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“And you did it alone for all those years? No one knew?”
“No one but Sebastian, and even then I never told him how bad it was. He had enough shit going on with his own parents; he didn’t need my bullshit on top of that.”
“I just… I can’t believe you kept this in. I mean, even I had no idea.”
“Guess you’re not the only one good at keeping secrets.” He gives me a knowing stare, and I swear it cuts right through me.
“So you’re sister wants you to come home, make amends, I presume, and say goodbye.” I refuse to let him turn this situation on me so I do what I do best, divert.
“Something like that.”
“And you’re not going to?” I question.
“Did you not hear what I just got done telling you? Would you want to go make peace with a man like that? A man who stole your childhood and put you through hell?”
A vision I haven’t had in a very long time flashes before my eyes. One of a man’s silhouette standing over me in the darkened room. I feel the dread creep in just like I did all those years ago, the knowledge of what’s to come and not being able to do anything to stop it.
“No,” I mutter, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling that has suddenly settled over me. “I guess I wouldn’t.”
“Vi thinks I need to make amends before he goes, for my sake.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think I’d hate myself for giving him that satisfaction, even if it was for me and not him.”
“So then what’s the plan? You’re just gonna pretend like he’s not dying?” I hate how the question sounds, but I also can’t help but ask it.
“I walked away from that life months ago. I made peace with it even. And then you... you gave me the courage to move on from it.”
“I did?”
“You did.” He nods, closing the remaining distance between us until we’re practically standing toe to toe. “You and Jack. You forced me to look at things differently, to see what I really want. I was wasting away at Sebastian’s, wallowing in self-pity. You and Jack brought life back into my life. You refocused me and made me see beyond my past. I’m done looking backward, Bree. I just want to look forward.” He reaches out and gently tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering on my cheek just long enough for the heat to spread from the point of contact all the way down my neck.
“So you came here because of your dad?” I ask, just needing something to distract me from the sudden rush his touch causes. Of course, Tess already told me the jist of why he came here, but he doesn’t know that.
“I moved back home after school.” He clears his throat and turns, taking a seat in the chair just to our right. “I wanted to be close to my sisters and, honestly, I wanted to keep an eye on my mom. Even though I place a lot of the blame with her, I think at the end of the day she was just scared.”
“That’s no excuse not to protect your child,” I blurt, taking a seat on the couch directly across from Ant.
“You’re right. It’s not. But my mother is not the kind of mom you are. She never fought for me, ever. But at the end of the day she’s still my mom, and while I will never truly forgive what she allowed to happen, I also wasn’t willing to stand by and let it happen to her since all the kids had moved out.”
He lets out a deep exhale before continuing.
“Things were good for a while. I kept my distance from the house when I knew my father was home and bowed out anytime my mom invited me and my sisters over for dinner. I was trying to move past it all, and for the most part, I was doing okay. But then late one afternoon, when I was clearing out the last of my things from my old bedroom, he stumbled in drunk and well, you can probably guess what happened next.” He leans back into the chair and pinches the bridge of his nose.
“He hit you?” I ask when he makes no effort to elaborate.
“He tried,” he laughs bitterly. “Got a fucking broken nose for his efforts.”
“And you?”
“He didn’t hurt me, at least not physically. I’m not a little kid anymore. Being arrested, on the other hand, that wasn’t the most pleasant experience in the world.”
“Arrested? Why would you be arrested?”
“Because he said I attacked him, and because he didn’t get a hand on me I looked like the aggressor.”
“Was anyone else home to witness it?”
