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“I’m here,” I tell him. “I’m home.”
Aiden and Elena come to visit me the next day.
“You should go,” my father says once he opens the door. “Aria is tired. She needs to rest. No visitors.”
“Dad, it’s fine. Did you guys need something?”
“What they need to do is go.” Dad looks Aiden up and down with a sneer. “I never trusted you. Not with who your brother is. He hurt my daughter. You should feel ashamed to call Finn your brother.”
“Aiden can’t help who his brother is,” Elena says. “We’re here to offer Aria some support. If anyone knows Finn the most, it’s us. I just wanted to make sure she’s ok.”
“She’s ok. Clearly you can see that she’s ok. Now go.”
“Dad,” I say, getting in front of him. “They can stay. I’m fine. I’m not a little girl anymore. I don’t need you to coddle me.”
“You’ve just been through something traumatic. You need me right now.”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. I love my dad but I don’t need him as much as he thinks. I’m glad to have him back in my life but I didn’t miss his constant overprotectiveness. I’m a woman now. Married. No longer a virgin. I know what it’s like to be truly scared and I know what it’s like to have my heart and eyes open up.
But of course my dad doesn’t see any of that.
“I’m fine,” I say to him. “I want to talk to Aiden and Elena. Let them in.”
He sighs and motions them inside the house. We all settle into the living room with me and Elena on the couch, Aiden in the chair by the fireplace and my dad, pacing around the room because he’s too anxious to sit still.
“How are you doing?” I ask Elena, nodding at her belly.
She runs her hand over her stomach. “I should be asking you that.” Elena is just two years older than me but already she feels so much more mature. I guess pregnancy will do that to you.
“I’m… fine, I guess. Given everything.” I don’t tell them that I still see Sal’s face at night, torturing me or Finn’s hungry eyes, showing me pleasure. Neither is appropriate guest conversation.
“Aria,” Aiden says, leaning forward, “I need to know. Did my brother ever hurt you?”
“Why do you want to know that?”
“Because I just need to know. I need to know what he’s capable of. Fully.”
“You don’t know?”
Aiden flushes a little. “I know the man he used to be. I know the bad things he’s done. The things… we both did. But he was never one to torture women. I just need to know what he did to you.”
My dad covers his ears. “I don’t want to hear this.”
“Then leave the room,” I snap more harshly than I mean. Aiden and Elena stare at me in shock.
My dad looks at me with hurt in his eyes. “I’ll pretend you didn’t say that. But I’ll give you your space if that’s what you need.” It’s awkward as he leaves the room.
I sigh. “I didn’t mean to sound harsh. I’m just tired of him hovering. He hovered over me all last night and now this morning. I’m already getting tired of it.”
“He just worries,” Elena says. “My dad… he used to worry about me.”
I flinch. Elena’s dad was killed. By Finn.
“I’m sorry,” I say to her.
“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I’m just saying. I wish I still had my dad with me to worry over me. Don’t take your dad for granted.”
“I won’t. But I’ve changed since Finn took me. I’m no longer the same person and my dad will never see that.”