Chapter Twenty-Four

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                                 Seth

            After awhile of tense silence, my heart pounding in my chest and my mind going a hundred miles an hour, Travis shifted.

            “I think you should go talk to him. I know you probably don’t want to go and I sure as hell don’t want you to go, but, I think this will be good for you.”

            Christian sat up. “What don’t I know? Why don’t you want him to see his father? Why wouldn’t he—” He turned to me. “—Why wouldn’t you want to go see your father?” Considering how close Travis and Christian are with their father I know it would be hard for him to understand at face value why I wouldn’t want anything to do with my own father.

            “Tell him,” I told Travis. “I’ll be right back.”

            “I never said you should go talk to him alone. I’m coming with you.”

            “It’ll be fine,” I said, kissing him. I then got off the couch. “I won’t leave the building, and if I do, I’ll go somewhere public with people.”

            “Seth!” Travis didn’t like this one bit. He made to get up off the couch but Christian held on to his hand.

            I gave Christian a thankful look. It’s bad enough that my father is here. The last thing I need right now is Travis being overprotective and on edge. “Trust me, okay?”

            “If you’re not back in ten minutes I’m coming to look for you and I swear to God if—”

            “He won’t. I’ll be fine.”

            I left Travis with a defeated look on his face and even thought it tore at my heartstrings to have seen him like that, this was something I had to do. I wasn’t doing for father. I was doing it for myself. There’s no doubt that I want absolutely nothing to do with the man but sometimes in life we have to do things we don’t want to because it’s what’s best for us.

            With that thought in mind, I held my head high and exited the elevator. I am no longer the little boy that would cower in his presence. I’ve come a long way. I’m entering my third year of college with a 3.8 Grade Point Average, I’m in a healthy relationship and I’ve fallen even deeper in love with the love of my life after being separated from him for over a life. I have a new family that loves me and cares for me as much as their own. I’m happy and I plan on staying this way for a long time.

            It took my father more than a minute for him to be able to even look me in the eyes and when he did all he said was: “Hi, Seth.”

            “Hi,” I answered him. What else did I have to say?

            “With your permission I’d like to go some place more appropriate for us to talk.”

            With Travis words in my thoughts and what I had said to calm him down, I took a deep breath and answered: “I can’t go to far or else Travis will come looking for me. He’ll freak if he doesn’t see me.”  

            My father rubbed the side of his face, a far away look covering his features. The image of Travis using the floor lamp to hit him across his face with the floor lamp after he had been choking me popped in front of my mind as clear as a projector screen. Suddenly the look on his face made sense. What doesn’t make sense is that he remembered who Travis was and what he had done to him, yet, he asked him to speak to me? Maybe he thought he deserved it or he’s…

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