UNBROKEN: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (Midwest Alphas) (Book 2) (35 page)

I clear my throat. “So, did you two stick around for any Parent’s Weekend festivities?”

“How long has she been here?” he asks bluntly, ignoring my question.

“Uhh…” I count the time in my head. “
Specifically
… twenty-seven hours, give or take. That I know of.”

“So, my daughter has been in the country for an entire day and you didn’t think to inform me?” he asks. His voice is so firm, so steady, it sends a chill down my spine.

“It—” I choke on the words. “Some things came up—” I regret the phrasing immediately. My mother’s heels click back into the living room and I breathe a sigh of relief.

“It just needs a few minutes to cool and then it’ll be ready,” she says and she sits back down.

My eyes wander around when I notice Piper isn’t with her. “Where’s Piper?” I ask her.

“Oh, she went up to her room,” she answers. “She said there was something she needed and that she’d be right back.”

I feel a small panic, but I try to push it away. I’ve heard Piper say she’d be right back once so far today and she was gone for nearly an hour. Granted, she had a good reason, but I still can’t shake the feeling of suspicion. “I’ll go check on her,” I say as I stand up, “and we’ll meet you two in the dining room.” I rush out of the room before anyone has the chance to say another word.

I cross the house quickly towards the stairs and climb them two at a time until I reach the top. Piper’s room is at the end of the hall, just across from mine. The door sits slightly ajar and I see her shape moving through the small opening. I move quietly, careful not to make any sound as I inch closer to it.

My mother’s yorkie starts yapping and races down at the hall at me, cutting off my stealthy investigation before it ever even began.

“Dammit, Thor…” I whisper as I brush him aside with my foot.

The door opens quickly and Piper stares at me. She rolls her eyes.
“Down, Thor,”
she spits at him and snaps her fingers. The dog immediately backs off and races down the hall to our parent’s room.

I scoff. “How does that thing like you more than it likes me?” I step into the room and close the door.

“Because I don’t kick it, maybe?” she jokes.

“I’ve never kicked it…
per se.
” I look around the room. “What are you doing up here?” I ask.

She drops to her knees in front of her dresser. “I needed to get something,” she answers.

My eyes roam the walls. It’s been ages since I’ve been in this room. Most teenage girls’ rooms (that I’ve been in, anyway) have posters of bands on the walls, photographs of friends plastered against every mirror, and stacks of CDs in every corner. Not Piper Lynch. Her walls are covered with certificates, trophies, medals, and all sorts of other academic things she earned. The Piper Lynch I know now is the complete opposite of the girl I picture looking around this room. I glance down to see she’s pulled the bottom drawer of her dresser completely out and set it aside. “Get what?” I ask her.

“This,” she says as she reaches into the opening. She pulls out a small, black box, no bigger than the size of her palm.

“And what is that?” I ask.

She pushes the drawer back into the dresser and stands up again to place the box in my hand. I pull the lid off and a wave of deja vu strikes me as I gaze down at the silver pendant inside. It’s round, with a crescent moon etched into it. The words
live to dream
rise along the moon’s shape. “I know this…” I say, searching my memories.

“It was my mom’s,” she says, nodding her head. “She wore it every single day of my life.”

My memories play out in my mind. I remember now how I’d always see it hanging down on Penny’s neck when she came over to spend time with my mother. “And how exactly did you end up with it?” I ask.

“She gave it to me the day she left for Europe,” Piper says as she takes the box back. “I, of course, started wearing it all the time after that. Until one day, it went missing.”

“Missing?” I ask.

“I looked everywhere for it,” she continues. “
For days.
Then I found it in the trash can in my father’s study.” I stay silent as she pulls the pendant from the box. She feels the etched lettering with her thumb. “I asked my father then if he knew where it was. He said he hadn’t seen it anywhere.”

“Why would he do that?” I ask.

“He got rid of everything that reminded him of her.
Everything
,” she says. Her eyes shake. “Including me.”

I shake my head. “What do you mean, Pipes?”

“Just look around you, Kai,” she says. “Do you see
me
anywhere in this room?”

