“Just say what you want to say, why don’t you,” I muttered back with a bite to my tone.
“See, that is why. That girl doesn’t deserve you. You can’t even live without her,” she stated with a shake of her head. “I’d have run off too. If I didn’t want to die, I would have a number of times.”
Wisely, I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to start something I shouldn’t. Not with this woman. She wasn’t scared of slapping me around to get her point across to me if needed.
With heavy steps, I entered the living room, looking around at all the family members. Violet was trying to get Toby to talk, or at least do something other than sit on the sofa with his knees pulled to his chest as he stared off into space. Toby had grown a lot in the past few months with a good healthy diet, I noticed. Melio was joking around with Travis, who had been welcomed into this family way too easily the last few weeks. My father and grandfather were in a heated discussion about something that I didn’t want to hear at the moment.
“About time you joined us,” Melio said as I took a seat on the far end of the couch that the boy was sitting on.
“If I could have gotten away with it, I wouldn’t have,” I muttered, slouching in the seat.
“What happened to that strong, powerful man you once were? Surely a girl can’t cause that much damage,” Keena stated. A statement from a Domme who knew what she wanted out of life didn’t sit well with me.
“Life. Life happened,” I said.
I wasn’t as strong any more. It was hard to be someone I wasn’t while in front of my family. I was torn down into nothing. Why would I need to pretend for my family now? Who cared what I was anymore?
“I want Vidie!” Toby’s loud voice rose above everyone else’s that was in the room. It felt like all noise instantly stopped as he talked.
“I know you do, sweetie. But she’s not here. There’s no need to yell, either,” Violet was quick to try to soothe him.
I knew how the kid felt. I wanted her too.
“She has to come back!” he said, his voice filled with despair. His dark eyes pinned me in my place. “You made her leave! I don’t like you. It’s all your fault!”
“I didn’t do anything,” I huffed out, leaning my head back against the back of the couch. “She can come back anytime she fucking wants to.”
“Toby, she wanted to leave,” Julia said, kneeling down in front of him. “She misses you, though.”
“How’d you know that? It’s not like she will ever talk to any of us,” he huffed with labored breathing.
“I talked to her yesterday. She’ll come back when she’s ready,” my mom said quietly.
At her words, I popped my eyes opened. She talked to my wife? How?
“But he made her leave. He didn’t want her! She left me. She promised she wouldn’t. I want her to come back,” he cried out.
“We all do,” Mom said. “And she will when she feels it’s safe here.”
“She said it was safe here,” Toby breathed out. “I want her.”
Before anyone could react, Toby launched himself off the couch and ran up the stairs. No one chased him. No one tried to get him to come back.
Why couldn’t they do that to me? Why couldn’t they just let me go and run off my pent-up frustration?
“When did you talk to her?” Carlos asked. He didn’t seem all that surprised, but he wasn’t happy, either.
“Yesterday,” Mom answered, standing up and wiping away non-existent wrinkles from her dress pants.
“Figured you’d have called sooner,” Carlos said with a shrug. “Get what you wanted?”
“No,” Mom said with a sad smile. Turning to me she said, “Make sure you answer your phone today.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Just do,” was all she said before saying something about checking on dinner.
~oOo~
