“No, really? It doesn’t seem like it. She’s wasting her life on you. You do realize that, don’t you?”
“Yeah! I know! I tried to end it, but she won’t fucking give up! Okay? I know I’m a piece of shit! Is that what you want to hear?”
“No. You aren’t. You just have your head so far up your own ass you can’t see what you’re doing to her.”
“I know what it does to her, and I’m trying, okay? I’m fucking trying!” His voice cracks, and he shoots up off the couch. “Fuck this. If I wanted to be bitched at, I would’ve stayed at home.”
I dart across the room, blocking the door. “Don’t you dare storm out of here. I’ll leave it alone. Okay? No more bitching, but you don’t leave. I’ll stay up all night worrying if you do, and I need to get some sleep so I can finish this shit. So please, please do not leave,” I plead as tears start to well.
He steps back, thinking hard before lifting his face to the ceiling and exhaling loudly. Finally, he nods and stomps off to his room, slamming the door behind him. I know he’s pissed, but I don’t care.
I head to my room, change, and slip into bed.
Iwake early to make a quick trip to the grocery store for the ingredients to make French toast for him.
When I pull back up at the house, the front door is open.
“What the hell,” I mutter.
With a plastic sack in each hand, I jog up the steps and enter the house, kicking the door closed behind me.
“Shane!” I bark, my breaths growing sharper as I contemplate how I’m going to murder him for leaving the damn door open.
No response.
“Hey! I’m back!” Sweeping the house, I notice his room’s empty, and my heart sinks.
He left.
“Goddamn it, Shane,” I mutter under my breath. This is the shit that pisses me off. Everyone talks about how flaky he is, and I defend him every time. But then he does stupid shit like this, and I feel like a fool for having his back.
I pull out my phone and text him on my way back to the kitchen. Stopping in front of the table, I blindly lay the grocery bags down, sighing. This is the last straw. After his little stunt last night, I’m going to put my foot down. I can’t keep making excuses for shit. I love him, but enough is enough.
“Hello, Ashton.” The familiar voice sends a chill down my spine.
My fingers stop typing, and every muscle in my body freezes at the sound. I lift my eyes slowly, without moving my head.
Nothing comes out at first when I open my mouth. Swallowing, I say, “Hi, Dad.”
He looks the same as he did the day I watched him beat my brother to within an inch of his life. He’s a little older, but his eyes are just as vacant, and his smile’s just as vicious. I can’t process the fact that he’s here, standing in front of me. Like, I’ve somehow convinced myself he wasn’t real. I’m instantly thirteen again and not sure how to react.
I realize I’m holding my breath and inhale sharply. “What are you doing here?”
“Can’t a guy visit his daughter?” he asks.
I guess a guy could, but not this one. If he’s here, it’s because he wants something. I don’t know what, but the danger that lurks if I don’t give it to him has my stomach churning.
When I don’t answer, he says, “Sit down.”
My hands shake, and I jump before scrambling to place my butt in the chair.
“I’m disappointed you won’t take my calls. Your grandmother was always a master manipulator. Now that she’s gone, you and I can have the father-daughter relationship we deserve.” He flashes his teeth. If it was anyone else, it might be considered a smile, but I know what this is. He’s a predator, and I am, once again, his prey.
I blink, trying not to move a muscle. You never know what will set him off. That’s a lesson I learned long before our parents divorced.
“Okay.”
“But first, I want what’s mine. The old bitch left everything to you.” He scoffs, moving toward me, his beady eyes burning into mine. “I understand why she’d leave your brother out of the will. Although, she’s the reason he’s the worthless piece of shit he is. If he’d stayed with me, he’d have learned his lesson eventually.”
