"Hey, you're coming over again tomorrow, right?" I asked Alex. We were standing at my front door Christmas night. After what had happened, we took a small nap, participated in another few activities, and then just relaxed together before my mom came to send Alex home.

"Of course," he responded, smiling at me. "I might bring Franceschi, too, if that's okay? He's been badgering me about hanging out all break."

"Yeah, sure." I shrugged. "I haven't seen him, either. It'll be fun."

He nodded. "I should go, though. See you tomorrow morning?"

I nodded. "Can't wait." I leaned in to kiss him goodbye. "I love you."

"I love you, too," he said back. Hearing Alex tell me that he loves me after keeping my feelings to myself for so long felt so good. It made me really happy to know that he felt the same way I did.

“Bye, angel!” he said quickly, backing up towards his car.

I shut the door behind him and smiled. Today couldn’t have gone better.

---

It was a stern knock on my bedroom door that woke me up. It scared me for a second before I realized what was happening. I groaned into my pillow before rolling over.

“Just a minute!” I yelled, picking up my phone to check the time. It was past nine, so mom would be at work. It must be Alex then.

Just as I was standing up and looking for a pair of pants to put on, he knocked again. I rolled my eyes and picked up a pair of sweats off the floor.

“Jesus, Lex, calm down,” I yelled. “You tired me out last night, I need to recharge.”

After I put the pants on, I walked over and opened the door. I wasn’t, however, greeted by my boyfriend. Nope, that would make my life far too easy. Instead, it was my father that stood there. But, to add insult to injury, he wasn’t alone. With him stood a small yet busty blonde woman who I was assuming was Marissa. I couldn’t tell for sure, but she looked suspiciously like the woman I caught him with a few months ago.

Neither of us spoke; we just stared at each other. I could feel my good mood from last night draining from my body in the presence of my father and his mistress.

It was my father that eventually broke the silence. “You were expecting someone else,” he grumbled.

“Yeah,” I shot back. “I figured after yesterday you would’ve gotten the message that you’re not welcome.”

“Oh, calm down.” He rolled his eyes. “I technically still live here.”

“But she doesn’t,” I snarled, motioning to Marissa.

“Hey! Be nice to her!” Dad yelled, putting his arm in front of her.

“Oh, relax, you two,” she said, pushing his arm out of the way. “Look—Jack, right?” she looked at me. “I know this can’t be easy for you, your parents splitting up and all, but your dad isn’t the bad guy here. No one is. He just wasn’t happy with your mom, simple as that.”

“It’s not that simple!” I exclaimed. “If he was unhappy, he should’ve just left! But no, he fucking cheated on my mom! With you, nonetheless! So excuse me if I get a little irritated when he barges in unannounced and unwanted!”

“Don’t talk to her like that!” Dad interjected. “She’s done nothing to you!”

“You have got to kidding me!” I yelled. “It’s your fault we’re in this mess! It’s obvious that you weren't going to leave on your own! Hell, if I wouldn’t have seen you guys, I bet everything would still be normal!”

Marissa reached out and put her hand on my shoulder. “Sweetie, calm do—”

I shrugged her hand off of my shoulder. “Don’t touch me and don’t call me sweetie!” I snapped. “I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work!”

Dad glared at me before turning to her. “Why don’t you go wait in the car, dear? I’ll be down in a second.”

She nodded before walking off, not acknowledging me again. Which was fine with me. I’d be perfectly fine—happy even—if I never had to see that whore again. Good fucking riddance.

Silence fell between my father and I once again. I could feel the tension radiating between us as we stared each other down. I felt like we were about to do battle and I had something to protect; something to lose. I don’t know where it came from, but I felt like I just had to come out on top.

The sound of the front door closing in the background moved everything forward. Suddenly I was standing in an arena opposite my father, waiting to see his first move.

“Listen here, you little shit,” he hissed. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you better listen up and listen well.” I scowled but didn’t say anything. “I don’t care what you think about me or my decisions. I am your father, and you will do what I say. The next time I see you, I expect your attitude to be much better. I want you to be nice to Marissa and stop acting like she murdered someone in front of you. Couples split up every day. Get over it.”

“What are you going to do if I don’t?” I challenged, smirking slightly. It’s not like he had any control over me. I doubt mom’ll ever listen to him again. He can’t touch me.

“What do you think your mom would do if she found out about how sexual you’re getting with your little boyfriend?” he taunted. “She might even go as far as to, I don’t know, stop you from seeing him.”

“You have no proof.” I smirked. “And there’s no way she’d take your word over mine, not now.”

“Maybe not.” He shrugged. “But you and I both know for a fact that she can see straight through you when you’re lying.”

The smirk fell from my face. He was right. I couldn’t believe he was actually right. That could ruin everything. The sheer thought of losing Alex on top of everything else that was happening felt sickening. It made me wonder, though, did my father even care about me anymore? Was he seriously trying to make my life worse just to make his easier?

“That’s what I thought,” he responded to my stunned silence. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a girlfriend to get back to.”

I cringed at the word girlfriend. Suddenly, I was filled with so much anger. Much more than even on the phone last night. As he turned to walk away, I yelled back at him, “You’re nothing but a coward!”

He turned around. “Excuse me?!”

“You heard me!” I yelled. “You’re nothing but a coward and a cheat! While you’re off with your new catch, mom and I are here miserable! You didn’t even have the guts to leave her before finding someone else! No, you just settled for the first whore that didn’t mind that you were married!” It felt so good to let all of my frustrations out. “You know what? I bet you were counting on her finding out! That way she’d leave you, so you wouldn’t have to do it yourself! You’re such a coward, and I fucking hate you!”

Crack.

