Ruin Me (28 page)

Piper shakes her head. “No,” she says. She twirls her fork around, gathering a long fettuccine noodle between the prongs before sliding it between her lips.

Philip sighs loudly as he takes a long sip of his drink.

“You’ve made friends?” my mother continues.

“No.” Piper sets her fork down. “Actually, I’ve been traveling with my mother.”

And there it is.

Philip stands up from the table.

“Honey, please,” my mother urges him. “Sit down.”

“I’ve heard enough,” he says.

“No, father, please…” Piper stares up at him with a smile teasing her lips. “Sit down.”

Philip leans forward with his hands on the table. “Why would you do this?” he asks her. “I made sure you had everything. Every opportunity in the world was yours.”

“I never asked for that,” Piper replies, calm as ever.

“I don’t care what you
asked for
,” he says. “You’re my daughter and you’ll do as I tell you to do.”

Piper smiles. She’s dangling a bloody limb above the shark’s pool. “With all due respect,” she says, “it’s that attitude that made me leave in the first place.”

“Philip, please sit down,” my mother asks again.

He slowly lowers himself back into his chair. “So, you were unhappy with my methods, then?” he asks. “That’s why you ran away from me?”

“Yes,” Piper confirms.

“You could have said something instead of putting us through all of this.”

“I
did,
” she says. “I tried to tell you,
for years
, that this life you were building wasn’t what I wanted, but you ignored me every time. I couldn’t breathe, but you didn’t care.”

“You’re being dramatic, Piper,” he argues.

“I’m being honest with you,” she says. Her eyes fall on me. Not for help, but for much-needed comfort.

I clear my throat. “She’s telling the truth,” I say. “I’ve known Piper for almost my entire life. It was always a joke to us at school how hard she worked and how much effort she put into everything, even the most simple of assignments. Everyone else brushed her off, but I could tell how much she hated it. She knew that if she faltered, even for a moment, you’d punish her for it.”

He glances at me. “None of that is any excuse for what she put us through.”

“And I agree,” I say. Piper blinks at me.

“She could have been killed, or worse,” he continues, “and we would never have known.”

“Philip, I never would have left her behind in Europe if I didn’t know she was safe,” I say. “I knew Penny was there with her. I spoke to her myself and I’ve…” My eyes fall on Piper. “I’ve made contact with her a few times since.”

She stares back at me. “What?” she whispers.

“You knew about all of this…” He shakes his head at me.

“I told you she was safe. The rest was up to her,” I say. “I don’t feel great about it, but that’s the truth.” I look at Piper again but she quickly turns away from me. Obviously, Penny kept our communications a secret like I asked her to. Piper told me she didn’t want to hear from me again after Madrid, but she didn’t say anything about her mother. It wasn’t often, maybe once a month in the form of a postcard or an email with a postscript that always told me Piper was okay.

After a short silence, my mother speaks up. “How is your mother?” she asks Piper, maintaining the neutral voice.

“She’s fine,” she answers, avoiding my gaze.

“Do send her my regards.”

“Sure.” Piper stares at the tablecloth.

“Well, I should have known,” Philip finally mutters. “This reckless irresponsibility was obviously instilled upon you by your mother…”

Piper gives him no response.

“And you…” He turns to me. “You claim to feel bad about all of this, but then you don’t think to alarm us when she shows up at your dorm room?”

I take a breath. “I—”

“You didn’t have time for a phone call?” he interrupts. “You had plenty of time to get her into your bed.”

“Dad!” Piper shouts. “You didn’t know I was here because I didn’t want you to know I was here. It wasn’t Kai’s decision.”

“Believe me, Piper,” he adds. “I would much rather you still be missing than to find you two the way I did. I
heard
various things about Kai in the hallways of my school, but I never thought for a moment he’d target
you.
”

“Okay, hold on—” I say. “It’s takes two, Philip. I’m not a damn predator.”

“You must have done something to make her compromise her morals,” he continues.

I chuckle. Hard. I look across the table at Piper. “Would you like to step in here?” I ask her.

She hesitates, but pushes through it. “Dad…” she says. “Much like what you heard about Kai… I’m a little
experienced
in… that area.”

“More than a little,” I jab.

The blue oceans in her eyes begin to boil. “We don’t have to get into details about it,” she seethes. “I went to see Kai first and some confusing emotions came back and—”

“Came back?”
Philip asks. “You two have done this before?”

She bites her tongue and sits back in her chair, reacting to the anger in his voice.

“Yes,” I confirm. “We have a history.”

Philip’s hands curl into fists against the tablecloth. “You two… were
sleeping together
in this house?”

“No!”
we both say, shaking our heads.

“Never,” Piper adds.

“Nothing happened between us until Europe,” I say.

“For heaven’s sake, Kai…” My mother’s little voice finally surfaces once more. She looks at me with great disappointment as embarrassment floods her cheeks.

“Look, I know this seems
wrong
, but…” I meet Piper’s eyes across the table, “we care about each other.”

“You are
step-siblings
, Kai,” my mother says.

“We weren’t always.”

She shakes her head. “I can’t even begin to imagine what your father will think of all of this.”

“Actually, Mom,” I say, “I’m fairly certain he’d be supportive. He might even high-five me for it.”

“No surprise there,” Philip growls. “This may have never happened if you actually had a strong father figure in your life. Someone there to teach you some respect.”

