Strong Enough 2

Chapter 14

"Why is he here?" I ask my mom as calmly as I can. She rubs her arm nervously.

"Well... he didn't have anywhere to go and he asked if he could stay here so..."

"Hell no," I interrupt.

"Tai..." she starts.

"No," I tell her and I turn to him. "What happened to your new wife and family? I thought you didn't need us anymore." He looks down at his feet. "Son I'm sorry."

"Don't call me that," I say through my teeth. "If you're so sorry then why didn't you try to make it up to me a long time ago? You could've at least sent a Christmas present or even a birthday present so I knew that you cared. But you didn't care and you still don't. You're just using my mom for a place to stay."

"I'm sorry okay? For everything. I can make it up to you," he tells me. I can feel my rage getting stronger.

"How could you possibly make it up to me now? That day you told me you were coming to get me and take me to the water park and then to get ice cream was the worst day of my life. I waited for you for hours and hours. My mom knew that you weren't coming; she even tried to make up excuses for you. At first I believed them but then you didn't even call. You never called....you just disappeared. I didn't see or hear from you for years. Then I see a picture of you with your new family on Facebook. Do you not know how much that hurt me?"

He just stands there, staring at me. He doesn't say a word. I turn around and storm off to my room and slam the door.

Mya's POV

I wake up to my phone vibrating underneath my head. I look at it and see that Tai's mom is calling so I answer quickly.

"Hello?"

"Mya I'm so sorry if I woke you up, but I need you to get over here now," she says quickly.

"What's going on?" I ask her.

"Tai has gone crazy. He's breaking things and punching walls. I just need you to get over here. Maybe you can calm him down."

"Okay. I'm on my way," I say and I hang up.

I quickly put on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. I tell Tré where I'm going and he offers to drive me.

All I can think about is Tai during the whole car ride. Is he okay? What's wrong with him? What made him so upset?

We get to his place and I tell Tré to stay in the car. He nods and I start towards the steps.

I knock on the door and it opens almost immediately. Tai's mom greets me with a hug. I can tell she's been crying. I walk inside, and I see a man sitting on the couch. He looks oddly similar to Tai.

Is that his father? I think to myself.

"Mya. This is Tai's father," his mom says, answering my question. He gives me a small smile and I return it.

"Where's Tai?" I ask them. His mom points down the hall towards his room.

I walk into his room slowly. There's stuff scattered all over the room, including some glass on the floor. I see the holes in the wall that his mom was talking about. I look across the room to see a dark figure sitting on the bed.

"Tai?" I say as I walk towards him. "Mya. Leave," he tells me, which hurts a little.

"No. I'm not leaving you."

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" he barks. I feel the tears trying to collect in my eyes. I walk over to him and touch his shoulder. "Tai..."

"Just stop," he says. He tries to brush me off and pushes me away from him. I loose my balance and fall to the ground.

I feel pain in my left arm. When I look down, I see that I've fallen on some glass and my arm is now dripping blood.

Tai's POV

"Mya..." I try to grab her hand, but she scoots away from me. "No, Mya I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." I mentally slap myself for saying that. There's no telling how many times she heard that from Jason. As she looks down at her arm, I can see her drifting back to that place. I go to the bathroom and grab a wet cloth. I wipe the blood from her arm. She tries her best to avoid looking at me.

It breaks my heart to see her this way. I'm mad at myself for being so mean to her. I was just so mad, but I shouldn't have taken it out on her. She was only trying to help.

"Mya please look at me," I beg. She slowly looks up and lets her eyes meet mine. "Mya, it was an accident. I swear. I let my anger get the best of me. I'm not mad at you though okay?" She nods and I kiss her cheek.

"I need to go," she says. "Tré's waiting in the car."

"Can I come with you? I don't wanna stay here," I say. She grabs my hand and leads me out of the door. My mom doesn't question me leaving. She knows that I'm not going to go do something stupid as long as I'm with Mya.

...

We get to Mya's house and Tré goes to sleep while Mya and I go to her room. She puts on some black shorts and one of my shirts. She walks past me to hang up her sweatshirt. When she comes back, I stop her and grab her. She winces when I touch the place where she was cut. I frown. "I'm sorry." She gives me a small smile. "I'm okay," she says.

I pull her to my chest and lay back. I rub her back as she nuzzles into my neck.

"Mya?" I say after a long silence.

"Yeah?" she says. I can tell that she's starting to drift off.

"Do you think I should forgive him?" I ask.

"Umm.....I don't know," she says. "It depends on what you want to do. You don't have to, but it's better to forgive. You don't have to have a relationship with him, but you'll feel better if you give him your forgiveness- whether he deserves it or not." And with that, she's fast asleep. I think about what she just said. Maybe I should forgive him. Like she said, I don't have to build a relationship with him, but I can make myself feel better by forgiving him.

I stop thinking about it and try to go to sleep. I pull Mya closer to me and hold on tight to her as I drift off.