Married to the Bad Boy (Published, Sample Only)

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 All I could do was sit there and watch him. Was she the reason he had left me all those years ago? No, that couldn’t be. What kind of a father leaves his daughter just so he can be with another woman?

I’ve always thought that he had left me because of the money my grandmother had left me. It only made sense, since I never saw him after her funeral. It was like one day he was there and the next he was gone. This was all too confusing to think about as I watched him smiling down at that woman.

“What’s wrong?” Brandon whispered into my ear, grabbing hold of my hand and stroking his thumb along it. I know he was trying to calm me down, but it really wasn’t helping at the moment. It was only making me more nervous about having to confront the man who left me to live in that house of hell.

“Nothing,” I told him, tearing my eyes away from my father for the first time in the past fifteen minutes. I just couldn’t tell him that the guy standing there marrying his mother’s best friend was the man who left me to rot in hell. Even though I had grown to despise the man, I wasn’t about to trash his wedding day. I know I would have to tell Brandon eventually, but I would wait till before the reception because if I told him now, there was a chance of him to cause a big scene about it.

“Kami, don’t give me that shit. I can tell something’s been bothering you since we sat down,” he said with anger in his voice.

I knew he was distressed because I was not being open with him from the very beginning with the whole bathroom thing and now I was keeping this from him, which would only provoke him more.

I looked over into his brown eyes and I could see the concern within them. What changed from this morning until now that he was concerned about my feelings? “This isn’t really the time or the place to talk about it, but I’ll tell you after the ceremony. I promise.”

He didn’t say anything after that. All he did was grip onto my hand tighter and shake his head.

Looking back at my father, I wondered what was going to happen once he saw me. Would he even notice me? I hope he would just look over me and not try to talk to me. If he did, I didn’t think I could really stand there and listen to him talk to me like I was still his ten-year-old daughter or act like he’s always been there for me. I felt a tear run down my cheek as I thought back on the memory of him leaving me and never caring to see if I turned out alright. 

When I was young, I would lie in bed crying because I wanted to see my father’s smiling face, the way he always did when he picked me up from school on Fridays, or have him take me to get ice cream on Sundays before we went home. I didn’t have a father for the father-daughter dance in school and had to hide away at home. I didn’t have him there to take me away from the abuse I lived through before Brandon stepped in and did something about it.

I turned and found Brandon watching me with sadness in his eyes. Oh, how thankful I was for him coming into my life. Something inside told me I could trust him if I just let him in. When I gave him a lopsided smile, he ran his finger down my cheek to wipe the tears off my face. “Come on, let’s go outside.”

He stood up, and taking my hand in his, pulled me up with him. We walked to the back of the room and told the his parents we would be back.

We got out of the room and back in the lobby. Brandon wasted no time in wrapping me in his arms in a bone-crushing hug. I felt safe here and as long as his arms were around me, no one could harm me.

After a while, he pulled away and looked at me. “What happened in there? Why are you and my mom crying? You look sadder, but it’s weird.” I had to laugh at how he was comparing me to his mother just because we were both crying. “Kami, it’s not funny. I never understood why girls cry at weddings. Hell, you didn’t when we got married.”