Stepbrother Inked(55)

My dad let fly another punch, hitting Flor right in the nose, but he  didn't fight back. His fists were clenched and his green eyes shone with  rage.

"Get the fuck out of my house and don't come back here."

"Art, stop," River pleaded, grabbing his arm. "It's not just Florian. This thing goes both ways."

"I want him out. End of discussion." My dad turned to me then and a fire  lit up his eyes like I'd never seen. I wanted to melt into the floor,  disappear into a puddle and never come back. "We're cutting him out of  our lives like we should've done a long time ago. He's a poison."

"You can't make decisions like that!" River screeched, her practiced  professional patience disappearing in the wake of her anger. I'd debated  before if she loved my father or her son more; I was afraid I was about  to find out.

"He's a lost cause, River. Look at him!" My dad thrust a finger out  towards Flor. "Do you want someone like him around our daughter?" The  implications of that turned Flor's anger into a violent rage and I  watched in horror as he grabbed my dad by the back of the shirt and  yanked him away from his mom.

"Get the fuck away from my mother," Flor snarled as my dad and him got up in each other's faces.

I ruined my family.

I had known this might happen, had been prepared to choose Flor over our  parents, but I guess I hadn't actually realized what that would be  like. In actuality, I felt like I was in a horror movie. I'd rather have  a serial killer take a knife to my throat than have to deal with this  mess I've made.

"Are you going to wait until this one grows up, too? Prey on her like you did Abi?"

Flor punched my dad in the face and my stepmother screamed as the two of  them exploded into fists. How did this get so bad so fast?

I started to back away, watching as River miraculously managed to step between the two.

"Art," she said, trying to regain some of her composure and failing. I  felt her gaze land on me. "This is not just Florian's fault. Maybe your  daughter seduced him? Did you ever think of that?"

My heart broke in my chest.

My stepmom was throwing me under the bus just like that while my dad  eagerly salivated at the thought of throwing away a kid he'd raised for  the past thirteen years, making threats he knew weren't even remotely  true. Flor didn't prey on me. He wasn't a danger to our unborn sister.  This wasn't about us being siblings. In fact, our love was in spite of  that. It had to overcome one of the greatest obstacles of all time. But  as I watched the situation before me unfold, I had a terrible thought.

"I knew it," I whispered as I watched them glare at one another. Tears  pricked the corners of my eyes. "I knew Flor and I being together  shouldn't matter because we aren't family. This," I gestured weakly at  the three of them. "This isn't a real family at all. It never was."

I turned and ran from the room, snatching Flor's keys off the entryway table as I went.

I heard him call out after me, heard the sound of his boots, but I  slammed the door in his face and bolted down the steps and into the car  before he could reach me.

When I peeled out of the driveway, the last thing I saw were his green eyes watching me go.                       
       
           



       





"Are you sure you don't want to pick up the phone?" Addi asked, trying  to hand me my cell. I stayed where I was, curled up next to her on the  couch and refused to take it. "This is like the tenth call in as many  minutes."

I shook my head and swiped tears away. I figured Flor would be here  right after me, but he hadn't shown up yet. I mean, I knew I was the one  that had run out, but I'd wanted him to follow after. If he had, it  would mean that this wasn't over yet, that we could still be together no  matter what.

"Who's it from?" I asked, my throat creaky and my words warbling.

"Your dad. Again."

I sat up and hugged a pillow to my chest, painfully aware of Patrick's  desperate attempts to not intrude on our girl time. He was in the  kitchen trying to make himself something to eat before he left to go to a  job interview.

"If it's Flor, I might take it," I whispered. "Nobody else."

Addi sighed and watched me with sympathetic eyes. At least I had her to  count on. She'd known about my Flor obsession since forever and hadn't  shunned me for it. That's what real family was all about. Real family  stood by you no matter what, didn't judge, let you be yourself and loved  you for it.

"But I guess he's not calling." I paused and wiped away a sniffle. "Or coming."

"You guessed wrong, dope." The door swung open and Flor marched in, his  face a bloody mess and his clothes rumpled from the fight. I wanted to  stand up and throw myself at him, but I didn't. I made myself sit and  wait for him to come to me, to wrap me in his arms and pull me against  him. His fingers brushed through my hair and drew a shaky breath from my  chest. "Sorry I took so long. You took my car, remember? And the fight  didn't stop after you left. Your dad rushed me." I curled my fingers in  Flor's shirt. "And then my mom took off and we got into yet another  fight trying to stop her. I have no idea where she is right now and she  won't answer her phone."

"I ruined our family," I whispered. "I'm sorry."

"No," Flor growled sharply, squeezing me even tighter. "You didn't. What  happened back there  …  there were a lot of feelings that needed to come  out. Your dad's never liked me, and my mom's always kind of resented him  for it."

"But they're the perfect couple," I whispered and Flor snorted.

"Even perfect couples fight every now and again. Some things needed to  be said and they were. It wasn't pretty, but it happened." He paused and  I felt his breath catch. "Besides, it doesn't matter. They're adults  and we're adults. They can do what they want to do and so can we. Abi, I  spent all these years avoiding an 'us' for this very reason, but now  that I've let myself have you  …  I could never let you go. I'd choose you  first for infinity."

My throat closed up and Addi excused herself, grabbing Patrick by the arm and steering him from the room.

Flor ran his hand down my side and rested it on my hip, just over my tattoo, and then we sat in pained silence for awhile.

"I'll talk to my mom again," Flor said finally, breaking the quiet and  drawing his cell from his pocket. He dialed her up and got no answer,  shooting off a quick text before he scooted me off of his lap. "Just as  soon as I can get ahold of her."

I watched a frown cross his lips and sat up, feeling groggy and  waterlogged, like my emotions were too heavy to bear. But bear them I  would. This thing with Flor and me, it would work. I would make sure of  that.

"First," I told him, reaching out a thumb to brush his bloody lip. One  of his lip rings was missing again. Not good. He flinched, but he didn't  pull away. "We need to get you cleaned up."



Flor showered and switched into a change of clothes that he'd left in my  top right dresser drawer for our sleepovers before planting a searing  kiss on my mouth and leaving to find his mom. Meanwhile, I paced and let  Addi force a beer on me, gazing down at my phone and wondering if I  should just delete all of the voicemail that my dad had left me. It  couldn't be good, really. None of it could. In the back of my mind, I  held onto the hope that my dad would just give up and turn a blind eye,  pretend none of this was happening and go on like he always had, but I  knew the situation had grown beyond that, morphed into a monster that I  wasn't capable of controlling.

"River's a grown ass woman, Abi. If she doesn't want anyone to find her,  it's not like it's hard. Maybe she got a hotel room for the night?  Stopped over at a friend's house? Hell, she could be sitting in her  office right now trying to figure things out." Addi paused and twirled  the empty brown bottle in her hands, eyes focused on the label and not  on me. "As for your dad, maybe you should hear what he has to say?  Running from things won't make them any better."                       
       
           



       

"I know," I moaned, slumping over the counter and gazing at Addi from  the corner of my eye. "Logically, I get that, but at the same time, I'm  terrified of what he's going to say, how he's going to look at me."

"Then maybe it really is best that you go and see him, talk with him  about this when Flor and River aren't around. Honestly," Addi said, her  voice getting that I told you so tone in it, "that might've been a  better way to go about it to begin with. If you two hadn't been rutting  in the hallway  –  "