Page 60 of Love is Angry

One quick glance around us, and I can tell that the tension is oozing outward and through the entire café. Almost everyone inside has stopped doing anything—no more drinking or chatting or eating. Someone’s phone chimes, but nobody has time to check that right now. The world itself has come to a halt because of Julian Echeveria, the one man you can’t piss off. Yet Rhue seems to be…enjoying himself?

He gives Laura a quick encouraging glance. It seems to work. She sucks in a breath and straightens her back.

“Dad, please don’t be rude. Madison is our guest, and this is a public place. Surely, you don’t want us all to be embarrassed.”

“You, too, Laura? Really?” Julian snaps. It makes her jump, but she clears her throat and decides to go ahead with it, either way.

“Dad, please. It’s not how you raised us.”

“I remember your mother and I raising you not to hang around with fucking whores and home-wreckers!” Julian retorts, though I can’t help but notice his inability to look me in the eye when he spouts these shameless lies.

Rhue scoffs. “Pardon me. You’re not the only one in the family who gets to do that.”

A second passes in the most excruciating silence I have even been forced under. My blood runs cold, and I wish I were invisible. I wish I could just disappear, run away and never look back. I shouldn’t have said yes to brunch. Goddammit, I should’ve stuck to my own stubbornness. I should’ve stayed home.

“Oh, fuck.” I whisper, realizing that something has snapped loose inside me.

“There will be no more of this nonsense,” Julian says. He whips out his wallet and tosses a hundred-dollar bill on the table. It lands on top of the camembert. There’s something deeply and utterly depraved about this image, something I will never be able to wash from the very fabric of my soul. “This is for the meal and your trouble. Now, walk away and don’t ever bother my family again, Madison. You’ve harmed us enough.”

Oh, god. I could just say it. I could just tell the truth and fuck him over.

But the next thing Julian will do will directly affect my father. Hell, this entire story might end with me rotting on the bottom of a lake or something. I’m a menace to his developing political career. This fucker is running for city council, and I am powerless. If I speak up now, it will break Laura into little bits and pieces. She has already tried killing herself once. I can’t have her life on my conscience, too. One is more than enough.

“Dad, you’re making a fool of yourself,” Rhue warns him. His tone is cold and low, and the way he looks at Julian makes me want to hide under the table.

His father isn’t impressed. “For once in your life, do as you’re told. We’re leaving. Now.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Rhue replies. “And neither is Laura.”

She’s about to fall apart. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Somehow, the focus returns to me, and the spotlight burns my skin. Julian narrows his eyes.

“Is this your revenge because I didn’t want to divorce my wife over you, Madison? You try and set my own children against me? Have you no shame?”

What’s worse is that he could easily get away with this. And he will, too, because I can’t let him hurt my family. I’ve already awakened the dragon, and there may be some repercussion coming from tomorrow onwards. If I stick around, it will only get worse. As if eager to prove a point, my body takes over. My heart starts beating too fast, and I struggle to keep up, wheezing and panting as I spiral into a full-on anxiety attack.

“I’m…I’m sorry, I need to go,” I blurt out and dash away from the table.

I forget my light blue jeans jacket, and I forget my phone, too, and my purse. But it doesn’t matter right now. I need to get the fuck out of here before I give myself a heart attack or worse. I don’t know when or how, but I reach a nearby street corner. Only here do I find myself able to breathe again as I grip the iron railing beside me.

Somebody asks if I’m okay. It’s a haze. I can’t discern much around me, other than blurry shapes and melting colors. I nod feverishly. “Yeah, just... I’m fine…”

I sense hesitation, so I decide to straighten my back and at least give the impression of self-control. Maybe it’ll make themgo away faster. It does. I’m alone again. Oh, god, what the hell was that? How…how will I even get myself home? I’m sitting on the steps now. An absolute mess of a woman…

My knees are too weak. I keep swallowing down bile. My skin is nothing but prickly goosebumps, tight to the point where I fear it might tear if I make a sudden move. So I just sit here, watching the world pass and trying to bring myself down into a calmer state. My eyes sting. Tears flow like rivers, and I realize…

This will never get better.

Chapter 27

Rhue

“Get in the car,” Dad says.

We’re outside the café, now. Laura has Madison’s bag and phone, refusing to leave my side. For the first time, she’s sticking with me. It draws the old man’s ire, of course.

“Laura, get your ass in the car,” he insists.

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