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He snorts awake all at once, his eyes flickering open. He nearly chokes on his own saliva as he struggles to right himself.
“Jesus,” I mutter. As always, he reeks of booze and bad decisions.
“What the hell are you doing?” I growl through gritted teeth. “Those children out thereneedyou.”
His eyes focus on me and he frowns. “Sienna…”
I freeze.Is this a joke?If so, it’s crueler than I thought even he was capable of.
He blinks a couple of times and then lets out a loud burp that has me cringing a few steps backward. Judging from his breath and the way his eyes flicker erratically, he’s still wasted.
“Si…”
He’s screwing with me. This is some sick prank.
But Ben has never been that good an actor. He’s got this longing, desperate look on his face. His bloodshot eyes swing wildly over my body as he stumbles closer to me.
“Si… I’m so fucking sorry… I forgot your b-birthday…”
“Ben,” I say firmly. “It’s me. Emma. I’m not Sienna.”
He frowns, hiccupping as he reaches for me. “I’ve missed you so much, baby…”
He tries to touch me but I recoil from him. “Ben!I’m Emma. Snap out of it. Are you so far gone that you can’t even tell—?”
I gasp when he grabs my arm and reels me against him. For a guy who’s half-asleep and half-drunk, he’s got a surprisingly firm grip.
“Ben! Stop!”
I’m vaguely aware of the door swinging in on its hinges but I’m too worried about Ben’s wandering hands to pay much attention to it. At least not until Ben grunts with pain, his back arching. He stumbles to the side to reveal Josh standing there, his hands balled into fists.
Did Josh justpunchhis father?
“Fuckinghell, you little bastard!” Ben hisses as he wakes up from whatever intoxicated hallucination he was caught in.
“You get the hell away from her!” Josh orders, glaring at his father with a fury that belongs on a much older man.
Ben shakes his head from side to side in stupefied disbelief. “You little shit! Did you just hit me?”
“You were scaring Aunt Emma!”
Ben’s eyes veer to me for only a second before they fall back on Josh. He’s wearing a venomous glare that doesn’t deserve to be aimed at any eight-year-old, let alone your own son. “I don’t care what the fuck I did; it’s not your place to—”
I step right between him and Josh. “Ben, stop it. You’re out of control. You have—”
He shoves me roughly out of the way and lunges at Josh. I trip and fall to the side, aware of Josh racing out the door from my peripheral vision. Ben chases after him and, for the first time since that orange pickup truck changed everything, I’m actually scared of what Ben is capable of.
I hit hard, cracking my head against the wood floor, but I’m back on my feet again as fast as I can manage it. I rush into the living room where Ben is circling the couch, trying to claw at Josh.
“Ben! Have you completely lost your mind? He’s a child! He’s yourson!”
“Exactly!” he yells. “My fucking son. And he’s got to learnrespect!”
Startled, the girls scream. I catch their terrified little faces peeking out from around the kitchen, pale as ghosts.
“Ben, I will call the police!” I yell right back.
He turns on me, hair mussed, eyes wild. I’ve never seen him look so unhinged. But despite that, all I feel is relief. At least his attention is on me now, not Josh.Let him beatmeblack and blue. As long as the kids are okay.
