“No, no it won’t be.”
I stood to my feet as my brothers stood to theirs.
“The way this family operates is insane. We live in the twenty-first century, Dad. Women are running entire corporations,” I said.
“Not this again. Ava, I have explained to you why you cannot take over the family business,” my mother said.
“You have what?” my father asked.
“I’m not even talking about the family business! Dad, you’re trying to marry me off like I’m some sort of property to you. And I’m not. I’m not a business transaction. You can’t barter and borrow with my virginity,” I said.
“You will tone down that type of talking right this instance,” he said.
“And if I don’t?” I asked.
“Then you will be married to this man without so much as a courtesy date,” my father said.
“So if I listen to you, I’m married, and if I don’t listen to you, I’m doubly-married. Got it,” I said. “So if my circumstance doesn’t change, then I lose nothing but telling you this. I am a person who happens to have boobs. And just because you see Mom as property doesn’t mean I’m your property. I’m a grown women who wants to make decisions for her own life, and you rip those from me as if I’m your pet puppy. I want to be educated, but the only thing I get are the literature classics and a brush-up in my table manners!”
“You will calm down this instant!” my father said.
“I will do no such thing! That’s fine if I can’t help out with the family business. My brothers are smart and fully capable of doing such a thing. But I will not allow you to marry me off without my permission! That might as well be considered torture!”
“Ava, what in the world has gotten into you?” my mother asked.
“A pair of balls, Mom. Something you should’ve grown a long time ago,” I said.
I heard my brothers snicker just before something cracked against my cheek. I could feel it stinging as Hunter cried out for me, my head whipping around on my neck. Tears sprang to my eyes as my hand came to my cheek, touching the burning skin as my father panted. I slowly looked back at him, watching his hand stay raised as if he was preparing for another blow.
“I will not have you disrespecting me in my own house,” my father said. “I have raised you to be a proper woman. One who is respected and polite and beautiful. I put you through the best schooling as a child and paid exorbitant amounts of money for you to have the best clothes and makeup and guidance I could afford. You will not throw it all back in my face because you have decided to be ungrateful.”
Tears fell onto my cheeks as my body began to tremble.
“Now, get upstairs and clean yourself up. Your mother will be up in a couple of hours to help you prepare for your date tonight,” my father said.
I looked over at my brothers and they were poised to lunge at my father. Why they hadn’t already done it was beyond me, but they had done all they felt they could do, I supposed. I drew in a shaking breath as I backtracked upstairs, my mind reeling as I closed my door. I sank to the floor as tears continued to stream down my cheeks as my hand cupped my red-tainted skin.
I had to get out of here.
I couldn’t stay here another second.
I went and ripped the last suitcase I had out of my closet. I pulled out the few pieces of clothing I had snuck in over the years. Three pairs of jeans, two sweatshirts, some cotton panties, a pair of flip flops, and a two-piece bathing suit. I ripped at all the shirts my mother had made for me and grabbed a couple of the dresses I still enjoyed. I threw all of my library books in there and stuffed my favorite pillow on top, then I sat on the suitcase as I zipped it up.
I grabbed my phone charger and my phone, but I took the battery out of it. I grabbed the coffee can from underneath my bed that I had stowed money away in for a couple of years now. It wasn’t much. Maybe four hundred dollars. But it would get me to somewhere other than here, and that was the point.
I shoved it all into the pockets of my dress I had secretively sewn onto the outfit I was wearing.
Then? A knock came at my door.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“It’s Hunter.”
I pushed my suitcase off to the side and slowly opened the door.
“Are you packed?” he asked.
I furrowed my brow at him as I looked back at the suitcase I had concealed.