I narrowed my gaze on him, needing to get the hell out of this house and the stifling memories threatening to overpower me.“Remember when we built the carport at the cottage?”
Confusion marred his features as ifthatwas the last thing he expected me to say.“Yeah, course. You want to build another one?”
“Do you remember when it was?”I should have been given a fucking medal for how steady my voice was when all I wanted to do was beat the living shit out of him before I ended his disgusting life.
“Christ, now you’re asking.”He paused, rubbing a thumb over his lip.“I’d say, maybe nine years ago?”
“Ten. We built it ten years ago.”
He shrugged.“Okay, ten years ago. Jackson, what is going on?”
“Do you remember how you kept asking me what was wrong? I’d been in a mood for a few weeks, and you tried to find out what was bothering me. Said you were worried.”
His gaze darted around the room, not quite meeting mine, and telling methathe remembered.“No, I…I don’t think I do.”
I crossed my arms over my chest to hide the way they shook with the need to choke the life out of him.“Sure you do. I was a miserable asshole for weeks on end, hardly ate, hardly spoke. You and Mom thought a trip to the cottage would cheer me up, and that's when we started working on the carport.”
“What is this about, Jackson?”
“See, what I didn’t tell you wasthatthe reason I was so miserable was because I’d had my heart broken. I’d been in a secret relationship with a girl, someone you know quite well, actually. You remember James’ sister, Kiera, right? I loved her so fucking much, but I thought she betrayed me. I thought she’d slept with someone else because she’d gotten pregnant.”
My father swallowed, guilt flashing across his face.“You and Kiera?”
Dropping my arms, I stepped away from the door, resting my hands on my hips, ready to grab the gun.“Yeah. Me and Kiera. We had everything planned out, our whole future,evenatthatage, we knew we wanted to be together.”
“Jackson-”
“You want to know what I found out recently?”I took another step forward, the color draining from his face.“She didn’t betray me after all. She was raped. Pinned down and violated by someone she thought she could trust. Andthenwhen she found out she was pregnant by her attacker, her father kicked her to the gutter because she refused to get rid of the baby.”I took another step, his eyes watching me like a hawk.“Did you knowthatEric threatened to kill the baby if she told anyone who the father was?”
“Son, I-”
“Did you also knowthathe threatened to kill me, too, if Kiera told anyone?”
His expression didn’t change. No shock or horror at learning his former friend had threatened to kill his only son. They’d been close once, my father and Eric, but over the years, they’d become more like acquaintances than friends, and I wondered if the strain of what my father did had come between them.
Whatever. They could hold onto the animosity for each other while they spent the rest of eternity in hell together.
“You already knew, though, didn’t you? You knew you were the father of her kid, because you were the one who pinned her down and raped her right in this room,”I sneered, my temper dangerously close to snapping.
“I did no such thing!”my father roared, his deep voice reverberating off every surface in the game room.“Thatlittle whore came on to me. She wanted me to fuck her!”
A veil of red mist floated over my vision, and before I knew it, I’d flown across the room, grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt, and threw my fist into his face. He freed himself from my clutches, taking a step back to spit a mouthful of blood onto the floor.
Straightening, his eyes widened at seeing I’d pulled the gun from behind me and was aiming it directly at his chest. He raised his hands in surrender, swiping more blood from his lip with his tongue.
“Jackson, put the gun down, Son. We can talk about this.”
“Admit that you raped her.”
“I didn’t do anything! She’s lying!”he barked, desperation coating his voice.
“What about yesterday?”I asked as my eyes filled with tears.“She came to you for help with getting Billie back, and you tried to attack her again. I supposethatwas her coming on to you again, right?”
“Jackson, please. Lower the gun, and we’ll talk.”
“Admit it!”I bellowed, unable to keep the fury and the weight of his betrayal inside any longer.
“I’m sorry,”he replied, his voice cracking.“If I’d known you were in love with her-”
