Mr. Strong ✔️

Chapter 6

I left the house at 4:20 to go pick my mom up from the school. Kody happened to be outside shooting hoops in his huge wraparound driveway. Might as well spray paint it green and make it a basketball court.

"Hey cuddle muffins. What's up?" I raised my eyebrow questioningly at him.

"Cuddle muffins?" I asked.

"Yup and while that's your new name, Im in desperate need for a hug." He winked. I sighed and glared at him as he began walking towards me.

"Bye Kody." I said vaguely. Why do I have to be neighbors with him? Why does he have to be everywhere I am? Why can't he just LEAVE ME ALONE.

"Oh come on." He winked sticking out his bottom lip and making a puppy dog face. I would've melted but I was in a hurry and the mere hug we had earlier flashed in my mind. Although I must admit that he did look pretty hot right now. His blonde hair was spiked up and his green eyes shone brightly with the sun. He didn't have a shirt on and my eyes lingered on his six pack a bit before walking past him.

"Bye." I said walking away as if I was not fazed. I thought he bought it, but the smirk I saw on his face as I entered the car told me otherwise. Thanks stupid hormones.

I pulled into the parking lot to find a very annoyed mother.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked.

"Kids. No one showed up to tutoring so I worked detention instead and let me tell ya." She said her voice slightly aggravated. We drove for a few minutes and it wasn't until we got to the street of my new house and passed it, that I asked where we were going.

"We're going back to the old house to pick up the last bit of furniture and then we're gonna stop by Walmart and get Augie from daycare." She replied.

I groaned. I hate shopping and I am so tired of moving. We made it to the house and began grabbing the last few boxes stuffing them in the trunk of her red van. Most were just dishes and a few things to hang on the walls. My mom was getting in the car as I reached over and grabbed the last box. I froze midway and simply stared at it.

I knew what this box was. I knew what was inside of it, and there was no way I could pick it up. It was the box that held my dads personal belongings and I didn't want to take it with me. I didn't want to remember anything about him or be reminded of it. My mom knew what he did to me but she didnt know how bad it hurt me. How bad it hurt our family. I got into the car trying to hold myself together and leaving the box there.

"Whats wrong?" She said with concern in her voice. And from there it was Niagra falls.

"I thought the whole point of leaving this house was to get rid of him." I sobbed. Even after my mom found out what my dad did, she was still convinced that he was the same man she married years ago and that everyone makes mistakes. That he didn't mean it. That everything would be okay. Well news flash... It wasn't.

"Oh honey." She said patting my back and pulling me into a hug, "Try not to rmemeber him that way okay. He's still your dad and before his mother passed awa-"

"DONT you dare try and blame what he did on his mothers death!" I snapped "He had every opportunity to apologize to her! Every opportunity to go and visit her in the hospital but he never did! That's his own fault and he may be traumatized that his mothers last words were his name and he wasn't there... But that gives him no right to do what he did to me!"

My mom was teary eyed too and I realized that I may have gone too far. This was the most I'd ever said to her about the situation and my feelings. I always told her that it was okay what he did. He was just lashing out, he was just upset, and every other excuse in the book but deep down this was how I'd always felt. And now she knew.