Bully stepbrother

66. Therapist for two minutes

MADISON

Quickly, I plopped down opposite him, my legs folded, and my eyes almost disconnecting from their sockets.

He didn't say his mom drowned him? I must have heard him wrongly.

With a throbbing heart, I inquired, "Caden, did you say your mother drowned you?"

"For seven days." His lips pressed into a thin line as he watched me gape at him.

"Why would she do that? I don't understand."

I really don't. Okay, I know Dad was always creating nothing into something to find flaws in Caden. You might even see it as hate, even though some people say a parent can never hate their child.

But his mother? As in a whole mother? I never saw that coming.

"I don't either." He quietly answered, his eyes downcast, while his hands played with the fabric of his shorts.

I shifted closer until our thighs were touching.

"What happened?" Flustered, I questioned. "Caden, I'd love to listen. Do you really want to talk about it?"

He peeked at me briefly then responded: "She decided to leave after the seventh time."

His mother did that to him?
She kept hurting him every day for seven days?

No! I-I don't know where to start or what to do. He had been living with memories so dark as those? They had been here behind his jokes and sarcasm.

I admit, I hated him while having a crush on him, but I've always known there was so much more to him that I needed to understand. I want to help him. He needs that.

"Did Dad know about it?" I confusedly asked, tucking back a strand of hair behind my ear.

He heaved a sigh and fixated his eyes on the drawer behind me as he started: "She told him drowning me was the reason why she was leaving. She claimed to be weak, so she couldn't control herself anytime she saw me. I don't know if it was in a good or bad way. But she didn't want to see me anymore, and she didn't want to kill me with her hands. Dad urged me to deny the drowning thing, and I did. I did it because I don't want to lose her too."

If I thought I ever felt tension in my life, then there was no word for the overwhelming feeling right now.

This man before me had gone through shit loads of hell, and he manages to survive?

Honestly, I can't even comprehend all this.

All I know is his parents are psychos who aren't worth happiness.

And then his dad had become mine too.

A very fabulous choice for a husband, Mom!

Holy fuck! Am I actually sweating?

"But Mom still refuses to stay. She said I will understand someday. She said it's better without her around me, and I swear I still don't understand." His brows pulled together. He seems to be bewildered. Why is he? That woman was a maniac. Who does that to their child? Matter of fact, to anyone? "I denied the torturing, I denied the abuse. Why did she leave me? I was her child too. Cara is my twin. I don't get it. Didn't she want me?"

Then it occurs to me I've never seen Caden use the bathtub or swim in a pool. Ever since I had known him, he had only used the shower and that alone.

All the time I thought he was the bad guy, he had been hurting. I should've seen the signs right in front of me.

Caden's mood swings and change of personality weren't normal. He would always become irritable easily. He had never been the kind to care about himself. Food wasn't his thing, and it never comes up to me how he survives graciously with very insufficient nutrition. He had been distant from those who might truly care for him. He never believed in love and commitment. Yes, he chooses only frequent sex with strangers and terminates anything that involves bringing up his past.