“But Mom is going to need me—” I began.
“Have you forgotten our little secret? This whole mess has put tremendous stress on the both of us. Now add the stress of a divorce to that, and what do you think that will do to your body and the—” Stefan’s voice trailed off.
I couldn't deny the truth in Stefan’s words. I was already under tremendous stress given everything that happened, and a contentious divorce just might put me over the edge.
To punctuate Stefan’s words, the sound of muffled screaming wafted down the stairs to our ears, followed by some rumbling.
Mom must be kicking Terry’s ass, I thought in despair. Look at all the strife that bitch Veronica has caused in our family.
Stefan made a face and looked up at the ceiling. “You hear that? No telling how long that's going to go on.”
The screaming intensified, and I wondered if the neighbors down at the end of the block could hear my mother’s screeching.
“Then what are we going to do?” I asked fearfully.
Stefan grabbed the wine bottle sitting on the coffee table and poured what was left of it into his glass. Then, to my surprise, he turned back the entire glass in one gulp before replying to me.
“I have to get you out of here.”
Chapter 28
Stefan
Shortly after I had assured Bella that I had plans to get us out of the house, my dad had come back downstairs. He looked defeated and as if he’d rolled in the hay a couple of times while receiving several mean punches to the eye.
He’d looked at us once, not saying a word, and then headed to his office. As much as I wanted to stay out of the whole affair, I felt like now was the time to confront him.
I was angry about what happened. As a man of supposed integrity, it pissed me off that he’d let a slutbag like Veronica George take advantage of him.
I knew the temptation, God I knew, but that didn’t make it right. A strong man was never cowed by temptation. He was always in control of the situation, no matter what.
And as a man of my word, I'd take control of the chaos and protect Bella at all costs.
I stomped into my dad’s office and slammed the door behind me. “That was pathetic! How could you hurt Evelyn like that?”
My dad, who was sitting at his desk, looked up from his laptop at me with surprise. I expected him to explode on me in a rage—wanted him to, even—but he just sighed. “I couldn’t help myself, Son.”
I shook my head with disgust.
My dad sat back in his chair and studied me coolly. “Tell me, what would you have done? You, the ultimate jock, who has probably slept with more girls than you can even count.”
“What does the number of girls that I’ve slept with have to do with anything?”
“Don’t pretend to act like a goody-two shoes, Stefan. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“No, Dad, I don’t.”
“Stefan, we’re men,” Dad said as if that explained everything. “Young, pretty women are our weakness.”
“No, Dad, that is your weakness,” I argued. “And you should've never let that weakness get the best of you. Fuck, I thought you were jacking off to porn, not Skyping with another woman!”
Dad stared at me, and I saw anger and shame in his eyes. I felt a surge of satisfaction. Finally, the emotion I’d been hoping for. “Is that what you’ve come into my office for?” he demanded angrily. “To badger me about my mistake when I already feel like shit? Trust me, Evelyn has already let me hear it. I don't need it from you too.”
I shook my head. “No. I came to tell you that I’m moving out.”
Surprise registered on Dad’s face. “What? What for? Are you planning to go back to school?”
“Not right now,” I replied.
“Then why are you moving out?”
“To give you guys space. We're just going to complicate everything even more.”
Dad sat back in his chair. “Why in the world would you want to leave at a time like this? I’m going to need all the help I can get to keep Evelyn from divorcing me and taking me for all that I’m worth.”
“Dad, she's just pissed. She'll get over it. It was just some online thing, for crying out loud. And I’m taking Bella with me,” I added boldly, not giving him a chance to respond.
“What? Why?”
“She’s been through a lot in the past few months. She doesn’t need to be here while you two work this out.”
“I really don’t understand much of any of this, Stefan. Why would Bella want to move some place with you? Doesn’t she have plans to go back to school? And how the hell are you going to support yourself?”