The Trouble With Family

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Paul was livid, his eyes were fire, and a vain pulsed angrily on his right temple while his hands clenched at his sides. I inched closer to Blake, so I was pressed up against his back, arms tucked between us, afraid Paul was going to turn violent and I couldn't do anything to protect either off them from it. 'Cam's death was not my fault.'

'He didn't care Dad. One way or another, life or death, he didn't care. He was stuck in this ongoing hell that was eating away at him.' Blake's voice cracked, I ran my hand over his shoulders, gathering a fistful of his shirt and holding on, hoping he knew it meant I was there for him. I wished I could tell him that I was there for him no matter the outcome of this conflict, but I didn't know how, this wasn't written in any handbooks. There was no What to do When Your Boyfriend's Dad Accuses Him of Murder first edition, no guide book to how to go about showing your support and care.

Blake leaned back into my touch and I got the sense that he knew. 'He didn't care, Dad. He stopped thinking about the risks, he pushed everything until it was close to the breaking point, just to see if something was going to happen, and nobody noticed. I told you once, and you told me that he was just being rebellious, being a teenager.

'So yes, I asked him if he wanted to go to the river, when he said no I egged him on, but that was all I did. We swam for hours, and then Mum called, I walked a little ways away to get better service, she was asking where we were. By the time I got back, Cam was bleeding in the water. He'd been joking he was going to climb the rocks all day and I told him it was stupid. They found that he had made it half way before the rocks shifted under his feet and he hit his head against the...' he choked on a sob and my heart bled. I stepped around so I was in front of him, and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his head down to rest on my shoulder. I whispered soothing words into his ear as his silent tears soaked into my shirt, and we crumpled to the ground in an entangled embrace. 'It's not my fault,' he repeated over and over, completely broken as I rocked us back and forth.

'You two have built your relationship on a bed of lies.'

I glared at Paul over Blake's head, feeling Blake stiffen in my arms. 'What do you want? You're supposed to be his father, you're supposed to be there for him, not abandon him because tragedy struck.' Looking up at Paul, I felt my hatred for him start to grow. It had started as a small fire that leapt from the match to the kindling, now the flaming sticks licked at the wood with the promise of growing until it was a consuming fire if it wasn't watched and monitored. 'No wonder Blake didn't tell me, you're an ass. He obviously loves you because he wants to be part of your life, he introduced me to you, but if you treated him anything like what you have now, when he was a kid, then it's no thanks to you that he turned out wonderful.'

'I bet he hasn't told you that he didn't just stumble across your dorm room. He only met you because his mother asked him to check in on her old roommate's daughter who had just started at the same university. Nicole paid him to meet you, to show you around, to be your friend.' Paul was trying to break us, trying to destroy what fragile strings that still held our relationship together. He was vicious and uncaring, only trying to do what would make himself happy.

Blake looked up, his eyes rimmed red and filled with panic. 'That's not...' his chest heaved up and down, rapidly trying to keep up with his beating heart. 'I didn't...' he closed his eyes, heartache settling on his face. 'No.'

That one word nearly broke my own heart as I glared up at Paul. Looking back at Blake I had to know the answer. 'Blake? Is that true?'

'Yes.' His eyes snapped open, searching mine, as if he had heard something in my voice that gave him a sliver of hope. 'But it doesn't matter, I love you. It doesn't change anything.'