Page 219 of We Shouldn't Be Together
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Answer me.”
I look down, turning my body away from him. When he forcibly turns me back toward him, my eyes itch. “We went for a drive, that’s all.”
“Where?”
“Towards Logan’s Point.”
“Where idiot teenagers hang off cliff sides and backflip into streams that are never deep enough? Haven’t I told you enough horror stories about what happens in those places?”
“It’s not a big deal, it’s just…”
Dad grabs my hand, making me yelp, and inspects my finger. “Tabitha, the sides of your finger are purple. You’ll lose this fingernail.”
The itching in my eyes waters. “I know.”
Dad turns my hands over, and steam comes out his nostrils. “And what about all these cuts? Is an infection no big deal too?”
“Dad, please don’t turn this into a big deal.”
“I warned you,” he says, seething. “That boy isn’t good enough for you. He can’t help putting himself in harm’s way. Now he’s doing it to you. Well, I’m putting an end to it.”
I choke on air. “You-you, what?”
“I’m not letting him get to three strikes. Tabitha, you’re forbidden from seeing him again.”
I ball my hands into fists, and it stings the cuts in my palms. “You can’t do that!”
“I already have.”
“I see him every day at school.”
“Of course, but you won’t see him outside of school.”
“You can’t do this. He’s my boyfriend.”
“He’s beneath you.”
I knock my fist against his chest. “Don’t do this to me!”
“Hey, what’s going on?” Drew says, stopping by the bathroom door.
Seeing my older brother breaks the seal, and a tear rolls down my cheek.
Drew’s chin drops. “Tabby? What happened?”
Dad opens a cabinet drawer, retrieving the bandages. “She’s not seeing Kai anymore.”
Drew’s brow narrows skeptically. “You broke up?”
I swallow the need to whine and shake my head.
Dad takes my hand, wipes an alcohol swab over my injuries, and bandages me up. “It’s for your own good, Tabitha. I know what’s best.”
When Dad leaves the bathroom, Drew ignores him like he’s invisible, leaning into the bathroom to ask me, “Tabby, what was that all about?”
I show him my hand. “I got hurt when I was with Kai, and now Dad says I can’t see him.”
