Chasing Rhodes (Rock Falls #1) (18 page)

His father doesn’t seem the least bit intimidated and continues to taunt him. “You’re just like me, son. You’re going to fuck up that little pussy right there and she’s going to end up just like your bitch of a mother did. All sad and pining after a man who doesn’t love her. She was pathetic and weak.”

Greyson slams his fist into the side of his father’s head with such force, I briefly wonder if he cracked his skull before deciding that I don’t really care. Greyson’s father grins at him, blood all over his teeth. The sight is absolutely frightening. Greyson never told me that this man used to hit him, but I know now without a doubt that he did.

Greyson pulls back his arm again and I grab it softly. “He’s not worth it, Greyson. Just let him go,” I say in the most soothing voice I can manage.

“Listen to the bitch, son. You won’t be able to fuck her from jail.” He laughs.

Greyson grabs him around the throat and the man’s eyes go wild when he realizes that he can’t breathe. “I won’t kill you. She’s right—you aren’t worth it.” I can see his fingers tighten even more, and his father is starting to turn blue. I tug at his arm, but it does nothing. I’m not even sure he can hear me screaming at him to stop. “If I see you again, David, I won’t hesitate twice.” The tone of his voice sends a chill down my spine, and I don’t doubt that he means what he’s saying. He finally drops his hand away and his father gasps for breath.

“You’re a fucking lunatic!” he shouts, moving quickly away, making sure to give Greyson a wide berth.

“I’m your son, aren’t I?” Greyson snaps.

I know in this moment that there’s not another person on this Earth I’ll ever hate as much as David Holt.

A
FTER HIS FATHER
took off in his piece-of-shit car, Greyson stormed into the house. I follow quickly behind him, shutting the door. He’s standing in the living room with his back to me, looking out the window. I can see that he’s still shaking, and my heart breaks for him. His description of his father was a sugarcoated one at best. The man I just met is a monster. A monster Greyson lived with for twelve years. A monster that killed his mother. I walk over to him and reach out to rest my hands on his shoulders. The second I touch him, he spins around so fast that it almost knocks me on my ass.

“What the fuck was that, Hannah?” he yells inches from my face.

I’m absolutely stunned. I have no idea what I did wrong. I’m trying to figure out how to answer, but he doesn’t give me the chance.

“Do you think I’m some weak asshole? You think I need you to stand up to my scary dad for me?” I shake my head because no words seem to be coming out of his mouth. “This is all your fucking fault. I had to hit my father in the fucking face because of you! What the fuck is wrong with you?” He’s screaming so loud that my ears are ringing.

“I was just trying to help,” I squeak out. I don’t know where my backbone’s gone. Something in the tone of his voice has me shrinking and I hate it. I’m instantly slammed back into the way I used to feel when Jackson went manic.
Scared and useless.

“Yeah, well, you weren’t fucking helping. I’ve got enough problems as it is. The last thing I need is to be coming to the rescue for some girl’s ‘damsel in distress’ act.”
Some girl… Ouch, that fucking stung.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper under my breath.

“I’m fucking done with this,” he says, walking away from me and down the hall to his bedroom.

I’m standing there in the middle of the living room and I don’t know what to do. I know he’s reeling and hurting from having seen his father after so many years, so I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. In doing so, I follow him down the hall to his bedroom. He’s sitting on the foot of his bed, and when he looks up at me, his eyes are the coldest I’ve ever seen them before.

“You’re still here?” His icy tone has me shifting my weight from foot to foot.

“I just want to be here for you. I love you,” I say, taking a step towards him.

“I don’t care. We were a mistake. You’re a mistake. I should have never tried to do this. You talked me into it.” He’s not yelling, but his voice is raised.

“We need to talk about this,” I say, taking another step.

“Jesus Christ, Hannah!” He stands from the bed and shouts, “You’re so fucking needy! I said I’m done. I said this is over. Get the fuck out!”

I’m frozen in place and tears are starting to pool in my eyes.

“Do you need me to spell it out for you? Get. The. Fuck. Out.”

I turn on my heel and make it out the front door before the tears start flowing from my eyes. I don’t have my truck here and it’s too far to walk. I pull out my cell phone and dial Jami. I love my girls, but I just need someone who won’t ask me too many questions. Because right now, I don’t have the answer to any of them.

By the time Jami’s Jeep pulls up at the high school parking lot less than ten minutes later, I’m sobbing. My body is shaking so violently that I don’t even think I can stand. Jami runs his hand down the back of my hair and kisses the top of my head.

“Let’s get you home, Hannah,” he says before scooping me up in his arms and putting me into the seat.

I cry the entire way back to my house, and I’m still sobbing into his chest when he carries me into the house. The girls are out. It’s Monday night drinks at our favorite bar. I bailed to spend the night with Greyson. He takes me straight into the bathroom and sets me down on the edge of the bathtub.

“Stay here, Hannah,” he says. He doesn’t even need to tell me because I wouldn’t be able to move without his help even if I wanted to. He returns a minute later with a glass of water and two Advil, placing them on the counter. He starts to rummage through the doors. “Where’s that stuff you girls use to take off your makeup?” He’s frantically ripping through all the bathroom drawers before he finds it. He pulls one of the cloths out of the package and kneels down in front of me. I’m still crying now, hiccupping for air. “Look at me, Hannah. Look at me.” I look at him, but my vision is clouded by tears. “Hannah, you need to calm down. I need you to breathe for me. Take a deep breath.” He starts to show me what he means. Taking a deep breath in and letting it back out. I do my best to mimic him. “Good girl. Keep going.”

