Badboy Romance

by Lisa Simmons

  “Any minute now,” she said. She almost managed to hide the slight rise in tension in her voice. My stomach tightened a bit at the mention of my father, the source of most of my anxiety. I hadn’t really been worried about my sister, mum, or stepdad, but my father was more unpredictable. Growing up, he’d been my harshest critic and had had the fewest restraints when it came to expressing his disappointment in me. Abigail turned to glance at me, taking in my apparently anxious face before picking up her salad and walking toward me. She reached forward to pinch my hip lightly, scrunching her nose in an adorable smile as she passed to set her bowl on the table. Following her lead, I pushed myself off the counter to help set the table with dishes and food. Soon, with the help of everyone present, we had the table situated and laden down with far more food than necessary for six people. That was my mum for you. Gemma began talking to my mum and stepdad, giving me the opportunity to move towards Abigail. I came to stand in front of her, landing only a foot or so away.

  “How’s it going?” I asked.

  “Really well,” she said earnestly, raising her eyebrows and nodding at me. “They’re amazing, Reece.”

  “Yeah, they are,” I said. One of my eyebrows jumped up skeptically as I thought of my father, who was due to arrive any minute and currently making everyone wait on him to eat. She reached up to grip my bicep lightly, running her thumb soothingly along my skin.

  “It’s going well, babe. Just relax and have fun,” she said, grinning at me. Her eyes held my gaze and I was struck, as I so often was, with how lucky I was to call her mine. Forgetting my family was only feet away, I ducked my head down to press my lips lightly to hers. She, too, seemed to forget we weren’t alone, because she returned the pressure but didn’t deepen the kiss at all. She pulled back to beam up at me before a quiet squeak of joy from my mother at the sight jerked us out of our bubble. Abigail blushed and stepped back from me, running her hand down her opposite forearm with a guilty grin on her face. I almost rushed forward to kiss her all over again.

  “Now I know that tall, handsome young man isn’t my son?” a voice boomed from the entryway suddenly, shifting everyone’s attention in his direction. My father stood there, wearing a crisp navy shirt and pressed khakis with a wide, overly whitened smile on his face. I resisted the urge to scoff at him.

  “Hey, dad,” I said moving forward to shake his hand just as I had Robin’s. He gripped it tightly and clapped me on the arm, his smile blazing at me. “How are you? You look well,” he noted.

  “I’m good,” I answered simply. He nodded at me before addressing the rest of the room.

  “Robin, good to see you,” he said cordially. “Gemma, looking beautiful as always. Anne, how are things?”

  “Well, thank you,” she said politely with a smile that almost looked natural. “Dan, this is Abigail. Reece’s girlfriend.”

  She reached behind Abigail to usher her forward, offering her a bit of support as she approached my father. I felt an odd disappointment; I wanted to be the one to introduce her. “Girlfriend, hmm? Lovely to meet you. How’d he manage to get ahold of someone like you?” he said boisterously, chuckling at his own joke before glancing around to see if anyone else had laughed. No one had. “Um, nice to meet you, too. Dan, was it?” she asked, attempting to smile at him.

  “Yes, Dan. Now, shall we eat?” he asked, clapping his hands together and turning away abruptly from Abigail. I frowned at her, already on edge with my father. He hid his criticism behind a overly-loud attitude, masking his digs with what he liked to consider ‘humor’ and it could be quite grating. Her eyes landed on mine and she gave the smallest of shrugs before we all settled around the table, Abigail and I sitting across from my mother and stepfather with my father and sister taking the ends. “This looks great, mum,” Gemma said sincerely from the end of the table. Everyone reached for dishes to serve themselves before passing the bowl around the table. “Yeah, it really does,” Abigail said, grinning at my mum. She looked absolutely thrilled.

  “Thank you, dears. Can’t take all the credit though, I had some help,” she said, beaming at Robin and Abigail. Once everyone’s plates were filled, the dishes settled down and everyone started eating. “So,” Robin started. “How is it you two came to meet?”

  “Um,” I said, unsure of what to say. The truth was certainly out of the question. I was positive my family did not want to hear about how we’d started out sneaking off from parties to sleep together before I’d fallen completely in love with her. “We met at a party and hit it off.”They all nodded acceptingly, believing my simple explanation.

  “That’s great. And how long have you been an item?” he continued, looking genuinely interested.

  That was a difficult question, because we’d only been a technical couple for about a week, though we’d been together for months now. If you counted things way back to when we met, which I could fully admit now had pretty much always been different, it’d been even longer. “About eight months,” Abigail answered, saving me the trouble of trying to decide. I glanced at her and shot her a small, appreciative smile, which she returned easily. “Eight months!” my father boomed. “That’s got to blow your previous record out of the water, Reece.”

  “It does indeed,” I said, straining to keep my voice even.

  “This one is special to you, then?” he pressed, his mouth full of food as he took a bite and looked up at me from under his eyebrows.

  “Extremely.”

  My mum let out an audible sigh, and I glanced at her to see her gazing wistfully at Abigail and I. I shot her a questioning look with a raised eyebrow, hoping she’d hold herself together. “What are you studying, Abigail?” he continued, turning his gaze to her. She blinked in surprise before swallowing the food she’d been chewing. She leaned forward slightly as she answered.

