affectionate

3

FALLON

The morning after my little...incident I ate breakfast in silence with my parents before class. I didn't dare tell them about what happened. They wouldn't have believed me and I would've been wasting my breath trying to prove something to them that I didn't even have proof of. However, the entirety of breakfast I could feel my father's eyes on me, piercing through me like knives and slicing my skin trying to peel it back to find whatever it was he thought I was hiding. I tried my best to avoid eye contact with him but it was hard when every time I pretended to look around the kitchen I could see him staring at me in the corner of my eye.

I finally dared to look over, he caught my gaze immediately and searched my face so intensely that my heart beat picked up and my hands began to sweat.

"Come straight home after your classes today, Fallon." He grumbled before looking back down at his plate. I titled my head in confusion and tapped my phone to check the time. If I didn't leave now I would be late. Granted, I was taking my car to avoid the morning breeze and the college was only ten minutes away by car but still, I hated being late.

"Why? Is something going on?" I shuffled towards the sink to put my plate away and made my way to the door where my keys and tote bag sat. I could see my dad from where he sat at the table, he didn't look very happy at my response and I took a deep breath because it was way too early for him to be in one of his moods already.

"Does something have to be going on in order for you to follow directions, Fallon?" I inwardly rolled my eyes as I stepped into my uggs. My hand itched to open the door and leave but I knew that would cause more problems. "No, daddy. I'll come straight home I promise." He nodded and returned his attention back onto his plate. I opened the door and left, eager to escape the suffocating air in my house.

I wasn't going to go straight home after classes but he didn't need to know that. I needed answers and I thought the best place to start would be the scene of the crime. I already had a plan mapped out. After classes I was going to go back to the corner store and snoop around. Maybe he'd be there again looking for me too. I knew this was wishful thinking but I couldn't help it. Something inside of me ached to see him again, to be touched by him again. And I felt this overpowering need to satiate whatever it was inside of me that longed for that feeling of bliss again.

I closed my eyes before unlocking my car and hopping in. I hoped my classes went by fast today.

-

My classes did not, in fact go by fast. I only had two yet they took their sweet, sweet time to end and by time my last one was over I was practically bouncing up and down in my seat, overly eager to leave and start my investigation. Once my last class of the day was over I shot out of my seat and hurried to my car. I drove straight down to the corner store without any hesitation.

Disappointment flooded my veins soon after I arrived at the store. I don't know what exactly I was searching for but I definitely did not find it. The corner store was just as empty as it was last night which meant no mysterious black haired boy and no sign of him either. I frowned but I wasn't sure what I was even upset about. I knew he wasn't going to be here yet I still got my hopes up. He was an enigma and it was probably going to stay that way.

I sighed as I did the drive of shame up the street to my house. I parked my car in the driveway and collected my things before getting out the car and making my way up the stairs to my door. I couldn't even fish my keys out of my bag before the door was being opened and my father's hand curled around my arm. My breath hitched and I could not scream in response to the blistering pain that immediately shot up my arm and spread into my shoulder like a match being thrown onto a line of gasoline.

"Dad let me go, it's burning!" My father, still holding me tightly, closed the door behind me and ushered me further into the house.

"Straight home, I said straight home, Fallon," He growled, his light brown eyes bore into mine. It felt like I couldn't breathe even though I was taking big gulps of air through my mouth. I had never been touched for this long before. He knew this and yet his grip did not lessen. "I did, dad please I can't-"

"Don't lie to me Fallon, I can smell that sad excuse of a store on you." I wriggled out of his grasp finally and stared at him in disbelief. He had never put his hands on me like that before. Ever. I didn't know why he was acting like this, let alone touching me when he knew that shit hurt. And what did he mean he could smell the corner store on me?

"Smell the—what the hell are you talking about? How can you smell that on me?" He huffed and opened his mouth to say something else but before he could even say anything my mother, where had she been this entire time I had no idea, cut in.

"Marcus. I know you're upset but you don't touch her like that again, you hear me?" My father turned around to face my mother who was halfway down the stairs with folded clothes in her hands. He stared at her for a moment before looking at me again. I held my arm with other hand and my eyebrows were furrowed in confusion and my lips sat unmoving in a deep frown.

"I'm sorry, Fallon. But next time when I tell you to do something, do it." And with that, he retreated around the corner to his study and my question was left unanswered. It only added to my growing list of suspicions.

My mother made her way down the rest of the stairs and hurried me into the living room where she tugged my jacket off and sat me down on the couch while she examined my arm. There was nothing there but I could still feel exactly where his grip had been. It pulsated with pain but the feeling would go away soon. I don't know why my mother even bothered to check on me when she knew there was nothing she could to do to make it better.

"Mom, what did he mean he could "smell" the store on me?" My mother glanced up, her hazel eyes swirled with hesitation. She looked away, smiling sadly and backing away from me.  "Nothing, baby. Just talkin' out the side of his neck. Why don't you go upstairs and take a bath to get your mind off of things. I'll have a talk with him." She scooped up her discarded clothes and hurried down the hall to the study. I sat in silence and took the corner of my bottom lip into my mouth.

I loved my father. I did. He could be an ass sometimes but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle, I was used to tough love. But that was ridiculous, even for him. And the way my mother defended him as if that whole ordeal wasn't insane, it only confirmed, in my head at least, that there were things about this family that I didn't know about. Things I wasn't told about on purpose. And whether they wanted me to know or not, I was going to figure it out.

-

how do we feel abt the story so far? ik it's like mad early to be asking but all the characters have been introduced so what do we think 😝