Get through Senior year. That's all I needed to do then I would finally be able to get out of Oklahoma.
Head down and keep quiet. That's all I had to do and I would survive. That was my strategy.
Until I caught the attention of the wrong person.
M...
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I rinse the glass plate free of soap before placing it in the dish rack just as the familiar sound of heavy footsteps meets my ears.
"Where is Mercer?" Vaughn questions me the moment he enters the kitchen.
"Away with friends," I answer, cutting off the water. "He said he should be back within the next few days."
"He shouldn't have gone anywhere. Stubborn boy doesn't listen."
I closed my eyes, taking in a couple of breaths as I turned to face the man before me. The man has put me through nothing but hell and uses me in more ways than one.
He's always so hard on Mercer. Like he wants Mercer to be a certain person he's pictured in his mind. A person he can rely on in case something happens. Like being a scapegoat. I have yet to understand but I knew it wasn't a good thing.
"I-I let him go."
Vaughn scoffs, the anger burning in his eyes wild.
"You what?"
I swallowed the thick lump in my throat as I stared at my husband. It was transparent-his restrained fury as he looks down at me with the familiar look of disgust and hatred.
"I let him and Jules go. It's the weekend, Vaughn. They wanted to hang out with there-"
My sentence was cut short by the loud slam of his fist connecting to the island counter. The rage rubbing off him thickened the tension.
"Idiotic woman." He curses. "Mercer needs to learn discipline."
"He's done nothing wrong. He's changing and the way you continue to treat him the way you do, you will push him further away."
He scoffs. "Like you haven't done that yourself with your drinking and bitterness."
I was aware of how I treated all my children differently. Something I wish I could go back and time and change. I was never completely at fault for pushing my children away. Well, my sons. My strong handsome boys. Vaughn wanted his boys with tough skin and in an active sport. He didn't want me to baby them as he calls it.
He didn't care too much about Jules. He just wanted someone to follow in his footsteps and take over his company but little does he know that Mercer and Adrian have other goals in life. Vaughn knows football is Mercer's dream and the fact that he constantly reaches out to people that Mercer is not too fond of only makes things worse.
"I don't have time to argue with you about this." He tells me the moment his phone begins to buzz.
"Where are you going?" I question, already knowing the answer.
"Out," He grumbles while grabbing his jacket. He doesn't even give me the chance to speak more on the matter before he closes the front door. The sound of his car starting and driving off sends a bitter feeling inside me.
