Chapter 30
Skye
Aweek after that night with Gage at Club Red, I finally feel like I have my feet under me again. I've been going to class, turning in assignments, and even managing a few hours of sleep most nights.
Gage and I have tried our best to keep our distance on campus, barely making eye contact in class, but every stolen glance is enough to light a spark that keeps me going.
We have had one more stolen moment in his office before promising to lie low until the end of the semester.
Now we are so close, just two more weeks.
I'm thinking of sending Gage a dirty text, knowing he's in the middle of one of his other classes.
But then my phone rings.
It's my dad.
I almost don't answer, but something in my gut tells me to pick up.
"Skye, I need you to come over. Now."
His voice is clipped, and furious. My instinctive reaction is to hang up. He is not, nor will ever be my parent, but I've never heard him like this.
"What's going on?" I bite out.
"Just get here. This can't wait."
He hangs up before I can ask anything else.
My stomach churns as I grab my keys and head to his place. The whole drive over, my thoughts are a mess. Did something happen related to my mom? Is someone sick?
The moment I walk through the door, I know it's something else entirely. He's standing in the middle of the living room, pacing, with a printed photo in his hand. The tension in the room is suffocating.
"What's going on?" I ask, heart thudding.
He turns, face red and jaw clenched, and holds up the photo. I freeze.
It's a still from a security camera. Me and Gage at school. The last time we slipped into his office. When he greeted me at the door, and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his office. This photo shows him kissing my neck and wrapping his arms around me. We got reckless.
My blood runs cold.
"A friend of mine from the university saw this. He recognized you. Then he recognized him."
"I can explain," I say, but he's already charging forward.
"Explain what? That you're sleeping with your professor? That you're risking everything you've worked for?"
"It didn't happen like that. We met before school started. We didn't know…"
He cuts me off, waving the photo in the air. "Didn't know? And once you found out? What then? You just kept going like it didn't matter?"
"We tried to stop. We really did. But we kept running into each other. We couldn't stay away."
His eyes narrow, suspicion sharp. "So what? Is this about grades? A shortcut? Did he force you?"
I take a sharp step forward, my voice hard. "Don't you dare. Don't you even imply that. This wasn't coercion or manipulation. This is the same Gage who held me together when I felt apart after Mom died. The one you said you were glad I had to help me. I love him."
He stares at me as if I've just grown a second head. "Love doesn't protect your reputation. It doesn't keep you enrolled when the Board decides to make an example out of you."
"You would know all about destroying reputations, wouldn't you?" I snap. "Wasn't it stepmom number three who was my teacher and then she dragged your name through the mud so badly I had to transfer schools? Lost all my friends. Lost everything."
His face hardens. "This isn't about me."
"Isn't it? You think you get to lecture me on choices when you couldn't even be bothered to raise me? When you abandoned Mom and me and didn't even send child support. Mom worked horrible jobs at the factory, which led to her getting cancer and dying!" I yell at him, letting all the anger out.
He opens his mouth to speak, then closes it. The fight seems to drain from him, leaving behind only regret.
"I paid for your mother's care," he says quietly. "I did everything I could."
"And lied about it. You let me believe it was some charity, some miracle study that took care of everything. You let Gage be the one to tell me."
His shoulders slump as he sits down heavily on the edge of the couch. "I didn't know how to be your father. But I didn't want you to see me failing. I thought... I thought if I gave you stability, even if it wasn't from me, it would be enough."
"You were ashamed."
He lowers his head, voice low. "Yes. I was ashamed. I didn't know how to show up for you. I was grieving, angry at myself, at the world, and I didn't want to look you in the eye and see the same disappointment I saw every time I looked in the mirror."
I stare at him with my arms crossed tightly over my chest. My throat is thick, but I force myself to speak. "So instead of being there, you threw money at the problem and called it love."
His eyes lift to mine, and he doesn't flinch. "I know I failed you. Every single time you needed a father, I wasn't there. I thought success would make it okay. That if I gave you everything else, it would make up for the absence. But it didn't. I see that now."
My voice cracks. "You didn't need to be perfect. I never asked for that. I needed to know you gave a damn. That I mattered to you as more than an obligation."
He nods, tears now pooling in his eyes. "You do matter. You always have. I was just too broken and too cowardly to face it."
