Page 73 of The Defender

Disappointment sliced through me. I’d told him the truth about how I felt last week. Our problems ran so much deeper than my career, but he still chose to focus on that instead of our inability to connect over anything other than work.

“I told you I would do that.” A heavy weight settled into my bones. I already regretted leaving my office. Dealing with Henry would be better than this.

“I thought you were bluffing. I really bloody hope you’re not doing this to spite me, Brooke.” A trace of frustration slipped into his words.

“And I told you that’s not the reason.” We were a broken record, circling round and round the same topic. “I’m leaving because Blackcastle isn’t the right fit.”

“Not the right fit,” he repeated. “You’ve been interning here for over a year, and you’ve never complained once.”

“It’s not about complaining. It’s about…” I searched for the right term, but it was hard to think through the fog in my head.

Honestly, I was exhausted. I’d been staying up late every night working on my ISNA essay, which was still crap. My job search proved even more fruitless the second time around. The holidays were coming up, which meant gift shopping and events and anxiety. Throw in the emotional toll of fighting with my dad and the uncertainty of my relationship with Vincent, and I was primed for a meltdown.

I wasn’t going to tell my dad any of that though. He already thought I was a mess. I refused to give him more ammo.

“It’s about finding my own path,” I finally said. “I told you the other day. If I stay here, I’ll always be in your shadow. People will always have lingering doubts about whether I’m getting special treatment because my last name is Armstrong.”

“You don’t get special treatment, and people don’t think that,” he argued. “I didn’t even know you were applying for an internship until you got it.”

“It doesn’t matter. You know how the truth gets twisted into rumors. People believe what they want to believe.” I took a deep breath and made another attempt to steer this conversation where it needed to go. If I didn’t captain the ship, no one would. “I got internship offers from other Premier League clubs, but I chose Blackcastle becauseyouwere here. I thought it would be a good bonding experience. Instead, it’s been the opposite. It’s like you think that because we see each other every day at work, we don’t need to talk outside of that. But I don’t want a boss; I want a dad. So maybe the solution is seeing less of each other in the office, not more.”

“We’ve had…bonding experiences.” He said the words slowly, like he wasn’t sure what they meant. “We had that dinner. We talked about your dating life.”

“That was one time in eighteen months.”

He had no response to that.

“I love the team, and I’ll always be the biggest Blackcastle supporter, but I have to move on. Nothing you say will change that.”

“What about money? This is London! You can’t survive in London on savings alone.” His frustration visibly mounted again.

“I have enough to tide me over for a few months until I find a new job.”

Vincent’s rent money was my saving grace. It was enough to keep me afloat until summer.

“I know you won’t take money from me, but I can’t let you…flounderout there.” My dad’s signature frown returned. “You’re moving in with me until you find a new job.”

I balked. “Absolutely not.” That wasnotthe bonding I had in mind. Living with your parent as an adult was a surefire way to mangle the relationship, not heal it.“Besides, Vincent is livingwith you. Wasn’t the point of that to keep us from living under the same roof?”

His mouth flattened into a thin line. He couldn’t dispute my argument, and he wasn’t heartless enough to kick Vincent out of his house (even if Vincent wanted him to). Maybe he was punishing Vincent for lying to him, but he also did care about his players’ safety.

“You’ve made up your mind, so I won’t try to change it anymore. But I hope like hell you know what you’re doing, Brooke,” he said, his tone grim. “Because I sure don’t.”

He walked away.

My hands curled into fists. I wanted to scream.

That was our second round of the same fight, and hestilldidn’t get it. Maybe he never would. I’d moved across an entire ocean chasing a dream—a real relationship with him, plus a chance at making a name for myself—and it was starting to dawn on me that the dream might’ve just been a delusion.

“Wow. That was crazy.” Henry came up beside me, a chocolate bar in hand. I was too tired to care how long he’d been there or how much he’d heard. “I can’t believe you talked to him like that. I know he’s your dad, but he’s scary.”

“Stop eavesdropping.”

“I wasn’t eavesdropping. You were both so loud, it was impossiblenotto listen in.” He took a bite of his candy. “Totally get what you were saying about finding your own path and all, but if I were you, I would’ve taken the job. Most people would kill to work here.”

“You’re not staying after your internship?” I couldn’t resist asking. It was my chance to find out whether he’d also gotten a job offer from Blackcastle.

Henry laughed. “Um, no. I’ll be at my dad’s company. He’s the founder of Hydralade, the sports drink? Anyway, the plan was always for me to head up their product development team,but he wanted me to get some ‘outside experience’ first.” He snapped his fingers. “Hey, I have an idea! You should come work for us. We have a few openings. I’ll make sure you get an interview.”