Page 55 of All This Time (Blossom Peak #1)

Fletcher

Revenge, an Ultimatum, and an Escape

My body is on high alert as soon as I see my father standing next to my truck, blocking the driver’s side door.

“What the fuck do you want?” I pull Laney behind me, keeping her hand in mine but shielding her from him.

The sinister laugh that leaves my father’s mouth makes me grip Laney’s hand tighter. “Nice bloody nose.”

“You would approve… You’ve given me a few yourself.”

His smile falters. “Watch your fucking mouth.”

“Or what?” I drop Laney’s hand and take a step toward the man who abused me most of my life, both physically and mentally, feeling my tolerance for his bullshit evaporate into thin air.

Hell, I’ve already been in one fight today, might as well make it two.

“Fletcher!” Laney calls out to me, but I put up my hand to silence her.

“Go ahead. Hit me. Show everyone here how you love taking swings at your son.”

Henley suddenly appears beside me, holding me back. “Fletcher, people are recording this, man,” he says in my ear.

I drift my eyes to the side and notice the crowd of people gathered around us. “Fuck.”

“That’s right. You wouldn’t want to ruin your precious reputation now, would you?” my father grates out, his smirk back in full force. “Although from the looks of it, your little piece of ass there is going to do that for you.”

“You motherfucker!”

I slam my father to the ground before landing a punch to his face. Rationality leaves my brain, red clouds my vision, and my fists keep landing on his face as all the rage from my childhood up until now leaves my body.

“Don’t you ever talk about her like that!” I roar.

Henley yanks me back before I can get another punch in. “You’re not fucking thinking straight, Fletch!”

“I’m done,” I snap, tossing my hands in the air, even though every part of me wants to get more hits in—as many as he’s delivered to me over the years.

“Get out of here.” Henley pushes me toward my truck. “Go! Before it gets worse.”

I reach for Laney’s hand and help her into my truck before I round the hood and hop inside myself. Gravel kicks up as I peel out of the parking lot.

My heart is racing as I drive away from the chaos. The truck is silent, the only sound the whir of the tires beneath us.

“Fletcher… You shouldn’t have done that.”

“What was I supposed to do? Stand by and let him talk about you like that?”

“No, but—”

“He fucking deserved it, Laney. Punching him is the least I could do after everything that man has put me through.”

“I don’t blame you. But the cameras… People were—”

“I know.” I slam my palm against the steering wheel. “Fuck!”

“What are we going to do?”

I stare out the front windshield. “Right now? Just be together. Let shit die down. And hope to God I didn’t just ruin my friendship with your brother and Elliot, and my career in one fucking day.”

***

My phone rings on the nightstand beside me, waking me up shortly after I’d fallen asleep. When I pick it up and look at the time, I see that it’s just after two in the morning. Laney and I talked for a while before she finally passed out, but I couldn’t shut my mind off.

I kept staring at her, wondering if I was doing the right thing dragging her into the chaos of my life, stroking the side of her face as my heart warred with my mind.

The videos of me punching my father went viral at record speed, causing my agent to call me a few hours after we left the winery, chastising me for my behavior.

When I told him why I hit my dad, though, his attitude changed rather quickly.

He’s the first person that I’ve told about my past besides Laney, and I have a feeling he won’t be the last.

He assured me that he’d spin this in the right way to make sure my career wasn’t in jeopardy, including contacting the PR team for the Carolina Thunder.

But the other issue I now have to face is that the world knows about Laney.

It’s clear that we’re an item from the multiple videos online, which is yet another piece of information shared with the world, but not in the way I planned.

I see the number on the phone has an Asheville area code, so I’m pressured to answer it, even though I don’t know who it might be.

“Hello?”

“Hello. I’m looking for Fletcher Adams.”

“This is he,” I reply as Laney stirs beside me. When her eyes pop open and she sees me on the phone, she pushes herself up, but I stop her from moving further.

“My name is Dr. Esser,” the man continues. “I work in the ER at Asheville Memorial Hospital and your father was brought in about an hour ago.”

I sit up, my pulse spiking. “Okay…”

“You might want to come down here. Your father was in an accident, and…”

“Fuck.” I bury my head in my free hand. “Did he…”

“He’s alive. Damn lucky, if you ask me.”

