sakura
Because my phone had died hours ago, I drove back home instead of to Callan’s place. Mom might’ve been high off prescription drugs somewhere, but Dad was most likely at home, worried sick about my whereabouts. I had been staying out late more than usual recently.
When I pulled up to my house, the living room light glimmered through the front window. I parked in the driveway and gathered my belongings from school, then walked to the front door, where Dad stood nervously.
“Thank God,” he said, opening the door for me. “I thought you were dead.”
“Sorry,” I said, walking into the house and replacing my shoes with slippers at the door. “My phone died.”
“Where were you?” he asked.
“At Ichika’s,” I said, avoiding eye contact.
“I called her hours ago,” he said. “You hadn’t gone over.”
I walked into the living room and froze when I spotted Mom passed out on the couch with drool dripping from her lip. If she hadn’t made it to the bed, that meant she had been high, like I’d expected. Between her and me staying out late … it wasn’t fair to Dad.
“Please, don’t tell me that you’re hanging around with bad kids,” he whispered from behind me. “I … I don’t want you ending up like your mother, Sakura. Please, talk to me. Have I done something wrong?”
Tears welling in my eyes, I dropped my head. “I would never take medication like her, Dad,” I whispered, turning around and staring at the anguish in his eyes. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Where were you?” he asked, pushing up his glasses. “You’re never home anymore. I don’t want to push you away because you’re my only daughter … the only person I have left in this family. But I … I’m worried about you.”
“You don’t have to worry about me,” I said, brows drawn together. “I’ll always be here.”
“Where were you?” he repeated again.
I pressed my lips together, knowing that I would disappoint him if I told him the truth, that I was at my Literature professor’s house, fucking him for some kind of sick revenge. That, the other night, I had watched him shoot another student. That, just yesterday, I had learned there was a damn sex trafficking ring in Redwood.
“Dad,” I whispered, “I’m tired.”
“I’m looking out for you,” he said. “You’re going to be valedictorian, Sakura. You’ve worked so hard, and I don’t want you to blow it on … on whatever it is that you’re doing, whoever it is …”
Freezing, I swallowed hard. Whoever? Does he know about Callan?
“Okay,” I whispered. “I was out with a guy that I’ve been seeing for a couple of weeks now.”
“A boy?” Dad said.
A boy? Callan is not a boy.
“Yeah,” I lied. “Someone from Redwood.”
An awkward silence fell over us, and I dreaded the day that I would have to tell my dad about Callan. Maybe that day would never come. Maybe his wife would come back, and he’d stay with her. Maybe we would never be able to be together.
I wasn’t sure.
“Are you being safe?”
My cheeks warmed, and I looked away. “Dad!”
“What? I don’t want anything to happen.”
“Yes, I’m being safe.” Sorta. At least, I was being safe in the way that he was implying. I had gotten an IUD placed inside me a while ago, when this entire thing had started. I walked toward the stairs. “Now, I’d really like to sleep.”
When I reached the stairs, Dad hummed, “I would like to meet him.”
Pausing on the steps, I widened my eyes. Fuck, this is awkward. I didn’t even know what we were right now, was still getting over everything that had happened these past few days, and trying to comprehend that Callan had really taken Gunther to the hospital for me.
I didn’t think I would be ready for something like that for a long, long, long, long, long time. Not until I was out of high school and Callan wasn’t a teacher anymore. Because how on earth could I tell Dad that I was fucking someone almost his age?!
“Maybe sometime,” I said, hurrying up the stairs. “Good night.”
“Good night, sweetheart.”
Once I successfully made it up to my room without any more questions, I dumped my backpack onto the ground and collapsed on the bed. I plugged my phone into the charger and stared up at my bland ceiling.
Part of me wished that I had stayed at Callan’s, but I needed a break. I needed to get away from him so I could finally think straight. I had been such a bitch to him lately because I was insecure and on edge after I found out what had happened to Skylar.
I just hoped that I wasn’t falling into a lie, that I wasn’t falling for a man who would really hurt me one of these days. I had blindly believed what I’d heard—for good reason—but still, Callan was in the mob. I didn’t know what he was capable of.
I feared Callan Avery would ruin my life, from the inside out, because I was far too gone for that man, far too deep in whatever these goddamn feelings were inside me. I was madly in love with my Literature professor.