I’d resented them for years before now, spent as many nights as I could running away from the toxic chaos they created. And now, after everything, they were taking Fallon from me?
“But what does Fallon do? See, your father’s been around his sort for a long time, honey.”
“I’m a professional at recognizing a bum, Augusta Belle.” He nodded, eyes wide with knowing in the mirror.
I wanted to gouge those cold, dark eyes out of their sockets right now.
“He’s not a bum. He saved me.”
“Saved you from what?” My mom laughed. “Only thing you needed saving from was him. You know what you did…it’s illegal. There’s a name for it. It’s called statutory rape, Augusta Belle. I told you your father, and I did our research on this.”
“But, I… Now? I’m almost an adult. I can make my own fucking decisions!”
“We just want what’s best for you, sweetheart. And you may not know it yet, but this school is what’s best for you. Like a fresh perspective. Aren’t you always sayin’ you want out of Choctaw County? Well, now’s your chance.”
“No, I’m not always saying that.” That was a small white lie; I’d been saying that on repeat until the day I turned fifteen. The day Fallon caught me tryin’ to jump off the Whiskey River Bridge.
I swallowed the ache in my throat, tired of fighting, knowing they would never see my side of this.
“Well, if I had a nickel for every time I heard you say you hated that town…” My mom shook her head. “I just can’t believe you’ve been sneakin’ out all those nights right under our noses. I mean, it’s not like we weren’t home. We had family dinner together every night! I just don’t understand why you wanted to go out and spend time with a boy like that.”
“He’s not what you think,” I defended quietly, the fight already fading.
“Forgive me if I didn’t like the way he had his hands on you, his tongue down your throat first thing in the morning.” Dad shook his head, eyes avoiding mine now. “Only time a man touches a woman like that is when he knows herintimately.”
I couldn’t help the blush that crept up my cheeks. If this were just forty-eight hours before, I would defend our innocent love tooth and nail. But the truth was, on top of all of this, the most beautiful part of the last day was that I’d given my virginity to Fallon.
We’d spent one last wonderful, bittersweet night in each other’s arms, crying, kissing, making music, and dreaming of our futures.
“If you woulda told me, Augusta Belle…” My mom fought tears.
“If I woulda told you, you would have dragged me by the hair into the car and robbed me of my life!”
“You’re right, I would have. And I also would have gotten one of those doohickeys put in your arm. What do they call it? The birth control so you don’t get knocked up by that useless riffraff and ruin your life.”
I screwed up my face. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I looked him up, Augusta Belle. You know anything about his family? They’re a rough sort.” My dad shook his head, disappointment crossing his features at the thought of his daughter spending time with people like that. “They got generations of crime runnin’ through their blood. I looked that boy’s daddy up on the system at work and found half a dozen bench warrants, mostly for public intox, but still. What does that man bring to society? You know his daddy’s daddy used to own a whiskey still out on the river. Made a lot of money sellin’ illegal ’shine back in the day, but not anymore. Now they’re all just a bunch of poor, drunk fools, livin’ off the rest of us.”
“Daddy,” I pleaded, thinking more than ever that launching myself out of a moving vehicle sounded like the only appropriate action.
“I mean it, Augusta Belle. Over my dead body will a boy like that lay his hands on you again. Your mama and I raised you better.”
I didn’t bother responding, defeat now weighing down every single one of my muscles with lead.
I would probably never see Fallon again.
I’d be lucky to even survive this school, much less make the grades to get into a college without a swimming scholarship. Good grades didn’t come easily to me. Swimming did, though. Swimming was my superpower, and now they were sending me to some fucking religious convent off in the swamps of Mississippi, and expected me to be my best self?
I’d have to depend on my parents just to come get me out of the hellhole.
I swallowed the ache in my throat, feeling my tears finally dry for the first time in a while. I sat up a little straighter in the back seat, vowing for the first time in my life that now would be the last time I would see both of their faces.
I didn’t need them to succeed; I only needed the strength deep inside myself that I’d been calling on since the first day my parents had begun to lay into each other, regardless of the tender ears hanging on every word upstairs.
They left my home life in a constant state of chaos, nerves on heightened alert as I was always braced to defend myself, fight-or-flight in full effect, twenty-four hours a day with these two.
But not anymore.
