Page 23 of Game Over

I slowly nodded. “Yes, I do.” It came out in a low whisper, and I could feel her shift uncomfortably under me before she went on.

“Well, he wasn’t a good person. Like at all. My mom worked all the time

because there was always some reason he couldn’t or wouldn’t keep a job, so it was usually him and me at home. He would constantly make me do stuff so he didn’t have to. I had to clean everything, do all the laundry, and he even made me take his socks and shoes off or help put them on. If he was upset, he took it out on me, no matter what he was angry at.” She paused, taking in a deep breath, her eyes glassy with restrained tears. My heart physically hurt for her, knowing she had to deal with this at such a young age. I get that her mom wasn’t home, but she really had no clue? Allie cleared her throat, bringing me back to the present, and she continued on.

“There was this one time he was so mad because he thought I threw his cigarettes away. He chased me around the living room, and I ran to one side of the couch, trying to get away, but I-I couldn’t. He pushed the couch up against this hutch-type thing my mom had, and I couldn’t move. I was stuck.” She let out a shaky breath and shook her head before pushing on, “I couldn't properly sit down for hours and had bruises left from the belt. All could be hidden with pants pretty easily. I was eight when it happened, almost nine. I never told my mom because I was scared of what would happen to me or to her. Even though I was young, I could see how exhausted and stressed she was, and in my mind I was doing the right thing because I loved her.” Her voice wobbled as she finished telling me of her past, and she kept taking deep breaths. My heart shattered at this point. Knowing firsthand what the abuse of a parent was like, and the fact she had to experience that, hurt me.

I sat still because the anger bubbling up inside of me was terrifying. I haven’t felt anger this strong since before I left home. The fact that anyone could ever hurt her, hurt a child, made me sick to my stomach.

“Does he still try to talk to you?” The deadly calm voice that came out

didn’t sound like me.

She sat up and placed her hands on each side of my face, tears lining her lower lids, “Spence, hey, it’s okay. It wasn’t the first time, it wasn’t the last, but I’ve gotten the help I needed, and I moved on. To answer your questions, sometimes, yes, he does. I have him blocked everywhere, but he’ll make new accounts and try to message me. I block them and move on. If I happen to see him out in public, I leave before he sees me. It isn’t worth my peace.”

“He’d better hope I never see him because he may not walk away.” I

balled my hands into fists on her hips and then flexed them out, trying and failing to release the tension in my body.

“Hey, look at me. One, my plan is for that to never happen. Like ever.

Two, just don’t, okay? I want to move past that. It’s taken me a long time to get over my daddy issues, but I’m finally there, okay?”

I stared into her gentle hazel eyes, so confused about how anyone

could hurt this strong and fierce woman. “Okay, I promise.” She leaned down and kissed me softly on my forehead. I see why women love forehead kisses now.

“Gosh, it’s getting late. Time really flew by, didn’t it? Guess that’ll happen when you sit here and unpack stories.” I let her change the subject, sensing that she needed something to get her mind off those awful memories.

“I guess I’d better go since we both have work.” Letting out a deep

breath, I helped her up and gave some loving to Dolly before we both walked over to the door. “I had a fun day hanging out with you.”

“Me too, it was nice, all of it was.”

“Text me whenever you have time, okay? I know you said it’s going

to be busy, and I don’t want to distract you from work or family.” I pulled her into me and kissed her. I could kiss her forever, and I don’t think I’d ever lose the feelings of butterflies in my stomach.

“Mmm, I will, I promise. Text me when you’re home?”

“I promise I will, sweetheart.”

It was a little after one thirty when I pulled in front of my apartment. I quickly texted Allie, letting her know, and I’d text her tomorrow. It had been a long time since I was this happy and alive.

Thoughts of the evening swirled in my mind. I knew I’d be exhausted the next day, but it was all worth it. I’d skip the gym before work and go later in the day so I could get some extra rest.

Part of me originally had this uncertainty when I moved back, like maybe I wasn’t thinking it through all the way, but after meeting Allie, I knew I’d made the right decision. Allie was concerned about us working together, but that was at the bottom of my list. In the grand scheme of things at Prestige Consultants, I wasn’t anyone of importance. I took the IT job so I would be less stressed and have less on my plate. Allie was someone there, and I respected her decision in wanting to play it safe. I didn’t know where whatever’s happening between us was going to go or how long it was going to last, but I knew I wanted it to last as long as possible.

She made my life bright and brilliant like the sun dancing off a stained glass window, and she’d only been in it for a little bit. I knew it sounded insane, believe me, I know, but I had this gut feeling she was going to be important in my life. I was already hoping this busy week would go by quickly so I could see her again. Obviously, I didn’t want to bother her when she had so much going on, but hopefully we could find some time to see each other.

CHAPTER 12

White Roses

The next three days passed by without much happening. Both Allie and I were so busy that Monday—the one day we were both in the office—we didn’t get to see each other except for a brief glance as we passed each other in the hallway. Tuesday and Wednesday, she was booked with meetings most of the day. We had a huge system outage that took two days to get back up and going for everyone, and even then, some people had some lingering issues.

Today I get to see her since it’s her sister's opening night for her play. She wanted to be there at least on opening night since it was her senior year and her last play in high school. Her last first play as Allie explained to me. It was also going to be the first time I got to meet her sister and her mom too.