All Grown Up (Book 6)

Beat Down

|Matteo's POV|

I knew that the remainder of the trip I would be avoiding my dad at all costs. While it may seem difficult, not so much. Everyone is in town celebrating Logan for this homecoming. He's been playing his ass off this season and I'm proud of him. All that training paid off. I wish I could say the same for myself.

I felt the strain in my shoulder and knew something was up.

Everyone was partying and mingling. Logan kept checking on me even after I told him I was fine. I was sitting outside in the front, alone, when I heard the front door open and close.

"Hey, Matteo."

I turned to see Mr. Zach standing there. I stood up to shake his hand.

"Hey, Mr. Z."

He motioned for me to sit back down.

"How's everything going?"

"Aside from my dad being an ass right now, just dandy," I muttered.

He sighed.

"I see he put you on the spot there."

"It was uncalled for. It's like I went off to college and he's a completely different person. Like I know I messed up, but it's like everything is an extreme with him."

"He's just looking out for you and as a parent he's worried."

"No, he's acting like a cop, like I'm some criminal. He told me not to bring weed in the house and not to have it around my sister. There was an incident last year where Ava, Olivia, and Bianca got caught with weed pens. My dad said she probably saw me doing it. Who fucking says that?"

He didn't say anything.

"Sorry for my language. I just..."

He patted my shoulder.

"It's alright. Better for you to get it out than to keep it bottled in."

"I went to him and my mom as an adult. I could've told them over the phone and never came home. I came to tell them face to face because my dad said that's what men do. You stand in your shit and own it when you're wrong. I do what he's raised me to do and this?"

"Hey, it could be something deeper."

"Then he needs to tell me that. I can't be a mind reader and guess what happened in his past. I'm also not going to go asking around for it. If it's meant for me to know, cool. I know in this family, when something serious happens, it gets around. This though? I had no problem telling everyone when I was asked. To have him take that away from me pisses me off. He's treating me like I'm a little kid. I'm 19 years old."

"I hear you. In all the years I've known your dad, I can't agree with how he went about it. I will tell you this, now is the time for you to keep your head on straight and get back to the grind. Injuries are a bitch and it's hard to bounce back from. I don't care what people say, you can get addicted to weed. It might not be alcohol or cocaine, but too much of anything is an addiction."

"I get where my dad is coming from in him not wanting that to happen to me, but it won't."

"I'm sure he's come across a lot of people as a detective that were strung out or too high to speak. Could've probably saved someone who accidentally overdosed. I'm sure he's seen kids your age destroy themselves. That fear of knowing you, his son, is miles away from home and can come in contact with anything is scary."

"I uh, never thought of it that way."

"Listen, I'm not excusing what he did, but I'm giving you some perspective. Trust me, when I was your age, if I felt someone wronged me, I didn't want to hear what the hell was going through their minds. Wrong was wrong."