Never Been Kissed

Ch.43 ↬ J

Fate had a sick, twisted way of entwining people.

With the pain etched so blindingly across Madeline's face and the way she kept zoning out and slipping back into what I knew was her nightmare, I believed her. There was no reason she had to lie about it. Though it didn't all make sense to me—how could Frank who was a firefighter dope himself up so much that he tried to rape an eighteen-year-old?—I couldn't question it.

I couldn't question it because of how I felt towards Madeline. Because I believed her wholeheartedly. She wouldn't lie about something so detrimental and serious.

Blind hot rage consumed me right there and then.

Turning away from Madeline, I staggered forward, eyes locked on Frank. He was wide-eyed and his phone dropped from his hold as I pulled my fist back and punched him right in the jaw. He stumbled, smacking against a photo that was adorning the wall. It trembled in his wake but didn't fall. As Frank turned back to me, I was satisfied by the blood pooling in his mouth.

Oscar cried out. "Dad!"

"Joshua!" Mom gasped.

I never registered the thud from his phone smacking against the floor. But I distinctly heard my fist connecting with his jaw and the cry emanating from Oscar as he stumbled around my mom's arm to tug on Frank's arm. Horrified, Oscar's face scrunched up as tears began to plummet down his cheeks, unable to remove the fear from his eyes as he gawked at me.

My mom seemed paralysed after having heard what Madeline had uttered. Everyone had heard, including Oscar, though I suspected he didn't know the definition of rape. Actually, I prayed he was clueless right now. He was only six. He was too young to be exposed to the cruel world.

As Frank wordlessly cradled his jaw, I averted my gaze to my mom. She was pale and had lost the crows feet that crinkled at the corners of her eyes whenever she was immensely excited. God. How must she be feeling right now?

"Madeline wouldn't lie," I said.

Turning around, I expected Madeline to be right there. To be standing behind me still. But I was greeted by nothing and my heart sunk. She'd fled, leaving the front door open in her wake.

Instincts overruled me and I sprinted after Madeline, throwing myself out of the house. As I stumbled to the edge of the drive, perceiving my BMW still parked, I frantically scoured left and right. There was no sign of Madeline. She could either have turned left or right and I had no fucking idea, and I was sure that if I were to call her—which I was still going to do—she wouldn't answer.

How much time had I wasted between taking my attention off Madeline to realising she'd left?

Fuck.

Fuck.

Shit!

Plucking my phone from my pocket, I gnawed down on my bottom lip as I phoned her. As predicted, her phone rang out only twice before I was sent straight to voicemail. My grip tightened around my phone as I resisted the urge to hurl it at the sidewalk. Instead I groaned, running my hand through my hair with more vigour than I intended. I'd been so focusing on wanting to beat the shit out of Frank that I took my eye from Madeline when she clearly needed me the most.

Jaw clenched, I marched back into the house, my gait stiff and tense. Oscar was sobbing and holding onto the hem of Frank's shirt. Frank wore an expression of pure shame and rightfully so. Mom was still hovering in the hallway, flickering her eyes between Frank and I.

"She left!" I hollered incandescently, directing it all straight at Frank because he fucking deserved it and he fucking deserved a whole lot more. "She left! How could you do that to someone?"