I've Got This Friend ( c.h )

Chapter 17

"You're worthless!" He spat at me. His breath lingered with alcohol which wasn't anything out of the normal. It was actually more worrisome when his breath didn't smell like alcohol.

"Shut up." I fought back because I just had to be a stubborn little asshole. I should've known better than to fight him because I always lost and ended up with a new bruise or ache in my body.

"You little bitch." He approached me as I walked backwards until I felt my back hit a wall; I was trapped. "Don't you ever tell me shut up. I'm the boss and you should respect me."

"I don't have to." I retaliated. Part of me wanted him to hit me. Maybe I deserved the pain that he was causing me.

At least if he hit me, I'd have a reason to spend the night at the Irwin's.

"Oh sweetheart," he ran his rough fingers against my face as I turned to the side to avoid any sort of eye contact that I could have with him. "Do you want to take that back?"

I shook my head no and even without looking at his face, I knew that he was getting angrier by the moment. "WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SUCH A STUBBORN LITTLE-" He didn't finish his sentence. "YOU'RE JUST LIKE YOUR FUCKING GOOD FOR NOTHING MOTHER."

"DON'T TALK ABOUT MY MOTHER LIKE THAT." He could insult me all he wanted, hit me, emotionally destroy me, but he could not talk about my mother like she was nothing. She was the most wonderful woman in the entire world and how she had ended up with someone like him was a mystery to me.

"Why? What are you going to do about it?" He placed his arm next to my head and leaned in closer to me. "Huh?" He continued to challenge me.

I ducked under his arm and started to run. I had gotten pretty quick because I felt like I was constantly running from him. I tried to shut my door behind him in my efforts to slow him down, but I didn't really need to do much because he was already drunk off his ass and unstable.

I skipped step after step until I made it to the front door, grabbing my jacket that was hanging next to it. I turned the door knob so that I could leave this house and run to the Irwin's but as I exited the door, something stopped me. Well, I more like ran into something.

I fell backwards onto my ass and scratched my head. I glanced over my shoulder and I couldn't hear my stepfather's footsteps chasing after me anymore and part of me felt relieved. I stared up to see what had caused me to fall and I saw Calum towering over me.

"Cal?"

"Hey Peyton," he greeted me. Something was different about his greeting though. It wasn't warm hearted and filled with love; it was filled with a devilish tone that was telling me that this wasn't the Calum that I had grown to be close with.

"What are you doing here Cal?"

"I'm here to see you."

"Now isn't a good time." I stood up and suddenly the footsteps were back. This time they were slower and softer than before, but they were getting louder by the moment.

"I just want to talk Pey."

"Can we talk later Cal? I gotta get to Ashton's house." I pointed at the lit house across the street.

Calum didn't respond so I decided for him and moved to the left so that I could get past him and attempt to run again. However, Calum scooted over and cut off my clear path.

"What the fuck?"

"Why can't we talk now?"

"My-"

"I'm tired of your personal reason bullshit Pey." He spoke slowly as I saw my stepdad appear at the top of the stairs with an evil smirk on his face.