I pace a few steps, trying to contain the rage and sorrow bubbling up. "And now, when I've finally found something real, someone real, you sit there and accuse me of doing it for grades? Do you even know who I am?"
He leans forward, elbows on his knees. "No. I don't. And that's on me. But I'd like to. If you'll let me."
I stare at him, breathing hard, every part of me shaking.
"Then stop assuming the worst of me. Stop thinking that every choice I make is a disaster waiting to happen. I'm not a kid anymore, and I don't need your money. I needed your honesty."
He stands slowly, crossing to me with hesitant steps. "I can't change the past, Skye. But I'm here now. And I want to fix this. I want to help you and Gage. I'll talk to the Board, and I'll do what I can to protect both of you."
I look at him, the wall between us crumbling just enough to let some light through. "I'm not making promises, but I'm willing to try."
He exhales, relief softening his features. "That's all I'm asking."
We stand in silence for a long moment, the air thick with everything we've never said.
Then my stepmom steps into the room, eyes wide, clearly having heard enough. But instead of snapping or laying into either of us, her voice is soft.
"I know you're both hurting. I know there's a lot of anger here, and maybe it's deserved. But I also know that you love each other, whether you admit it or not."
Walking over slowly, she places a gentle hand on my dad's shoulder and then reaches out to me.
She looks between us. "Skye, your dad is flawed. God knows he's made mistakes. But he loves you. He's trying now, and you also have a chance here, for both of you to start again."
I blink, my defenses cracking under her kindness.
"I just wanted someone to fight for me," I whisper.
She pulls me into a hug, holding me close. "Then let us start now. Let us fight for you. Let’s try moving forward. Together."
My dad joins the hug, tentative but solid, wrapping his arms around both of us. For the first time in years, I don't pull away.
After a minute, I pull back a few steps. The weight of everything hits me again, hard. My legs tremble as I think about Gage. That image of us at school. Him in that frame, the one moment of warmth we allowed ourselves, caught and twisted into something damning.
A fresh wave of panic churns inside me.
Is he okay?
What if he gets fired?
I picture him sitting in that cold conference room right now, being interrogated by people who know nothing about us. Nothing about how careful we were. How hard we tried to avoid this.
I can handle the fallout. The whispers. The sideways looks. But the thought of him losing everything, his position, his research, his respect, because of me? Because he loved me?
It makes my stomach twist with guilt and fury.
He doesn't deserve this. He's done everything right. Always steady. Always being protective. And now he's the one at risk.
"Is he going to be okay?" I ask quietly.
My dad looks up. "What?"
"Gage. Is he okay?"
He hesitates. "It's not looking good the Ethics board is deciding what kind of action to take."
The thought makes me feel sick. "He could lose his job because of me."
"Because of the choices you both made," my dad says gently, not unkindly. "You're not the only one with something to lose."
"But I can survive the fallout. I can find another program, another school. This job is everything to him."
"Then maybe it's time I stepped in and made it clear how important this is. For both of you."
His words take me by surprise. I blink rapidly, trying to push down the emotions climbing up my throat.
"You'd really do that? After everything?"
"I should have done a lot of things differently," he says. "But I can try to get this one right."
My stepmom hugs me, firm but tender, and holds me close.
"You've changed since you started seeing Gage.
You're stronger. More grounded. I used to think you kept your distance because you didn't like me, but now I understand.
You were protecting yourself. I just want you to know I see you now. And I'm proud of who you're becoming."
Then she looks at my dad, her hand resting over his heart. "You've always wanted to protect her. You just didn't know how."
He swallows hard, nodding, and pulls both of us into a hug. It's clumsy but real.
He clears his throat. "I'll talk to the board. I'll fix this. I just don't know how yet, but I will."
I nod. "Thank you."
He sighs. "And when this all calms down, I want to have dinner together. With you and Gage. If you'll let me."
I blink in surprise, then give a small smile. "Okay."
As I turn to leave, I stop in front of my stepmom and pull her into another hug. "Thank you. For everything."
She hugs me tight. "Anytime."
"Lunch soon? Just us?"
Her face lights up. "I'd love that."
And for the first time in a long time, I walk out of that house feeling like maybe we can start over. All of us.