“You…!” her dad bellowed with what appeared to be a forced reaction. “You screwed my daughter?”

Max ignored Ron for the most part. He only turned to him and said, “You treated her like she was nothing but a disappointment. I treated her like a queen,” he countered.

“Ron.” His wife moved in and pulled her husband by his jacket toward the door. “Ron, they need to set things right.”

“You knew!” He pointed his finger at his wife. “You fucking knew?” Then he slapped her across the face with the flat of his hand and yelled, “Get in the fucking car!”

“No,” she screamed. “No, I will not get in the fucking car.”

“You forced my hand with the apartments for Katherine. You told me she was in a bad way, that she needed to stay here, and you didn’t think to tell me why?”

“Do you think, Ron, if I had come to you and said our daughter is in love with a man who is fifteen years older than her, who she’d been seeing right under our noses since she was fourteen, and that man happened to be your business partner, you’d be happy about that? By the time I put all the pieces together, it’d gone on for so long, my only option was to pretend like I didn’t know, so I could get you and Max as far away from her as possible. One man who should’ve protected her, the other, who you should’ve protected her from. Both of us, Ron. We both should’ve protected our daughter.” Her tears came silently, a reaction I thought was familiar to her. “I knew Max would leave her, and if she came to Florida with us, he’d keep hurting her over and over again, because, just like you, he has no spine.”

“You knew?” Katherine asked her mother.

I could hear her own silent tears next to me and wanted this all to end as quickly as possible. It was time to put a stop to Katherine’s pain.

As I took in the situation, Max lifted his hand to wipe her face.

I felt every inch of my body ignite in pure hatred. My hands began to shake as I tried to control my temper, and told him, “Touch her again and I will break your hand.”

I’d never felt hate like I felt it then, but it was nothing compared to the pain that seared right through me when Katherine looked at me, took her hand from mine, her eyes red and swollen, and said, “I have things I need to say to Max without an audience, H.”

I took her hand back, too hard, and watched her face wince at the pain, but she gave me a soft squeeze and implored softly, “Please.”

And then, I let her go, and watched, as everyone else did, her mom and dad standing to the side. Victoria, who was behind us now, moved beside me, sobbing, and just like that, Katherine led Max out the front door.

Katherine

Max tried to wrap his arm around my shoulders, tucking me into the side of his body, and for a few seconds, I fell right into place, protected from the big bad wolf that was my oppressive, asshole father.

“He slapped her,” I said, my eyes on the sidewalk as we walked down Pacific Coast Highway.

“Not the first time, darling.”

“It should be the last time.” I yanked free from him and turned around, back toward Bear Claw.

“Katherine, she’s a grown woman,” he said, impatience in his tone.

“What did you say to me?”

“She’s a grown woman. She needs to make her own choices. You can’t make them for her.”

I turned back to him and got in his face, “Why are you here?”

“Katherine…”

“Why are you fucking here?” I screamed.

“Lower your voice,” he warned.

“No. I want to know why you’re here. I know my parents are here for some engagement thing. Why are you here?”

“We should go somewhere and talk. We’ll go to your apartment and talk.”

“I live in that apartment with my fiancé, you asshole. I just walked away from him so I can tell you to your face what I’ve finally figured out: you should be in fucking jail! Done! Now, I need to get back to Holst!”

“I didn’t expect you to be like this, Katherine…” he commented. And I was pleasantly surprised to know, I didn’t give a fuck what he thought. I might change my mind later, after it all sunk in. But for now, seeing him in person for the first time in years, I felt nothing for him.

“You…don’t…know…me!” I yelled then began my walk toward Bear Claw again. With his footfalls loud behind me, I kept talking. “You know what I’ve been doing the last thirteen years, Max?”

“Katherine.” He grabbed my arm. “Please, let’s…”

I spun around and got in his face. “Waiting! Waiting and fantasizing that you’d come back to me, and you never fucking did. And then, I figured out exactly who and what you are. And here I am, finally taking a stand against my dad, following my dream, and letting a fantastic man into my heart. God…he makes my heart sing, Max. He makes my body cry tears of fucking joy, and what I have with him is so much more than what we had. There’s no comparison. None. And you came here with my dad for a reason. So, tell me why? Feeling nostalgic for the good old days when you were fucking underage, virgin cunt?”

“Jesus, Katherine…you’re so…”

“Awesome,” Tori chimed in. “I think the word you’re looking for is awesome.”

“And you would be?” he asked.

“The pregnant best friend who is going to feed you your dick if you hurt my best friend any more than you already have. Are we done here?” she asked me, calm as can be. “The baby wants a taco.”

“Katherine, we’re not finished,” he warned, trying to make me bend to his will with that demanding tone.

“Why are you here?” I asked again.

He lifted his chin, his jaw ticcing in anger, but answered, “The engagement party…”

“Is yours,” I finished.

“Yes.”

“Taking me for one last spin?” I surmised, and he said nothing.

Max had aged remarkably well, but I knew he would. He looked…weathered, greys mixed with the brown and blond strands, obviously in good shape, nice tan. And then I asked the question that would tell me exactly what I needed to know.

“How old is she?”

“Ka—”

“How old?”

He took a breath and told me after a long silence, “Twenty-six.”

“Oh my God…”

“Katherine,” he tried to interrupt.

“You’re…I pray you don’t have daughters,” I whispered. “You’re not a good man, Max.”

“It wasn’t like that,” he defended with conviction. He moved to touch me again as I stepped back. “I loved you, Katherine, and I’ve never forgotten what those years were like, and the years since—”

“If you loved me, you would’ve come back so I wouldn’t have been in pain anymore, but you didn’t. I was too young, Max. And you know it. I was lost. I was…You countered everything my dad did and said, but rewarded yourself with my affection and my body. You manipulated me until you were my entire world.”

“Katherine…”

“My entire world. And I wasn’t yours.” I never wanted to believe it, but Holst was absolutely right. “I was your prey.”

I turned with Tori, and, arm in arm, we headed  back to Bear Claw.

And I never looked back.

I stopped in front of her gate. “Did I sound convincing? I mean, about feeding him his dick?”

“Tori.”

I stopped her and shook my head.

“Please, tell me whatever it is that’s going on inside your head right now. Come on, this is it,” she urged. “You and me…my soul sister…talk to me,” she pleaded, shaking both my arms.

“It’s over,” I said.

“More…”

“I’m free,” I whispered.

“Yeah. I think you are. You want a taco?”

“No, I want my man, and I want a beer,” I told her and looked her in the eyes. “I love you, Victoria Muir. But I really need to get back to Holst.”

“We’re gonna name the baby, Lana,” she told me randomly.

“Sorry?” I asked, confused by the topic change. I took out my phone and checked to see if Holst tried to reach me.