"I…" she began.
Beside him at the door a flash of cream and white followed by the gentle smell of jasmine announced the arrival of his soon to be stepmother. Out of all the times he had seen her over the weeks he had never once seen her display anything but a look of cool pleasantness or that strange look of captivation she wore when she lookedat his father, a look his dad always returned, until now. Her eyes were like dark pools of sparking anger as she took in the sight of her daughter.
Through gritted teeth she spoke. "Ebony, get up and get out of there."
Both Gavin and Ebony flinched at the edged fury in her voice. Wiping her eyes, Ebony immediately stood up and stepped away from Grant, but not before plastering on a smile that sent a lance of pain through Gavin at the sight of it.
Quickly, Ebony stepped out of the closet and into her open room and they followed. Reluctantly, she looked up at her mother and Gavin felt that pain again as Whitney gave her a silent but sharp look that promised a conversation later. He had seen a look like that countless times from his dad.
Ebony turned and smiled even brighter at him and his father.
Confused, Gavin looked at his father and sucked in a breath. His expression was one he had seen many times before, controlled fury but probably for the first time ever it wasn't directed at him but at Whitney.
Forcing himself to soften his expression he looked down at Ebony. "Darling, are you sure you are all right?"
"Yes, sir," she nodded overly bright. "I was just playing hide and seek with Gavin."
Her wide eyes looked at him for the first time. The overly bright smile was still painted on her face, but her eyes were wide and filled with fear. But he wasn't sure if it was from the storm or her mom.
"Umm yeah, clearly she sucks at it," he told his dad with a smirk.
Grant just stared back at him before nodding and then looking at Whitney. He motioned for her to leave and he followed her out of the room.
For a second, Gavin stood there staring at the door and then back to Ebony who stood like a statue staring at her feet. Something in his bones told him to follow the two. Without saying anything, he ran after them, his feet silent against the carpet. They stopped in the kitchen and Gavin hid around a corner in the living room.
"Tell me what happened," Grant demanded.
Whitney sighed and paced in a small circle, clearly not wanting to talk about it. "It doesn't matter what-"
"It does fucking matter because the poor girl was huddled on the floor of her closet looking terrified," Grant exploded, lifting a hand to point to the ceiling. "Youwilltell me."
Seeing there was no way out, Whitney wilted a little. Tilting her head back, she looked at the ceiling and closed her eyes. "A guy I dated…" she began carefully. "Went into her room while I was in the bathroom."
Gavin's heart went still at that while his dad sucked in an audible breath. "Did he…?"
"No," she hissed. "I caught him and kicked his ass out at gunpoint."
Grant gave her a look that made Gavin bite his lip. It was a look he had seen time and time again when he was seriously contemplating just washing his hands of him and throwing him into military school like he always threatened.
Desperate and angry, Whitney glared at him and pointed, her voice low. "You don’t know what my life has fucking been like since I had her, Grant. I didn't have loads of fucking money to ease things along. From the moment I brought her into this world everything I've done has had to revolve around her. My life just seemed to die off while I had to care for her twenty-four-seven and somehow still find time to make money. But oh I could've had it all back, I could've simply sent her to her father…but…but I didn't want that for her or me. She's mine. But of course," she muttered with a bitter laugh while wiping the moisture from her eyes, "the one time I think I could take back control of my life and try to date, the guy turned out to be a sick bastard. So don't fucking judge me."
Turning away from him, Whitney pressed her fingers to her eyes to stop the flow of tears. Gavin watched as his father stared at her, absorbing her words. Gavin didn’t even know he was holding his breath until he exhaled in relief when his father finally stepped up to put his arms around her.
Gavin thought of what she had said. Was that what his mother had felt when she had him? Was that why she left him with dad and went away? Dad and uncle Grayson had always told him that his mom just wasn't ready to be a mom and that some moms were like that. He looked back at Ebony's mom and something in his chest twisted in pain. Sometimes it felt as if his dad felt the same way.
They started speaking again but their voices were too low for him to make out everything.
"But why is she afraid of storms? Was it storming that night?" his father asked, still holding Whitney in his arms.
Gavin couldn't hear her answer, but he heard his dad's reply. "Starting Monday, I'm sending her to a therapist."
Unable to hear their low voices and sensing the conversation about to turn into disgusting kisses, Gavin snuck back upstairs.
As he began to pass by her room, he stopped and stared through the crack in the open door. She was sitting on the edge of her bed with her back to the door. Her hands were braced on the bed on either side of her and her shoulders tensed. Outside, the storm still rumbled above while rain pelted the windows.
He thought of what her mother said downstairs. That pain in his chest returned. Anger and sadness. It wasn’t fair that their parents acted this way. Why couldn’t they be like other kid's parents, who were happy and kind and always patient with their kids?
Quietly he walked into her room and stopped when Ebony stiffened. Not looking at him she spoke. "Please, go away." Her voice was tight and warbled a little and he knew she had been crying.
