Page 75 of You Had Me At Thirteen

‘And?’

‘Wren, I think I deserve a bit of respect—’

I can’t help the laughter that erupts from my chest. ‘Respect? You want to talk about fucking respect? Where’s your respect for Mum?’

He marches over to stand chest to chest with me again, a snarl settling on his face as he pokes me. ‘Don’t start with me, boy.’

I shove him. ‘You don’t get to tell me what to do. Now get the fuck out of my room.’

Dad stumbles before righting himself, his eyes frantic as his face reddens. ‘You’ll do as I say as long as you’re living under my roof.’

‘Your roof?’ I laugh again. ‘You’re a goddamn joker.’

‘You think I enjoy going away all the time?’ He throws his arms up, before they settle on his hips.

I blink at him. Is this guy for real? ‘Please. As soon as you found out Mum was sick, you couldn’t wait to be out of here. Not your responsibility, right? Just like everything else.’

‘You ungrateful little shit—’ He brings his hand up to slap me, but I grab his wrist.

‘Get. The. Fuck. Out,’ I say through gritted teeth, each word pronounced with as much venom as I can muster. I point to the door. ‘Now.’

For a long moment he just stands there, heavy breathing, trying to burn holes into my face, but I rein it in, knowing that if I punch him, Mum will be pissed.

When he drops his head and stalks out of my room, I slam the door and brace myself against it as I try to settle the adrenaline coursing through my muscles. When I can’t catch my breath, I crouch down, resting my elbows on my knees, trying to suck in as much oxygen as I can. Tears sting my eyes. I need to get out of this house before I burn the fucking thing down with him in it.

I snatch my keys from the bedside table and race to my car. Mum calls after me from the kitchen but I ignore her, feeling even worse than I already do – but if I stay here, I know I’ll do or say something I’ll regret.

The car roars to life and I put it into reverse before pressing my foot to the accelerator. Hitting the road, I push the gear stick into drive and put my foot further into the floor, before Matilda jumps out in front of me.

THIRTY-ONE

Matilda

* * *

It’s not like I’ve been sitting on my front porch for the last hour waiting for Wren to appear. I hoped he would, but the way he storms out of his house right now has me questioning my sanity. I know I said I wasn’t coming back after he kicked me out the last time, but who am I kidding? He sucked me right back in last night when he melted my insides with one word.

Til.

So now here I am, hoping he’ll open up to me about his mum. Even though he showed up at school today, I wasn’t keen on approaching him there in case I sent him into a tailspin.

After I left his house last night, all I could think about was getting him to open up to me. But me hoping that and what will happen will be two very different things. Knowing Wren, he’s gone into full shut-down mode by now, so getting anything out of him is bound to be fruitless. But I have to try.

Jumping in front of Wren’s car, I thank the universe that it comes to a screeching halt. The last thing I need right now is broken legs.

Wren’s knuckles are white as he grips the steering wheel, his eyes shooting daggers at me.Move, he mouths.

I slam my hand against the bonnet. ‘No.’

He smashes the back of his head against the headrest a couple of times before putting the car into park. The door swings open, crunching when it hits its limit.

Wren steps out, pointing to my house. ‘Get out of the way, Matilda. I’m not doing this with you right now. Go home.’

‘No. Let me come with you.’

‘No fucking way.’

‘Why not?’

---