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He sat down hard, his shoulders slumped defeatedly. He gestured limply then passed a hand over his head. “Look. I’m sorry I shouted, okay? It’s just, you make me worry about you, Daisy. After what happened with your brother—and you’re still not over it—and with Kash back in town, and staying out late when I know you gotta work tomorrow—what’s happened to my little girl?” His voice broke and he wiped his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I sobbed. “I know you’re just worried. I know that. But you have to understand, Daddy. Please. I’m a grown up now, and even if I wasn’t—this is a small town. It’s safe. I know everybody here, and none of them have any reason to hurt me. I just wanted to go for a walk.”

He clenched his fists and ground his teeth, shaking his head. “You know what your problem is? You’re too trusting. Always have been. You think you’re safe because you’re pretty, but you’re not. Pretty is a liability. You’re gonna go out there and one person is gonna make you feel good and the next thing you know you’re gonna be dead in a field with your legs out to—”

“Daddy!”

“Well? I’m just saying, small town or not, there’s bad people in the world. You can’t keep wandering around at night all by yourself. It’s not safe. From now on, I want you in your bedroom by eight. Every night.”

“You’re putting a curfew on me? Are you serious? I’m twenty-four years old!”

“You’re my daughter! You live in my house, you play by my rules. Eight o’clock, every night, you’re in that bedroom. Do you hear me?”

I crossed my arms again, feeling like the petulant teenager he was pretending I was. Deep down, I wanted to handle this like an adult, but I didn’t know how. Anything I said would only prove to him that I was the child he thought I was. The only option I could see was to move out, but I knew I couldn’t get far enough away to be out of his grasp. Not on my own. He knew everybody. I’d be watched like a hawk every second of the day and as soon as I stepped out of line he’d be there to drag me right back in place.

A noise in the hallway caught my attention. There stood my mother, my second reason to stay. She was so gentle, so fragile, so beaten down by life and Dad and everything else. I couldn’t just leave her here with him. Hunter wouldn’t have done that and Hunter wouldn’t have wanted me to do it either. I shook my head, feeling the weight of the world move from side to side with it.

“Fine,” I said flatly. “You win.”

“Damn straight I do,” my father said, jerking his chin up. “Get me a beer.”