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Mom’s eyes zero in on mine, but I ignore her. She’s lucky I even came to her little family therapy session.
At a certain point, there’s no repairing the damage that’s been done. We’ve all been through fucking hell and survived. We should be celebrating. Not sitting here, talking about ourfeelingsin a sterile office in the middle of a city built on false faces.
On the same side of that coin, just because Parker’s out of the picture, it doesn’t mean we’re safe. My sisters are still being hunted. Mom’s still getting unsettling letters. Fucking fingers in her damned mailbox.
Just because one snake’s out of the garden, doesn’t mean there isn’t a whole fucking nest still laying in wait.
“Why don’t Logan and Charlie have to be here?”
“While they’ve been impacted by your stepfather’s actions, they haven’t been in the direct line of fire,” Kenda explains. “You and your sisters and mother have, so it’s imperative that we discuss the negative ramifications of everything that transpired.”
“Mason has never been comfortable speaking about his feelings,” Savannah chimes. She’s been relatively quiet throughthis whole session, even though, out of anyone, she was probably fucked over by Parker the worst.
“Don’t see the need to. I know what I’m feeling.”
“Do you?” Kenda asks, throwing it back at me in that professional manner that makes me feel like a damned kid again. “Your mother tells me you don’t visit often.”
“Or at all,” Mila grumbles.
“I miss you, Mason,” Mom whimpers, and I have to grit my teeth to keep from snapping at her and making it worse. “I just want to see you happy. Find a nice girl and settle down. Build a family. Get out of that dusty shop.”
“Mom,” Bailey warns from the tablet, but Mom can’t be swayed.
“You don’t have to live that life. You can do anything you want. You aren’t tied to that place.”
“I am.”
“No, your father was and look where it got him.”
“Dead?”
Everyone falls silent.
“Dead, Mom?” I challenge again. Tears brighten her eyes, but I don’t care. I’m past caring. I cared for years when she left me with Gran because her husband didn’t want me around. I cared when she missed my high school graduation. I cared when she tried to get Gran to sign Dad’s garage away to her, so she could sell it, claiming it was a “poor investment”.
Yeah, I’m way past fucking caring now.
“That’s what you mean, right? Dad died and Parker’s in prison, so now you want to control me? Where were you when I needed you? When Savannah needed you? Fucking Bailey, even? Too busy wallowing in your own self-pity becauseyour husband was a sociopath and a cheater instead of doing something about it.”
“Let’s all take a breath,” Kenda tries, but I’m done taking breaths in her little circle jerk of trauma.
“That shop is mine. Just like that house and just because you decided it wasn’t enough for you, doesn’t mean it isn’t for me.”
“If that’s what you want,” Mom says, voice cracking with emotion I’m really not in the mood to dive into.
“What Iwantis to get the fuck out of here,” I snap, my temper right on the edge. I don’t like being interrogated. I had enough of it when they arrested Parker.
“I think it’s important we all remember why we’re here,” Kenda interjects when things grow tense. “To uncover that past trauma and dissolve it so we can have a happy union of family. This is good,” she nods to me, offering me a gentle smile, even though I feel anything but right now. “There’s obviously some tension here, dating back to childhood. I think that it would be worth exploring.”
What the fuck does that even mean?
“Mason, what are your thoughts on Mr. Parker?”
“You don’t want to ask that question.”
No one says a word. If I had my way, Parker would have been skinned alive. He hurt my sister. My mother. I failed to protect them and there’s that sick part of me that believes it’s my fucking fault he was able to get to Savannah in the first place.
“I do want to hear your thoughts. It may give some insight into your stance on this situation.”
