Redemption (Forgiven Series) (2 page)

He stalked towards me but before he got there Mom looked up from her hands. “Stop it!” she said, sounding so tired. “Alan, I told you to leave. I will not allow you back into our lives just so you clean out our bank accounts again.” I took a closer look at her face and noticed a red welt on her cheek.

He’d hit her.

He’d never been physically abusive before. Emotionally, definitely, but he’d never laid a hand on her in anger. Until now.

Rage poured through my veins like acid. I moved toward him and he was so focused on her that he never saw my fist coming. With the full force of my weight behind it, my fist connected with his jaw, snapping his head sideways.

His hand clutched his jaw and I saw the fury on his face, but I wasn’t a scrawny twelve-year-old anymore. I heard my mom screaming as I tackled my father to the ground. Tyler tried to grab me, but I continued to land punches, not caring where I hit, just as long as they connected. My arms were suddenly wrenched behind me—my mother had one, and Tyler had the other—and I was dragged off him.

Hearing him moaning in pain, I tried to free myself from their grasp so I could beat his ass some more. When I couldn’t get free I snarled at him, “You will NEVER lay another fucking hand on her again, you sorry son of a bitch.”

He slowly rolled to his feet, clenching his side with one hand and his nose with the other. “You’ll pay for this, you little bastard.”

When he took a step toward us, Tyler and Mom let me go. Tyler stepped up next to me and pulled my mother behind him. I laughed without humor. “I haven’t been ‘little’ in a long time, you piece of shit. Now you better turn around and walk your sorry ass out that door!”

His eyes raked over me. “Don’t worry. I’ll walk my sorry ass out the door, and straight to the police station!”

I clenched my fists at my sides, while Tyler shrugged. How was he so calm when it was taking everything I had to just stand there? “Be my guest. But when they come to question us, it’ll be our word against yours. Just remember, you hit her first,” Tyler said casually. His tone suggested he was bored, but his eyes told a different story. It was all a façade, and even though it wasn’t his mom who’d been hurt, he was as pissed as I was.

“This is not the end of this,” he snarled.

I took a step towards him. “This
is
the end of this, because I promise, if I ever see you here again, you will not walk out that door.”

We all stood rooted to our spots for what seemed like forever before my father finally turned and walked out of our lives.

Hopefully for good.

I was packing my equipment up for practice when I heard yelling coming from the kitchen. I grabbed my bag and walked into the living room to find Mom on the phone, looking like she was ready to throw something. I rolled my eyes.

Here we go again.

Mom and Dad were fighting, that was nothing new. Ever since they’d gotten divorced four years ago, the conversations were always the same. Mom would call my dad to make arrangements for his visitation, but he always had an excuse. They’d argue for a good half an hour before Dad would either give in and come to pick me up as scheduled—which happened very rarely—or he’d send an expensive present, as if that made up for not being around.

What it really came down to was that he was more interested in his business than me, and he always had been. I knew he made a lot of money, but that didn’t mean anything to me. What I needed was a dad who wanted to spend time with me, not all the expensive things he bought me because society expected him to.

The clock in the hall chimed. Practice would be starting soon and I needed a ride to the field. Softball was about the only thing that kept me sane these days. It was the one place I found refuge from all of the crap my dad had dumped on us the day he’d decided he liked his secretary better than Mom. Even my mom struggled as she tried to find someone to love, but no matter what she still loved me and showed me as much as possible. She tried to make up for my dad but she didn’t need to because I didn’t really want to see him anyway. My father was past the point of redemption in my eyes.

Suddenly, she started pacing. Crap. That usually meant it was going to be a long fight. I walked up to her and whispered, “Mom, practice starts soon and I need a ride to the field.”

She covered the phone with her hand, mouthed to me to hold on before continuing her pointless conversation. I rolled my eyes and huffed at her. That earned me “the look” and I stopped in my tracks. When I got “the look” I knew I’d taken it too far. I sat down on the couch with my bag at my feet, and waited patiently until finally, a few minutes later, she hung up the phone.

“Son of a bitch,” she muttered before putting on her overly bright, happy face. That always meant that I wasn’t seeing Dad. “Honey—” she started to say, but I put my hand up to cut her off.

“Mom, I already know what you’re going to say.” I used a comedic voice to try and mimic her and lighten the mood, but it didn’t work. “Dad has to work this weekend and can’t see you, but he’ll make it up to you.” I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest. “Which basically means he’ll buy me some expensive thing that I don’t even want in the first place, and pretend like that makes up for not being around and missing my game this weekend.”

She walked over to put her arm around my shoulder. “Honey, your father loves you.”

I opened my mouth to tell her that he had a funny way of showing it, but shut it again when I realized that it would only cause a fight. Grabbing my bag I asked, “Mom, can we talk about this later?”

She watched my face, like she was waiting for an outburst at any moment, but I’d given up on those once I realized there was no point. My dad wasn’t interested in me, so why should I care about him? Playing the game I loved was more important to me than my father ever could be at this point. When I was on the field, all of my other problems melted away, and the only thing that mattered to me was pitching a strike. I didn’t have to worry about my dad, or question why he didn’t want to spend time with me.