I take a deep breath. “No,” I answer. “But I don’t think that’s enough to count him out. Your father cares about you, Piper. I’ve seen it. You weren’t here when he found out you were gone. I was.”

She throws the pendant over her neck and lets it hang down against her chest. “Well,” she says. “If that’s the case, then I guess I should head back downstairs for a beautiful, thoughtful, and pleasant reunion with my father. Right?” She steps around me.

“Piper…” I reach out a hand to her, but she’s already out the door.

***

It took Philip Lynch less than a second to notice the pendant dangling down on Piper’s neck. We’ve been sitting at the dinner table for ten minutes already and if I had to guess, he’s been staring at it for at least seven of those minutes. He sends the occasional glance my way and nods his head as my mother attempts to force conversation on us, but he spends most of his time on that pendant.

“So, Piper…” my mother says. She hesitates a moment, then commits to the question. “Just what have you been up to?” It is the most pleasant way she could have phrased the question. If it were up to Philip, I’m sure it would have been something like,
‘Where the fuck have you been for six months, you ungrateful little shit?’

Piper has spent these ten minutes staring her father down, bating him into saying something about the pendant. It’s not the method I would use, but I’m not Piper Lynch. She turns her attentions to my mother. “I’ve been traveling through Europe. A little in Asia,” she answers, remaining vague.

“Alone?” my mother asks with concern in her eyes. She’s obviously fishing for information. My mother has never been the type to come out and say what’s on her mind. Judging by Philip’s silence, she’s probably convinced him to try out her way first in getting Piper to own up.

Piper shakes her head. “No,” she says. She twirls her fork around, gathering a long fettuccine noodle between the prongs before sliding it between her lips.

Philip sighs loudly as he takes a long sip of his drink.

“You’ve made friends?” my mother continues.

“No.” Piper sets her fork down. “Actually, I’ve been traveling with my mother.”

And there it is.

Philip stands up from the table.

“Honey, please,” my mother urges him. “Sit down.”

“I’ve heard enough,” he says.

“No, father, please…” Piper stares up at him with a smile teasing her lips. “Sit down.”

Philip leans forward with his hands on the table. “Why would you do this?” he asks her. “I made sure you had everything. Every opportunity in the world was yours.”

“I never asked for that,” Piper replies, calm as ever.

“I don’t care what you
asked for
,” he says. “You’re my daughter and you’ll do as I tell you to do.”

Piper smiles. She’s dangling a bloody limb above the shark’s pool. “With all due respect,” she says, “it’s that attitude that made me leave in the first place.”

“Philip, please sit down,” my mother asks again.

He slowly lowers himself back into his chair. “So, you were unhappy with my methods, then?” he asks. “That’s why you ran away from me?”

“Yes,” Piper confirms.

“You could have said something instead of putting us through all of this.”

“I
did,
” she says. “I tried to tell you,
for years
, that this life you were building wasn’t what I wanted, but you ignored me every time. I couldn’t breathe, but you didn’t care.”

“You’re being dramatic, Piper,” he argues.

“I’m being honest with you,” she says. Her eyes fall on me. Not for help, but for much-needed comfort.

I clear my throat. “She’s telling the truth,” I say. “I’ve known Piper for almost my entire life. It was always a joke to us at school how hard she worked and how much effort she put into everything, even the most simple of assignments. Everyone else brushed her off, but I could tell how much she hated it. She knew that if she faltered, even for a moment, you’d punish her for it.”

He glances at me. “None of that is any excuse for what she put us through.”

“And I agree,” I say. Piper blinks at me.

“She could have been killed, or worse,” he continues, “and we never would have known.”

“Philip, I never would have left her behind in Europe if I didn’t know she was safe,” I say. “I knew Penny was there with her. I spoke to her myself and I’ve…” My eyes fall on Piper. “I’ve made contact with her a few times since.”

She stares back at me. “What?” she whispers.

“You knew about all of this…” He shakes his head at me.

