AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s okay.” My mom put a hand on my dad’s arm, and squeezed it. That had always been her polite way of telling him to shut up. “We’ll buy a house here, so we can visit a lot.”
“There aren’t any available houses. Sab’s place is finally almost done, but it’s been months in the making.”
“We can be persuasive.” My mom brushed off my concern.
She’d done that a lot throughout my life, I realized. Brushed my emotions away.
I could’ve argued this time, but didn’t. What was the point? They clearly weren’t going to listen to me.
“Can we come back tomorrow?” my mom asked, continuing the conversation and pressing the issue. “We could do lunch—I can pick up food on the way.”
“I’m not even convinced that I want to do this,” I told her bluntly, gesturing between us. “You cut me out of your lives. Insulted me, tried to force me to do something that felt wrong. I struggled just to feed myself and my child for years because of what you did to me. I had just been injured and abused in every fucking way possible by the man fate decided I belonged to, and you abandoned me. I’m not ready to forgive you for that.”
There was a moment of long, tense silence.
My mom wiped at more tears, and my stomach clenched with guilt.
I ignored the guilt, though. It didn’t mean anything other than that I still loved my parents for being my parents. It wasn’t an indicator that I was being too harsh, or too cruel; it was just a sign that I had feelings.
“And we’ll have to live with that for the rest of our lives.” My mom’s voice was soft, and shaky.
“Give me his name.” My dad didn’t beat around the bush.
“Whose name?” I feigned confusion, not wanting the conversation that would come next.
“The bastard who hurt you.” My dad may as well have growled like a damn werewolf himself.
I knew my dad well enough to know that he’d want to wreck the guy financially, if not physically too.
“He’s dead. He came back to attack me and Evan, and I stabbed him in the chest with a kitchen knife.” I didn’t add that my wolf had taken over then, and ripped his throat out. It had been something out of a horror movie, but I was still completely confident that I’d made the right choice. To protect my baby from a monster like that, I’d do whatever the fuck I had to again, and again, and again.
My parents were silent for a long moment, my mom’s eyes wide and watery.
My dad nodded roughly. “Good.”
“I’d like to help get my son to bed now, so please,” I gestured toward the porch, where Ryder and Dax were still standing, facing away from us.
“Can we come back for dessert in a few days, though?” my mom pressed. “I can pick something up—Evan seemed to love ice cream. Or we could meet somewhere else, instead?”
Boundaries—I needed to draw some boundaries between us. My parents were good to me as a kid, but then they treated me like shit. I couldn’t welcome them back into my life immediately. That would’ve been irrational, and hard on me emotionally.
“You can come back for dinner in three weeks. I need time to process everything; we can talk about this again then.”
Three weeks would be enough time for me to think, and enough time for Ev not to expect to see them there. If my parents really wanted to become part of my life again, they would do so slowly.
My mom’s face fell, but I didn’t let myself feel bad for that. I had to protect myself and my baby, even from my own parents.
“We can do it just the five of us,” I added, giving them a tiny smile. “Text me when you decide whether or not you want to, and I can get a date and time.”
“We will,” my mom said quickly. “We’ll do whatever it takes, Elizabeth.”
It was strange to hear her call me by my full name. It had been so long since anyone called me that.
“Alright. Goodnight.”
After another round of awkward smiles, they headed out to their car. I sighed, leaning up against the doorway. “Thanks for staying, guys,” I told Dax and Ryder, my voice sounding as tired as I felt.
“Any time,” Dax said, flashing me a small smile.
He headed back home, and Ryder’s gaze met mine. He was massive, with tattoos running up both arms and even up his neck a bit. “Text me if they don’t respect your boundaries,” he warned.
Something told me he would kill them for me, if I asked him to. That probably shouldn’t have made me feel better, but it did.
Elliot was kind, and playful, and sweet. He was strong too, and I didn’t doubt that he could protect me. But someone as pure as him would struggle badly with the mental consequences of taking a life.
Ryder, though… I didn’t get that impression from him, at all.
“Thank you. I will.”
He dipped his head toward me before striding off the porch, headed toward Dax’s place too.
