Page 35 of Redeeming Heart

“You punched Brandon’s ex-girlfriend in the face.” He reminded me.

I shook my head at him and wondered what chaos I just created. “Learn from my mistakes, don’t follow into the trap, and lose everything.”

“Did you know at that time that Brandon was dating her?”

“Everyone knew. They didn’t hide it.” I answered—not really understanding where this conversation was heading.

“D-did you have a crush on him?”

I dropped my head back and laughed at his ridiculous presumptions.

I sensed that he wasn’t very amused with my outburst when he stormed off. “Come on, Jonah. I am not laughing at you.” I tried but he ignored me.

Jonah walked ahead all the way home and didn’t even bother to check up on me once. He stormed inside the house, shutting the door behind him with a bang and not even showing care.

I stifled a smile and entered the house. I dropped my things and watched him rush up the stairs towards his room.

My feet halted when I caught my father standing outside his study with a frown plastered on his forehead. “He’s a kid and gets tired of walking all day long.” I kind of emphasized that my car would come in real handy right about now.

He removed his reading glasses. “You never complained.”

I pulled up my shoulders. “It’s not fair comparing us to each other. I had a friend who walked with me and I had my wheels.” I referred to my skateboard. “And you forget, Jonah isn’t from around here. He is still having a difficult time fitting in.”

“He has you.” His remark wasn’t acceptable.

“I am not his friend, dad. He is thirteen and has to make friends of his own. You can’t force me onto him. That’s a bit ridiculous.”

“I don’t see you bringing friends over.” He pointed out.

“That’s because they are all grown-up and living their dream lives. And last time I checked, nobody wants to come around since mom passed away.”

I took the stairs but paused. “And by the way, who said I don’t have friends? Just because you don’t see them, doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.”

Maybe he should try to be a part of my life and would see that I am not as he pictured.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I was silently cursing myself.

I overslept and no one bothered to wake me up. I rushed to get everything done in time and stormed out of my room, down the stairs, and through my rushing, I skipped a step. Almost went for a face plant but my knees and bum took the fall.

A deep, amused chuckle to my side made me raise my head to see my father smiling at me.

“That was quite a fall, you, okay?” He was trying to conceal his chuckle but failed miserably.

“I would be better if you recorded that.” I joked, standing up and wincing as I was still recovering from the other day.

“I was more worried about having you break a leg or something.” I chuckled at his remark.

“Been there. Done that. Still have the marks.” I reminded him of when I first started out skateboarding. I wanted to be the toughest kid in the skatepark and Jaylin just showed me a new move, and I wanted to test it out.

Yeah, it didn’t end well. Ten minutes later, my father was rushing me over to the hospital and the doctors informed them I broke an arm. I thought it was awesome to wear a cast, yeah—not so fun.

“You were a real troublemaker.” He noted with a sad smile.

“Technically, I still am.” I headed inside the kitchen to find it empty. No, Jonah, and no, Meredith.

“Meredith dropped Jonah off. He was mumbling something about you laughing at him.” My father gave me a pointed stare. “Do you want to explain?”

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