2016 WATTY AWARD WINNING CHEATER, FAKER, TROUBLEMAKER SEQUEL
Written by Jenny Rosen & Kristen Maglonzo
For rehabilitated bad boy, Elias King, falling in love again means losing everything--including his life.
When a ghost from his past tears him aw...
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*NOTE: IF YOU'RE IN THE MOOD FOR SOME SERIOUS FEELS DEFINITELY CHECK OUT THE AUDIOBOOK RECORDING BY PRESSING PLAY ON THE YOUTUBE SCREEN ABOVE. kaelking12 did a fantastic job at capturing the rawness of this tense moment between Elias and Dan! Check it out if you have time & let us know what you think in the comments:)!
Elias
So this is how things fall apart.
You'd think I'd be used to it by now.
I've been through enough break-ups and breakdowns to know when I've pushed things too far.
And this is it--the point that me and my dad used to hit over and over again every time we'd fight.
I'd say something to really piss him off. Something more than your average diss and he'd hate me for it because I'd always touch on the truth. I'd let him scream at me and then spit back the kind of raw honesty that hits below the belt. And he couldn't deny it.
I'd call him out on cheating, on lying to my mom, on lying to me and Tanner and then everything would explode.
Only problem was, I'd always come out the loser.
My dad would fly off the handle and tear me apart with the things he'd say. Not because any of it was true but because it was mean. He'd say things fathers shouldn't say to their sons, the kind of insults that burned like whiskey down your throat.
When Malcom King wanted to make a point, he'd do it the same way he did in court. He'd rattle off about how much he regretted me and how he thought my entire life was a mistake. He'd yell at me to the point where I'd actually start to believe that the things he was saying about me were true. I still do. Sometimes, I still hear him screaming in the silence.
So no matter who I'm fighting with, I defend myself at moments like these like I'm face to face with him.
My dad's shadow's always there.
It's hovering in the space between me and Dan right now.
So I brace for the storm. For the moment when Dan turns into the person who's haunted me my whole life.
I see it in his face. The way he's staring at me like I'm the monster everybody makes me out to be.
We stand there in the quiet for a long while and I watch every messed up thing I've been saying to Dan turn him inside out. It's harder to stomach than I want it to be. 'Cause I know unlike my father, he's actually considering what I'm saying. He always does.
He's the kind of guy who has a big enough heart to listen to people's problems all day and still try his best to solve every single one of them despite how tired he is. He always gives people his time and his care. And half of me knows he's a good person, and that he doesn't deserve this, and that I'm being selfish and stupid and mean.
