Tom looked at the hole he put in the wall as he wrapped his hand up in gauze. His blood stained the wall where he'd punched it a second time.

The look of betrayal on her face before she left pushed him over the edge, and if Nate had been there, it would have been his face instead of the wall.

Nate wasn't wrong, but Tom still wished he would have kept his fucking mouth shut. Kissing Ada gave him a high he'd never felt before. He'd thought her being so much younger and so off limits would have made him feel like shit afterwards, but awaiting the next kiss only took him higher. Nate's words caused the plunge down to earth he wasn't ready for.

He shook his head and looked away from the hole in his wall before going into the kitchen and grabbing a beer. The sound it made when it opened reminded him of the night Ada had to drink wine coolers before admitting she wanted to kiss him.

She was beautiful that night. Nervousness of being alone with him during that kind of conversation lit up her skin and created that perfect, embarrassed smile that he loved so much. He wanted to kiss her then, but at that point he was still trying to wait until he wasn't her teacher anymore.

A fist slamming against the door made Tom question if he'd locked the apartment after Ada left to be alone. Nate left a good hour ago, long enough to have paced the town a few times and stop to have a drink before becoming too bored to stay away.

But the door wasn't locked, and a second after he opened it to see it wasn't Nate on the other side, Jeff's fist made contact with Tom's stomach, causing him to stumble before doubling over onto the floor. Tom gasped for air before choking on it and going into a hacking fit.

Jeff stepped on his body when going over him to get into the apartment. "You're a real grade A fucking prick, you know that?"

Tom wasn't about to argue that statement. Not only because it was true but also because he wouldn't have been able to speak if he tried.

"My little girl came home tonight shaking. You could tell she'd been crying. Heard I got you to thank for that." Jeff's voice was calm, like a serial killer toying with their victim.

Tom coughed again before he leaned against the wall just below the hole he left in it. "She told you what happened?"

"She told her momma, and I eavesdropped."

That he could believe. Tom couldn't imagine handing over everything that happened between them to her father, but could see her admitting the truth to her mom.

"I didn't-"

"You wanna know how hard she'd been crying?"

There it was; the anger flickering in Jeff's eyes as he maintained control of his tone.

Jeff grasped the armrest of his lying chair and Tom could hear the buckling of the leather. "While I was driving here to kick your ass, I passed my daughter's car in a ditch on the wrong side of the road. If she hadn't swerved on time, she would have driven her car right into a fucking pole. Was she crying that hard when she left here? Cause if she was, you and I are going to have a whole other mess of problems."

Tom could swear he felt his heart stop for a second. Guilt weighed down on him and took his breath away. No, she hadn't been crying that hard when she walked out the door. She was more pissed off than anything when she left.

He had no clue what to say, what to think or how to feel. "She's-"

"She's fine," Jeff told him. "Now you're gunna tell me what the fuck has been happening between you and my daughter, then you're gunna tell me what happened tonight. Then you're gunna get up so I can beat the livin' shit out of you. Or you could stay down there. Don't matter much to me."

Tom was looking forward to this conversation less than his conversation with Ada. But whatever Jeff did or said to him, Tom knew he had it coming. "What do you want to know?"

"When you told me you and Ada were just friends, was it true or have you always been a lyin' asshole?"

Tom leaned his head back and propped his hands on his knees. "We were just friends. Nothing happened between us until last night."

"Ada told her momma that you said you didn't see a future with her." There was almost a bitterness in Jeff's tone as he spoke the words.

Tom looked over at him. "Not how I phrased it, but that's how she heard it and I didn't correct her."

"So what did you say to her?"

"That I couldn't see how her and I could work." His eyes fell from Jeff, not wanting him to see how Tom's own words hurt him.

"Can't argue with that, not that that's gonna stop me from kicking your ass before I leave."

Tom shrugged. "Figured."

"So what made you decide you two couldn't work?"

With a heavy breath and with an even heavier heart, Tom looked down at the hardwood floors. "I'm worried that her and I together would end up tearing your family apart," Tom admitted before risking a look at Jeff. "I won't risk that. With what's happening to Rebecca, Ada needs her time with her mom a hell of a lot more than she needs me."

Jeff stared at him for a long time, seeming to study him, looking for bullshit he wouldn't find. "You just had to have a noble reason, didn't you?"

Tom looked up and watched as Jeff stroked his fingers through his beard, his eyes staring back at him with a mixture of emotions. He let out a huff and looked away. "Ada told her mamma somethin' Britt said to her; that you look at Ada like she's everything."

Tom thought he'd been keeping his growing affections for Ada under wraps, so that Britt could see right through him took him by surprise. Hiding how he felt had gotten shot to shit the last couple of times he'd been around her and Ada.

"Is that how you feel 'bout my daughter? She everything to you?"

His voice came out as a croak, catching in his throat as he answered, "Yes."

"You in love with her?"

Tom couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "Does it matter?"

Jeff shrugged. "Dunno yet. But you can bet your ass you're gunna answer the question all the same."

