“He’s had enough when I’ve buried him in a shallow fucking grave,” my father growls.
“Dad, stop! Please!” Tears are streaming down my face now. I can’t stop them. Jake is just lying there. He’s not fighting back. He doesn’t even attempt to block the punches. What the hell is he doing?
Both my father’s and Jake’s eyes land on me. “Fuck,” Jake hisses, blood seeping out of the corner of his mouth.
“Princess, don’t waste your tears on some asshole who will never deserve them.” Dad finally stands and then wraps his arms around me.
I let myself sink into his embrace. I know that to a lot of people, my father is a monster. But to me, he’s a safety blanket.Despite what I just witnessed. “Please don’t hurt him anymore,” I whisper.
With a kiss to my forehead, Dad wipes the tears from my face, and then steps back, turning his attention to Jake. “You were supposed to stay the fuck away from her. She doesn’t need to get messed up in your fucked-up shit, Jacob. If I see you around my daughter again, I will fucking kill you,” he says and then walks out.
Aiden stays behind. “You gonna be okay?”
I nod my head. I can’t say anything. There are so many questions running through my mind. What the hell is my father talking about? What shit is he messed up in? Dad has never been a huge Jacob fan, but I figured it was because he was a boy and Dad didn’t want me hanging around boys. Is there something else? What are they hiding from me?
“Call me if you need anything. Want me to get security to take the trash out?” Aiden asks, looking at Jake, who is slowly pulling himself up off the floor.
“Don’t be rude. I’ll handle it,” I tell my brother.
“Speaking the truth isn’t rude, sis. It’s just honest.” Aiden shrugs before he turns and walks out like my father.
Silence falls over my office.My office. I haven’t even spent time working in it yet, and now it’s tainted with this awful moment.
“Are you okay?” I finally ask Jake.
“I will be.” He winces, his arm pressed up against the right side of his body.
“Come with me.” I don’t know why, but I hold out a hand. Jake looks at it as if it’s going to bite him. Is this why he left me? Did my father threaten him? We were just kids. I wouldn’t blame him if he were scared of my fatheractuallykilling him.
“Where to?”
“My apartment. You need ice, a lot of it,” I say, looking at Jake’s face, which is starting to swell. There’s a small cut on his cheek, and his bottom lip is split open.
“If you wanted to play nurse with me, Jazzy, you could have just asked.” He smirks and then winces in pain.
“I hope that hurt a lot,” I hiss. “Come on.” I push out the door, and Jake slowly follows behind me.
Stepping into the elevator, I pull my phone from my bag and text my stepmother.
Me:
Daddy just beat the crap out of Jacob.
Antonia:
Where are you? Are you okay?
I smile. I tell her my father was in a fight, and she’s worried about me.
Me:
I’m fine. Jacob, not so much. Daddy knows.
Antonia:
I’ll handle him.
By handle him, she means she willcalm him down, talk him off whatever ledge he plans to toss Jacob’s lifeless body over.