Before It Ends • Hessa • Emery Scott

𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚢

Last night had to have been the worst night of my life. Hadn't heard about it yet? Well, let me fucking revisit the hellish memory for you.

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"Hardin, I want to talk to you about something Emery and I discussed." Tessa says, walking into the basement and sitting on my desk. Just an hour ago she was crying on my shoulder at the possibility of Emery running away. This should prove to you how emotional girls are. I still love them though.

I twist my chair around to face her and I see a worried look in her eyes. It's very slight, so I decide to ignore it, assuming she doesn't want me to ask. "You and Emery discussed something?" I question her with a smirk, knowing how big of a deal it is to her, and she blushes lightly.

"It's about Kendal's wedding we are attending, remember?" She asks, her hand rubbing down my sleeved arm. I nod, rolling my eyes.

"I remember." I say with a bored tone.

"Well..." she trails off and I watch her tongue press against the back of her front teeth as she holds out her word. I smile slightly. "I talked to Emery about..." she trails off again, looking down. I rub her shoulder to let her know I'm listening. "I told Emery that I'll talk to you about letting her invite Cole as her plus one." I stare at her blankly, feeling my blood rise at the memory of him hold my daughter unconscious in his arms. That's the only encounter I have to go by. She was fucking unconscious for fucks sakes! Hell no. "With your permission." She adds to lighten the blow.

I stand up from my seat, backing away from her. "Fuck no!" I shout, shaking my head, "why the fuck would you do that? She's just fine on her own."

"Hardin," Tessa warns. Fuck that! She has no fucking idea what he's capable of.

"Stop trying to fucking warn me Tessa! You're too naive to have a say." I spit, "why couldn't you talk to me before putting that... that... fucking shit of an idea it's her head?"

"Because I think it's a good idea! I've seen him Hardin, he's a good kid!"

"You've seen him?"I question as if it's the most stupidest evidence. "You saw Robby too and look what fucking happened!" I shout, throwing my hands in the air, which ends up knocking my chair across the room. I begin to pace. My mind is racing so fast with different answers and insults. I don't care if I'm being a fucking asshole. If you were a father who had to watch his daughter's bruises, caused by a fucking psychopath, heal day by day without being able to fix it, you'd being fucking crazy too.

"Not everyone is like Robby, Hardin! We have to let her go sometime."

"Of course you can fucking say that!" I snap back, looking at her with anger. "You two don't even speak!"

"And who's fault is that?" She shouts, fighting fire with fire. "You're the one who made me call the police!"

"Yes and I'm not proud of it. But she would've forgiven you by now if you didn't act like your mother!" I spit, ending the argument there. Suddenly I feel the whole basement become darker, the walls fade from its happy bright color, and worst of all, Tessa's eyes lose their flare. Her face pales, her mouth closes shut, and her tight fists become limp. I honestly don't know where that came from. It didn't really have any correlation to our argument. Did it?

Her dead eyes stare at the dull ground and my heart falls into the pit of my stomach. "Tessa-"

"No, you're right." Her voice breaks and I feel my heart fall further than the pit of my stomach. It must've hit the floor because I can't hear it anymore. It's completely silent as I watch my wife crumble in front of me. All because of me. "I did yell at her..." she pauses as if she's trying to think of her words, "in front of everyone. I'm not proud of that either."