“Boys, please!” my mom sobs, but all three of us ignore her. “Just leave, Mark, and don’t come back.”
“Shut the fuck up,” he sneers at her, and I don’t like that one bit.
I don’t even realize I’m doing it until my fist connects with his nose. Falling forward, he holds his nose as my mom screams. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
“Get the fuck out of here,” Jace says. “We don’t want you here.”
“I say we remove him,” Jayden says, his eyes dark with anger.
“No, boys, please. Just go, Mark!” my mom says. I look back at her, seeing that her face is red, tears streaming down her face, but the main thing I see is that her shirt is balled up in the front, like someone took a fistful of it to get ahold of her.
Snapping my head toward my sperm donor, I say, “Did you grab her shirt?”
Before he can answer, Jace says, “Yeah, that’s why I pushed him out the door. He tried to hit her.”
Looking back at my father, I’m not sure how I’m going to control my body, but somehow I keep it together and say, “So not only did you threaten my girlfriend, you tried to hurt my mom?”
He scoffs. “That slut you’re dating is just that. She’s the reason this is happening.”
Before I can defend Claire, though I’m not sure why when I just dumped her, Jace points at him. “No, this is happening because you are a cheating bastard,” Jace says, shaking his head. “This is no one’s fault but your own.”
“Shut the fuck up, you little shit. You’ll never be anything; you’re too fucking entitled. You expect everything to be given to you. All of you do. None of you work for shit. Yeah, I cheated because I want out!”
“Then leave!” Jace yells and I can see his eyes misting with tears. “We don’t want you here!”
“You little shit,” he yells, and he tries to go at Jace, but I push him away, throwing Jace behind me.
“Do I have to hit you again?” I ask. “Maybe I should just on principle, but that would be disrespectful since my mother has asked me not to. I’m gonna give you two minutes to get the fuck off this land.”
Glaring, he says, “You think you three are something, huh? Think you are going to make me leave? Cold day in hell! This is my house! All of you get out!”
Jayden nods. “Yeah, I know we can make you leave. Go.”
“Yeah, go,” Jace says from behind me, and I nod.
He glares at us, but I know all he sees are three big guys, ready and willing to beat the fuck out of him with years of pent-up anger and remorse. This man has never been a father. Yes, he gave me the gift of life and even the gift of hockey, but not once did he ever love me and nurture me. He was a constant pain in my ass, and I actually hope he doesn’t get in the car and we have to remove him. I have anger coursing through my body, and a fight would help release some of it.
My father opens his mouth to say something, but he doesn’t say it. Instead he just glares and then he turns to go to his BMW. Knowing that he’s leaving, I turn and head toward my mother. She’s leaning against the door, holding herself as she cries. As I wrap my arms around her, she lets go and basically throws all her weight on me. I take it and slowly lower us to the ground as she cries so hard into my shoulder. Stroking her back, I close my eyes and lean my head against hers.
“I loved him so much, Jude, even when he didn’t deserve it. How could he do this?” she cries and I shrug.
“I don’t know, Mom. I’m so sorry, but you don’t deserve this.”
“How will I make it? I don’t work; I just take care of you kids. He makes all the money.”
“We will figure it out together,” I whisper, kissing her temple. “You are better off without him. I swear.”
She starts to sob harder, and every tear that leaves her body hurts me. I don’t want to see my mom cry, or anyone I love cry, for that matter. Squeezing my eyes tight, I hold her closer and soon tears are falling from my eyes onto her hair. I think she feels them because her arms come around me, and just like that, the roles are reversed, and she’s comforting me like she has my whole entire life. Kissing my temple, she rocks me back and forth as I just lose it. I’ve never cried this hard in my life.
I cry for my mom, for the shit my family and I have endured from that asshole, but most of all I cry for my broken heart and for Claire’s. We thought this was it. We thought we were going to be together forever, but the whole time she was lying. She wasn’t being her whole self to me, and how does someone do that to someone they love?
I have no answers for anything.
I’m just empty.
Chapter 46
Claire