Hi all!
I am so sorry that it's taken me this long to update! I got married at the start of April, went on a honeymoon for three weeks, then we moved house! I got my internet back today. So here's chapter 19... at last!
Don't forget to review if you like it!
Chapter 19.
I stared, open-mouthed at my father. House had flipped the phone closed not three minutes earlier. How the hell had he gotten home so fast?
'Hey, Wilson. I thought you were at the market.' House was flippant as ever, one hand still on my back, the other under my shirt and on my lowest ribs.
'I-I realised that I forgot my wallet. I came back to get it. What's going on here?'
'I'm helping with the potatoes.' House still had me pinned to the bench, and hadn't moved his hands.
'House, get your hands off my daughter.' James' voice had dropped an octave. I looked up at Greg's face and saw his eyes narrow ever so slightly. He took a step back from me, disentangling his arms and squared up to face James.
'You know, she is a grown-up, Wilson.' House told him, dropping his chin and looking at James from beneath a heavy set of eyebrows.
I took a step towards James and my movement seemed to set something off in his brain. He advanced on House, his eyes darkened and before I could stop him he delivered a stunner of a right hook directly to Greg's jaw.
'Dad!'
'OW! What the HELL?' House demanded, a hand on his jaw as he straightened up to glare at James.
'Get out.' James said, voice low.
'Dad, James-' I began.
'Ryan, stay out of this. House, we had an agreement. Get out of my house and stay away from my daughter.'
'Wilson-'
'No, House. Out. Now.'
House stared at James for a few seconds, eyes steady, hand still on the spot where James had hit him.
He grabbed his cane and left the apartment, closing the door quietly behind him.
James rounded on me.
'What the hell, Ryan?'
I stepped back from him and stared at my feet. How did a man I'd known less than a month manage to make me feel so guilty?
'He arrived early, he was helping with the potatoes. James, we're both consenting adults, you know.'
'Ryan, he's twice your age!'
'And from what I've heard, Amber was younger than I am!'
That shut him up for a moment.
It was a short moment, but it did make him think.
'House is almost ten years older than me. This is ridiculous!'
'Why is it ridiculous?'
'He's an old man!'
'And I'm pretty sure that you are, too, James.'
James turned away from me and began pacing through the living room, back and forth, muttering to himself.
'This is, this is wrong, Ryan. He's a narcissist, an addict, a manipulative bastard. I can't let you be involved with someone like House!'
'Yet it's perfectly fine for you to be friends with him?'
'I've known him for years, Ryan. I know how to distance myself from him when he starts to drag me down.'
'From what I've heard, he's the reason your last wife left you.'
That one, I could see, hurt him.
'Julie left because she was having an affair. House had nothing to do with it.'
'Yeah, right.' I put the knife down, which I had still been clutching this whole time, and stepped past James, picking up the keys for my bike and grabbing my jacket off the chair next to the door.
'Where are you going?'
'I'm going to find House.'
'Ryan, I can't let you-'
'You can't let me? James, you've known me for a month! I might be your daughter but I'm also an adult. If I choose to pursue a relationship with anyone then I hardly think you're the first person I'm going to come to for permission!'
I shrugged into my jacket, grabbed my helmet and slammed the door behind me, practically running towards the exit.