“I told you she was safe. The rest was up to her,” I say. “I don’t feel great about it, but that’s the truth.” I look at Piper again but she quickly turns away from me. Obviously, Penny kept our communications a secret like I asked her to. Piper told me she didn’t want to hear from me again after Madrid, but she didn’t say anything about her mother. It wasn’t often, maybe once a month in the form of a postcard or an email with a post script that always told me Piper was okay.

After a short silence, my mother speaks up. “How is your mother?” she asks Piper, maintaining the neutral voice.

“She’s fine,” she answers, avoiding my gaze.

“Do send her my regards.”

“Sure.” Piper stares at the tablecloth.

“Well, I should have known,” Philip finally mutters. “This reckless irresponsibility was obviously instilled upon you by your mother…”

Piper gives him no response.

“And you…” He turns to me. “You claim to feel badly about all of this, but then you don’t think to alarm us when she shows up at your dorm room?”

I take a breath. “I—”

“You didn’t have time for a phone call?” he interrupts. “You had plenty of time to get her into your bed.”

“Dad!” Piper shouts. “You didn’t know I was here because I didn’t want you to know I was here. It wasn’t Kai’s decision.”

“Believe me, Piper,” he adds. “I would much rather you still be missing than to find you two the way I did. I
heard
various things about Kai in the hallways of my school, but I never thought for a moment he’d target
you.
”

“Okay, hold on—” I say. “It’s takes two, Philip. I’m not a damn predator.”

“You must have done something to make her compromise her morals,” he continues.

I chuckle. Hard. I look across the table at Piper. “Would you like to step in here?” I ask her.

She hesitates, but pushes through it. “Dad…” she says. “Much like what you heard about Kai… I’m a little
experienced
in… that area.”

“More than a little,” I jab.

The blue oceans in her eyes begin to boil. “We don’t have to get into details about it,” she seethes. “I went to see Kai first and some confusing emotions came back and—”

“Came back?”
Philip asks. “You two have done this before?”

She bites her tongue and sits back in her chair, reacting to the anger in his voice.

“Yes,” I confirm. “We have a history.”

Philip’s hands curl into fists against the tablecloth. “You two… were
sleeping together
in this house?”

“No!”
we both say, shaking our heads.

“Never,” Piper adds.

“Nothing happened between us until Europe,” I say.

“For heaven’s sake, Kai…” My mother’s little voice finally surfaces once more. She looks at me with great disappointment as embarrassment floods her cheeks.

“Look, I know this seems
wrong
, but…” I meet Piper’s eyes across the table, “we care about each other.”

“You are
step-siblings
, Kai,” my mother says.

“We weren’t always.”

She shakes her head. “I can’t even begin to imagine what your father will think of all of this.”

“Actually, Mom,” I say, “I’m fairly certain he’d be supportive. He might even high-five me for it.”

“No surprise there,” Philip growls. “This may have never happened if you actually had a strong father figure in your life. Someone there to teach you some respect.”

Anger boils beneath my skin. Piper wants me to back down, I can see it in her little blue eyes, but I can’t bring myself to do it. “That is the last time you disrespect my father.” I stare him down. “Are we clear?”

He scoffs, but says nothing else.

“Philip, Kai,
please
…” my mother adds. “Can we keep this civil?”

“Civility, Ava, went out the window the moment I found out my daughter was nothing more than a common whore.”

The table falls silent, but I don’t let it last long. “Don’t you dare call her that,” I warn him.

“I will say what I wish to say in my own house.”

“Apologize to her.”

“Absolutely not.”

“No,” Piper says. “I don’t want his apology.” She reaches over her shoulder and grabs the handbag hanging down on the back of her chair.

I look at her. Her pale face is more ghost white than I’ve ever seen it before. “Pipes…” I whisper. I want her to look up at me — I
need
her to — but she stares down at her phone in her hands and sends a text message.

“Who are you texting?” Philip barks at her.

“My ride,” she replies.

“Oh, you aren’t going anywhere,” he says, tapping the table with a stiff finger. “I’m not letting you out of my sight for the rest of your life, do you hear me?”

“I hear you loud and clear, Dad,” she replies. “I’m just choosing not to listen.”

“You
will
listen to me, Piper,” he says. “So help me god, I will get through to you—”