He struggles with touch. She struggles with trust. How could these two, afraid of necessities of love, ever come to need each other?
* * *
Ulyssa Miller, a proud college student in psychology, strives to become the best therapist she can be in o...
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♛ ♛ ♛
𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 || 𝐀𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬
━━━━━━━━━━ × ━━━━━━━━━━
"Daddy?" I whispered in fear.
He stepped closer to me, and by instinct, I backed away, just enough to create space.
"Look at you," my father exclaimed, flashing off that bright smile of his. It was no good to me. Every smile he gave was a lie. A trick.
"Why are you here?" I asked him, clasping my hands close to my heart. "You should be in jail."
He pressed his tongue into his cheek, squinting his dark eyes at me for a moment. The way his irises lingered over me made me uncomfortable.
He bore that same sharp-ticking jaw that Vincent did when he was becoming impatient or frustrated.
"This is how you greet your old man after he's been locked away?"
I turned around silently and began to walk, hoping to see anyone else, but it was just me and Raymond in this hall. Knowing better, I shouldn't have moved from him, but I was dying to escape before I experience a round of pain.
Who could blame me? I just wanted to be saved.
His rough palm closed around one of my wrists, tugging me back to him forcefully as if he had a mission. "Stop!" I cried instantly when he brought me into his arms.
"I'm just trying to hug you, pumpkin," his voice growled smoothly, "Relax."
My heartbeat sped up as I tried to pull away, but I couldn't budge from him at all. "Y-you're a monster," I stuttered.
"I am?" my father asked and squeezed me tighter until I almost broke.
"N-no sir," I whispered beneath my breath.
He loosened his arms around me and kissed my head, "That's my good pumpkin."
Even though he had done so much harm to me and my mother, I always melted when he showed an inch of softness.
It was something I had hoped I'd grow out of, but here I was...stuck in his loop of manipulation yet again.
"Daddy..." I whispered and looked up at him.
He smiled softly, "Where's your mother?"
That set me back immediately.
She was happy now, vowed to a wonderful man, with a child on the way. I had never seen her so ecstatic, and if those feelings of contentment disappeared, I'd never forgive myself.
I gave him an answer bravely. "Nowhere."
His whole demeanor changed before my eyes, and I was pressed against the wall with his large hands wrapped around my neck at the speed of light.
