Page 113 of Wrong For Me

“What’s going on?” Reed asks, appearing in the doorway to the patio, Lennon behind him.

I throw up my hands. “Awesome,” I mutter. “Just what I need. More Ransome men.”

“Hey.” Reed sounds offended. “What did I do?”

“Rosie?” Lennon asks. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say through gritted teeth. “Just trying to find out why my dad thought he should go behind my back and send his lawyer after a guy I really fucking liked.”

The kitchen goes silent, Reed and Lennon turning to look at their youngest brother. My dad’s cheeks are red, but he looks defiant.

“It’s my job to protect you,” he says firmly.

“And you need to do that by embarrassing me?” I ask. “By pushing away any guy I actually have feelings for?”

“That guy isn’t good enough for you, Rose!” he shouts. “Do you know the first thing about him?”

“Yes, I do!”

“Really?” my dad takes a step closer. “You know about his background? How he grew up?”

My mouth drops open. “How doyouknow about how he grew up?” He just glares at me and it sinks in. I groan, closing my eyes. “Dad, please tell me you didn’t run a background check on Leo.”

“Of course I did! You’re apparently spending all your time with him—which I had to find out from your cousin, by the way. This kid is going to distract you from your school work—”

“We worktogether!” I shout, incredulous. “Leo cares way more about school than I do! But that isn’t the point. You realize this is insane, right? A background check?” I look to my uncles. “Who does that?”

Uncle Cash’s voice is appeasing. “It’s difficult to trust people with our kids, sweetie. With our position—”

“Did you do a background check on Eva when she started dating Will?” I demand, and his mouth snaps close. “Of course you didn’t. Because that’snuts.”

“I’m not going to apologize for looking out for you,” my dad says.

I shake my head, so angry I can barely see straight. “He didn’t talk to me for months, Dad,” I say, my voice cracking. “He thought I was behind it, and he was so hurt. I’m so angry at you for doing that.”

My dad scoffs. “If he can’t handle something as simple as an NDA, he clearly shouldn’t be with someone like you.”

“Someone like me?” I whisper. “What does that mean?”

“It means we’re high profile. You’re high profile. You think I don’t know about photographers showing up at your school? You think I don’t hear about the guys who try to take advantage of who you are? If you think I’m going to just sit around and let people hurt you, you’re crazy.”

“So instead you try to bribe good men into staying away from me. I liked him, Dad! And you pushed him away, without even talking to me. You would rather I be alone, is that it?”

“Rose—”

But I’ve had it and I shout the next words without thinking. “Like it isn’t already hard enough to be your daughter!”

My father’s face slackens and he takes a step back, looking as shocked and pained as if I’d slapped him.

Shit. That was too far. Probably one of the worst things I could have said to him. And from the look on his face, I hurt him. I really hurt him. I need to take it back, to fix it.

But then I look past his shoulder and my gaze meets a pair of green eyes. My uncles left the door open when they came in, and Leo is standing right there. From the hard look on his face, he heard at least part of that conversation.

“I want to go home,” I whisper, and just like that he’s at my side, pushing past the famous Ransome brothers to get to me. His hand in mine is the only thing I can focus on. I’m so mixed up inside, so angry and so ashamed at the same time. More than anything—even more than the guilt that’s settling in for what I said to my dad—I hate thinking that Leo might have heard the derisive way Dad referred to his background. That I might have hurt him by bringing him here.

“Come on,” he says softly, arm coming around me. I think my dad says something to him but I don’t pay attention. All I can do is allow Leo to lead me out of my parents’ house.

He helps me into the car, taking the keys from me. For once, I don’t argue—I’m way too upset to drive. I stare blankly out the window as we leave the neighborhood behind, my emotions a mess. I hurt my dad but I’m still so angry at him. I hurt Leo, my family hurt Leo, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he never wanted anything to do with me again.