The Bad Boy's Weakness

16- Broken

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." ~ Emily Bronte.

~~~

"Seriously Ethan! Where are we going?" I say regretting the moment I allow him to drive my car.

"Relax. Don't you trust me?" He asks making me wince. Was that a trick question!? Do I trust him? Is he kidding me right now!

"Ah, no." I snap at him making him tighten his grip on the staring.

"We'll be there in a few minutes." He says sternly.

I decide that I'd just wait to see how this plays out. After a few minutes, he parks at a house.

It is abandoned, with scrubs and tall weeds covering the yellow lawn, which clearly haven't been cut in years. A wire fence borders the property, sagging at spots where the wind had knocked it down and a wooden gate hangs from its post. The mailbox is entirely hidden by tall grass. Its driveway is overgrown. It has bushes and brambles up against the door and the windows. Weeds rest in the gutters, green slime are on the walls, and a cracked foundation pierced by creeper tendrils thicker than my wrists.

"Follow me." He says as he make his way to the front porch.

"Not until you tell me why we are here." I say, folding my hands across me chest, but he continues to make his way forward making me reluctantly comply.

He then take a key from under the door mat to open the close door in front of us.

"This is the house that I grew up in." Ethan says as we enter, making me less tense and more tolerable.

"Ooh." I mutter and begin to scan the room where we stand.

"Why did you bring me here Ethan?" I asks, making him direct his attention towards me.

"I...I-...I don't even know." He mumble.

"I'm hoping that maybe bringing you here might help you to understand me better. To show you why I'm the way I am." He continue.

"How am I gonna see that in a house that no one longer lives?"

"Follow me." He says and I obey.

"You see this crack here?" He asks and I nod looking at the crack in the floor.

"This was where I landed when my stepdad threw me down the stairs when I tried to stop him from hitting my mom."

"Ethan, I had no idea. I-..."

"This was where I watched my step dad forcing himself on my mom. He raped her and made me watch." He says cutting me off. I watch as the tears fell from his eyes.

"I didn't know that you had a step dad."

"My mom and biological dad separated before I was born. She started dating someone else and after a month she found out that she was pregnant. She wanted to leave him to get back with my dad, but he never let her. When I was two he abused her to the point of death. The cop arrested him so my mom and I left this house to live with my dad. We haven't looked back since."

I am completely speechless. I had no idea that he had a painful childhood. "I was only two, but I still remember every moment of it, bright and clear. No matter how hard I try, I can't forget it. I can't forget my mom's unconscious body lying on the floor."

"No child deserved to witness and go through what you went through." I say to him. "You're perfectly okay the way you are." I say moving closer to him.

"Don't give me that crap!" He snap making me pause in my track completely taken off guard.

"I saw how you looked at me with disgust when you heard about Regina and I." He continue taking closer steps towards me while I slowly take steps back.