I toss the covers off and head straight for my closet. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“He’s stable, but since you’re his next of kin, I’m obligated to contact you.”

“Thank you.”

When I hang up the call, I find Laney right behind me in the closet, the sheet pulled around her naked body. “Fletcher?”

“My dad got in an accident.” I pull a shirt from a hanger and toss it over my head. “He’s in the hospital.”

“Is he okay?”

“Of course the fucker lived.” I twist to face her and find a look of terror in her eyes. “Shit, Laney.” I rush toward her, pulling her against my chest. Here I am irritated that my father is still alive, and yet Laney would give anything for her mom to still be here.

She leans back and looks up at me. “I’m going with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know I don’t.” She inhales slowly. “But I’m in love with you too, Fletcher Adams, and you don’t have to face him alone anymore.” It takes a few seconds for her words to register, and when they do, my lungs fill with oxygen in a way they never have.

I cup her face in my hands. “I love you so fucking much, Laney.” My lips meet hers. “I’m sorry that I said it for the first time in front of your brother, but…”

“It’s okay. I know you were just trying to get him to understand that this isn’t just a fluke.”

“It never was. I think I’ve loved you since I was seventeen. It just took me a while to admit it.”

She rolls her eyes at me, but her smile is blinding. “God, take forever, why don’t you?”

“If I recall, there was some avoiding on your part, too.”

“Well, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve both made mistakes.”

“I’m not perfect, Laney. I mean, fuck. Look at my life. Asking you to be a part of it is a lot. You sure that you want this?”

She drags her nails through my scruff, pulling my lips to hers. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”

“I don’t deserve you,” I mutter between nips of her lips.

“Yes, you do. You deserve to be loved unconditionally, and that’s exactly what I plan to do for the rest of our lives.”

***

Laney squeezes my hand as we follow the nurse down the hallway to my father’s room.

“He’s on some pretty heavy painkillers right now, so he probably won’t know that you’re here,” the nurse says as she stops outside the door.

“Dr. Esser will be by shortly to talk to you more about his recovery. The police have already been by to question him, but I know they wanted to talk to you too.”

“Of course. Anything I can do to help.”

Laney looks up at me. “You ready?”

“He’s not going to like what I have to say to him.”

“And you give a shit, why?”

Squeezing her hand, I say, “Thank you for being here.”

“I told you, you don’t have to deal with this alone anymore.”

I push the door open to his room, and even though I know he was in an accident, I’m still not prepared for what I see.

The massive man that raised me and taught me everything about the game we both love is lying in a hospital bed with cuts all over his face and bruises on his arms, and his right leg is in a cast. Honestly, he looks better off than he deserves.

The couple that he drunkenly crashed his car into last night though?

They have a long road to recovery. Laney shed tears when we found out that they survived, and I’m grateful they did.

I’m beyond relieved that another set of siblings won’t have to face the horrifying task of burying one of their parents like the woman next to me and her brother have.

I stand at the side of his bed, gripping Laney’s hand still.

“The windows must have shattered,” she says. “He has a million cuts.”

“Serves him right,” I grate out as anger and grief blur my vision. “He deserves much worse.”

“I agree.”

A groan leaves my father’s lips as he blinks himself awake, staring up at me. “Fletcher?”

“You should be dead,” I say without pause, my body shaking from the adrenaline racing through me.

“Fletcher,” Laney warns me from the side.

I know I sound like a selfish bastard wishing my father would have died last night, especially because the woman next to me would give anything for her mom to still be alive.

But I can’t deny how I feel. I can’t deny that part of me wished for that news just so this part of my past could have been buried with him.

“Son…” His lip trembles as his eyes fill with tears.

“No. You don’t get to cry. You don’t get to be sorry.” I point to the hallway outside. “There’s a couple out there, fighting for their fucking lives because of you.”

“I know.” He swallows roughly. “I didn’t…”

“You don’t get to blame this on anyone else but yourself. You’re a fucking alcoholic, Dad. When the hell are you going to admit that?”

“You’re right.” He reaches out for me, but I back away. “Fletcher…”