Page 123 of The Defender

He shook his head. The playful gleam vanished, replaced with something more wicked. “We should?—”

“Ahem.”

Vincent and I jumped apart like we’d been burned.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Hi, Coach.”

Our voices overlapped as we stared sheepishly at my dad. He stood at the entrance to the changing room, his face creased with a glower. “What are you two doing here? Alone?”

“Talking,” Vincent quickly said.

“I wanted to see the changing room one last time before I left,” I added.

“I stayed late so I could drive her home.”

“We’re innocent.”

Okay, my last statement wasn’t that of an innocent person, though it was, ironically, correct. Just because I’d beenthinkingabout shower sex didn’t mean we’dengagedin shower sex.

Semantics. They mattered.

My dad’s eyes narrowed. “Uh-huh.”

He hadn’t guilt tripped me about leaving Blackcastle since our talk. He was, however, still ornery every time he saw Vincent and me alone together. He hadn’t been there for my past boyfriends, and I suspected he was struggling with how to handle my love life.

“Get out of here,” he finally said. “You have an early flight tomorrow. You need sleep.” He paused, then added, “But if you want to skip California altogether, I’ll handle the hurricane.”

The “hurricane” was my mother, but not even my father could save me from the shitstorm that would ensue if I missed her C-section.

“It’s okay, Dad. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Vincent and I left quickly before he changed his mind and decided to interrogate us some more about our changing room plans.

“Good thing I don’t live with him anymore,” Vincent said as I turned in my employee badge to HR. He’d filed an injunction against Ethan Brown and moved back home the weekend after Christmas. “Or else he’d be chaperoning your visits like a primary school teacher.”

I laughed. “Yeah. That’s a part of his parenting I never missed.”

I gathered my belongings from the intern office. Vincent placed his hand on the small of my back as we headed toward the exit. I tried to think of anything I might be forgetting, but I came up with nothing.

I’d said my goodbyes. I’d done my farewell tour of the facilities, and I’d made my peace with leaving. The end of my internship wasn’t the end of the world. I could still see the people I wanted to see outside the club, and while it’d be weird not to work with Vincent every day, we’d adjust. We always did.

The lump in my throat slowly dissolved.

I didn’t know what the next chapter of my life would bring, but when I walked out of Blackcastle for the last time as an employee, I felt more hopeful about the future than I had in months.

CHAPTER 33

BROOKLYN

San Diego was eight hours behind London, so I landed bright and early in California the following day. I hadn’t been back since I moved, and the salty ocean air sent a wave of nostalgia crashing through me when I exited the airport.

My mom and stepfather knew when I’d be arriving, but Harry was at work and my mom was overseeing renovations at their house, so I shelled out the absurd fees for an airport taxi to my hotel.

They had plenty of guest rooms at their place, but I would rather tear my hair out than spend an entire weekend with them.

I stared out the window as the city whizzed by. It was weird seeing the familiar spots from my childhood when I’d been gone for so long. The smoothie shop I’d frequented, the movie theater where I’d had my first (horrible) kiss, the stretch of beach where I’d learned how to surf…they all seemed so quaint, like they belonged to a different life.