The kiss lasted all of two seconds, and when I finally pried myself away, my hands still holding her face, her eyes danced between mine as her fingers brushed over her parted lips.
“I’ll see you on Monday,” I said.
She nodded, dropping her hand to her side. I couldn’t help it; I leaned down and kissed her again. Quickly, less than a second, and it was over. But now that I had done it once, I never wanted to stop.
“Go,” I said, letting my hands fall away.
She nodded again and bit her bottom lip as she took two steps back, then turned and ran.
Whether she was running from my father or me, I wasn’t sure. But I wished I had run with her. I wished I had run and run and run … and never ever looked back.
CHAPTER FOUR
I was riding high on a cloud far, far, far above the house or town I had grown up in.
I finished mowing the yard with a stupid, dreamy smile on my face, remembering the feeling of Laura’s lips against mine. I had never kissed a girl, had never wanted to outside of the fantasies that kept me up at night. But in that moment behind the tree, it hadn’t just been awant, but a desperateneed. Nothing in the world had mattered more than knowing what it’d be like to kiss her, and I felt it still as I pushed the lawn mower back into the garage and closed the door.
I was sohappy, and I was convinced there wasn’t a way I could be any happier.
It wasn’t until I went inside and remembered that I wasn’t living on a cloud far from home that the happiness faded away to nothing, leaving quicker than it had come.
I was stillhere. In this house, where we walked on broken glass under a reign of tyranny.
My father wasn’t in the living room, where I had expected him to be, and he wasn’t in the kitchen either. I knew better than to check his office—that hallway was forbidden—but not knowing his whereabouts rested uncomfortably in my chest, my heart racing and my gut bubbling with trepidation, yet I didn’t want to seek him out.
I’m eighteen. I can leave, I thought. No, I hadn’t graduated from high school yet, but that was okay. I could run; I could disappear. I could start over somewhere else, somewhere Dad could never find me. I mean, shit, would he even care enough tolook?
But …no. I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t abandon Lucy and Grace. They were fine as long as I was around to be my father’s punching bag. I had to stay for them, even if staying felt a lot like accepting my own death.
I waited there in the living room for a few minutes longer before deciding to take a shower. I had to get to the grocery store; there were still things to do. So, I went upstairs to my room, where the door was closed, just as I had left it. Dad preferred it that way. He liked a uniform hallway—all doors shut at all times.
When I turned the doorknob, there he was.
Sitting on my bed.
Draculain hand.
I froze, standing there in the open doorway, staring at my father and that book he had no business holding.
It wasmine.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked on a held breath, my chest tight and my mouth dry.
Dad looked up, an expression of nonchalance on his face. “This is my house, Maxwell. I can go anywhere I want.”
“But it’s myroom,” I protested, as if it made any kind of difference.
He tipped his head, and his eyes flashed with anger. “No. It ismyroom inmyhouse that I have been so kind to let youuse.”
I opened my mouth to say something else, to argue further and stake my claim on this space that I thought had been mine since birth.
But then he looked down at the page opened before him and read, "Then the beautiful eyes of the fair woman open and look love, and the voluptuous mouth present to a kiss—and man is weak.” He lifted his head again to bore his eyes through me. "Areyouweak, Maxwell?"
I swallowed, but I didn't speak. I didn't move. I remained still, watching as my father rose from the bed, clenching the book in his raised hand.
"Answer me!" he roared, and I flinched for a fraction of a second. "Are you weak, boy?! Does that pretty little thing I saw you kissing outside make youweak?!"
I gritted my teeth and stared into his eyes, now wild with rage. "Don't talk about her."
