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Unwilling to listen to anymore of his bullshit, I stood up. “I’m going to change and go for a run,” I said.
My dad ripped the cap off his beer and chugged it down. “You’ll get nowhere with that has-been, Son. Nowhere.” Bitterness coated his words.
The second I hit the stairs, I heard Mom and Dad going at it. She meant well, but I wished she’d stop trying to fight my battles. I wasn’t a kid anymore and it never ended well.
“I didn’t come home to get it in the neck from you,” I heard him shout. “I’m going out.”
“Out?” She shrieked. “But you promised you wouldn’t do that anymore.”
With a heavy sigh, I went up to my room. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard a hundred times already. Dad promised to stay away from the bar and Mom baked or cleaned to make herself feel better. It was the cycle I’d grown up with.
The slam of the front door reverberated through the house. Mom would be upset, but I couldn’t find it in myself to comfort her. Not when I didn’t understand why she stayed with him. I wasn’t a kid anymore; she didn’t need to protect me.
I picked up my wireless earbuds and jammed them into my ear, hitting play on my favorite playlist and flung myself down on the bed.
Today had been a shitshow from start to end.
Less than two weeks at Rixon High, and I was already counting down the days until I could leave.
Chapter Seven
Lily
“Lily,can you come down here please?” There was a serious edge to Dad’s voice that made my spine tingle.
I pulled on a Raiders hoodie and shoved my feet into my slippers and padded downstairs. “What’s up?” I asked, entering the kitchen.
“We need to talk.”
“Okay.” My brows bunched together. “Am I in trouble?” I glanced between him and Mom, and she paled.
“No, sweetheart. Gosh, don’t ever think that. Tell her, Jase.”
“This is about Kaiden Thatcher.”
“Kaiden?” My heart did a little flip at the mention of his name.
“Did he… pressure you into doing something you didn’t want at the party?” Dad looked murderous. “You can tell us, Lil. You know that, right?”
“Excuse me? What?” I stared at them, dumbfounded.
“Jenson dropped it out at practice that Kaiden made you go into the boat shed with him and—”
“Hang on a minute,” I sucked in a harsh breath, hardly able to believe my ears. “Kaiden didn’tmakeme do anything. We were playing that dumb game, seven minutes in heaven, and it landed on us.”
“That doesn’t sound like you, Lily Star.” Mom gave me a weak smile that made my stomach drop.
“Gee, thanks, Mom.”
“Oh God, Lily, that’s not… that came out all wrong, baby. It’s just you’ve never…”
“Been a normal teenager?” The words made my chest ache, the weight of my reality pressing down on my rib cage. My parents were both staring at me as if they didn’t know how to handle me. As if I was some wild animal they had no experience in dealing with.
I hated it.
Ialwayshated it.
“Lily, I didn’t mean—”
