"You ungrateful bitch. I keep a roof over your head, and this is the thanks I get?"
"You could have killed her," I retort, trying to muster up confidence that I don't possess. "What if she goes to the cops, Dad? That bruise on her face is enough to get you arrested and charged with assault."
"What? You mean when she tripped over the mess you made in the kitchen?" His smile is so wicked that it chills me to my core. "She ain't going to the cops. Hell, she'll probably be back here tomorrow."
"You're a bastard," I whisper, tears filling my eyes. "No wonder Mom left! She probably couldn't bear to spend another second with-"
I'm pushed to the floor. I scramble backwards as he approaches me, his cheeks scarlet with rage, his pupils the size of needle points. In fourteen years, I've never seen him this mad.
I've really done it this time.
--------------------
(COMPLETED) Life is hard when nowhere feels like home.
For Layla Dodds, there is only one goal: survival.
Abandoned by her mother and abused by her father, she dreams of the day she can finally escape the hick town she's been forced to call home. She just has to graduate first. With a genius level IQ and her best friend, Damian, by her side, she thinks she can weather any storm.
Except the universe might have other plans.
Four Walls is a tale of friendship, first loves, heartache, a little bit of magic, and a lot of self-discovery. Join Layla as she tries to make it through the hardest part of any teenager's life: high school.
~Book One in the Mind Over Mayhem series.~
[UPDATED WEEKLY]
"You may be his world, but you're the only thing that ever felt like home to me."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Some people never get second chances. Lilah never thought she'd get one with her brother's best friend.
Lilah is quiet, kind, and inexperienced in love. Jackson is all rough edges-tattoos, a bad reputation, and a long history of girls who never stay. They're total opposites, and after years of silence, they're inconveniently forced back into each other's lives as reluctant project partners.
Once, Jackson was the boy who helped pull Lilah out of the darkness when she was struggling. He was her best friend-her only friend growing up. Then he walked away without a word. Now, four years later, he's cold, distant, and impossible to read. And if he hates her, Lilah's determined to hate him right back.
But when old wounds resurface and secrets unravel, the line between love and hate starts to blur. The boy who once protected her is still in there somewhere-hidden beneath his walls, his reckless reputation, and the weight of a lifelong secret he's been barely holding together that he refuses to talk about.
Because some second chances come with a price. And this time, it might be her heart.