Chapter 132
ASHER
"Where the hell is he?" I asked, rounding on the guards again.
I tried hard to keep the worry out of my voice, but it was just under the surface. One thing about my father was his constant routine. He played golf every Thursday and always returned by 6 p.m. at the latest—not a minute more.
You could even set a watch by him. It was something I could even joke about with him—that is, if he was the kind of parent you could crack jokes with. It was almost thirty minutes past seven, and he was still not back home.
"Did he say he would be going anywhere else after his game?" I asked, already knowing it was very unlikely.
He always came straight home after his game, so he could attend to very important pack business.
"No, he didn't," the guard replied.
I considered this, then shrugged. Maybe he had just decided to go somewhere else then. That would be breaking a habit, but then people decided to do that from time to time, didn't they?
I turned to leave for my room when the front door flew open. Instantly, I was in defensive mode, anticipating an attack, but there was nothing more threatening than my father storming through the door.
At first, I thought he was covered in some kind of red paint. When I looked closely, I saw it was blood. My heart skipped a beat.
Had he been attacked?
He looked wildly around the room, and then his eyes zeroed in on me. He marched forward, his arms swinging at his sides. There was rage and hate in his eyes.
I had seen him angry, really angry before, but I don't think I have ever seen him like this. My self-preservation instincts kicked in. I found myself taking a few steps backwards before I was even aware of what I was doing. My father closed the distance between us by running forward.
He grabbed me by the collar and shook me violently. I felt the material of my shirt tighten like a knot around my neck. My hand gripped his, attempting to ease his grip off. I might as well have tried to shift iron.
"Dad what-" I managed to croak before his fists came smashing down on the side of my throat.
It was suddenly impossible to breathe. I panicked. It felt like he had ruptured something there, maybe my trachea. My teeth bit down on my lips in agony. The sudden flare of pain helped clear whatever shock had done to my system, and I was able to draw in a ragged breath just before another blow landed on my stomach, driving the precious lungful of air back out.
"You son of a bitch!" my father screamed.
Screamed. Not yelled. Somehow, that frightened me more than anything else. I had never heard him scream before.
On some level, a part of me that wasn't dwelling on the paralysing pain shooting through my body was aware that the guards had hurriedly left the room. Bunch of fucking cowards!
There was no one to help me now if my father decided to kill me. The idea of him killing me was not far-fetched either. I read murder in his eyes.
He aimed another punch at my face. I twisted my head to the side, but not before he had smashed my lips against my teeth. His fist connected with my nose. I let out a half groan and half scream and started to struggle in earnest when another blow came down right where the first had landed.
There was a loud ripping sound as my shirt tore from his grip. Thank the goddess!
I turned to run, tripped, and landed on my ass.
"Come back here, you cowardly piece of shit!" he shouted, bending at the waist and trying to haul me back up.
I shook my head, sending droplets of blood flying from my nose.
Shit! When had I started bleeding? I put up my hands in a warding-off gesture. My muscles screamed with pain as I backed up on my ass.
"No. No," I croaked. "No more. Please..."
But my father was not done, not by a long shot.
"GET UP!" he roared.
And when I wouldn't, he straddled me. Lights burst in front of my eyes as he slammed my head against the tiles. Once. Twice. Three times.
Everything started to go blurry. A slap on my cheek brought me around. Struggling to breathe, I leaned over and coughed out what looked like a stream of blood.
My father growled, an almost animal sound. He yanked me up and pinned me against the wall. I barely felt it. I was floating... floating away.
"Open your eyes!" he yelled. "Open your goddamned eyes and look at me as I kill you."
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