Mismatch |Book 1|

Twenty-three.

Julie

"You thought it was just that easy to leave me. Just like Arielle." Tyler evilly chuckled.

"Who the hell is Arielle?"

"None of your business." He snapped.

"Then why would you bring her up, idiot? Look, are you going to kill me or what because all of this is a waste of time." I rolled my eyes.

All love has been lost at this point. He started getting too controlling. Monitoring who I'm talking to, who I'm friends with, where I'm going, what I wear, the list just goes on.

"I wouldn't kill you, I love you." He smiled that same smile that got me here in the first place.

I sat in the chair, saying nothing. I mean there's nowhere I can go, I'm tied to this chair.

"Say it back." He clenched his jaw.

"It back." I laughed in his face. People like him feed off of fear, that's why you can't show it.

He sent a powerful slap across my face, "Twenty lashes."

Demitri

My eyes fluttered opened as I listened to the constant beeping of the machine.

"Oh, my littly baby boy." My mom rushed in the room, squeezing me into a hug. I winced in pain, making her quickly pull away. "I'm sorry, sweetie."

I looked at my leg that sat in a sling.

"W-what is this?" My breath became shaky.

"The doctor said your ACL is t-"

My vision began to get blurry with tears as I rapidly shook my head, "No."

"Mitri-"

"This can't be it. I can't play with a torn ACL. I could never play again!"

"Baby, I'm sure you can play-"

"A torn ACL ruins basketball players. By the time I go through physical therapy the coaches won't be interested anymore and if they found out about this already, they know I'm a loss cause. That's my whole future down the drain." I stared at my leg feeling my blood boil.

This was all his fault. He pushed me down those stairs when he called himself knocking me out.

"You could do other things." She said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Like what? What the fuck else am I going to do because I can barely read!" I shouted.

"Demitri, I understand you're upset, but you will not talk to me that way." She pointed her finger in my face.

Nobody understands how much basketball means to me. This is all I know. This is all I had after my father left when I was six. I wanted to go pro to make him feel proud of me. My father was going to go pro after he finished college. But it never happened because my mom got pregnant with me their senior year.