He shrugs, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Like there’s nothing remotely unsettling about any of this. Like I’m the one being unreasonable.
My fingers twitch at my sides, curling and uncurling into fists as a slow, simmering heat rises in my chest. I clench my jaw.
“I don’t want you getting close to my dad.” The words feel heavy, bitter, but I refuse to swallow them back down. I need to say this. He needs to hear it. “Why did you even take the job he offered?” I hesitate, a new, unsettling thought creeping into my mind. I don’t want to ask it. But the doubt is already there, gnawing at the back of my mind. “Did you—” I swallow hard, the words nearly getting stuck in my throat. “Did you reach out to him first?”
Dave doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he watches me, that s