He manages to calm me down enough so that my whole body isn’t shaking anymore. He lifts up the cloth in his other hand and starts to wipe my eyes and cheeks with it. I didn’t look in the mirror, but I’m certain I have mascara everywhere. He takes his time, and when he’s satisfied that he’s gotten most of it, he wets a washcloth and runs it over my face. He passes me the two Advil and the glass of water.

“Take this, Hannah. You’re going to have a headache from all the crying.”

I take the glass with shaky hands and knock back the pills. He takes the glass back, returning it to its spot on the counter. He lifts me up under my knees and around my shoulders, carrying me to my bedroom. He sets me down on the edge of the bed and starts looking through my drawers. Jami pulls out a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt. It’s Greyson’s City and Colour shirt I borrowed after our second night together. I never gave it back, and the sight of it has me bursting with a new set of tears.

He realizes his mistake and pulls out a new shirt, bringing them over to the bed. “I’m going to step out into the hallway. Get changed okay?” he says softly, and I nod my head. He leaves the room and I change into the clothes he’s laid out for me. I hear him knock on the door, and when I don’t say anything, he cracks it open. “All set?”

I mumble a response, and he comes back into the room, sitting beside me on the bed.

“Do you want to talk about it, Hannah?”

I shake my head. “Not yet.”

“Okay then. Let’s get you into bed.” He pulls back the covers and waits for me to crawl underneath them before pulling them up over my body. “I’m going to stay until the girls get home.”

I nod, and as he starts to walk away, I say, “Thank you, Jami.”

“Thick and thin, Hannah Montana. I’ll always be here for you,” he says before softly closing the door behind him.

I cry for a while longer before my body shuts down and my eyelids get heavy. I’ve exhausted myself from crying and drift into a dreamless sleep. At some point, I hear the girls come home and voices whispering in the kitchen before someone yells, “Fucking asshole!” I think it’s Lennon, but I’m too out of it to tell for sure. The voices continue on for some time after that, and I slip under the safety of sleep again. A while later, I hear the door open and two people climb into bed on either side of me. I open my eyes, seeing that it’s my sister and my best friend. I give them a weak smile.

Beth shakes her head. “We don’t have to talk about it now, Han. Just go to sleep.” She’s running her fingers through my hair and I close my eyes. The show of affection is incredibly soothing.

Lennon lays her head on my shoulder. “You can fall apart now, Hannah. We’ve got you.”

I cry myself to sleep for the third time tonight, this time in the comfort of my friend’s arms. I’ve never felt numb before. It fucking sucks.

W
HEN I WAKE
up the next morning, I feel like my eyes are so heavy that they’ll fall from their sockets and my head feels like it is splitting in two. I roll over to check the time and my heart plummets when I see the photo of Greyson and me on the nightstand. I took the selfie of us when we went hiking at the cabin for Easter. We look happy. I place my hand over the left side of my chest and wince.
My heart fucking hurts.

I drag myself out of bed and out of my very own personal pity party. I need to take a shower. I go down the hall and shut the door to the bathroom, turning to face myself in the mirror.
God, I look like shit.
My eyes are bloodshot with massive bags under them, my skin looks pale, and I look lifeless. I take a minute to mentally thank Jami for taking off my makeup. It only would have made me feel shittier to see the remnants of black tears running down my cheeks. I brush my teeth before turning on the shower and climbing under the warm spray. I stand there for a while, hoping the water will wash away some of my pain. It doesn’t.

I get out of the shower, put my hair in a wet bun, and change into yoga pants. I slide Kai’s lacrosse hoodie over my head and as I do, I know what I am going to do. After making the phone calls I need to make, I set off for the kitchen to talk to my girls.

“Hey you,” Beth says.

“Morning, Han,” Lennon says.

They’re both giving me sympathetic looks, and I know they’re hurting for me. I know that because if this were happening to one of them, I’d be feeling their pain with them.

“Morning,” I say as they pull me into a group hug, there in the middle of our kitchen on a Tuesday morning. “Shouldn’t you guys be at work?” I ask, pulling out of their embrace.

“We called in sick. Three Musketeers or some shit like that. Right, Han?”

“Right,” I say, sitting down on the kitchen stool.

“How are you feeling?” Lennon questions.

“Like I was run over by a Mack truck and then it backed over me again just for fun,” I say. I know I sound pathetic, but I can’t help it.

“What happened, Han? Everything had been so good with you guys…” Beth says, her sentence trailing off.

“Was being the keyword in that sentence.” I laugh, but there’s no humor in it.

“What happened last night?” This time, it’s Lennon, and I sigh. I know I need to tell them, especially after how out of control I was last night. I’m sure I scared them.

I proceed to tell them the horrific events of last night, pausing along the way to cry a few times. I don’t leave out any of the gory details, and by the time, I’m done they are both crying too.

“I’m so sorry, Han.” They wrap me in a hug.

“Are you going to try and talk to him?” Beth asks.

“Not right now,” I say, looking down at the counter. “I said I would fight for him and I meant it. I tried to, but the things he said…” I pause to collect myself before going on. “The things he said we’re so harsh. I just need some time, and I don’t think he wants to see me again. He said we were done.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it. He was just upset.” My sister, ever the optimist.