Anger boils beneath my skin. Piper wants me to back down, I can see it in her little blue eyes, but I can’t bring myself to do it. “That is the last time you disrespect my father.” I stare him down. “Are we clear?”

He scoffs but says nothing else.

“Philip, Kai,
please
…” my mother adds. “Can we keep this civil?”

“Civility, Ava, went out the window the moment I found out my daughter was nothing more than a common whore.”

The table falls silent, but I don’t let it last long. “Don’t you dare call her that,” I warn him.

“I will say what I wish to say in my own house.”

“Apologize to her.”

“Absolutely not.”

“No,” Piper says. “I don’t want his apology.” She reaches over her shoulder and grabs the handbag hanging down on the back of her chair.

I look at her. Her pale face is more ghost white than I’ve ever seen it before. “Pipes…” I whisper. I want her to look up at me — I
need
her to — but she stares down at her phone in her hands and sends a text message.

“Who are you texting?” Philip barks at her.

“My ride,” she replies.

“Oh, you aren’t going anywhere,” he says, tapping the table with a stiff finger. “I’m not letting you out of my sight for the rest of your life, do you hear me?”

“I hear you loud and clear, Dad,” she replies. “I’m just choosing not to listen.”

“You
will
listen to me, Piper,” he says. “So help me god, I will get through to you—”

“I don’t want your apology,” she repeats. “I don’t want Harvard. I don’t want your trust fund. I don’t want
anything
from you ever again.”

“Piper…” I say, drawing her wounded eyes. It’s a look I’ve seen on her a thousand times before. That
‘I’ll take care of myself’
look.

Fuck.

“I’m not going to sit here and watch as my only daughter destroys her life,” Philip fires back at her.

“Then close your fucking eyes,” she seethes.

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that.”

“Deal with it,” she says. “I’m done.”

“Piper!” I shout across the table. “Think about this.”

She shakes her head. “I should have known you’d take his side, Kai.”

“I’m not taking sides—”

“I mean, you’ve never been able to accept me for who I really am. Why would I ever expect him to?” she asks.

“That’s bullshit, Pipes.”

“Is it?” She stares at me, firm and direct. “I remember you singing a
very
different tune in Rome. And Paris. You couldn’t deal with what I was. You treated me like something that needed to be controlled, just like he is now.”

“You’re way off,” I tell her. “Everything I’ve ever done was to protect you. Not control you.”

“There’s no difference.”

The doorbell rings out and she stands from her chair. I think it must be Mandy at the door, but there’s no way she could have gotten here from the university so quickly.

“Sit back down!” Philip shouts.

“No,” she says as she grabs her purse. “I never should have come back here…” Her eyes fall on me and I see the tears forming behind her lashes.

I open my mouth to speak, to ask her to stay, but the sound of high heels clicking in the hallway keeps me silent. All eyes turn to the dining room doorway behind me as her familiar shape emerges from the shadows.

“Mom…” Piper says. “I told you to wait outside.”

Penny glides into the room and stalls by my chair. “Oh, why would I do that when the alternative is so much more fun for
me
?” she asks. “You all should really learn to lock your doors. You never know who could just waltz right in.” Her eyes fall down to mine. “It’s nice to see you again, Kai.”

I look at her and I see the thick amusement in her eyes. Her long, black hair is beautifully styled in waves, falling all the way down below her breasts. She wears a stunning red dress and heeled shoes, a perfect date night outfit. “Hello, Penny,” I greet. She lays a white hand on my shoulder and squeezes once before stepping away. I turn to my mother, who looks at us both in silent horror.

“Philip…” Penny purrs through thick, red lips.

“I didn’t realize you’d be joining us tonight, Penny,” he mutters, refusing to glance in her direction.

“I had no intention to,” she answers. “No, in fact, this house and everything in it is ash in my mind, but when I receive an emergency S.O.S. from my daughter, I cannot ignore it. Unlike you, I’m not too keen on watching her drown in misery.”

“I suppose you’re perfectly content with allowing her to continue on like this, then?” he asks her.

“Piper is an adult, Philip. She’s capable of making her own decisions.”

“Her own decisions?” he asks. “I beg to differ. This has your influence written all over it.”

Penny smiles. “Perhaps.” She glances across the table at my mother and chews on her lip, no doubt wondering what, if anything, to say to her. The other woman. The woman that stole her husband, her life, and her family.

In the end, she says nothing.

“I don’t know if you’re aware of this, Penny,” Philip says, “but we caught the two of them in bed together.”

Penny waits to hear more. When he stays silent, she shrugs her shoulders. “So?”

“
So?
It’s a highly inappropriate relationship and we shouldn’t stand for it!”

“Oh, kids,” Penny smirks. “I think he’s got you now. After all, he
is
the supreme authority on inappropriate sexual relationships. Aren’t you, Philip?”

I bite my inner cheek to keep from grinning.

“This is neither the time nor the place for your jokes, Penny,” he retorts.

“No one is laughing, Philip,” she says, her voice smooth as butter. “At least, not aloud.” She turns on her heels and looks at Piper. “We can go now. I’m done.”

Piper rushes out of the dining room while Penny follows her slowly. The clacking of her heels echo through the silent front hall. I stand up from the table.

“Where are you going, Kai?” my mother asks.

“Honestly, Mom,” I say. “I haven’t decided yet.” I follow the girls out of the room.

Piper slams the front door behind them. I grit my teeth and pull it open. “Go back inside, Kai,” she says as she marches towards the car in the driveway. Penny says nothing as she climbs into the driver’s seat.