My mom had been so lonely since he left. Not that I wanted them to get back together—I just wanted my mom to be happy. She was so focused on me that she never took anytime for herself. The only time she did that was when I was with my dad, which wasn’t all that often. Just another reason not to like the man.

Plus, I had enough to focus on with this weekend’s game. It would decide if we were going to the playoffs and I was the starting pitcher.

Seemingly happy to let the issue drop, Mom grabbed her purse and her keys. “Sure, let’s go.”

We walked out the door and immediately I felt lighter because I was that much closer to having a few hours of peace.

I was sitting on the couch waiting for Emily. Emily Halliday and I met freshman year. Never one to mince words, I appreciated her honesty and temper, as long as it wasn’t directed at me. Emily was one of the few girls that I actually called “friend.” We needed to be at the hotel before the guests started to arrive and I didn’t want Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs to have to figure out who everyone was on their own. Plus, Caleb was a nervous wreck and driving me nuts.

Caleb Jacobs was my best friend. We met at football practice during our first year on campus. At the time, my roommate was a pain, and Caleb offered to let me live with him off campus. We’d been friends ever since. I couldn’t blame him for being nervous. I’d be freaking out too if I was asking the girl of my dreams to marry me. Then again, I was never going to find myself in the marriage trap. I liked being single. Although lately, Angie seemed determined to set me up with someone. Angie Powers was Caleb’s soon-to-be fiancée—well, hopefully. I met her and Emily at the same time, but while Emily was the spitfire, Angie was sweet and more like a little sister. What Angie didn’t realize was that I enjoyed the freedom that came with having one-night stands. I never felt obligated to the girls after that night which suited me fine. People always found something they cared about more in the long run anyway.

I looked over at Caleb. His skin was ashen, with beads of sweat forming on his brow. His appearance, along with the fact that he kept swallowing and checking his watch, made it pretty obvious that he was nervous. “Dude, you better get it together or she’s going to figure out something’s up,” I whispered.

“I know, I’m trying,” he whispered back.

Just then my cell beeped.

Emily: Here

Me: Be down in a sec

“Em’s here. I gotta go.”

Caleb looked up, taking deep breaths. “Okay, the bags are behind the couch.”

“Got it, I’ll see you when you get there.” I got up and started to move to the door, stopping in front of him. “Remember… calm the fuck down.”

Caleb nodded once. I was worried about how he was handling the pressure. Grabbing the bags, I walked out to Emily’s waiting car.

Emily was beautiful. With long brown hair and blues eyes she was most guys’ wet dream, at least until she opened her mouth. She was awesome and we’d been friends since freshman year, but she also scared the shit out of me when she was pissed off. That kind of volatile personality in a girl is uncommon and consequently most people did whatever they could to make her happy. She knew this and used it to her advantage.

“Hey, Em, you have everything for tonight?” I asked, watching her practically bounce around in her seat she was so excited.

“Yes! I can’t wait for Angie to get there. I know she’s never had a birthday like this before. Dr. and Mrs. Jacobs are awesome for doing this.” Caleb’s parents, Dr. and Mrs. Jacobs, loved Angie as much as one of their own kids. Knowing that her mother had left when she was little and that her father was a drunk, the Jacobs’ decided that Angie deserved a birthday party for her twenty-first birthday.

I rolled my eyes. It was a good thing Angie lived with us now because Emily would’ve totally given the surprise away. Her phone went off before we had the chance to pull out of the lot. She grabbed for it, responding to the text. “Any day now,” I taunted.

She shot me a look that let me know that it was time to leave her alone for a few minutes, or she was going to leave me on the side of the road. She put the car in drive and we headed off.

We drove in silence until she pulled up outside of Andrew’s apartment, surprising me. Andrew Bentley and Nick Thompson were friends of ours from the football team. Nick had a thing for Angie last year, which caused a lot of problems between him and Caleb. It was a long story, but at one point they came to blows and Caleb actually broke Nick’s nose. Their friendship hadn’t been the same since. Andrew on the other hand had his sights set on Emily, until he finally got the nerve to ask her out. They had this on again and off again thing going on. No one knew what the hell was going on with them and it hurt my head to try and keep up.

“What are we doing here?” I asked cautiously, not wanting to piss her off anymore.

She sighed. “We need to pick up Andrew and Nick,” she said as she sent them a text letting them know we were outside.

I looked over at her. “What’s up with you two anyway?”

“I guess that depends on what day of the week it is. Some days things are perfect but others he acts like he doesn’t want to know me. I really like him, and he’s hot as hell, but I’m really getting sick of the shit.”

I wondered what his problem was. Who wouldn’t want Emily? If I didn’t see her as a sister I sure as hell would. Then again, Emily was looking for a relationship, whereas I only wanted the one-night screw.

I grabbed her hand and squeezed. “He’ll figure it out soon enough.”

She just shook her head with a sad look in her eyes. “I hope so. I’m not sure how much longer I can put up with this.”

“Have you tried talking to him?” I asked. I had a feeling Emily cared about Andrew more than she was letting on.

“No. I can’t seem to get the nerve to ask him where this is going,” she sighed.

I almost laughed, but I liked my balls attached to my body. “Really, Em? You’re not scared of anyone, and you certainly have no problem telling someone how you feel when you’re pissed off. So why now?”