The Boiling Point | ✔️

30 | closure

[note: nsfw content in this chapter. also: this is going to be the last nsfw note I'll add - at this point in the story you know there's mature scenes around, so feel free to just skip over those scenes when they come up if you don't like reading that kind of thing.]

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ASHTON

Until the relief set in, I didn't fully grasp all the heaviness I've been dragging around with me. I knew I had been sleep-deprived, overworked, resentful of my dad, but coming clean to Summer has made those things seem like trivial little issues I can deal with. Keeping her in the dark is what was truly beating my soul down.

And yeah, she feels sorry for me now, that was unavoidable. But setting aside my ego to get her back in my life was worth it. Even if we can't pick up where we left off after our night together, even if our dads are pulling our strings, at least she doesn't hate me.

And as long as I can help it, she'll never hate me again.

I can't say the same for the hatred radiating from the woman zeroing in on us, though. Who knew you could feel so cornered on an open sidewalk. She could be Medusa, turning Summer to stone with just one menacing look.

Judging from the same rattled reaction that overcame Summer the last time I was at this house – I'm now getting the face that matches the shrill voice I heard through the door back then. And what a perfect match it is.

"Mrs. Villa, I was just, um, I was just—"

Her beady eyes stop skimming over me, flying to Summer so fast I almost expect to hear a whip crack. "Finishing off your 'group hangout' in the bushes? You were clearly on a date!"

"What? No I—"

"God, I never should have let Mark talk me into being soft with you!" Mrs. Villa barks, her voice leaping to that shrill pitch. "The first chance you get and you're making curfew by the skin of your teeth, all so you can slip in a quickie with this—this delinquent!"

Summer lets out a breath like she's just been slapped in the face. "Excuse me?"

"You're excused," Villa snaps, eyeballing me once again. "Now get inside before the neighbors see you loitering with this boy. How you could ever want to date someone like this is beyond me, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Shamelessly parading yourself around town in those little skirts, giving them that kind of message – these depraved lowlifes were bound to take the bait."

I've been hit with just about every insult in the book. Coming from my dad to the dads of girls I've hooked up with to my best friend's mom who hates me. Nothing surprises me anymore, and nothing gets to me anymore.

But hearing this insult spewed in Summer's face strikes a fire in me, burning so hard I feel as if it's going to burn me alive if I don't spit these flames onto the person hurting her.

"Listen lady, who the fu—!"

"Ugh, that is it!" Summer slaps a hand to my chest, stepping in front of me and narrowing in on Mrs. Villa herself. "I am so sick of walking on eggshells around you! Why should you have a say in what I do outside of this house? I'm eighteen, a legal adult, paying to stay here. Is your husband too soft on me because he doesn't treat me like a child? Oh but how can I be a child when I also need to be a maid and personal chef? That's the only reason why you let students stay with you, so you can get your little power trip and be as much of a bitch as you want!"