Page 30 of March 5

"It's Dio."

A chill washed over Skye. She scooted back her chair. "I'm going, too."

"You're not going." Her dad walked away from the table.

"He shouldn't be fighting. His back hurts." She followed him. "I'll follow you to the clubhouse."

"No."

"He might need me."

Her dad stopped at the door and faced her. "You're the reason why he's fighting."

"Me?"

Her dad cupped her cheek. "You're tormenting him."

Her heart sank, and she closed her eyes, not wanting to hear that she'd ruined her friendship with Dio by falling more in love with him.

"What am I supposed to do?" She blinked her eyes open and looked to her dad for advice. "I love him."

That was the first time she'd spoken to her dad about her feelings toward Dio. Of course, they'd always known she loved him.

But her feelings had changed. He consumed her. Her heart was wrapped in loving him. There wasnobody else she wanted.

Aunt Brooke wrapped her arms around her from behind. "I'm sure Dio knows you do, honey."

"He doesn't understand how much I love him." She shook her head. "It hurts."

Her dad leaned down and kissed her forehead. "He's walking through hell right now, thinking that loving you is wrong."

"Wrong?" She grabbed her dad's vest. "Why would he—?"

"Because you have always been a little girl to him, and suddenly, you're not so little." Her dad straightened. "He can't love you as you want him to until he talks to me and he's having a hard time making sense of everything in his head."

"Are you kidding me?" She gawked.

Never in all her life had she heard her dad forbid her from getting what she wanted. He made it sound like he had control over who she loved.

"Nope."

She tightened her hold on him. "Tell him it's okay. Tell him he can be with me."

"Has he ever done you dirty?"

She swallowed and shook her head.

"Then, let him figure out if he can live with himself and his decisions. You take that away from him, and he'll get sloppy and reckless. That kind of shit will get him killed."

She gasped. "Don't let him get killed."

"That's why I'm going to the clubhouse to talk him out of beating himself up." Her dad looked over her head. "Lock the door behind me."

"Are you sure I can't go to the clubhouse?"She held on to the door. "Please?"

"Stay here or the apartment. Don't even circle the block around the clubhouse." He jogged to the driveway where his motorcycle was parked.

She exhaled heavily, feeling no lighter for having told her dad and Aunt Brooke about her feelings toward Dio. If all Dio had to do was ask her dad for permission to love her, there was nothing stopping him.