Control

xxxvii | gone

I WANTED TO RUN OUT OF THE ROOM RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT. Her piercing blue eyes that haunt me when I look at the mirror focus on me and Dad. She hurt our family too much, and she didn't deserve to call us her family. Last time I checked, she and Dad were divorced.

"We aren't family," I spat, stepping towards her, anger controlling my movements. Dad held me back, reminding me to control my rage. But it wasn't long before he couldn't control his anger either, especially since Auston Miller came walking up to Mom, easily putting an arm behind her.

"Huh, didn't remember planning a meeting with your family, Julianna." Auston was pushing to to an edge. I could feel my father shake in rage as he tried to keep me still. "Jake, nice to see you have the nerve to show yourself again."

Mom cleared her throat. "Again, I'm so sorry how things ended up being," she apologized. I didn't really know the full story behind my parents' divorce, but clearly Mom didn't enjoy being in the relationship, while Dad still was trying to pick the pieces up and glue them back together. 

"You never had the right to go after my wife," Dad gritted from between his teeth. "If you just left her alone--"

"You cannot force love, Jake."

"And you can't force my daughter into something she she doesn't want to be apart of." Dad looked at me briefly, then returned his gaze to the two other adults. I looked across the room to Spencer, who didn't move from the other side. He watched as our parents fought. He was a lot closer to them than I was. Just as Dad said that, he also turned to me. 

"That what this conversation was going to turn into, isn't it?" Spencer said slowly. "You brought us here just to try to take her away from us."

"That's not going to happen again," I said, my voice low but loud enough for everyone to hear. 

My mother walks towards me slowly, one foot in front of the other. Her arms were outstretched, wanting to hold me in her arms. "My little girl, come here."

Dad was pushing me back, putting him in between the two of us. Mom looked furious with him, wanting to get around. Dad didn't need to keep me away, I wanted to get out of that room myself. But I had to stay and know what happens next. 

"Let her approach the damn girl, Olsen. Lauren isn't your property, and she's her mother, you really think she'll hurt her?"

Dad probably thought about that a lot. Would his wife really want to hurt their daughter, even to a minimal extent. A normal mother wouldn't. My mother was not normal. Dad probably heard those words before, thinking they were somewhat true. He knew better now, anger flooding his face. "You know what, Auston? Stay out of our family. Stay out of our business. What's going to happen here does not involve you." Dad fumbles for his gun. "You know what, Auston? I don't need you back in my life. I don't need you standing beside her, running this hellhole."

"Dad, no!" Spencer yelled, a second too late. The bullet moved through the air, across the room.

I'm sure Spencer and I were thinking the same thing. The two adults in the middle of room, one we actually had a part of our heart for. Spencer probably thought the bullet was aimed for Mom, even if that wasn't the most logical. 

The bullet pierced through the air and pushed right into Auston's skin, into his heart. He fell onto the ground, blood leaking out of him like water out of a burst pipe. Mom let out the most inhumane scream as she watched the man she probably loved more than anything right now go down by the hands of a man she's been with for twenty years, maybe more. Spencer and I stared at the body, knowing that we had the capability of doing that, but Dad?