Burning Love ~ Billy Hargrove ( +18)

Chapter 36

Billy's POV

Thursday, December 20, 1984

It was obvious that this dinner idea was a stupid one. More like a horrible one. I have no idea what made Susan think it was a good plan. I couldn't stand being in the same room as Harrington for more than five minutes without wanting to punch him in the face. How the hell was I supposed to survive an entire dinner?

Though, honestly, Harrington and Maddie probably hated the idea of this dinner as much as I did, considering they both knew exactly what Neil was like. It made no sense to go through with it, especially when we'd all have to put up with my idiot of a father.

The only one blissfully unaware of all the crap in my house was poor Sandra. I had never told her what it was really like to live under the same roof as my dad, and I could only hope that tonight he'd manage to behave somewhat decently. For once.

If not for me, then at least for Sandra. She didn't deserve to have her night ruined or to be subjected to the full weight of his toxicity. She was the last person who should have to endure a bad experience because of my father.

After that night when I had to take Maddie to the hospital, and everything that happened at the bowling alley, I realized that what I felt for Maddie wasn't just about sex. I knew it was something stronger—something I shouldn't feel, considering I was supposed to hate her and she was my stepsister.

From that day on, I decided to try to keep my distance from her as much as possible. Living in the same house made that more challenging than I wanted, but I needed to avoid falling back into the cycle of hating her one day and wanting to love her the next. If I kept going like that, I was going to drive myself insane.

Besides, I was determined to give my relationship with Sandra a real chance—at least until I left Hawkins. So, from that day on, I spent most of my time with her.

Once I put that distance between Maddie and me, my relationship with Sandra improved noticeably. Things between us became much better.

But even so, a small part of me stayed on edge every time I saw Maddie with Harrington. Maybe I was fooling myself into thinking I was forgetting her, because those sharp stabs of jealousy told me the exact opposite.

Surely, it was selfish of me to be with Sandra while not wanting Maddie to be with anyone else.

I didn't know what the hell was going through my head; I only knew that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't control it. The only thing that gave me some consolation was that Maddie wasn't always with Steve. She also often hung out with Wheeler.

Although, I wasn't an idiot. Many times when she said she was meeting up with Wheeler, I knew she was actually heading to Munson's house to smoke.

I hoped she was only going there to smoke—and it probably was just that. Munson wasn't Maddie's type at all. At least, that's what I wanted to believe.

Thinking otherwise only stirred my jealousy again. No matter how hard I tried to make things work with Sandra, I couldn't fool myself. The thought of never kissing Maddie again, never touching her, never running my hands over every inch of her skin... It drove me crazier than I cared to admit.

                            ***************

With the excuse of exams, we managed to keep postponing the dinner. It was probably one of the few times Maddie and I agreed on something.

We both wanted to avoid that dinner at all costs, but despite our efforts, we couldn't. And today was the dreaded D-Day.

I was just praying that this damn dinner would pass as quickly as possible and without any incidents. Most of all, I hoped Sandra wouldn't leave this house of horrors terrified.