Page 132 of Unspoken Rules

“Yes, it does!” Cole shouts. “Of course it does. You’re my son!”

Chris lets his head fall back and laughs. He laughs. Then he goes quiet for a long moment before turning his hateful gaze on his father.

“Nah. You can consider yourself childless, because after this?” He gestures between me and Cole. “I’m fucking done.”

Cole staggers back, leaning against the wall. Chris leaves the house. I stand there, unable to move. To believe what the hell just happened. The day was going so great. So perfectly. My birthday, of all days. Who do I go after? Do I go after either of them? Do I leave them alone? Do I just… leave?

“Cole—”

“Don’t,” he barks at me. He shakes his head and walks away.

My chest tightens and I can’t breathe all over again. My whole body grows heavy, and I sink into the chair before my legs give out. I close my eyes, fighting back tears as I force myself to breathe. It’s so hard, my chest is so fucking tight.

This is it.

This is the moment I was worried about. And how funny that it was only shortly after I thought he was breaking up with me in the first place. It was a sign. My gut telling me it knew what was to come. It was trying to prepare me for the pain that will no doubt be my undoing.

Maybe it’s better this way. Better if we aren’t together. This way he won’t have to question his loyalty to his son, and I won’t have to feel like the world’s worst best friend.

Though, I’m not sure I hold that title anymore.

I go upstairs to my room, shove as much of my stuff as I can into my suitcase, all the while fighting tears. I grab my laptop bag, make sure my computer and tablet are in there, my phone charger—shit my phone. It’s in Cole’s room.

Damnit.

I throw a shirt on, get my sneakers, and carry all my stuff to the top of the stairs. Then I walk into Cole’s room without knocking.

“Just getting my phone,” I mutter, barely sparing him a glance. All I can see is that he’s sitting on his bed, leaning against the headboard. I grab my cell phone. Turn and leave. I stop in the doorway, my hand tightening on my cell. There are a million things I want to say to Cole, but nothing will make a difference.

So I keep walking.

We knew this would happen. Knew it was only a matter of time. We said it. Talked about it. The only thing we didn’t do is prepare.

I grab all my stuff, head downstairs, grab my keys, and leave. The entire drive, I feel like a dick for driving this car. But it was the quickest and easiest way to get away from the house. Besides, what am I supposed to do? Cole bought the car. Got it all set up in my name. I can’t just leave it there and let it be a waste.

I drive to the park and sit in the lot. It’s nearly ten at night. Mila is probably sleeping, but I don’t know who else to call. I guess the only other option is Mark. I am not running to Tomas.

I find Mark’s contact and press the call button.

“Bryson, what’s up?” he says cheerily. The noise in the background tells me he’s out, and I feel bad for being a bother.

“You home?” I force myself to ask, though all I want to do is hang up and act like I didn’t mean to call.

“Nah, I’m at a party. What’s going on?”

“I, uh… I need somewhere to stay tonight.”

There’s a bunch of yelling in the background. Mark laughs, but then says, “Oh, okay. Yeah. You can stay at our place. Mila is home.”

“Thanks, Mark.”

When we hang up, I call Mila, happy to hear she doesn’t sound like she’s sleeping. I should have risked calling her first, but I guess it doesn’t matter now. All I want to do is find a place to sleep. Sleep will make me forget everything that’s just happened.

“Hey, Bryson. Everything okay?”

“No, not really. Mark said I could go by. Is that okay?”

“Of course. Any time. You know that.”

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