Page 47 of The Penalty Shot (Totally Pucked 5)

“You cannot be serious, Auden. Your father and I have traveled all of this way to see you, and you’re going to behave this way?” Her mother grits out.

“You keep mentioningmyson, but yet you haven’t even asked to see him. You don’t care about him at all; you just care how he might impact your political ambitions. It’s not okay. Please, leave.”

Auden looks like she’s going to be sick, but she’s firm, standing her ground, and I am so fucking proud of her. I want to pull her into my arms and hold her and whisper words of praise to her.

Her father scoffs. “Enough. You heard your mother, Auden. I will not have you ruin this for me. I am running for governor of the entire damn state, and you will not behave like an insolent child. You are an adult, act like it. We’re going to schedule a time to discuss this further when we have privacy.” He narrows his eyes at me, and I smirk.

He fucking hates me, and I fucking love it. Asshole.

“I’m done with this conversation. Please get out of my home. I don’t want to speak to you again until you can learn to treat me like an adult and treat me with respect. I have never disrespected you, and you will not come into my home and disrespect me.”

When her father goes to speak again, his face is an angry shade of red, like he might lose his shit. I step in front of Auden. “She said to leave, and I really don’t think you want her to have to ask again. Get out.”

“You’ll regret this,” he spits out before stalking toward the door, wrenching it open and disappearing through it.

Her mother pats her hair, unbothered. “I swear, Auden, you always have such a penchant for the theatrics. You always pushed your father’s buttons like no other. Now, I have to be the one to calm him down. Call me within the next two days, while we’re still in the city. I won't show up here again.”

She doesn’t even offer Auden a goodbye as she strolls out the front door and slams it shut behind her.

The moment that she does, Auden loses it. She collapses to the floor with a sob that tears free from her chest, wrecking me to my fucking bones.

It wounds me.I can physically feel the pain as it seeps out of her and I feel every single second of it because it’s that tangible.

“Baby,” I breathe, sinking down next to her, pulling her to my chest. My arms wrap tightly around her as her entire body shakes with the sobs erupting from her. “I’m so fucking sorry. Goddamn, I’m so sorry.”

I know that nothing I say will change what she just went through, or change how badly her parents have hurt her again, but I make a vow to myself, here and now.

I will never hurt Auden.

My heart can’t fucking bear it.

Chapter Sixteen

Auden

I don’t knowhow long Asher holds me on the kitchen floor, his arms wrapped tightly around me like an anchor, preventing me from drowning. I sob until I’m empty, in the literal and physical sense. I’ve cried until there are no tears left to cry. My eyes are puffy and dry from crying for so long, and all the while, he never moves to let me go.

“I’m s-sorry,” I whisper into the silence that envelops us. I’m ashamed of how my parents acted and that he had to see it. I’m embarrassed that I lost it in front of him.

His lips kiss the top of my head, a reassuring pressure while I seemingly fall apart. I focus on the circles he’s steadily rubbing on my arm. The calming motion grounding me.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Auden. They were horrible to you. I’m just so fucking sorry that you’ve had to deal with this for so long. You deserve more. You deserve better.”

Tonight was the first time I’ve ever stood up to them for myself, for Alex, and look how it went.

Horrible. Even worse than I imagined. The look of disgust on my father’s face is one I will never forget. It’s branded in my brain.

“I can’t believe them, Asher. They didn’t even try to see Alex. How can you not want to see your only living grandchild? How can you be so bitter and entitled that you feel this way? To want to use the family you abandoned for your own gain.”

“I don’t know, baby. I wish I had an answer for you. I also wish I could punch him right in his smug fucking face.” He grunts.

“It’s going to be okay…I just feel raw and exposed tonight.”

I’m exhausted from the emotional warfare of the evening, and I feel drained. Mentally, physically and emotionally. Untangling myself from Asher, I sit up and grab my phone that I dropped in the doorway. Alex has to be home in thirty minutes, and I’m not sure if he ate at Callum’s, so I quickly throw together spaghetti now that the dinner I had planned for Asher has been ruined.

“I’m sorry about dinner being ruined. I really wanted to cook you dinner and have a quiet night.”

Asher walks over and pulls me to him again while he kisses the top of my head. “Stop apologizing for them. They’re responsible for their actions. You have nothing to be sorry for, baby. We’ll have another dinner. How about I finish dinner, and you take a bath? Let me pour you a glass of wine. I can handle making me and Alex food.”

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