“Where’s Mom?” I ask him. “What did you do to her?”
“Me?” he asks with a chuckle. “I didn’t do shit. She walked out.”
That doesn’t sound like my mother, who’s always been afraid to do anything by herself. If she’d left, she would’ve at least toldme. Wouldn’t she?
“That’s bullshit,” I tell him. “What did you do?”
He sneers at me. “Watch yourself, Rafael. Your useless whore of a mother left. She left me, and she leftyou.”
I grit my teeth.
I don’t believe him, but I’m not going to get the truth out of him.
“But it’s good that you’re home,” he continues. “It means we can have a chat about Pandora Pavone.”
“We could’ve had that chat over the phone,” I mutter.
“If you hadn’t ignored your phone, that might’ve been possible,” he counters.
I grimace, but I know he’s just fucking with me because he never would’ve let that happen. “You wanted me home for that… conversation.”
He doesn’t smile. “Because you apparently don’t learn your lessons. I fucking told you to stay away from the Pavone girl.”
The Pavone “girl” is a fully grown woman, perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but I don’t tell him that.
He wouldn’t listen. And Giulio Pavone certainly wouldn’t listen either because she’s his everything.
I wonder what it would be like for my parents to love me that ferociously.
“And to be rude to her? What the fuck were you thinking, River?I thought I raised you better than that, but you went and got stupid on me when you were thinking about chasing pussy,” he continues.
Chasing pussy.
Like that’s all Pandora is.
My vision turns red around the edges, and when his fist lashes out at me, I catch it in my hand and shove him back, hard.
He drops the can of beer he’s holding, and the liquid splashes everywhere. He swears, stumbling back.
I caught him by surprise, but I don’t think that’s going to happen again. He’s notthatold, and he’s still fit. He has to be, to continue to do his job for the Pavones. I don’t know the exact details of what that entails, but it pays well enough that he can afford to send me to Dyschord U.
It’s because of him that I learned how to fight, even if I have been a coward about using what I know to protect myself.
Not this time.
There’s no reason to hold back anymore. He can’t take anything out on Mom instead of me, and the future is up in the air as it is. Who knows if we’re going to survive this school year, let alone the next. I don’t care what my father takes away from me, as long as I never have to deal with another punch from him ever again.
If Blaze can stand up to his father, so can I.
My father throws another punch, but I’m ready for this one, too.
The street fighting has been paying off, because my reflexes are faster than ever. He might be used to playing dirty, but so am I.
“Don’t push this,” I warn him in a low voice. “Because I’m not going to take it anymore. I’m not a kid that you can push around.”
He scoffs at me. “You need to take your punishment like a man.”
“I am a man!” I snap at him. “I’m an adult who can take care of himself, and that’s why I’m never going to let you lay another hand on me ever again.”
