Page 6 of Silent Damage

And that’s when I see it.

A cold chill runs down my spine before a fiery rage takes over.

“Are you kicking me out? For him?”

She can’t even look at me, so she stares at her hands instead. “Jason, I told you the last time you got in a fight—”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t date dudes who want to fuck with me!”

She jumps to her feet, stomping about the room. “There isn’t a guy on the planet you can get along with!”

“Bullshit. You just can’t stop dating assholes. The last two years have been a parade of douchebags, and each one is meaner than the last.”

“A parade? ” she shrieks.

“I didn’t mean—”

Slap.

The backhand to the face comes faster than lightning.

My temperature rises to a million degrees, and my right arm shakes, but I pin it to my side.

I won’t hit her.

I’d never do that.

“I’m sorry,” she gasps, holding her hand like it had a mind of its own when she hit me. Like she hasn’t done it before when she knows damn well she has.

“No, you’re not,” I spit back.

Ma pushes back the hair from her face, tears welling at the base of her eyes. “Jason, I just want a normal life. Why can’t you get along with anyone? Just be reasonable for once in your life.”

“Reasonable?” I’m gonna freaking lose it. “We’ve been in and out of crappy apartments chasing one guy after another for two years. You finally decide to settle down, get a job, and rent a halfway decent place, and then Brad comes into the picture. You haven’t made a reasonable decision since we left Belmont, but I’m the one who’s causing trouble?”

Mom stares at me with a sad expression. “He wants you out.”

The way she says it—

Her voice is quiet. Haunting.

It’s not a threat. She’s resigned herself to the fact that Brad wants me out, and she’s going along with it.

“So, you’re choosing him over me? Your own son?” I ask, masking the crack in my voice.

The tears fall this time, and she quickly wipes them away. “I called your Dad. He’s okay with you staying with them for a bit. Maybe you can come back when Brad cools down.”

She called Doug? My heart pounds—years of awful memories flood my mind all at once.

“I haven’t seen Dad since we left.”

“I know—”

“You’d make me go back there? After everything he did?”

She wraps her arms around her body, like she’s hugging herself when I’m the one who needs a goddamn hug. “He wants to do better—”

“So you expect me to move in with him, lunatic Linda, and…fucking Gabe?”