I smile sadly at her, wanting to punch my brother in the face. “In my defense, I told him to tell you from the very start.”
Her eyes narrow. “And yet, months later, I still had no idea until my best friend found us in bed and started jumping up and down.”
I bite my lip to hold back my chuckle. I’m so glad this is in the past because that day was terrible. “Let’s not dwell on the past.”
“Yeah, yeah …” She trails off, looking at her dog still doing laps around my room.
Scrolling through the channels on my TV, I stop on a famous reality show everyone’s raving about.
“Have you seen the pictures of our moms together?” Trinity muses, showing me her phone, and I smile at my happy-looking mom.
“Who would’ve thought our moms would be best friends?” I laugh, wishing I were in Toronto with my mom.
“Beats me, but I love it. They look like older versions of us.”
Aw, I love that.
“Now, it’s time to ruin our brains with TV trash,” Trinity says, patting the bed, making Nala jump on my bed before cuddling between the two of us.
* * *
As our team files out of the room, my dad stays behind with a scowl on his face. Making sure the door closes after everyone leaves, he starts pacing back and forth in this soundproof room.
“What the hell was wrong with you guys today during practice?” His tense voice sends knives to my heart.
Swallowing tightly, I place my hands flat on my thighs, refusing to show my nerves.
“Everyone has off days. We can’t always be the best.” Elijah shrugs, answering our dad since Leonidas and I made no move to do so.
Stalking over to where my brothers and I sit, he slams a fist into the table. The vein in his forehead pops out as we all flinch. “You’re sitting here because you are the best! You want this stupid-ass record label to see how weak y’all truly are and ruin my life by cutting your contract short?!”
That would be the best-case scenario for us. At least we’d be free.
“This stupid-ass record label is doing this to us,” Leonidas barks back at our dad, gaining courage. “They suck the life out of us almost as much as you do.”
Oh no, that was the wrong thing to say, and I know Leonidas feels the same as he blinks in shock at his own words that he didn’t mean to say out loud.
“I suck the life out of you?” Dad sneers, getting right in his son’s face. “You sucked the life out of me the moment you decided to swallow a bunch of pills, you pussy.”
I watch in terror, rooted to my seat as he grips Leonidas’s collar and yanks him halfway across the table.
All the blood in my dad’s body rushes to his face as he punches my brother’s face like a madman, making a scream burst from my throat. My brother’s head gets thrown to the side by the force.
“What the hell?!” Elijah rushes between the two of them and roughly pushes our dad away from a heartbroken Leonidas.
He staggers back into his chair with blood now leaking from the corner of his mouth, stunned at our dad’s words and actions.
I’m shocked as the sins of our dad leak from Leonidas’s nose. Dad must be crazier than we originally thought because we never would have thought he would go this far.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you even have a fucking brain anymore?!” Elijah screams in fury, pushing Dad’s chest. “How could you say that to him?”
“Watch your mouth, son! I’m not fucking talking to you, but I can start.” His eyebrows scrunch together, not making Elijah flinch once as they have a standoff.
Finding movement in my legs again, I run over to where Leonidas just sits and blinks into the distance. Distress is written all over his face, and I feel destroyed for him.
“Leonidas … Leo, please look at me,” I stress, getting right in his face and tapping it a couple of times.
Why did he have to bring up the pills?
