Can The Player PLAY The Player?

Point 14.

Z.B

Once upon a time, Mayor Paul Brooks would've been someone who we considered to be a great deal of significance to us as a family and to the city. He was still so loved by the citizens of Minneapolis because of the front he put forth and the facade he so carefully perfected for years and years to come.   

But to us now, he was no one.

Not after what he did to me, and especially not after what he did to my mother. I didn't know what that despicable man was, but he knew nothing about the word 'family.' He talked on and on television about sticking close with your family because that was one of the purest concepts this world has allowed to manifest but meanwhile, he abandoned my mother after cheating on her with his secretary and his mayor pro tem, Elena Gray. That was not all he did and I didn't think I was ever going to forget the bruise shaped like a hand on Katrine's cheek. I was never going to forget the slap he gave me before he left three and a half years ago.

Paul Brooks and Katrine Jackson weren't made for each other, it seemed.

And he definitely wasn't suited to be a father.

"He is?" Aaron sputtered in confusion, tightening his grip around me and I felt at home in his arms. "Yes," I murmured solemnly, reminding myself that Aaron didn't yet know anything about that asshole and what he did to our family. He was still in the dark and while I would've been so thankful for that, maybe this time I needed him to know. I didn't want him to hear anything from my father because Paul had a way with words and I didn't need him to push Aaron away even further. 

"Not that I understand because I don't," He furrowed his brows, the gears inside his head turning. "But him being back is the reason why you're not okay? Didn't he leave our freshmen year?" He asked and I slowly nodded. He left around the time we had attended Lucy Hawthorne's party, and it didn't take much to know why.

Aaron absentmindedly wiped a tear away from my eye, putting his head on my forehead. Things like this made me really happy that it was him I gave my heart to. "Why is he back now?" I wanted to say that I knew why and that he was here to welcome us back in his arms, to show us off to the entire city, but that would be a lie. "I don't know," I lamented, cozying further into his warmth so that I could escape this reality. "I just came home after grocery shopping to see my mother yelling and he was sitting on the couch as if everything was okay."

It wasn't like we could call the police because they, in a way, answered to him and that would be a conflict of interest. Also, it wasn't like he was violating any laws since the request for a restraining order against him was denied.

This morning was the moment our peace and our home of tranquility was disturbed and destroyed. "You better get the fuck out of my house, Paul!" As soon as I walked into the living room, the sound of my mother's loud scream of rage destroying my ears, my whole body immediately froze as his familiar sneer with those cold eyes landed on me.

"Aw, my little ignorant son decided to greet us with his presence," He said his as if it was so hard for him to say, like the oceans of Poseidon were gonna take him out right then and there as he said it. "What? Cat got your tongue, bastard?" His lip curled up in disgust as his eyes raked my figure up and down slowly, venomous hate morphing his facial expression. "I don't know what unlucky star I was born under to help create something as vile as you," He shook his head, chuckling to himself like Katrine wasn't there, threatening to kill him with her bare hands.

 I knew she was scared: her lithe body shaking and trembling as she held a knife in her hands, her green eyes wide in fury as her teeth curled over her lips, her face red. She had every right to be. "You need to get the hell out, Paul." I wasn't taking any shit from him, not anymore.