Page 76 of Give My Everything
A shock to my system that I wasn’t prepared for.
I used to always be prepared, but recently, I’ve been off my game. Distracted by the things happening in my own life. By Remmy.
Time to refocus my efforts.
I do have a plan, after all. A plan she’s a part of.
And now it’s time to actually follow through.
“A prodigal son chooses to leave,” I say, keeping one hand tucked in Remmy’s and slipping the other in my pocket. “I don’t remember ever being given that choice.”
One side of his mouth tilts up.
“You make choices every day, Benjamin,” he replies, “just like I do. You make choices with your actions. Your actions caused a lot of problems for this family, which was your decision.”
I shrug. “Semantics. Looks like we just see it differently. We see alotof things differently.”
There’s a pause, and my eyes drift to Krissa for just a second.
If people were curious about the innerworkings of my mind, they might assume I’m still upset with her for what she did. I’m not.
She taught me that trust is something we give away too freely and honor too rarely.
I’ll never let someone teach me a lesson like that again.
“Krissa,” I say, nodding my head in acknowledgment.
She smiles, but it’s tight, the exact same expression she’s given me the handful of other times I’ve seen her since everything happened.
“Good to see you, Bennie.”
She winces, and that’s when my eyes zero in on the hand gripping her side.
My eyes flit back to his, and the level of anger aimed my way is almost startling.
What he doesn’t seem to get is that he doesn’t have a right to be angry with me. So these little spouts of rage that always laser in on me? I rarely worry about them.
When you fuck your son’s girlfriend, rub it in his face, and then marry her,youhave to deal with the consequences.
Like the fact that I had her first.
And the way she says my name, in that soft voice she used to breathe out when I’d make her come saying the exact same thing…
Bennie.
Those are thingshehas to deal with. Not me.
Though I enjoy his bristling more when he doesn’t take it out on Krissa.
She might not be my favorite person—one of my least favorites would be more accurate—but nobody deserves to be grabbed like that, with aggressive, possessive hands that can leave bruises.
“Good to see you, Calvin.”
The sound of my mother’s voice shatters the little box of discomfort I’ve been standing in.
I shift my body slightly and my mother steps forward.
How she can greet my father with a smile and kind words after everything he put her through over the years isbeyondme.
