Wreck Me (Corrupt Legacy Series #2)

“That’s love.”

“It’s a disease, and I want it gone.”

“Did you get into a fight?”

If I could burn a building down in anger, I’m pretty sure I’d end up killing him. So I’m staying away until I can control my emotions.

“Not with the one I want. And Abigail and I always fight.”

“Then find a common language and understanding. Learn to communicate and don’t cross the other’s boundaries. Once you figure it out, it will get easier.”

“Dad, I don’t want to hear how you and Mom got together and make love seem so damn effortless. You’re not standing on moral high ground here; you took her from him.”

He’s the other guy. Just like me.

“I know you’re hurting, but that doesn’t give you the right to make something ugly out of our love story. You want the truth? Elena and I were friends who loved your father deeply. Seeing Bobby self-destruct was bad enough… She deserved more than someone who cheated all the damn time only to say it was the last time. To drink and take drugs and come back to her, begging her for another chance.”

My biological father, the legend. No wonder I’m the way I am. At least my stepfather didn’t sugarcoat his image in front of me again. Maybe I need to hear some fucking ugly truths.

“It happened, son, and I’m never going to regret that. When you love someone, you’d do anything to keep that person. She loved both of us, but in the end, she chose me. Do you want to know why?”

I have a feeling, but hearing it might just deliver the last blow to my already shredded being.

“Elena could rely on me. I won her trust, then her heart.”

Good to know. Abigail will choose Kaden—not that I didn’t know that. She’s fucking engaged to him.

“Yeah, well, you’re looking at the other guy here.”

“It didn’t appear like that to me.”

“I don’t say this often, but thank you for not giving up on me.”

He clasps my shoulder. “I’d never give up on you. There is one thing you don’t want or are not ready to admit: if we don’t want to get help, let ourselves be helped, then all the love or the help of others is null. It breaks my heart to see you like this, but look at you all grown up, and not giving in to the impulses.”

My father must trust me more than I do because I don’t know what I will do if I see them together.

He goes back inside, but restlessness buzzes inside of me, keeping sleep out of reach. I do the next best thing that could drain me of my anger: go to the track.

A concoction of worry and desperation floods my bloodstream. I hurry to my car, speeding to find Dane. I’m just going to make sure he’s fine and hasn’t done anything crazier than burning down our house, and then I can calm down.

His car isn’t here, and that means he’s not home. Where could he be? I drive to the cliff next, but he isn’t there either. If something happens to him… the thought weighs on my heart, squishing it underneath.

But I can’t allow myself to wallow in despair. Focusing on finding him, I drive to the track. The security stops me at the gates, and I basically beg him to let me take Dane from the premises before he gets himself suspended for good.

A whooshing engine sound greets me when I step out of the car.

You knew he had this side in him.

Guilt chews my heart into pieces before spitting them out, rotting at my feet.

With a heavy chest, I march right to the middle of the track. The car swerves a bit to the side when he notices me. He speeds past me in a heap of scrunching tires, causing the wind to slap at my face.

We can do this all night. He’s stubborn. I’m more stubborn.

By the tenth lap, the car is near enough that my baby hairs stand up, but I trust him. He’s hurt, both of us are. But in the only way I can, I will always make sure he’s okay.

He drives lap after lap while I remain rooted in place.