Tension winds through my muscles, drawing them taut.
I can’t breathe with how tight my chest feels.
But I refuse to lower my guard in front of this woman.
She has the advantage of inflicting pain on me and getting away. I won’t do anything to hurt her because she’s a woman. But it doesn’t make me hate her any less.
Her eyes narrow to slits and her face becomes a mask of fury.
“What are you doing in my daughter’s room?”
I hike up her backpack. “Getting her stuff.”
“Why?”
I glare at her. “Because you kicked her out and all her stuff is here.”
Something flickers through her gaze for a very short moment. If I wasn’t studying her, I wouldn’t even have caught it. “So, she’s staying withyou. Aguy.”
A scowl plasters itself on my face. “She wouldn’t be if you hadn’t abandoned her.”
She takes a step back as if my words hit her hard. “I didn’t abandon her,” she whispers.
“You did. You kicked her out of her home.” I argue.
“I didn’t want to.”
“But you did,” my voice is tense. I can barely hide my fury.
She gulps and squares her shoulders. “I don’t expect you to understand.”
I scoff. “Trust me, I don’t want to.” Taking a step forward, I add, “You’re just like him and that’s all I need to know?—”
“I’m not!’ Tears fill her gray eyes — the color so different than Hope’s. “I’mnotlike him.”
My lips press together to not aggravate her. She could call in that husband of hers and I don’t want to look at his face and not pummel it.
Besides, this time my anger is directed towards her more than him.
She is the reason why my girlfriend is heartbroken.
Her own mother abandoned her. If she hadn’t asked me to come, she’d be on the roads right now and dealing with what freaks.
The thought of it all lights a furious, burning heat within me. The fire is so fierce it can burn anything.
“I’m not like him,” she repeats as tears rush down her cheeks.
No, you’re much worse.
“I love my daughter,” she says.
Then why do you hurt her?
“I didn’t mean to do it.”
But you did.
I dump the blue converse into the bag, then face her.
