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"Listen to me, you little asshole. You have done nothing but make this family look bad your entire life. You've defied every rule I've ever put down. You're a disgrace. I will not allow you to drag my daughter down with you."
Victoria stepped around him and pressed her hands into both men's chests. Benjamin breathed deeply through his nose to keep his adrenaline rush in check. His sister looked from their father to him.
"Stop it." She signed and spoke at the same time. "Daddy, stop it. How can you say such ugly things? About Dillon or Benjamin. He's your son."
"Since the day he was born?—"
"Since the day I was born I was deaf. Imperfect. Isn't that the real problem?"
In an instant Benjamin was thirteen again, rebelling against his father's iron fist and underlying revulsion for his own son. Even now, despite Benjamin's height and build, his father stood taller than he. When he was thirteen, his father was a frightening, oppressive force. At thirty-six, Benjamin refused to be intimidated. Despite his resolve, cold memories flashed in his mind like fireworks.
Everything came back to him in a vicious burst. His father refused to learn Sign because he said it was the coward's way out. If Benjamin wanted to function in the real world, he had to get off his ass and not ask anyone to coddle and accommodate him. Even when he learned to speak, and could communicate with those around him, Benjamin was considered less than acceptable by his father.
Benjamin hadn't been allowed to be alone with his infant sister because his father said he was untrustworthy and incompetent to care for a small child. The sickening pain of seeing his mother say he was better off at the boarding school hit him once again, feeling just as horrible as it did nearly thirty years before.
Jonathan Roth continued to yell, his fists waving before Benjamin's face. He only caught some of the words now, his mental state unfocused on the outburst. The hazy edges of the room lost focus and disappeared in a red miasma of anger, rage, and pain. Benjamin shook his head and shot his hands up in a sign of frustration. Chaos happened around him. No matter how he tried, he couldn't keep up with the three fighting people.
"Stop it" he yelled, bringing up his hands in front of his father's face. "I don't know what you're saying."
His father swung around on him, his face inches away. "You worthless, useless waste. Isn't it bad enough you've ruined your life, and mine, that you have to drag Victoria along with you?"
Benjamin looked from his father's red, infuriated face to the ragged, strained face of his mother. Barbara Roth yanked again on her husband's arm.
"Jon, stop this. You said we were coming here to talk. What are you going to accomplish by calling Benjamin names and dragging your daughter out by force?"
Jon Roth shot a vicious, seething look at his wife.
"Shut up, Barbara. Stay out of this."
"I won't. These are my children."
"That's right, Barbara. Your children. You can't deal with them, so leave it to me." He pushed his wife back.
Benjamin forced his father's grip of steel from his mother's arm. He was one man, but he did his best to protect both his sister and mother from Jon's physical abuse. With his shoulder, he pushed his father away. The disgusting odor of the alcohol his father had consumed before coming here wafted in the air to churn his stomach. Victoria's small hands clutched the back of his shirt.
His mother pushed his hands away. Benjamin's first reaction was shock at her rejection of his help. Barbara Roth's eyes flicked up for just a split second to meet his before turning away completely. She crossed her arms over her body and closed her eyes. Heaviness slammed into his chest and shoved him back like an invisible fist.
What had he done, besides being imperfect at birth, to deserve the absolute hatred of the two people who parented him? He covered his face with his hands, attempting to block out the turmoil erupting around him.
Then Jewell was there. Her hands were on him, pushing him back from the melee. Dainty fingers wrapped around his wrists and uncovered his face. Brilliant emerald eyes looked up at him. Concern and shock registered in her delicate features.
"Benjamin?"
His father's arm shot between them and he shoved Jewell. She stumbled back and bumped the hall table. A ceramic vase tumbled and fell to the floor. Pieces shattered in all directions. Jon's forearm slammed into Benjamin's chest and heaved him back against the wall, his arm pressing against Ben's throat.
Enraged, Benjamin pushed back. Hard. His father stumbled and grabbed the still-open door for support to keep from falling down the front stoop. Barbara Roth jumped forward.
"Don't," she shouted with a dramatic flare of her hand.
Benjamin caught what she said, but chose not to respond. He moved past his father's hulking form to Jewell and took her hand to draw her away from the wall. Not looking in his parent's direction, he reached back for his sister. With a woman's hand in each of his own, Benjamin walked away. He didn't care if his parents left or if they stayed. They could continue to yell all they wanted. No longer were they worth his time.
"Get out of my house before I call the police," he said, not even bothering to look back over his shoulder.
The three reached the den. With emotional exhaustion dragging at his limbs, Benjamin shut the door and leaned his forehead into the smooth wood. Gentle hands touched his back, and instinctively he knew it was Jewell. Warmth rested where her hands touched. Benjamin turned and wrapped her in his arms, burying his face into her auburn hair. It smelled of fruit and flowers and Jewell. She held him as tightly as he needed, and he needed her embrace more than anything he had ever needed in his life.
That son of a bitch! His father could have hurt Jewell and he didn't even know who she was. All Jonathan Roth knew was her presence in his son's house, which translated into the demeaning of her value in his eyes. Nothing mattered but appearances outside the walls and in public. But inside…
Benjamin pressed his lips quickly against her cheek and pulled back. Her verdant gaze searched his face, the brightness of her eyes asking a thousand questions in one moment. Two deep lines of concern appeared across her delicate brow.