  “History.”

  “History!” he repeated with a scoff. I frowned at his derisive tone. “What do you plan to do with that?”

  A fragment of a memory sparked in my mind, reminding me of when she’d once expressed how much she hated that question.

  “I’m not exactly sure yet,” she admitted. Her voice remained, somehow, pleasant.

  “Let’s hope you two don’t end up married or you’ll never be able to support yourselves,” he said, letting out a hearty laugh after as if he were joking. Again, no one else laughed.

  “Funny,” Gemma said flatly from her end of the table.

  “Did Reece tell you how he’s ending the family tradition?” he continued, peering expectantly at her.

  “Dan...” my mum muttered from across the table. He ignored her as he continued to stare at Abigail with an amused yet serious expression on his face. He sounded as if he were making light conversation but the palpable tension in the room indicated otherwise. “He’s studying geography,” Abigail said fairly, avoiding answering the question how my father wanted her to.

  “Geography,” he scoffed, grinning condescendingly. “Tell me what anyone can do with a geography degree. Should have gone to med school, son. I’ve been telling you that from day one!”“There are lots of things you can do with a geography degree,” Abigail defended lightly. I felt a rush of gratitude for her and cast her a soft smile that she did not see. Her gaze was fixed on my father’s, holding his defiantly all while managing to sound respectful. “Hmm. Just because he couldn’t hack it in medical school doesn’t mean he had to pick such a useless degree.”

  “Thanks, dad,” I said shortly, my voice flat and irritated.

  “Let’s talk about something else,” Robin said, intervening cautiously. “Where are you from, Abigail?”

  “Well listen, I was only saying you can’t expect to go anywhere in the world today with just any degree. Times are different now. Simply going to school isn’t enough to make it,” my father continued, ignoring Robin’s attempts to lift the tension. No one answered him while I glared at my plate, trying to ignore the anger rising inside me. It was enough f
or him to berate me like this all while growing up, but to do it in front of Abby...

  “It’s simply impractical,” he said, shaking his head with a slight shrug before taking another bite. He was either completely oblivious to how tense everyone had become or too conceited to care. “Yeah, well, should be used to me disappointing you by now, eh dad?” I said, ripping my gaze from the plate to glare at him. He froze, his fork nearly to his mouth before setting it back down on the plate. “I’m not sure that tone is called for, son,” he said, finally dropping his ridiculously phony bright tone as he stared back at me. My mum shifted uncomfortably in her chair in my peripheral vision. “You’ve been here ten minutes and you’ve already started on me,” I shot back, my fist clenching by my side. My fist relaxed, however, when I felt Abigail’s hand land on in, relaxing the muscles enough for her to grip my hand soothingly beneath the table. Her skin was warm against mine and it was the only thing I tried to focus on as my father prepared his comeback.

  He shook his head slowly, his stare demeaning as if he had never been so disappointed. “I wouldn’t have to be on your case if you’d just listened to me. All while growing up, you never listened. You were always selfish and refused to even consider the medical school thing just because it was what I wanted you to do.”Anger bubbled up inside me at his gall to blame this on me. He’d twisted everything around to make it look like I’d been some stubborn child when really, he’d forced his opinions on me and constantly told me I’d never be good enough for the only thing he wanted me to do, setting me up for failure from the start.

  “Such a disappointment,” he added, his eyes raking over me derisively before he leaned back in his chair to frown at me.

  “Reece’s not a disappointment,” Abigail said suddenly, surprising literally everyone at the table. Five pairs of eyes jerked to focus on her, and she blushed slightly at the sudden attention. “Excuse me?” said my father.

  “Reece’s not a disappointment,” she repeated firmly, bravely holding his gaze. “And he’s not selfish, either.”

  “Is that so?” he asked skeptically. Everyone else in the room appeared to be holding their breath, including myself.

  “Yes. He’s the most selfless person I’ve ever met. Clearly you don’t even know him at all because he’s a far better person than you give him credit for,” she said, her voice strong and slightly angry now. Her careful expression from before had fallen to reveal a determined glare that was directed at my father. I squeezed her hand silently, thanking her, but she continued to look at Dan. “I’m his father,” he retorted, his voice growing angry as he leaned forward. He pointed his fork mockingly at Abigail. “Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think.”“I know for a fact that I know exactly who he is,” she countered. My heart hammered a bit in my chest and my gut twisted over as the unparalleled love I felt for her racked through my body. God, she was amazing. “Okay then tell me. Who is he?” he prodded pretentiously. An infuriating sneer settled on his features as he prepared to mock whatever Abigail said. She shook her head and let out a quiet scoff as if she couldn’t believe how immature a fully-grown man, a prestigious doctor, no less, could behave. “I’m sorry you even have to ask, because you’re missing out. Reece is... brave. And loyal. And selfless and kind and sweet and loving and so many other things that most people in the world are lacking today. He’s the best person I know even though he was raised around a pompous jerk like you,” she said spitefully, practically seething now. I almost choked on my breath at her last statement while Gemma actually did, coughing violently at the end of the table while trying to hide her smirk.

