Free The Beauty in Between: Too Close (A Beautiful Series Novella) by Lilliana Anderson Page A

cause
trouble.”
    “The car’s
still in my name. I can take it if I want.”
    “What happened
Dan? Is your winning streak over and you’re not feeling so generous
anymore?”
    I stood up and
listened at the door, their voices becoming too low for me to hear.
I ventured out of my room to make sure everything was alright.
    “Mum?” I
called. “What’s going on?”
    “Nothing David.
Just go back to bed. Don’t you dare take that car Dan!” she yelled,
chasing my father out the door.
    Balling my
hands into fists, I stormed toward the door and grabbed the metal
baseball bat we had sitting there in case the wrong kind of person
came to our door.
    By the time I
got outside he was already in the driver’s seat of the car. All the
excitement I had felt over the car had now been replaced by the
anger and hatred I felt towards the man who was currently taking it
from me. The man who deserted us all those years ago.
    Before he could
put the car in gear, I swung the bat, bringing it down on the
windshield with all the strength I could muster. I heard a loud
crack as the glass splintered in a jagged pattern.
    I swung the bat
again, this time taking off the side mirror with a clean swipe,
causing the mirror to shatter, spraying glass up the concrete
driveway. He reversed the car as fast as he could, screeching the
tires as he straightened himself on the road. All the while, I was
chasing him down the drive, beating on the car and denting the
panels until he started to drive off, then with strength born of
rage, frustration, and hate, I hurled the baseball bat at the back
window, causing it to pop through the glass and lodge itself
inside.
    “Fuck you!” I
screamed after him, standing in the middle of the road with no
shoes on and glass around my feet as I watched him drive away in my
car. At least I got to see the arsehole leave this time.
    “Oh David,” my
mother said, her hand covering her mouth as tears threatened to
spill from her eyes. “I am so, so sorry.”
    Instead of
talking to her, I ran. I was so keyed up that I didn’t even notice
the pain of the asphalt road on the bottom of my bare feet. I ran
straight to the one person I always thought of when something was
happening in my life.
    I ran to
Katrina.
    “Oh my god,
what’s happened?” she asked immediately as she opened her
window.
    I suddenly
realised that not only was I shoeless, but I was shirtless as well,
standing outside her bedroom window in nothing but my boxers.
    “My dad,” was
all I could say. Her face fell as she quickly undid the fly screen
and helped me climb inside.
    “Oh David, your
feet!” she gasped, looking down at them. “Stay there, I’ll be right
back.”
    I dropped onto
her desk chair with a thud and finally looked at my feet. They were
filthy and bleeding from the glass and jagged road I ran along.
    Trina’s phone
started singing and dancing from the vibration behind me on the
desk. I picked it up and looked at the caller ID, noting that it
was my house calling. “Mum?” I said into the handset.
    “Oh thank god
you’re there. Are you ok?”
    “I’m fine mum.
I’ll come home in the morning,” I told her and ended the call. I
wasn’t angry at my mum at all. I just didn’t want to go back there
and talk about what happened with her yet. Right now, I needed
Katrina.
    Trina returned
to the room with an old towel, a bowl of water and a first-aid kit.
She knelt down in front of me and laid the towel on the floor under
my feet and started to gently clean them for me, inspecting my cuts
for pieces of glass and debris before applying antiseptic and
bandages. I sat quietly and watched her work, fighting my tears the
entire time.
    “Are you going
to tell me what happened?” she asked when she was finished.
    “He didn’t even
want to see me Trina. He just came and took the car. He didn’t say
a fucking word to me,” I whispered as a couple of tears fell from
my eyes. I wiped at them, embarrassed that I was crying.
    “It’s