Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Taking one last look at him, I stated the truth, “You’re nothing but a sorry excuse of a man who abandoned his kids when they needed him the most!”
Camila gasped at the same time his hand flew back.
“No!” she yelled just as he backhanded me across the face.
My head whooshed back, taking half of my body with me. Journey burst into a fit of tears, screaming at the top of her lungs again.
He instantly reached for me, but I forcefully shoved his arms away. Even the sorrowful expression that fell upon his face meant shit to me.
“Jackson, I didn’t mean to do that! You know I would never hurt you! I would die before I ever hurt you,” he profoundly apologized in his own way, his eyes filling with regret and devastation all at once.
“Shhh... it’s okay, Journey, it’s alright,” Camila soothed my baby sister, who was screaming in her arms.
I stared in the eyes of the man I used to know. The father I admired, loved, and would have died for.
My stomach somersaulted, making me weak in the knees. The emotions were running so high, you could choke on them, making it hard to fuckin’ breathe.
In the blink of an eye, his face changed as if he was examining my appearance, searching for the boy who once loved him more than anything in this world.
He’s gone.
And you did that.
I bit back the bile rising in my throat. Briefly blinded by the overwhelming anguish you could feel in the air. With tears blurring my eyes, I looked back at him. Also looking for the father I still wanted more than anything.
“Please stop,” Camila repeated, locking stares with me. “You have to stop. Your mom wouldn’t have wanted this. No mother would.”
My eyes glazed over, triggering something deep inside of me.
She was right.
She wouldn’t have wanted this, and for that reason alone, I stopped. Seeing my mother standing in front of me instead of the woman who’d been there for us in her absence all these months.
I blinked, shifting my focus back to him, who was taking in what she had just said as well. Neither of us spoke. Even Journey stopped crying.
The end.
Game over.
I said my piece.
Slowly, I backed away before I turned and left. Leaving open wounds that may never be healed by the hands of the good doctor.
I thought this was what I wanted, what I needed, what I craved.
I was wrong.
I didn’t hate him.
I loved him.
But it hurt...
Just the same.
Chapter 25
<>Harley<>
“We gotta go,” Aunt Skyler came runnin’ up to Uncle Noah who was sittin’ next to me.
“What’s goin’ on?” he asked, takin’ the words out of my mouth.
“It’s Aiden. He just called me, he fucked up. We gotta go.”
Noah stood, and I found myself standin’ with him. Sayin’, “I’m comin’ too.”
Aunt Skyler didn’t question me, she just nodded as if she already knew my reasonin’. What I’d been askin’ myself since Jackson left the party.
With a heavy foot on the gas, it didn’t take long for us to arrive at the Pierces’ home. Uncle Noah sped the entire way there, breakin’ several laws in the process. All of us stressin’ over the anxiety of what was to come. I knew one thing and one thing only, Uncle Aiden hadn’t stepped foot in that house since his wife had died.
With my thoughts focused solely on Jackson, I moved in an autopilot state of mind, slammin’ the car door behind me. Rushin’ right into their house, I darted up the stairs toward his bedroom. My heart feelin’ fuller with every stride I made. A thin thread pullin’ me, gettin’ closer and closer to the boy who might have needed me the most.
Truth was, I had no clue.
The older we became, the more our relationship evolved into something more intense, something unexpected. We both played games, pranks, and fought.
It was our dynamic.
Our understandin’.
Our hate.
It was simple.
Until... it wasn’t.
“Jackson?” I knocked on his door.
Silence.
“I’m comin’ in.”
Nothin’.
Openin’ the door, I was careful not to startle him in case he was in his own little world. A place I’d caught him lost in more times than I could remember. The unknown land that I knew tormented him.
The list was endless.
His mom.
His dad.
His mind.
This time, I didn’t have to wonder where he was. The window was open, allowing the night breeze to softly blow the sheer curtains aside.
In three steps, I was standin’ in front of the windowsill, ready for the battle that was Jackson Pierce. He wouldn’t like me bein’ here for him, probably thinkin’ I would hang it over his head later.
Use it as a weapon, instead of him realizin’ I was just tryin’ to be his friend.
I’d never personally experienced what he was goin’ through. There were things I wouldn’t be able to comprehend, emotions I couldn’t relate to, fears no one should have to live with.