Everything stopped. The air was thick; it felt like I couldn’t breathe. I was no longer standing valiantly in an arena, facing an enemy. I was standing in my bedroom doorway in my pajamas with my mouth dropped open and the side of my face stinging. Did he just hit me?

I looked up to see my dad looked just as shocked as I felt.

“J-jack, I—” he started to say before I cut him off.

“Get out,” I said, my voice surprisingly steady.

He nodded quickly before all but running towards the stairs. I stayed standing, facing the door, until I heard his car drive away. Did that really just happen? I trudged over to the bed and collapsed. All of a sudden every emotion that I had tried to repress for the last month or so was rushing to the surface.

It all of a sudden felt like I was drowning, and I didn’t know what to do. I curled up into the fetal position on the bed and let myself cry. It’s kind of funny actually. Throughout everything that had happened this year, I never let myself really, truly cry. And now suddenly, all it took was one horrible event to trigger months of pent-up frustration.

I cried over Oli lying to me and trying to rape my boyfriend. I cried over my mom pretending everything was okay when it wasn’t. I cried over my so-called father hitting me in the face. I cried over the little things, too; the things that didn’t matter. I cried over the fight with Alex and that whole situation. It felt so good to finally let everything go, but at the same time, I was so overwhelmed. It felt like I had lost control.

After what could’ve been seconds, minutes, or even hours, there was another knock on the door. I was hesitant to answer it. What if dad came back? I didn’t want him to see me cry.

“Jack?” I heard Alex say from the hallway, “Are you up, angel? We knocked but no one answered and the door was open, so...”

I sighed. “J-j-just a second!” I said back, trying to quickly pull myself together. My voice sounded thick and hazy from crying, but hopefully Alex wouldn’t notice. I knew I shouldn’t keep something like this from him, but I didn’t know if I could talk about it without crying again.

“What’s taking so long, Barakat?” I heard Franceschi yell. “Were you wanking?”

“Shut up, Josh,” I heard Alex mumble, followed by an ‘oof’ from Josh himself.

I sighed as I walked towards the door. I had forgotten that Franceschi was coming, too. I didn’t know if I could handle him. It all seemed like a little too much. I was tempted to tell them I was sick and make them leave, but I really didn’t want to be alone, so I opened the door anyway. I was well aware that it was obvious that I had been crying, but I honestly didn’t care.

“Hey, guys,” I muttered, looking down.

“Are you okay?” was the first thing that came out of Alex’s mouth. I looked up to see both him and Josh looking at me. Alex took a step forward and placed his hand on my face, caressing my cheek with his thumb.

I shrugged, walking out of his touch and back towards the bed. They both followed, sitting down when I did. Alex placed a hand on my leg.

“I talked to my dad again this morning,” I admit. “He came over with his new girlfriend.”

Alex gripped my leg a little tighter. I didn’t look at Josh, but I knew he was probably wondering what was going on. He originally knew that my dad cheated, but I never told him anything after that.

“Did something happen?” Alex asked gently. “You seem a lot more upset than after he called last night.”

I nodded, scooting closer to him, “We got into it really bad. Worse than last night. He threatened to tell mom what he saw that night after you came over for dinner if I didn’t stop being angry at him.”

Alex bit his lip. “Would that really be the worst thing he could do?”

I sighed. “She would freak out. Probably wouldn’t let me see you anymore.”

He gulped, moving even closer to me. That’s when Josh decided to join the conversation.

“You guys are literally talking in code,” he blurted. “What is even happening? What did Jack’s dad see that could be so bad?”

Both Alex and I blushed. “It was nothing,” he said, avoiding eye contact with Josh.

“Oh, my god.” He started laughing, obviously getting some kind of grasp on what had happened. “Did he just barge in without knocking or something?”

“It was on the couch!” Alex blurted before smacking his hand over his mouth, causing Josh to only laugh harder.

“Alex!” I scolded.

“Sorry, sorry,” he rushed out. “I talk without thinking when I get caught off guard. You should know that by now.”

“Okay, so let me get this straight,” Josh said when he calmed down. “You’re scared that your dad’s going to tell your mom you guys did the naughty if you don’t forgive him for cheating? Dude that’s an easy fix—just pretend.”

I sighed. “It’s not that easy, Josh. I hate him so much, I just can’t stop the word vomit sometimes. Not to mention…” I trailed off before saying what else he had done.

Alex seemed to notice that I was hiding something. “Wait,” he said, putting his arm around my shoulders, “did something else happen this morning?”

I paused before nodding. If we’re discussing this, might as well go all the way. I wasn’t too keen on telling Josh, but I didn’t think I’d be able to get him to leave easily at this point.

“He—um,” I stammered. “H-he hi-hi-hit m-m-m-me.”

Everything seemed to freeze once again. Alex’s arm went limp around me for a moment before his grip tightened significantly. The first expression I caught was Josh's. He was staring at me with wide eyes, almost mirroring the expression my father had after it happened.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at Alex. Just imaging the pitying look he’d be giving me was sickening. Before I could stop it, however, his hand was on my cheek, turning my face to look at his. His eyes looked wet and his bottom lip was stuck between his teeth.

“I’m so sorry, angel,” he whispered, bringing me into a hug. I collapsed against his chest, savoring the familiar warmth. Telling him was a good idea, if only for the comfort he could provide.

“I don’t want you to be alone with him anymore,” he mumbled, kissing my hair. “If he comes over when you’re alone again, call me and I’ll come over right away. And if I can’t, Franceschi will. Right, Josh?”

“Huh? Yeah,” Josh stammered, seemingly being broken out of a trance. “It’s the same as with Oliver. I don’t want either of you to get hurt.”

I couldn't help but smile to myself. I was so lucky. Even if I couldn’t rely on my family at the moment, I was so lucky to have people who cared about me. I was lucky to be loved.

Notes

pfft
well i thought my smut was good