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“Excuse me?” His voice hardened and he crossed his arms. “You don’t get to speak to me that way.”
“Why? You’re not my dad.” I leaned in closer to him. “And I’m glad you’re not, especially after how I heard you speak to Atlas.”
His eyes turned flinty and his jaw hardened. “That’s enough, Wystan, I don’t think your mother would appreciate—”
“Knowing how you talk to your son? No, you’re right, she probably wouldn’t.”
I straightened, gaining the upper hand by staring down at him. I’d learned in a psychology class that positioning yourself higher than someone gave you power in a conversation, but it also instigated anger, too, so when Joseph stood to regain that authority, I wasn’t surprised. I didn’t back down, though.
“Mom appreciates a man who treats his son with respect,” I growled out, my nails biting into the palms of my hands. “And you clearly don’t do that.”
“You’ve got the situation all wrong,” he murmured back, voice still hard as he glanced at the door as if he expected Mom to pop inside. “I discipline Atlas when I see fit.”
I snorted. “Bullshit. That isn’t discipline, that’s abuse.”
He laughed so abruptly that I nearly fell backward. He patted me on the shoulder like I was a stupid kid who had no idea what I was talking about. “Come on, this is ridiculous.”
I brushed off his hand and glared. “It isn’t, and I let it go once, but I’m not doing it again. You speak to Atlas like shit.”
The smile slid off his face again and he pressed his lips into a thin line. “Shall we talk about you lying to me about what happened to my car? How would your mom react to that?” He rolled his shoulders. “I know the truth about what happened and that’s why Atlas is being punished.”
“Tell her. I don’t care because then I’ll tell her that I protected him because he’sscaredof you. What kind of college man is afraid of his own father?” I couldn’t stop. Once the words began, it was like a waterfall of truths spilled everywhere that I’d been holding in since we’d moved into this house. I took a deep breath to calm down. “I love my mom, Joseph, and you make her happy. I would never hurt her on purpose, but I gotta wonder.... If this is how you treat your son, how will you treat Mom down the road?”
Some of the anger in Joseph’s expression disappeared and his lips loosened. He cleared his throat and tugged on his tie. “I love your mother.”
“Do you not love your son?” I crossed my arms.
“Of course I do. Atlas is my pride and joy.”
I snorted and shook my head. “Shit way of showing it.” I dropped my arms and ran my fingers through my hair. “Listen, Atlas is an asshole, but even I can see he wants your attention. You treat him like trash.”
Joseph’s face hardened again. “My son is rebelling because he enjoys testing my patience.”
“Your sonis losing his shit because he’s trying really fucking hard to make you proud and all you do is criticize him.” I stood straighter and squared my shoulders. “Now, this is me being the captain of my team. Atlas is part of the Storms, and he isn’t in the best state of mind when you lecture him, so if you want our team to win, Joseph, you’ll back off.”
If there was something I knew I could convince him with, it was the team’s winning potential. He lived off the dream of the team doing well, and if something threatened that, I was sure he would do what he had to in order to fix the problem, which meant his attitude toward Atlas.
He stared at me for a long moment. “Did he tell you this?”
“He told me enough,” I lied. “Do you want us to win or not?”
He grunted and pursed his mouth. “He’s grounded for what he did to my car.”
“Fine, but he needs your support, right?” I glanced at the door, hoping Atlas wasn’t listening because that was my trick. I assumed he was too pissed off to do anything like that anyway.
He nodded sharply. “Fine. I’ll go easier on him.”
I offered him a stiff smile. “Thank you.”
He waved his hand, and I knew the gesture meant this conversation was done, except I didn’t think it was. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t see how badly Atlas wanted his attention. The only reason he agreed to back off was because he wanted the team to win.
I frowned and left the office. Maybe I needed to talk to Mom about it, but if I did and it caused more problems, Atlas wouldn’t forgive me. The last thing the Polar Storms needed was more tension. I rubbed my ribs where I’d been hurt last night and pursed my lips.
I checked in on Mom in the kitchen, and she gave me a wide smile and waved, and I returned it before I headed up the stairs again. I went back to Atlas’s door and knocked.
“Fuck off,” he yelled. At least this time he didn’t sound as angry.
“Can I come in?”
