wild star| ongoing

thirty-three

CHAPTER 33:
December 27th, 2015
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The following morning cast a palpable tension in the air as everyone gathered around the dining table, their gazes wary and guarded. Brandy's eyes instinctively drifted towards her father, who sat there with an ice pack pressed against his cheek, a visible reminder of the altercation from the previous day. The atmosphere was laden with an uncomfortable silence, broken only by the occasional clearing of throats.

Ronnie shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his gaze downcast as he took in the expressions of his wife and his daughter. Remorse settled heavily on his shoulders, and he finally found the courage to speak up.

"I'm fuckin' sorry," he started, his voice a mixture of regret and vulnerability. "I know those words ain't enough, but they're all I got right now. Should've stopped it before it got this fuckin' far. I've hurt you both, hurt you real bad, and I can't erase the pain I caused."

Ace met Brandy's gaze, his expression serious and filled with an unexpected sense of compassion. "Your old man and I had a talk, man to man," he said. "I told him how much you mean to me and how much he's hurt you and your mom. I made it clear that if he wants to be part of your life, he needs to change his ways, not just for you but for himself too."

She never expected Ace to step in and confront her father, to stand up for her in a way she had longed for. She silently wondered how he had managed to reach Ronnie, to stir such a profound shift in his perspective.

Irene shook her head in disbelief, glancing between Brandy, Ace, and Ronnie. Her eyes welled up with tears, her voice choked with emotion as she reached out and touched Ronnie's arm. "Ronnie, it's... it's too late now. The damage is done. We can't go back and undo everything that's happened."

Ronnie nodded, his remorse etched across his face. "I understand that, Irene. And I don't expect forgiveness right away, if ever. But yesterday... I was really scared for Brandy." He looked directly at her, and she bristled. "It's not like I walk around pretending that I don't know the damage I'm doing. I know. I can see it. I'm not blind."

She could feel Ace's reassuring touch on her thigh, grounding her in the present moment.

"But yesterday... when I saw you in that state, Brandy... I was scared shitless," he continued, his voice slightly wavering. "I realized how far I've fuckin' pushed you away, how much I've failed you as a father. And it fuckin' hit me, you know? It hit me hard."

The pain of his past actions and the wounds they had left behind were still fresh, but a part of him acknowledged the sincerity in his countenance. She wanted to believe that people could change, even in the face of their darkest mistakes.

Ronnie's grip tightened on the ice pack, his injured cheek throbbing beneath its cold touch. "Look, I ain't one to get all sentimental and shit, but... I care about you, Brandy. Even if I don't always show it in the right way. I don't want you to go through the same pain I've caused your mom and you over the years. That's why I hated Keith. He was just like me, and whenever he came around here, I could see how much you were hurting just by being around him. And then you had a baby with him, and I knew you were trapped."

The mention of her ex-boyfriend's name roused both pain and nostalgia inside of her. It sat there in her stomach, where her baby was growing, like a brick.

His rugged facade cracked under the weight of his admission. He paused, taking a deep breath to steady himself before continuing. "It's been a hell of a wake-up call for me. Ace, he laid it out straight, man to man. He made me see things I've been blind to all these years. I've been a fuckin' mess, hurting you and your mom, thinking I could just drown my demons in a bottle. But I get it now. I get why you're so damn angry and why you've built those walls around you."