Teasing Phoenix novel Chapter 13

Six years ago…

We lost in the game. This is fucking exhausting! The more I did my best the more we lost by only two fucking points. I can’t believe it! This is my last year and my last chance for NFL drafting.

Every muscle in my body aches and quivers with anger, disappointment, and exhaustion. My mind doesn’t seem to work when all I feel is frustration and disappointment.

I take my quickest shower and bolt out of the locker room. I avoid my team because I know they’re going to invite me to drink to oblivion since there’s supposed to be a team party tonight if we won.

I need to go to my girlfriend Gabby’s apartment, but she went to her family and wasn’t able to watch our game.

I check my phone; Hawk did not call—he must have heard the news about our game. Since he moved to New York, I don’t have my number one fan to watch my game anymore. I call Gabby; she’s not picking up my call as well.

I get in my car and drive home instead. I think of going to Gabby in the morning because I don’t think I have strength left in my body to deal with her. Sometimes, she’s demanding and annoying.

I take a huge breath when I park my car in front of our home. My parents fight a lot lately, and I still don’t know the reason. When I asked Hawk, he said doesn’t know. Or he doesn’t want me to know. My big brother always tells me to focus on my games and schools, and so I never pry. I unlock the front door then carry my bag inside. I can hear my parents yelling one another—this is not the best idea of coming home.

I should’ve gone with my teammates to get drunk than to hurt my parents’ arguments.

I can still hear the muffled sound of their voices on my way upstairs—my parents must be fighting in the office.

I enter my room, play some music on my iPod, then plug the headset in my ear. I rest my head on the pillow then close my eyes.

I jolt up into a sitting position when someone grabs my foot. My headset falls off from my ears. I blink many times to see if I’m not dreaming. Mom is sitting on my bed. Her hair is worst than the bird’s nest—it’s like she’s hit by a huge tornado. The pain in her blotchy eyes is so visible. Huge bruises are over her left cheek; under her right eye, at the corner of her mouth. Her nose is busted, and a small cut on her lower lip that still bleeds. Mom is sobbing, sniffing, and hugging herself.

Jesus Christ! I can feel my skin gets stone cold. My heart sinks and my eyes water at her sight. I silently and painfully move slow closer to her and pull her into a hug.

“What happened, Mom?” I know I shouldn’t have asked because it’s crystal clear what happened, but maybe I am not thinking straight. “Did Dad do that to you?”

My heart bleeds in my chest. I’ve never seen my mother like this before—so broken, so hopeless, and so lost.

I want to ease those pain away, but I don’t know how and where to start. Her bruises may heal, but the scars in her heart will stay forever.

She sobs more—her body shakes.

I rub her back, hoping I can make her calm. “It’s okay mom. Everything will be fine.” Everything is not going to be fine—I know it’s complete bullshit.

She shakes her head. “Everything will not be okay, Phoenix. Our family is going to be broken.”

She pulls herself, wipes her tears, and sniffs.

“Your dad was furious when I found out he was having an affair. I tried to confront him, but instead, he yelled at me, and he said he was already planning on divorcing me, Phoenix. He chooses her.”

My blood boils—my anger is taking over me. It’s even hard to breathe. I grit my teeth so hard as I try hard not to scream out my anger in front of my mother. My hands are already forming into fists as she continues to cry and tell me what happened.

“He’s been cheating on me for almost two years. I didn’t believe when people gossipped around until I saw him this morning with Suzanne Cox.”

A sudden coldness hits my spine. My body freezes, eyes widen with utter shock. “W-wait? W-who? Suzanne Cox, who, Mom?”

She looks at me and stops crying. “Your dad’s friend’s wife, Phoenix.”

What the fuck?

She looks down at her trembling hands as she shakes her head.

My veins pulse everywhere in my body. I get up from my bed and walk outside my room while Mom is yelling my name, but my senses were shut off. I stride down my father’s office, pound on the door, and yell to open up for me.

The door swings open, revealing my furious bastard of a father. “Wh—”

Before he can finish his word, I punch him on his face as my anger take over.

My father falls to the floor. I get inside his office and bend down to grab his shirt with my left hand and punch him straight on his face. The crackling sound makes me flinch, but I punch him on the nose—another crack. He tries to push me, but I’m way stronger than him. With everyday exercise and training for playing football for more than three years, he doesn’t have the strength to win over me.

He pushes my jaw away instead, but I punch him in his eyes.

All I can see is the blood running down from his broken nose into his mouth. But I am not nearly satisfied.

He covers his face with his hands, and Mom grabs me from behind.

That’s not enough for what he did us. He betrays my mother, my family, and me—he’s fucking my girlfriend’s mother for two years while I’m fucking the daughter.

He says something that I can’t comprehend.

“You cheated on my mom, motherfucker! You cheated on me, too, sonofabitch!” I yell. My chest is expanding so hard that I can’t even catch my breath.

Mom’s saying enough while my poor father is still lying on the floor, wiping his face with his bloody hands.

“Did you fucking know that I’m dating Gabrielle Cox? The daughter of your fucking slut, you, asshole! Fuck you!” My voice thunders in the entire room.

He tries to sit, but he fails, and I just watch him as he struggles.

“And you are going to fucking leaving us. And you’ve been planning for this, Henry? For how fucking long?” My eyes blur. My heart aches, only for my mother or for this family, but for myself. I’m going to lose my father.

I move closer to him again and grab his bloody shirt. My eyes protrude as I stare at him intensely.

“For how fucking long?” I hiss. My body is shaking.

“S-sshes shiitinonyu.”

I pull him closer as we now face to face. “What did you say, motherfucker?”

Mom grabs my shoulders. “That’s enough, Phoenix! You’re going to kill your dad!”

My nose flares. “The fuck I care!”

“She.Is.Cheating.On.You,” Dad says it word for word, and it catches me off guard. My thought scatters. He is lying. There’s no way Gabby will do that to me. I give him one last punch and leave him.

I sprint to my room and grab my keys while mom is following me everywhere I go.

“Phoenix, where are you going? Don’t listen to your dad, honey. He’s just provoking you. Calm down, Phoenix, please?”

Only one way to find out.

She grabs my arm and wraps her arms around me. I have to stop when she sobs on my back.

“Let me go, Mom. I need some fresh air,” I say calmly. After a minute, she lets me go.

“Pack your things, Mom. I’ll call Hawk to come and get you. Stay with him in New York and leave this fucking hell hole!”

I reach Gabby’s apartment in no time. I burst into cry and lean my head against the steering wheel. I lost the game today. I’m going to lose my chance for the NFL. I am going to lose my family, and now my girlfriend.

I wipe my tears and take a deep breath. I open my car door when I pull myself back together.

When I get inside the elevator, I close my eyes and think straight. I have to tell her about my dad and her mom because she has the right to know.