“It was good,” I say, getting up and heading to the kitchen for the dessert I promised Mum I would bring with me for our family dinner.
“Good? That’s really all you’re giving me?”
“Unlike you two, I’m not really into kissing and telling.”
“Boring,” Stella scoffs. “So no sex club this weekend?”
“Jesus Christ. Seb, put a lead on your woman,” I mutter lightly.
“Oh yeah, because she’s so easy to control. And, you’re assuming that I don’t also want to know about this mystery girl and your little illicit visit to Hades. Bro, that’s hot. Didn’t know you had it in you.”
“I didn’t. She had it in her, though.”
“Oh burn, bro,” Seb barks, holding his hand up for me to high-five while Stella mutters about us being pathetic, horny little boys.
“Please let me meet this girl so I can apologise profusely for you,” Stella says once the three of us walk into the lift.
“Seriously?” I ask, hitting the button for the ground floor. “I’m not letting her near any of you. She thinks I’m a decent person right now. I wanna keep that up for as long as possible.”
“Tobes,” Stella sighs. “You are a good person.”
“I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who would have a solid argument against that.” Jodie herself, in the not-too-distant future.My stomach knots at the thought of hurting her, but I know that I can’t turn back now. I’m too invested in this plan.
“Meh, fuck them. Not everyone can be right all the time.”
She nudges me with her elbow.
“All joking aside, she’s putting a smile on your face. So as far as I’m concerned, you can keep doing what you’re doing.”
“She’s a good distraction.”
A ripple of tension goes around the enclosed space as the face of the man I need distracting from flickers through my mind.
“I know you don’t want to talk about it,” Seb starts. “But don’t you think that maybe you should just end it? Put it all behind you?”
“I will. But it’s not time. Death is too easy.”
“It’s fucking with your head though, man. I’m not sure it’s worth it.”
The lift dings, announcing our arrival, and I take a step forward, more than ready to leave this conversation behind.
“It’ll be worth it,” I shoot over my shoulder. It’ll be more than worth it as I rip his world right from beneath him, just like he did to us.
A wicked smile curls at my lips as I walk toward my car, although I can’t ignore the painful twist of my stomach which never used to be there when I thought about my revenge.
Swallowing it all down, I pass Stella the cheesecake and slip into the driver’s seat.
Heading to Galen’s, and now Mum’s place is weird as fuck. Seeing Mum happy with another man, despite her real husband being a monster of the worst kind, is weird, and something that’s going to take a while to get used to. So is the fact that that man also happens to be my biological father, and that while Jonas was off cheating on my mum with Jodie’s, my mum was also doing the dirty.
Their relationship really was fucked from the get-go. Shame neither of them did anything about it; we could have all had much easier lives if they had.
Stella and Seb thankfully turn the conversation away from the poisonous rat who’s locked up in our basement on the short journey.
The second we pull into Galen’s driveway, both he and Mum emerge with massive smiles on their faces. They look like picture-perfect parents.
My heart aches as I take them in. If things had been different, they could have had a lifetime of happiness together instead of living through hell separately.
My eyes lock on Mum. She looks better than she has in months, and I know that it’s not just because her treatment has come to an end and she’s received the news she was hoping for. It’s because of him. The man at her side. My real father.