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David?

Oh, Jesus…

Panic clawed its way into my throat, causing my heart to beat frantically.

"Jord? Come on, answer the door, buddy."

I kept my eyes trained on Jordan's as Derek's voice filled my ears.

"Hope? Anyone home?"

I opened my mouth, but quickly snapped it shut again when Jordan gave me a death glare, shaking his head slowly.

"Come on, Jordan. It's been weeks. I need to see you…"

I flinched when I heard the concern in Derek's voice, but Jordan didn’t even seem to notice.

Finally, when the knocking stopped and Derek had given up, I found my voice. "You can't block him out. He's your father."

"Father?" Jordan snarled, tearing his fingernails up and down his arms. "What father?" He shoved off the door and stalked back up the staircase. "Don’t ever let him into my house."

"You need serious help," I called after him.

"And you need to mind your own goddamn business," he roared before disappearing back to his room.

****

Chapter Twenty-Four

Hope

"Jordan was fired today," Annabelle announced when she marched into the kitchen. She dropped her purse on the counter and turned to glare at me.

I wasn’t surprised by her revelation.

He hadn't shown up for work since our huge fight and had consistently drank himself into a stupor every day since.

The alcohol that he continuously poured into his body each day had turned him into a mean drunk.

A stranger.

It was no wonder he'd been fired.

She and Ryder weren’t staying at the house anymore, either.

Heroin needles and broken bottles of whiskey weren't exactly the safest thing for a baby to be around.

Protecting her son from this sewer of malignance and pain was her only redeeming quality.

"And they've relieved him of his duties at the halfway house." She waited a beat for me to respond, and when I didn’t, she clicked her tongue in disgust. "Don’t you care?"

I shrugged in response, turning my attention back to the screen of my laptop.

I didn’t care.

About him.

Or her.

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