Zac had decided to make a surprise visit to Hope at the studio where she was working on her latest movie. He had been directed to her dressing room.
Zac knocked on the door, then frowned as he heard some strange noises. Thinking there was something wrong, he forced the door opened.
“Dad!” Hope yelped.
“Oh my gosh!” Zac gasped.
For what father wants to walk in on his daughter horizontal mmmbopping with a guy who he had previously kick out of their house thinking he was a crazed fan of some sort going through her things? Not many if any, that’s for sure.
Hope pulled the sheet right up to her neck. Zac glowered at the gangster, but turned his back slightly so that they could dress.
“I should like an explanation young lady.”
“Dad, I don’t know if you realised, but I’m 20. I’m perfectly capable of -”
“Making a damned idiot of out yourself, that’s what!”
“Hey it’s my life and I -”
“- am throwing it away! You don’t know where that boy has been. He could have AIDS or -”
“I wouldn’t care if he did. I love Raphael.”
Zac turned slowly with a dark look on his face.
“Indeed.”
“Yes, I do.”
His eyes flickered to the gangster, who stared defiantly back, and then looked back to Hope.
“I’ll ask Jacqueline to pack your things for you. That way you won’t waste time when you come back.”
He turned to leave.
“Dad?” Hope questioned.
“If you’re going to socialise with that,” and his ‘that’ was contemptuous, “then you will not live in my house. When you come to your senses, you’ll be welcome.”
“Come to my senses? My senses! Maybe you should come to yours!”
Zac said nothing, he just left. And as he strode down the hall he was fighting back tears.
**********
“You kicked her out?” Kelsey questioned later.
“Well, what else was I supposed to do? I won’t have that trash in -”
“Trash huh? Y’know we tend to socialise with a lot of people like him.”
“Maybe, but we’re not friends with them. We don’t sleep with people like that.”
“I did.”
“Yeah, and look what happened to you.”
Kelsey glared at him.
“You’re alienating her, you know. I married you rather than listen to my father and look how we turned out.”
“We’re different.”
“How? How are we Zac?”
“We just are.”
“Oh that’s definitive, isn’t it?” she answered sarcastically. “Well, Zac, I hope your happy. Because if you stick to your guns, you may just lose Cassie’s daughter after all.”