The Hardest Fall

I realized I was holding myself up, hugging my arms. Dropping my hands to my sides, I straightened my spine and nodded. “Now that I’m caught up on everything, I think I want you to leave.”

“This is my apartment.”

“And you can have it all to yourself. I’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

“You’re going back to Phoenix?”

He could wish that all day every day, but I wasn’t gonna do a single thing to make life easier for him anymore.

I let out a forced laugh, but it came out more like a cough. “I’m sure you’d love that, but no. I have another year and a half of school, and I’m not going anywhere until then. Don’t worry though, you won’t see me anymore. Neither one of us wants to see the other, so at least we have that in common. It should be a relief to you.”

“That’s fine,” he said, looking at his feet with a frown and nodding to himself. “You can leave L.A. after you graduate.”

“I’ll leave whenever I want to leave. I don’t need your permission to do anything—not anymore.”

“Fine, do whatever the hell you want. Just stay away from my family.”

I felt nothing, absolutely nothing for this man, and the realization was staggering. I was done listening to him, and that definitely felt good, like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. He wouldn’t get to have a say in anything anymore, not who I dated, not who I talked to—nothing.

I chose to stay quiet, and Mark didn’t like that. He started walking toward me.

“You’re not going to tell Dylan a single thing.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not going to work for me. Dylan isn’t your family,” I said in a controlled voice. Inside I was boiling with anger as my pulse rocketed.

“I’m not playing with you, Zoe. You’re not going to tell my son’s best friend a single thing.”

“I won’t lie to him anymore. We’re not just friends.”

“Who do you think you are? Just months ago, he was fighting with his teammates over another girl. Do you think you mean something? He’s an athlete with a promising future ahead of him—he’ll find someone else in less than a week.”

“No. He thinks I’m sleeping with you, and because of you, I couldn’t even correct him. If you think you can stop me from—”

Before the words could leave my mouth, he was right in front of me and there was a loud crack in the room then an intense stinging on my face. It echoed in my ears and my cheek burned with a pain I’d never felt before. I stared at my feet in shock and touched my skin with my fingers when the pain seemed to radiate in pulses. Before I could think, before I even knew how to react, Mark’s fingers were grasping my chin and he was forcing me to look at him. My hand dropped to my side and I finally looked up into his familiar eyes. The only difference was that mine were filling with tears while his were overflowing with anger.

“I didn’t bring you here so you could fuck the football team. You’re just like your mom, aren’t you? Just a slut going after football players.” He wasn’t yelling anymore, but his face and throat were red, and I could feel his spit on my face as he hissed at me. “That’s what your mom did before she fell into my bed. God knows how many of my teammates had their fun with her, and the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, does it, Zoe?” My heart beating in my throat, I kept silent but tried to escape his grip. His fingers only tightened further. “It involves my family, so I am the one who decides, not you—never forget that. You’re not going to tell anyone anything. I don’t care what Dylan thinks of our relationship. I don’t care if he thinks I’m sleeping with some girl he thinks he’s interested in. You keep your mouth shut and stay away. If you think you can go behind my back and still talk to Dylan, think again. You breathe a word to him, I’ll do whatever I have to do to make sure he won’t have a future playing football, starting with the team’s last game. I see you anywhere near him, he is out of the game this week, and with all the recruiters watching them—”

Before he could finish his threat, the apartment door opened and I knew Dylan had walked in. For a moment I panicked and tried yet again to move my face away from Mark’s grip, but there was no point. I was stuck until Mark decided to let me go after seconds that felt like they lasted years. I turned my head. Dylan looked so calm, just staring at me with his blue eyes as if he wasn’t surprised, as if he wasn’t hurting.