  “I’m fine,” she gasped, waving her hands in front of her face. “Carry on.”

  Everyone seemed to ignore her as the heated gaze between Abigail and my father burned through the tension.

  “He’s a far better person than you,” she continued. “And I am so in love with him.”

  Her bold declaration sent a bit of a shockwave around the table, causing my mother to gasp quietly and Gemma to nearly choke again. I squeezed her hand again, running my thumb across her knuckles as gratitude for her seeped through my every pore. My father was the only one who didn’t react to her words. “It sounds to me, girl, that you’ve just fallen under his little spell,” he spit, leaning forward even more. He wasn’t used to people talking back to him, much less someone he just met. I watched as his face took on the spiteful expression I knew so well. “You’re not going to feel so fond of him when he leaves you. It can’t be long, now.”“You’re wrong,” I interrupted.

  “What?” he barked, snapping his attention to me for the first time in what felt like forever. He’d been so busy glaring at Abigail that it was as if he had forgotten anyone else was even present. “I won’t leave her,” I said firmly. “I can’t.”

  “You can’t?” he repeated skeptically.

  “I can’t and I won’t. I love her too much.” My voice was dripping with tension and my muscles were tight despite the gentle nature of my words. It irritated me greatly that I had to defend my relationship with Abigail after everything I’d gone through to prove to her what he predicted would never, ever happen. “You’re an absolute idiot,” he muttered, shaking his head as if the disappointment were too much for him to bear.

  “Maybe,” I said, glaring at him. “But at least I’m not an asshole.”

  "And I'm here now, feeling the pain of a thousand hearts; been to hell and back again, I won't take this."

  Chapter 79

  “Excuse me?” Dan said, his voice dripping with venom as he glared daggers at Reece. My hand was frozen in Reece’s as I tried to keep him calm, but it was hard when my own adrenaline was bubbling through my veins. “You heard me,” Reece said firmly, his voice deep and steady as he returned the heated gaze. My eyes flashed back and forth between them and I could practically feel the tension in the room settling onto my shoulders. No one dared speak to interrupt the loaded exchange. They stared at each other in silence, anger seeping off of Reece. My pulse pounded in my ears so loud I was positive everyone else could hear it as well. The tense silence was suddenly shattered by a bark of laughter from Dan, his head thrown back while he cackled darkly. He was grinning but the light didn’t reach his eyes, which remained cold and hard. “Oh come on,” he said, flashing his too-white grin around the table. “We were just joking around, right?”

  No one returned even a hint of a smile despite his efforts. Reece remained stiffened next to me, and I could see the tight breaths he was taking from the way his nostrils flared slightly. I squeezed his hand, causing him to blink once and take a full breath finally. Still, though, he didn’t look at me. “I think you should go, Dan,” Anne finally said, breaking the now tense and awkward silence.

  “No, no, we just started dinner! No need for that. Reece knows I wasn’t serious, right Reece?” he said smoothly, turning to flash his false smile at Reece. I glared at him, which he did not see through his false bravado. “You should go,” Anne repeated calmly. All throughout the exchange, Reece had continued to glare at his father and remained silent. Dan’s expression faltered before sliding off his face altogether. He slammed his utensils down sharply, making Gemma and I jump. “Fine,” he said, his voice once again losing the forced pleasant tone. “If I’m not wanted here, I’m not going to waste my time,” he spit, pushing his chair back with a screech before standing abruptly to walk out the way he’d come. Just as he was about to disappear through into the hallway, he paused and turned around, locking eyes with Reece.

  “Quite the girlfriend you have there, son,” he said spitefully, his tone making it very clear he thought none-too-highly of me. Reece snapped and lurched out of his seat, about to charge toward his father. My hand, which was still locked in his, jerked forward as he tried to take off. “Reece, no!” I shouted, desperately trying to keep my voice calm. I tugged as hard as I could, managing to stall him a split second long enough for his father to shoot him yet another disappointed glance
and disappear out the front door. I pulled on his hand, unable to get him back into his seat but at least stopping him from chasing down his father. No matter what he said, it wasn’t worth getting physical with his own flesh and blood over. I rose from my chair to shift closer to him, moving my body around so we were face to face. He seethed in front of me, his eyes directed over my shoulder to where his father had disappeared. His fists were shaking by his sides, vibrating slightly beneath my palms as I grasped them gently. “Reece,” I said as calmly as I could manage. I watched his eyes and hoped they’d come to meet mine. His jaw was clenched as tight as I’d ever seen, and I could see a vein pulsating slightly beneath his skin in his throat. I squeezed his hands once again. Finally, as he heaved out an uneven breath, he dropped his gaze to meet mine. He looked slightly wild, but the moment his eyes locked on my own the tension there melted just a bit.

  It was as if we’d fallen back into our own world, the thick tension of the room dissipating around us. I forgot we were standing right in front of the rest of his family, because all that mattered in that moment was calming him down. I hated to see him worked up like this, especially over something he’d clearly dealt with for a very long time all on his own. He wasn’t alone anymore.