Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

175 - Rebecca

"Dad," I said in surprise, my eyes locked on his face. He had that look about him that screamed condescension, his whole body rigid and guarded. I could tell just by the way he was building up to say something that it wouldn't be good.

However, Dad was known to avoid confrontation. "Becca, how are you doing?"

"Okay," I replied, confused. He slowly nodded but didn't say anything else, still staring at me from the doorway. I glanced around the hall behind him but no one was there—not even Sam or Katrina. "Why are you here?" I asked.

"Because I need to be." My mouth opened but he glared at me, shutting me up. "I sent your friends home. What I have to say, they don't have to hear." I was dead silent. Dad, being the procrastinator he was, motioned at the designs next to me instead of continuing, keeping his voice hard. "Nice clothes there."

"Yeah," I agreed, "they're the designers'."

He nodded. "You've always liked that style, right?"

"Yeah."

"Did they do it for you?"

"No."

"Right." He paused, his gaze turning harder. I couldn't quite describe the anxiety I felt deep down; the concern that plagued every inch of my body. It had to be serious if Dad looked like this.

We stood there in silence for a few moments. Knowing Sam and Katrina weren't here to save me from his anger reminded me of just how scary my father had always been. Sam was here to protect me and leaving me here alone wasn't doing a very good job of that—would Colby be pissed? Either way, I knew he'd only left because my dad had convinced him to leave. Dad had always been persuasive like that. It was like a gift.

Right now, it was a gift I wished he didn't have.

Finally, he took a step backwards into the hall. "Come with me," he said and I automatically started to follow him, pulling the storage closet's door shut behind myself. We walked into my office where he motioned for me to sit. "Do you have any idea why I'm here?" He asked.

"No."

"None at all?" I shook my head, watching as he sat upright in the chair I'd put opposite my desk. "You want something that I simply can't allow."

I frowned. "What?"

"I can accept that your boyfriend is a vampire, Rebecca. I can and will accept that because I know you're happy with him—at least that's what I hope. He doesn't seem like a bad dude, either. But I cannot ever allow you to be like him." My heart stopped. "I simply won't have you as my daughter if you become one of them, Rebecca. After everything, after all the shit we've been out through, you seriously want to be one of them?"

I was speechless.

"No, I don't have an answer for what you'll do as you grow older and your One doesn't. Quite frankly, I'm not thinking about that, I'm thinking about you. You're young, Rebecca, so you don't know what you'll want in a couple of years. You can't say for certain to my face right now that you want to be a vampire and you'll always want to be one. You simply can't."

The bitch inside of me was simmering. I felt her raging at his words; dying to break out and yell at him. He didn't know what I wanted. He didn't know that I wasn't meant to be human. He didn't understand the situation I was in. Until he could, he couldn't give me orders.

I found my voice, though it was quiet. "That isn't your choice, Dad," I said, maintaining eye contact with him. "Whether you think I'll change my mind or not is obsolete—I know what I want."

"But you don't, Rebecca. You're blinded by love and you think that as long as you can have him you'll be okay for the rest of your life! That's not the case. You'll-"

I cut him off. "Dad, I don't want to be a vampire for Colby."

"Of course you do," he snapped back.

"No, I don't. I'm not meant to be human, Dad. I know you'll never understand that—you'll never try. I couldn't care less whether being a vampire lets me be with Colby forever. I want to be a vampire because I want everything else; I want the speed and the strength and I want to be invulnerable."

"Bullshit," Dad growled, making me snap.

"It's not fucking bullshit! You're looking at me as if I'm some little girl wishing to run away with some fling. I'm a woman, not a girl and I know what I fucking want."

"You've lost your common sense," he argued.

"How?!"

"You want to be one of them!"

"It makes more sense to protect myself from all the dangers of being human."

Dad stood up, aggravated. "You're ending your fucking life."

"And that's my choice!"

"No!" His hand slammed down on my desk, making it rattle. His voice was loud and angry, his face portraying only the purest of rages. This was the attitude I'd taken for myself.

I stood up to make a point. Dad was much taller than me but I didn't care: I felt powerful in that moment, as if I mattered in this conversation. We were talking about me, not about him. I wasn't his possession any more than I was Colby's. Neither of the men in my life controlled me and until they realised that, I wasn't going to back down.

This was my choice; my body.

Keeping my voice calm now, I stared my father right in the eyes as I said, "One day, I will be a vampire. I don't care what you say and I don't care what Colby says. I will be a vampire and I will kick ass and live forever. Until you control me, which will be never, you won't be able to change that—not my decision and not the outcome. I wish I could say I'm sorry for it but I'm really not. We're talking about me. You can't expect what you want me to do to happen."

There was silence between us. Dead silence. All I could think about was the words I needed to say to convince him that nothing would change no matter how loud his voice raised; no matter how many tough memories he brought up; no matter how much he bothered me with his irrelevant opinion. He had to understand that.

After what felt like too long, Dad scowled at me. He was still angry and far from understanding or backing down from the overall fight, but he was defeated for today. His knuckles were white as he gripped the desk, leaning forward to stare me closer in the eyes. I felt anxious just standing there.

"When you regret this mistake," he said lowly, "don't come to me. I won't have you. No daughter of mine will have fangs," and then he turned around and he started for the door.

My heart beat scarily slowly in my chest, my whole body frozen. I felt like I was staring at a man I didn't know. I felt like I was just disowned... Was I just disowned?

It took me until my door slammed for my thoughts to shift only a little. I'd just fought with my father about my wish to become a vampire... but how had he known about that? There was only one person who knew about that; only one person who'd also disagreed with me on that. He wasn't that masochistic, was he?

Of course he was.

The only way my father could have known about my want to change became very clear very suddenly.

Colby.