We walk inside, and Ivy suddenly freezes. Her face has gone pale in a matter of seconds, and her hand limp against mine. "What happened?" I ask with no response. "Hey, what-"

"Aaron," my mom's voice interrupts. "Meet Mr. Blake." My head whips forward, and blood rushes through my skull. I realise the man sitting with my parents is Ivy's dad. Fuck, no. Fuck, no. I'm about to walk towards him, when Ivy grabs me.

"Hi, dad," she starts, guiding me into the room with a masterful fake smile. I can tell she's uncomfortable. He's making her uncomfortable.

And as I get closer to him, I realise that he has the same brown eyes as Ivy, but his are distinctly colder. It's eerie, somehow. Like he'll hurt you without a second thought. Like he'll hurt you simply because he could.

She hasn't told me a lot about her relationship with him, but he'll come up in conversations sometimes, and she shuts off. I just can't imagine what she must be feeling now that he's in front of her.

"How's my daughter doing?" he asks, enthusiastically. When he brings his arms out to hug her, I can see a panic in her eyes. How her body instinctively flinches as though it thinks he's going to hurt her. Never, ever again will I let that happen.

I grab his shoulder before he can so much as touch her, and he looks confused. "She's sick right now. I wouldn't want you catching anything," I lie. He smiles with teeth that look fake. Veneers, probably. A lot of pretentious assholes have them.

"Well, what a good man you are," he says, but something about his tone makes me think he doesn't believe me. I also can't help but think that this is all my fault. I've ruined Ivy's life, and it's all my fault.