Bad Seed

My vision cleared as my father approached the bed, the blatant anger on his face nearly making me sweat. He stepped close to Grant and pointed a finger at him.

“So much for your promise that you never touched my daughter,” he said softly.

“And I didn’t back then,” Grant said.

“Get the hell away from my daughter.”

“You made decisions for her years ago, but you won’t make them now. Theresa wants me here so this is where I’m staying.”

“I threw you out once, and I’ll throw you out again. You were terrible for my daughter then, and you’re terrible for her now. And I won’t have you ruining whatever it is that’s left of a future for her!”

I felt tears rushing down my face with every word he spoke. Pain rushed in my chest, and it was getting hard to breathe. My grip on Grant released, and he stood from the bed, his fists clenched at his sides. He was standing toe-to-toe with my father and they were gearing up to face off. I could hear Grant breathing through his nose as he tried to keep his temper under control.

And the anger in me boiled over.

This wasn’t happening any longer. I was making my choice now, and if my father and Hollis didn’t understand it, then they didn’t have to be a part of my life any longer. I was a grown damn woman, and I was done letting anyone tell me what and who I was going to be – not even my father or brother.

“I would never do anything to jeopardize Theresa’s future,” Grant said.

“Then prove it. Walk out of here and leave her alone. She needs strength and stability, not a wandering playboy,” my father said.

Grant laughed and took another step toward my father. “That goes to show that you don’t know shit about me, Glen. I may have been a rough and tumble kid, but I’ve worked my ass off to make something of myself, with no help from anyone, thanks to you,” Grant said, his voice rising in anger and tinged with hurt.

I reached my arm out and knocked the table beside me over. The metallic plate on top of it crashed to the floor, reverberating around the entire room. I couldn't yell over them, and I was tired of dealing with the struggle. I was tired of the fighting and the bickering and the constant need for control. I was hurting, both inside and outside.

I was ready to speak my mind. “Can both of you just please shut up?” I asked.

My father turned his gaze to me as Grant sat back down on the edge of the bed.

Hollis picked a crappy time to walk into the room.

“Your anger isn’t with Grant, Dad. It’s with Ike. Ike’s the one that put me in this hospital.”

“Theresa—” my father started before I held my hand up to stop him.

“As for you sending Grant away back then? I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive you for that. That day nearly ruined me, Dad. I walked around the entire block four times trying to find him so I could convince him to come back. You tossed him out the moment you thought he would ruin your plans for me. But it wasn’t your worry over me that prompted your actions. It was the possibility that you couldn’t control my future.”

“That is nowhere near what I—”

“Shut. Up,” I growled.

My father was shocked into silence, and I saw Hollis’ eyebrows raise. I forced myself to continue.

“I’m a damn adult. I have my own place, and I pay my own bills, and I make my own decisions. If you and Hollis don’t like the choices I make, then so be it. But you can’t control me. Ike couldn't control me, and neither can either of you.”

“Don’t you dare compare us to that loser,” Hollis piped up.

“Theresa, you have no idea what you are saying right now,” my father added.

A small smile crested my lips as I leveled my eyes at the two of them.

“Get out,” I said.

“I’m not leaving you here by yourself.”

“I won’t be here by myself. I’ll be here with Grant. But you and Hollis? You two are gone. Now.”

And before my father could make a rebuttal, a nurse shoved past him and came into the room with more medication. She screwed the plunger into my IV tube and gave me something to help with my throat. Then she proceeded to pick up the table I’d knocked over to try and get their attention. I reached out for Grant and curled my fist into his shirt, trying to cling to him and the soothing warmth of his body.