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The words were like a punch to my chest.
“Dad, you can’t kick him out. He doesn’t have anywhere else to go,” Hollis said.
“You stay out of this. Grant, I want you out of this house now,” Glen said again.
“I told you I never touched her!”
“Dad, stop it,” Hollis said. “You can’t kick Grant out. This is madness.”
“I can, and I will. We both know the potential your sister has. And whatever he’s done to lead her on, stops now,” Glen said.
“Fuck you,” I growled. I was pissed that they thought I would do something to Theresa, and I was tired of trying to defend myself against it.
Glen Peterson could go straight to hell.
I watched Glen march down the hallway as I stalked out of the house. I needed to breathe. I needed to collect myself. Part of me wanted to salvage the situation, but part of me didn’t want to. I was eighteen. I could go and do as I pleased. They’d tried to shove college down my throat, and they had once blamed me for Hollis’ unwillingness to go to school.
It was more than clear that they just thought I was a bad seed, hell-bent on corrupting their kids.
I could hear Theresa’s voice emanating from the driveway as I walked along the sidewalk. I turned around and saw Glen tossing my stuff out the damn door, and for a moment, I saw my father; the anger in his eyes and the harshness of his motions.
I saw my father in Glen’s face, and I knew then, and there I would leave.
I’d leave it all behind to strike out on my own.
Theresa continued to argue and defy her parents. I’d never seen Theresa combative like that, and part of me grinned in pride. She was strong. I always knew she was. Hiding behind those baggy clothes, self-conscious about her body. Stuck behind those glasses and her books and her awkward little walk.
But I knew. I knew she’d grow into a smart, remarkable, beautiful young woman.
Too bad I wasn’t going to be around to see it.
I grabbed a trash bag from the side of the road and emptied it. I went and stuffed in all the clothes Glen had tossed out onto the lawn. I tossed it over my shoulder and headed down the road, making my way for the shed Hollis, and I sometimes hung out in.
I walked through the woods until I reached the abandoned structure. I pried the doors open, taking stock of the truck inside. It was a project Glen and I had taken on when I learned how to drive. They couldn't afford to get me a car, so I told Glen I’d get a part-time job to pay for the parts to fix up an old truck I’d found that I wanted. Five hundred up front plus the cost of all the fixing up, and four thousand dollars later I had a running pickup truck I could call my own.
I tossed my trash bag full of clothes into the back, fished the keys out from on top of the tire, and hopped into the front seat.
I didn’t have much to my name; a few thousand I’d saved up from working summers around town. I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I knew I couldn't stay there. I cranked up the truck, and it sputtered, but after a couple of tries, I got her to rev up. I slowly drove her out of the woods and onto the main road, and I took Main Street out of Bar Harbor and headed south.
For a moment, I smiled. I smiled at the memories I’d made with Glen while trying to fix this damn thing, so it worked. The things he’d done over the past five years that had convinced me he cared. And now he’d just thrown me away like a piece of trash. I hopped onto the highway heading toward Massachusetts, not knowing what my future held for me.
I drove all through the night until I hit the Massachusetts border, then I pulled into a rest stop and prepared myself for some sleep.
I leaned the seat back and folded my arms across my chest. I closed my eyes and smiled as Theresa’s face appeared in my vision. Her innocent hazel eyes and her thick brown hair. That cute little smile with those chubby cheeks. I’d never admit it to Glen, but I did have a thing for his daughter. She was innocent and smart and curvy in all the right places. What looked like baby fat now, would smooth out into wonderfully thick thighs and an ass I’d want to sink my teeth in someday.
Hell no, I never touched her. And I didn’t have any plans to either. But fuck, it didn’t stop her innocence from calling to me. She was an angel hidden underneath layers of insecurities, and my hands longed to strip her of those, fully exposing her to me after peeling back every layer before showing her how a real man treated his girl.
I would never have touched her until she turned eighteen. I respected Glen and what he’d done for me too much. But it was something that wouldn’t happen any longer. Good, upstanding people never really cared for bad seeds like me. Kids who came from poor homes and had holes in their shoes. They cared until it was too tough to care. They cared until it affected how their perfect little children grew up. If they knew all the hot water Hollis and I had gotten into over the years, they’d fucking flip.
It didn’t matter anymore, though.
Nothing did.
I fell asleep that night with Theresa on my mind. I needed to be figuring out what my next fucking move was, where I was going to live and how I was going to get money to fend for myself. But I couldn’t shake her smile. Or her laughter. Or the way her eyes lit up when she was reading a book she enjoyed.
I also couldn’t shake her defiance; the way her eyes had flared with anger when she came down the stairs that morning. I couldn’t shake the way she shrieked after me. Screamed for her father to stop. Too bad that’d be the first and last time I’d see that side of Theresa.
I turned over onto my side and drew in a deep breath. I could get a few hours of sleep before I needed to find a gas station and get back on the road.
