With pursed lips, she nodded firmly, closing the door behind us before leading me through the foyer. Today was my first time seeing my father since the gala, and I admit, I was a little nervous. He had blown me up the first few days after the incident, and then nothing. With him being in the position he was in, I knew he couldn’t afford the scrutiny, but I felt as though that had nothing to do with me. I didn’t sign up for this life; he did. I was going to be me at all times, and that was something he had to deal with.
As we got closer to the sitting room area, I could feel the tension rising within me. I was already stressed from the shit with Dame, and now, I was feeling the strain of the McKnights possibly killing me. The last thing I needed was to be bothered with more bullshit.
“Well, damn… I thought I usually got invited to family events,” I said instead of a normal greeting as I stepped into the room. All talking ceased as eyes landed on me. “Is that how we’re doing it now?”
In the room, like a happy family, was my father, stepmother, and the princess, Blossom herself. The sight of her looking so poised and relaxed pissed me off. Here I was in shambles, andshe was acting as if she didn’t have a care in the world. The sight alone had me clenching my fists.
“Rowan, nice of you to stop by,” my father replied in an even tone as he peered at me over the top of his newspaper. “What version of you are we getting today? Belligerent? Sober? Mannerly? Disrespectful?”
“I came over here to talk to you.” I gritted the words through my teeth, trying my best to keep my cool. Looking around the room, I glanced at my stepmother and sister. “Will you excuse us?”
“Wait a minute!” My father stopped them as they stood from their seats to leave. Folding his paper, he set it in his lap and eyed me for a few moments before speaking again. “Before we have a conversation about anything, I need to say something to you. The way you acted at the Governor’s Gala was fucking disgusting. You are a grown-ass man, Rowan, and you are out here moving like a little-ass boy. The drinking, the drugs, and the disrespect are some things I will no longer tolerate. You not only embarrassed me and my office, but your mother and sister?—”
“She’s not my fuckin’ mother!” I yelled in anger.
So much for being cordial.
“I get tired of you calling her that. She…” I pointed to Clarice. “And her daughter…” I pointed to Blossom. “Are the reasons I don’t have one. My mother died from a broken heart becauseyouchose to move on and build a family with someone else and said to hell with us! My mother needed you, and you left her to die!”
When I was younger, I watched my mother wither away to a shell of herself as she mourned my father not wanting to be with her. She didn’t eat, she didn’t sleep, and she barely took care of me during those months. My father decided he’d had enough of her being a nobody and left, taking me with him and leaving herto suffer all alone. All it took was two years of solitude, and she was gone. I had never forgiven him for that.
“Rowan, I loved your mother.” My father stood from his seat, never taking his eyes off me. “I didn’t know she was a diagnosed schizophrenic until the day I walked in on her trying to drown you in the tub when you were three years old. Even then, I tried to get her help. For three years after that, I tried to love her through it. She didn’t want to take her meds. She didn’t want to listen to me. What the fuck was I supposed to do?”
“Help her some more!” I roared, causing the ladies to jump. “You could have stayed and made it work instead of moving on and making another family. I didn’t want another family, and I certainly didn’t ask for her.” I pointed in disgust at Blossom. “All my life, I had to watch you praise her for being the perfect child. I had to hear about her being smart, not doing drugs, and being successful. You never went that fuckin’ hard for me!”
Chest heaving, I hated the tears that sprang to my eyes. I was so damn angry that I started to shake. If there was anyone else I could blame for the shit that was occurring in my life, it was my father. He never cared about me or put me in a position to win like he did my sister.
“Rowan, are you serious right now?” Blossom finally spoke. “My entire life, I have lived in your shadow. You were the one that Dad praised the most. You graduated in the top percentile of your class in high school, and you mastered your trade and made millions off of it. You can ride through any block in this city and see a building that you had a hand in making beautiful. Guess who he’s first to acknowledge or recommend when we’re at dinners and events when people ask who can build this or fix that? His face lights up with pure joy when he speaks about you.”
Glaring at her, I listened as she talked, but her words meant shit. In my mind, Blossom was the enemy, and everythingthat spewed from her mouth was bullshit. Not to mention, she refused to help me when I needed her the most.
“Son, like your sister said, I’ve always been proud of you.” I dragged my eyes from Blossom and placed them on him as he stepped to me. “Your lifestyle is what I don’t care for. The drugs, the alcohol, the women—you’re better than all of that, and I want you to see it.”
“Rowan, I never tried to take your mother’s place—” Clarice started before I cut her off.
“But you did, so fuck you!”
Whap!
“Carlton!”
“Dad!”
My father punching me in the face wasn’t something I was expecting, but if a fight was what he wanted, it was one he would get. Pulling up my slacks, I held my hands up to swing, but he was already on me. As we fell backward, breaking the coffee table in the center of the room, my father beat me as if I weren’t his son.
“I am tired of your disrespectful-ass mouth, boy!” he yelled as he rained blows all over my face and chest. “You will apologize to my wife and your sister, and then you will get the fuck out of my house! You will not return until you learn how to respect them!”
Hearing my sister and her mother scream for my father to stop hitting me, I tried my best to fight back, but the old man was stronger than I thought. For the second time in weeks, I lay hopeless on the floor as I got my ass beat.
“Sir, that's enough,” I heard someone from his security team say as he pulled him off me. “You made your point.”
“Get him up and get him the hell out of my house!” My father panted as he snatched away from the guy who had pulled him off of me. “I love you, Rowan, and I always will. But until you actlike you have the sense God gave you, and you apologize for the things you’ve said to the girls, you’re not welcome in my home.”
“Fine!” I snatched away from the other man who’d helped me from the ground. “I don’t need you! I don’t need any of you!”
Spitting on the floor, I watched as my father was held back by his team. Eyeing them all once more, my eyes lingered on a crying Blossom.
“I hope you have the life you deserve. I hope it’s as miserable as the one you’ve made for me.”
