Déjà vu

Chapter 29: Gonna Give All My Secrets Away

Raelyn’s POV

“Welcome home.” My dad smiled, showing his yellowing teeth. He took a step closer to me. I shrank closer to the wall. “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispers in my face. His breath was rank, smelling strongly of alcohol and cigarettes.

Somehow, I found the strength to say, “Like shit.”

A second later, he grabbed the collar of my t-shirt and shoved me harder into the bricks. “What did you say to me, you little bitch?” He growled.

I whimpered slightly but looked him in the eye. “I said, like shit you missed me you piece of shit.”

His beefy hand closed around my throat, cutting off my air way. I could feel the blood rushing to my face and my heart started to beat faster. “You better think twice before you speak to me like that again, do you hear me? Do you hear me?” He shouted.

Tears stung my eyes as I fought for breath. “I am your father. You don’t talk to me like that. You’re nothing but a fuck-up, a whore. You’re just a-.”

Suddenly, my dad’s hands are released from my throat and I breathed in deeply, welcoming the air into my lungs and fell to the ground to catch my breath. The next second, Max was at my side, her hand on my shoulder. She was talking to me but I couldn’t hear her over the ringing in my ear.

I look up and my eyes find Kellin a few yards away, his fists throwing in the air. He was hitting my dad, and Spencer, Ash and Jasper were trying to pull him off. When the ringing subsided, I could hear what they were saying. Max was asking me if I was okay. I waved her off and focused on the guys.

Spencer, Jasper and Ash were yelling, “Kellin, get off of him! He’s had enough!” while Kellin was yelling to my dad, “You stay away from her you bastard!” Eventually, the guys pulled Kellin off of my dad and allowed him a chance to get up and run away.

Ash took Kellin by the collar and said, “Get a hold of yourself, man. Look at her. She needs you.” Kellin looks over to me. I have my knees pulled up to my chest. Max is trying to console me but I wouldn’t hear any of it.

Kellin calmed down a little bit and he knelt down in front of me. “Are you alright?”

The tears started falling faster, as if a dam had broken. A sob released and I leapt into his arms. He held me close to him, allowing my tears to fall on his shoulder. After a moment, he lifted me in his arms bridal style and carried me back to stage.

No one said anything as we walked through quickly and went straight to one of the backrooms. He set me down on a couch and pulled me to him. He let me cry without a word and for the first time, I didn’t mind crying. I cried for a long time before lifting my head up from his shoulder and looked up at him. I sniffled and wiped my tear stained cheeks. “Thank you for what you did.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He brushed back my hair. “I’ll always protect you.”

I smiled softly and hugged him tight.

There was a knock at the door and a second later, Jesse popped his head in the door. “We’re ready to leave.” He left after saying it and we followed him out. In the van, no one asked what had happened, but I knew that they’d have questions later. But for now, I was thankful that they were keeping their questions to themselves. I wasn’t ready to answer questions.

Back at the hotel, Kellin and I spent a little time alone in my room. We talked as if everything was normal. When I started getting tired, and Kellin got up to leave, I grabbed his hand and looked up at him. “Stay, for tonight?” He made no movement toward the door, or toward me. “Please,” I added.