Paradise Found: Cain (Paradise Stories Book 2) by L.B. Dunbar

Author:L.B. Dunbar [Dunbar, L.B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hewlett-Packard
Published: 2016-06-05T22:00:00+00:00

The attempted blow to my face was an instant reminder that I was the son of my father. Fortunate for me, I was quicker than the old man and caught his punch before it struck me. His fury was in more than his fist. It was spelled on his face with splotches of ruddy skin covering his angry cheeks.

“Where the fuck have you been? Do you have any idea what this cost you? This was a forfeit and it was a key fight to the circuit.” His rage grew with each inquiry, each statement of fact. It was as if I didn’t know what I’d done, which I did, but reiterating it to me was his way of reinforcing that I’d fucked up.

“What is going on with you?” he sighed, still heavily irritated. “We had to pay for that damn shrink, so you could talk it all out about Montana. That shit is over. Now we have his sister to burden us. We don’t need you flipping out again.”

“Don’t talk about Elma like that,” I muttered, ignoring his insult of me.

“Elma?” he spat, blinking rapidly like he couldn’t believe I used her name. “I don’t give two shits about Elma.”

I sighed internally. My brother’s girlfriend had been a handful, but she was good for Abel. He needed her, and she doted on him. Once she got past the revenge of her brother’s death, she noticed before her was something more important. Someone more important. I was reaching the same conclusion, about Sofie. She was more important than any match.

“What is going on with you?” he demanded, exasperated as he stared at me. I was zoning out, thinking of Sofie. I needed to keep my focus on my father or he’d investigate her. My suspicions of his hand in the break-in of Sofie’s apartment were confirmed. My intention was to keep him on the steady trail of denial, so he wouldn’t question me. I continued to keep her a secret for her protection. He’d come after her to get to me, if he thought she was the reason for my change in attitude about the fight.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” I was about to say I forgot, but that would have never been a good enough excuse. Abel used that excuse as a child. Absentminded, he had too much in his head to keep it all straight. Unfortunately, beating Abel wasn’t going to make him remember, and my father couldn’t see that. It was at those moments I had to step in.

“I forgot, Daddy. It won’t happen again. I’ll try harder,” Abel had whined.

It grated on my nerves. Father didn’t like whining and it made Abel sound weak. My father preyed on the meek, and it only fueled his wrath toward Abel.

“It was my fault, Dad. Abel asked me to do it for him, and I forgot.”

“Stop taking care of your brother,” he responded with a slap across my face. “That’s for forgetting. Don’t let it happen again.”

I stood before the very desk where that conversation occurred.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.