Being Bad

Chapter 81: You're In My Veins But I Have To Let Go

Lia James

"Do you always have to wander in my house shirtless?" I asked my boyfriend, as he strode to me. I was sitting on the rug, holding my dinner in a plate while watching re-runs of Friends.

Aunt Alex and my father planned a night to go out and have fun, so us kids were stuck in the house. Andrew told me that he was getting sick of staying at Eli's, so I invited him over for dinner. Mason and Lina didn't seem to mind which had me extremely grateful. In fact, I think they're starting to like Andrew.

That's something I never expected to happen.

"I wouldn't have been shirtless in the first place if it wasn't for Mason pushing me in the pool like a little motherfucker." He growled at Mason, who was minding his own business getting his own plate of spaghetti.

Mason, Lina, Andrew, and I all sat on the rug, holding our plates in our lap while the TV created background noise for the night. I was happy. Extremely happy. My best friends and my boyfriend actually seemed to really be getting along.

It seemed like the beginning of something great. Even if it took almost losing them for them to realize that Andrew isn't all that bad. He's just a confused man in a confusing world.

Andrew sat down next to me, leaning up against the couch as he sloppily ate his spaghetti noodles. They dangled from his mouth as he carelessly slurped them.

He was such a messy eater at times.

"How is it?" I asked him, referring to his dinner. He gave me a thumbs up.

"Considering I've been getting take-out for a few weeks at Eli's, any home cooked meal is pretty damn good. You and Lina did a good job."

"Take-out for three weeks?" I eyed his muscly torso. "Didn't seem to affect you much."

"I train every single day for almost five hours. Of course it wouldn't affect me." He said, grabbing another forkful of noodles. I poke his ribs, and he flinched because of the coldness of my hands.

"Maybe I need to start training for five hours everyday. I need abs really bad."

"Oh, stop it. You're beautiful. You look beautiful." He peppered kisses on my cheek, and I blushed at his words.

"Thanks." I said, before turning to face him. "So, how was your day today?"

"Well, I finally went home after a couple of days. My Mom is the same, but she said 'hi' to me today which is progress."

"Babe, that's so great!" I nudged him. His mother might actually be coming around. "What about your Dad?"

"He's...still angry with me. It's so weird. For the last eighteen years of my life he's always been so loving and caring toward me. The first born son, you know? But after that night, it's like he wished I was never born. I just don't understand."

"He'll come around. People always have different ways of grieving. You grieved, and you came around. He will too. It just takes time."

"Yeah, but how much time?" He hung his head, curls falling in front of his eyes. "I guess I'm just confused. I always thought my father would want me to take over the family business. So, in a way, I thought he favored me more. But maybe what I was wrong. Maybe all this time he wanted Nick to take over the company and that's why he's so angry with me. That I crushed his only dream of seeing his son taking over the car business."

I carefully brushed the curls from his eyes, and he lifted his head to look at me.

Those brown eyes. I remember him telling me that his eyes had witnessed every bad thing he's done in his life and that he was living with a monster inside him. One that will soon be unleashed.