, I would stay. That man I respected. The one in front of me I held no respect for. If he pushed me too far, I’d be gone. I wondered if he’d even miss me then.

Della

I changed into sweats and a tee shirt before walking back into the living room and talking to Tripp. I preferred to stay in this room and think about everything. I was still trying to figure out what happened and what I did wrong with Woods. He was giving me all kinds of mixed signals. Either he was disgusted by me and decided not to have sex with me or he had just been ready to get rid of me. I wasn’t sure. But then he’d made me wear his shirt and told me to change into baggy clothes. I wasn’t sure what to think about that.

As soon as I’d had that orgasm in his lap he’d been ready to get me the hell away from him. On the drive over here I had convinced myself that I’d screamed too loud and hurt him by pulling his hair like a crazed woman. Then maybe he was as embarrassed by the wet spot on my shorts as I was and that’s why he’d covered me up. He didn’t want Tripp to see me and know he’d been the cause of that. I reached over, picked his hoodie back up, and pulled it over my head. It smelled like Woods. I liked that. I had wanted to get to smell more of him tonight. The rejection I’d hoped to avoid was settling in.