He leaned his head back against the wall and gave the most honest answer he could, trying to talk to him as if he was still a friend rather than the father of the woman whose heart he just stomped on. "Something tells me it wouldn't take much for me to fall in love with Ada. But right now I'm trying like hell not to because I can't have her. Sort of asking for a life of disappointment falling in love with someone you can't have, isn't it?"

Jeff nodded, taking in the statement one word at a time and letting it all sink in. "Sometimes you don't gotta choice. Even if you stay away from them, they somehow steal your heart anyhow. So quick you didn't even see it happen."

It wasn't until then that Tom remembered their conversation at the coffee shop. "You said Rebecca was your buddy's girlfriend, right?"

"My best friend," Jeff corrected. "Him and I had been friends since we was kids, grew up cross the street from each other. Our momma's was best friends, our older brother's was best friends, and we was best friends."

"He ever forgive you?"

"Eventually, but we were never friends again. Damage was already done. But she was the love of my life, and I think a part of me knew that before we ever kissed. Asked her to marry me on the first date. Turned me down. Turned me down a bunch of times. She said that marriage ruins a perfectly good relationship, so eventually I just stopped proposing." Jeff was frowning when he started, but was laughing by the end.

So much so, it caused a smile on Tom's face. "You two aren't married?"

"Nope. Every couple of years I ask her if she wants to get married yet, and she just says, 'nah' and we leave it at that until the next time."

Jeff fixed his stare on him then, his eyes having a strange calm to them. They were no longer hostile, though there was still a slight intimidation to them.

When Jeff did speak, his voice was quiet and shakier than Tom expected. "I ain't a blind man. I've seen the way my baby girl looks at you and seen the way you make her smile and light up in a way she never has before. And I seen the way you look at her when you think I ain't paying attention."

Jeff rubbed at his beard again before he leaned forward and clasped his hands in front of him. He wasn't looking at Tom, just staring ahead. "I love my daughter with all my heart. When each of my kids was born, I pledged my life to them; to keep them safe and happy and take care of them no matter what.

"I would kill for my daughter and I would die for her; no hesitation and no regret. It ain't easy for a father to have some guy come around and want to take care of all those things himself, especially when a father knows that guy is up for the task.

"If you want my blessing to date my daughter, you ain't gettin' it. That shit just ain't gunna happen. But if you ain't gunna date her cause you're worried you'll ruin our family, that shit ain't gunna happen either. My family is gunna survive whatever life throws at us, including you."

Tom opened his mouth before closing it again. This confused the hell out of him now. He raised his body, keeping against the wall. "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to explain to me what this means."

Jeff sighed and shook his head. "It means I want you to think long and hard about what you want and what you're prepared to lose from this relationship, but don't worry about her losing her family because that's one of the few things that ain't gonna go to hell from you two bein' together.

"If you decide you want to be with Ada, you'll come to me after she graduates and you'll ask for permission to date my daughter and I'll kick you in the nuts. Might take me awhile to figure out what my answer is, so there's a good chance you'll get kicked in the nuts a few times."

"Jeff-"

Jeff held up his hand, cutting Tom off. "If you get my permission, I still don't want to see it. I wanna be able to pretend the two of you are just friends and remain blissfully ignorant as a father. You get me?"

Though he understood the reasoning, it was still weird as hell to hear. "So, you want me to ask for permission to date your daughter behind your back?"

"Fucked up, isn't it? But yeah, that's basically it. But you only get one chance with me. You fuck with her head again, don't matter the reason, I will castrate you and it will be a very slow and very painful process. Then I will put your balls in a blender just to make sure reattachment ain't an option."

A mixture of emotions battled each other in his mind. The chance of getting Jeff's permission to date Ada seemed unfathomable.

"Why?"

"Why don't I want your balls to get reattached?"

Tom shook his head. That one he fully understood and surprised he hadn't dragged Tom's ass to the kitchen as soon as he stepped foot in the apartment. Not that he owned a blender. "Why aren't you banning me from Ada?"

Jeff thought about it for a moment. "Just cause she needs her momma more doesn't mean she don't need you too. I don't want you in a relationship with my baby girl. You're too damn old for her and it weirds me the fuck out just thinkin' about it. But she does need you as a friend. Somehow being around you gives Ada strength, and she's gonna need that."

"So what about you?" Tom asked, gripped by his own curiosity. "Are you going to forgive me?"

The words flowed out of Jeff without a second thought. "You and I have had some good times, but I always knew where I stood in the scheme of things. Whether I forgive you don't matter. It's if Ada will forgive you that you should be worried about." Jeff rubbed at his beard one last time before raising himself from the couch and walking over toward Tom. "I best get home."

Tom nodded just as Jeff punched him in the stomach one last time. He burst into hacks and struggled to suck in air.

"You still broke her heart tonight."

"I get it," he forced out between gasps and hacks.

Tom dropped to the floor as the door to his apartment closed.