Page 66 of Under the Texas Sky
I bite on my bottom lip to keep my gasp in. “Sir?”
He lifts my head up, then slams it back down onto the unforgiving hardness with a loud thwack. Pain radiates up my cheek and to the back of my head.
I hold back my moan of pain, the taste of copper flooding my mouth from my own ministrations.
“I know what you’ve been doing. Youdisgustme. I’ve raised you right. I taught you the exact same lessons my folks taught me. You’re damaged. You’re not my son.” With every sentence, my panic rises and his anger burns brighter. He slams my face harder and harder against the counter. I can feel the warmth from my blood trickling down my face and splattering when he forces my face back down.
“I’m going to kill you,” he says, his palms shaking in my hair. I freeze in terror.
No.
No.
He can’t. He can’t do that to me. I won’t let him.
I will fight until my last dying breath. I’m not leaving Trent. Not now and not ever.
I kick out as hard as I can with my right leg, hoping to catch him off guard. My foot connects with skin, and he howls in pain. Hisgrip disappears from my hair. Dark spots dance behind my eyes, and I have to breathe deeply to fight off the pain and nausea rolling in my stomach. I need to get out of here.
Now.
I dash past him while he curls up in a ball on the floor of our house. Throwing the door open, the balmy night air swooshes across my face, cooling off my overheated cheek.
My thoughts are racing, my pulse pounding in my throat.
I need Trent. I need him to fix me, to put me back together the only way he knows how.
The only thing I have is the clothes on my back. All of my school supplies and all my belongings are back in that hellhole. I think of my tattered book that I’ve kept with me all these years, hanging onto it tightly. I’ll never get to see it again. I’ll never get my things back, because if I step foot inside that house, I’m signing my own death certificate.
Blood slowly trickles down my face, and with every step I take, I feel my consciousness slowly slipping away.
In the back of my mind, I know the truth. I’m going to pass out, right here in the middle of the road. My footsteps are heavy and my mind is foggy.
“Ki!” a stricken voice screams, and it takes all my energy to lift my head.
A blur of movement appears in my peripheral. I think it’s Trent. It sounds like Trent.
“Freckles, what’s wrong? What the fuck happened?” A sharp inhale, and I can hear his choked breath. He sees. He sees how much my dad hates me. How much he’s always hated me, butnow he has a more valid reason. “Freckles, oh my god. We need to get you to the hospital.”
“Can’t,” I wheeze, the pain in my head excruciating now. If we go to the hospital, they’ll call my parents.
“What do I do?” he pleads, and my body sags under my weight when I feel his arms wrap tightly around me, cocooning me in his warmth.
“Safe,” I say, then the light behind my eyes burns brightly until it’s snuffed out to pitch black.
CHAPTER 56
KIAN
I ring the fancy doorbell by the front door again. I don’t care if it tells me that the home owner isn’t home and asks if I want to leave a message. I’m not leaving a freaking message on a doorbell. I’m talking to him face to face. We’re going to hash all of this out right now.
“Trent, open the freaking door. I know you’re home. Your truck is in the driveway, and I can see the light on!”
He doesn’t have the right to be petty now. Yes, I ran away last time, but the overheard conversation at the restaurant has me thinking there’s a lot more to the story.
I’ve already been away from him this long. I refuse to let him draw this out any longer.
“We need to talk. And I’m going to pick the lock if you don’t let me in,” I warn. Do I remember how to pick a lock still? Guess we’ll find out.
