FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS OF THE CHEATER.FAKER.TROUBLEMAKER SERIES (WATTY'S 2016, FICTION AWARDS 2016, HACHETTE AUDIO 2017), JENNY ROSEN & KRISTEN MAGLONZO.
After bullies, braces, and brutal heartbreak shatters his faith in love, soon-to-be fre...
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Note: Definitely tune into kaelking12's emotionally turbocharged reading of this chapter! Enjoy the feels!
CHAPTER 6
Elias
I don't remember how I stopped.
Or how long it lasted.
Or when my brother swooped in to separate dad and me, but his hands are locked around my chest.
Holding me back.
Holding me still.
When all I wanna do is keep crashing the edge of my knuckles into the skin and bone of Dad's jaw. He's bleeding. His lip's busted, swollen, and dripping little red rivers down his chin and onto the collar of his starched white shirt.
I should be thinking about a million other things right now—like how the hell I'm gonna survive what I just did to my father, or how to explain this to Tanner, and how I'm gonna apologize to Mom, but I'm too busy trying to get my head around the fact that I made my father bleed to focus on anything else.
Malcom King has spent every single day of his life convincing everyone around him that he's invincible. His co-workers treat him like an idol, his clients look up to him like a savior, but he's neither of those things.
He's exactly what he is right now, a scared, sad little man, struggling to pull himself out of the dirt where he belongs.
"Tanner—you tell your brother that he better find himself somewhere else to sleep tonight, and that if he doesn't want me to press charges—"
I jump to my feet and Tanner tightens his grip so I don't go flying out of his arms and right back into trouble.
"Go ahead. Do it. I'll go wherever the court sends me as long as it means you're out of the picture," I say, still seething.
Tanner drags me a couple more inches away from Dad, and as much as I wish he'd let me go, I don't have a chance against his six foot three inches of swim team muscle. He trains like an Olympian six days outta the week while I do next to nothing when it comes to sports.
And that's why Dad idolizes him.
Tanner's the superstar of the house while I'm the stain Dad can't get out of his history. But then again, maybe I don't have to be anymore.
Maybe I could do the job for him and leave so he won't have to work so hard trying to cover up the fact that I exist.
Tanner's hold on me loosens up a little but a little is all the space I need. I slip out of his arms and sprint over to Ricky's car with my brother still hot on my heels.
