Page 202 of Collided

I'm applying balm on my lip when my phone rings.

Thinking it’s Sebastian who’s calling to check up on me I answer. “I told you I’m fine. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“So you do answer your phone.”

I stiffen at the sound of the crisp, deep voice that’s oddly similar to my own.

My father is on the line.

“What do you want?” I grind my molars at the inconvenience that he’s got a hang of me.

“What are you doing out late, son?”

Bile rises to my throat at the word ‘son.’ I’ll take any other title over it. Even ‘asshole’ has a better ring to it.

“So now you care about me?”

After a long moment he says, “Idocare about you, Heath.”

I can’t hold my laugh. “Yeah, right.”

He clears his throat. “Derek told me you were out late at night and returned home injured. What the fuck is going on?”

“It’s none of your fucking business.”

“It is my business.” The sudden shift in his tone makes me straighten. He sounds as cold as ice.

So I retaliate in the same voice. I suppose some things do run in the blood. “Like Emery was, but you abandoned us. What happened to her is your fucking fault. So don’t tell me I’m your business because I’m not.”

I can hear the change in his breathing. He’s mad, flaring with the twinge of my accusation.

“Are you doing drugs?” he asks sternly.

“I’m doing cigarettes. Alcohol is reserved for special nights.”

“You’re nothing but a spoiled kid, who doesn’t deserve any of the kindness I’ve been showing to you. I’m going to freeze your credit cards—”

“I don’t use them anyway.”

“—then where do you get the money from?”

“None of your fucking business.”

“Heath, I swear, if I learn if you’re doing anything wrong I'll—”

“You will do nothing. We share blood, but nothing else. You have no ownership over me now that I’m eighteen so stay the fuck out of my business and stop calling me.”

I switch off my phone.

The silence in my room is overtaken by my ragged breathing.

For fuck’s sake.

I don’t need my dad, or my mom, or anyone. I’m better off being alone. It’s best that way.

Hope pops into my mind, I hang my head down. One person won’t hurt. I can keep her and stay away from others. I can keep my best friends, too. They’re good people. But others, fuck them.

Getting into bed, I try to regulate my breathing. It takes me a while to fully calm down. The adrenaline from the fight and the rage from the phone call still linger.

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