Page 15 of All Roads Lead to You

“I can’t tell you how good it feels to see you bleed, too.”

My tongue darted out to lick away the tangy and coppery blood dripping down my mouth. “Next time, I’m going to break your fucking bones!”

“Enough! What the hell has gotten into you two? I thought we were finally done with this sort of behavior.”

“He scratched my record!”

“I said sorry!”

“It was Mom’s!”

“I didn’t know!”

“You’re an asshole!”

“And you’re fucking mental!”

“That’s it. You two, in the kitchen and sit your asses down. Not another damn word.”

Dad dragged us both by our shirts into the house and shoved us into the kitchen. “Sit!”

I huffed and folded my arms as I sat, looking anywhere but at Nick and Dad, but Mia forced me to look at her by yanking my chin up. Her dark eyes, which looked too much like Nick’s, were filled with disappointment. “Look at you… both of you.” Her soft, gentle tone only made me feel guilty, but I choked it back. This was all Nick’s fault.

She dropped my face and walked to the refrigerator, digging into the freezer and pulling out an ice tray, dropping several cubes into two dishtowels. She handed me one and the other to Nick. “Put the ice on your faces.”

Dad sat between us, and Mia sat on the other side of the table across from Dad.

“Now, please explain to me why you two are behaving as if you’re fourteen again. I thought you both had finally grown out of this resentment.”

Nick pointed at me, his finger right in my face that I wanted to snap off before he dropped his hand. “Logan’s the one who hates me! I don’t know what I ever did to him.”

“You were fucking born!”

My dad turned red, about to blow up at me, but I refused to take back my words.

“Wyatt, before you start yelling, something is troubling Logan, and I think right now he’s not in a good place. Let’s listen to him, then we’ll hear from Nick.”

She looked at her son and pointed a finger. “No interrupting.”

Nick huffed, but didn’t argue. Mia looked at me with eyes that said she wasn’t to be trifled with. “Don’t take this as me being on your side yet, Logan. Your words are cruel, and listening to you doesn’t excuse your behavior. I understand you’re upset about Hunter’s mom being sick and losing out on your trip, something you’ve worked hard for, but you can’t take your frustrations out on others.”

“I…” Now that the adrenaline wore off, I wanted to curl up into a ball in my room and just let go. Instead, I took a deep breath to suck it up, shoving my pain into the cramped drawers in my brain. “Nick went into my room and took one of my records. I couldn’t find it, so he came into my room and gave it back, but he… scratched it.” I looked at him, who quickly glanced away. “It was my mom’s, and it was special to me. I just… lost it, okay?”

I leaned forward and rested my head in my hands. If I said another word, the dam was going to burst.

“Nick, is this true? Did you scratch his record?”

“Yeah,” he whispered. “Logan’s always listening to it, and I really liked it… It was an accident, though. I told him I’d buy him a new record, but… I had no idea it had belonged to his mother. I’m so sorry, Logan. Really.”

I liked it better when he was pissed. Unable to bear another moment, I shoved out of the chair and stormed up the stairs.

“Logan! We aren’t done here!” Dad yelled, but I ignored him, ran into my room, and slammed the door behind me, behaving like a child, but I didn’t give a shit.

The noise must have startled my sister from her nap because she began to wail.

“Fuck!”

I opened my door, stepped into the nursery, and found her standing in her crib. “Hey, Hannah Banana.” Her large brown eyes were wet as she reached up to me.

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