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He sits across from me at the table, and I feel his eyes on me. He’s looking for a fight tonight.?
I wish I could say I won’t give him what he wants, but the minute he threatens either of them, there won’t be any controlling it.?
Keeping my head down, I try to eat, even though my appetite went right out the door when the asshole walked in.?
A few seconds after my mom sets his plate down in front of him, he starts in, “What the fuck, Isla? This shit is cold.”?
“It’s really good, Dad. Why don’t you just warm it up? And calm down.” Colton tries to reason with him, but he still doesn’t understand that’s never going to happen. My brother likes to see the best in people, just like my mom.??
He turns that evil stare on Colton. “Who the fuck asked you, boy?”?
Gripping the table, I’m ready to pounce on him, but my mom steps in. “It’s okay, Colt. I’ll warm it up. No problem, Jeff.” I see the forced words being pushed from her lips, and it turns my stomach.?
But before she can grab the plate, he slams it into her hand against the table. Pieces of the white ceramic go flying, and my mother cradles her sliced hand to her chest. Without even a second thought, I fly around the table, slamming his face down into the wood that holds so many bad memories.?
Memories of sitting there as a little boy, waiting for him to come home to play with me.?
Slam.?
“You piece?—”?
Memories of me hiding under it, comforting Colton as he beat my mom, and she begged us to stay quiet.?
Slam.?
“Of fucking shit?—”?
Memories of seeing more blood than I ever had after he threw my mom into the corner of the table.?
Slam.?
“Don’t ever touch her again!”?
I hear my mother screaming my name as Colton holds her back, but all I can think of is the years of torture and abandonment issues he has caused all of us.??
Snatching the back of his shirt and pulling him up from his seat, he attempts to spit blood at me, but I dodge it. I drag his body toward the front door and throw him onto the porch.?
Crouching down, I get in his face, unphased by how fucked up he looks right now.?
“You won’t ever speak down to or put your filthy hands on them in my presence again.”?
He gives up and lies on the porch, not uttering a word back to me. I grab his phone from his pocket and call his drinking partner, Jimmy.?
“Come get your piece-of-shit friend off this porch in the next fifteen minutes or he won’t be able to hold a bottle of liquor ever again,” I growl.?
“Calm down, Nox,” Jimmy urges.?
“Get fucked, Jimmy.” I hang up the call and slam the door, hoping he never steps foot back in this house again.?
I storm back into the kitchen, still raging. “Why the fuck do you continue to let that motherfucker in this house?”??
My mother flinches, not at my brother cleaning her hand but at my words. When she meets my eyes, hers well with fresh tears, and I’m that broken seven-year-old boy all over again.?
“I’m sorry,” I whisper as I move over to take a look at her hand. Luckily, it isn’t as bad as I thought.?
“No, I’m sorry.” She grabs us both, pulling us into a hug, and her pain bleeds into my veins. Guilt takes over the rage I was feeling seconds ago.?
“I love you both so much… I wish I was stronger for you two.”??
