Page 85 of Under the Influence

He rips his helmet from his head, his hair matted to his forehead, an unfamiliar fire behind his eyes, "Ella es mía."

I am taken aback by him speaking Spanish, but it's something he's been holding onto for a while. Something he's practiced.

She's mine.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SIX

LAINEY

“No,” I hear my mom whisper from my dad’s office. “Absolutely not.”

“Andrea, it’s my job.”

My mom’s voice projects a little more as she gets riled up, “It was your job last time too, and we all know how that turned out.”

“When are you going to let that go, huh? It’s been three years. I’m sick of living like this. If you wanted a divorce, you should’ve left then!” He seethes, his voice echoing throughout the hallway.

“A divorce? Is that what you wanted?”

“No,” my dad sighs, rubbing his temples. “That would only complicate things even more.”

My mother picks up a picture of the three of us from his desk, and I slink back behind the doorframe, hoping they don’t see me.

“He’s horrible to our daughter,” she whispers, rubbing her finger over the glass frame. “Their son. He takes it out on her at school, but we all know he blames you. He blames you, Ethan.”

My dad moves from his chair, rounding the desk, “Nash has always been troubled, even before. He never had a family. He just didn’t realize that they were always gone because he had Carson’s family and us.”

I shiver, thinking back to the last time I saw Nash before the closet incident. My dad had a couple’s therapy session with his parents, and he came here. We played UNO and laughed as my mom had to draw five. Little did we know the couple's therapy had ended months prior, and while we were changing the color in our UNO game, my dad was railing Nash’s mom.

I step out of the shadows, “He trusted you. He sat in the church like the rest of us, every Sunday hanging on your every word. I believed every lie you ever told, and I didn’t even believe him when he told me the truth.”

My dad shakes his head, grabbing his briefcase off of his desk, “We aren’t doing this.”

I push myself between him and the door, “We never have. Just sweeping it under the rug and moving on might work for the rest of this town, but it will never work for me. I’ll never forgive you, and I sure as hell won’t pretend it never happened like mom! I don’t care about reputations like she does. I hope everyone sees you for what you truly are.”

His eyes turn darker, and he pushes past me, but I swivel after him quickly, “You can’t ignore it forever!” I yell. “Nash hates me because I came from you, but I don’t blame him because I hate that too!”

“Alaina!” His voice booms.. “You need to start respecting me, yelling and screaming like this, isn’t it.”

I smile, quoting the Bible, “Honor thy father and mother, blah blah blah, right Dad?”

He stares at me, a warning in his eyes daring me to continue, but I do, “Adultery is a sin, daddy. Practice what you preach.”

He stares at me a second more before walking out the door, slamming it behind him. My mother’s eyes are watery, like she’s fighting the tears from falling.

“What happened to us?” she whispers, and I look down at my black nail polish. I pick off a tiny flake, watching as it falls to the cream-colored couch.

“Where is he going?” I demand. “And don’t lie to me because I’ll find out.”

She sighs, sitting in the chair opposite me, “Marriage Counseling.”

What?

That’s why she was so upset. She’s afraid it will happen again.

“Who?” I ask, preparing myself for the worst.