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His hands fisted at his sides, his temper threatening near the surface.
We were one and the same, but this would be a battle I’d win. Even if I killed both of us.
“How’s it feel to turn out a piece of shit like them? Huh? How’s it feel to lose everything you worked so hard for?” I mocked, fully aware this was slaying him. Comparing him to the worthless bastards who’d shit on him foster house after foster house he was placed in.
“Jackson, that’s enough,” Camila uttered in a soft voice, not wanting this war to reach a point of no return.
Glaring solely at my father, I snidely replied, “You’re not my mother. She’s gone, and she’s not coming back.”
He was teetering on the edge. I could physically see him hanging on by a thread.
“Jackson, please, just stop.”
“Oh, come on, Mary Poppins! Don’t you want to know where she is? I thought that’s what you wanted!”
We both jerked back when he finally spoke, “Jackson Pierce, don’t talk to her like that. I raised you better than this. You want to come at me, then you come at me like a man. Leave her out of this!”
“Oh…” I cocked my head to the side. “For Camila, you talk, huh? Mom would love that.”
“Jacks—”
“And you haven’t raised me for almost a year!” I reminded him. “All you give a fuck about is your goddamn hospital!”
“Watch your mouth,” he warned, getting closer to me.
“Oh, so you want to try to be my father now? Where the fuck has he been while everyone else has taken care of his responsibilities? Huh?!” I shoved him, not giving a fuck about the consequences of putting my hands on him.
He didn’t waver, not that I expected him to.
“You think I need you? You think I want you in my life? I don’t give a shit about you! Do you hear me?” I pushed him again, much harder. “Do you understand me? I don’t give one flying fuck about you! To hell with you!”
Taking one last look at him, I stated the truth, “You’re nothing but a sorry excuse of a man who abandoned his kids when they needed him the most!”
Camila gasped at the same time his hand flew back.
“No!” she yelled just as he backhanded me across the face.
My head whooshed back, taking half of my body with me. Journey burst into a fit of tears, screaming at the top of her lungs again.
He instantly reached for me, but I forcefully shoved his arms away. Even the sorrowful expression that fell upon his face meant shit to me.
“Jackson, I didn’t mean to do that! You know I would never hurt you! I would die before I ever hurt you,” he profoundly apologized in his own way, his eyes filling with regret and devastation all at once.
“Shhh… it’s okay, Journey, it’s alright,” Camila soothed my baby sister, who was screaming in her arms.
I stared in the eyes of the man I used to know. The father I admired, loved, and would have died for.
My stomach somersaulted, making me weak in the knees. The emotions were running so high, you could choke on them, making it hard to fuckin’ breathe.
In the blink of an eye, his face changed as if he was examining my appearance, searching for the boy who once loved him more than anything in this world.
He’s gone.
And you did that.
I bit back the bile rising in my throat. Briefly blinded by the overwhelming anguish you could feel in the air. With tears blurring my eyes, I looked back at him. Also looking for the father I still wanted more than anything.
“Please stop,” Camila repeated, locking stares with me. “You have to stop. Your mom wouldn’t have wanted this. No mother would.”
