Page 149 of Torn
“Don’t worry, Kenzi. We’ll figure this all out. Everything will be okay.” Car headlights shine across my windows. “He’s here, so I’m going to go talk to him. I want you to just calm down, okay? I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
I don’t wait for Asher to knock. I just go to the front door and open it, and his fist immediately crashes into my face. I stumble back as blood spurts from my nose and splatters across the wall. He slams the door shut behind him.
Steadying myself, we stand eye-to-eye, glaring at each other. We are equal in height and build. Equal in strength. Our love and protectiveness for Kenzi just as equal. I know neither one of us will back down.
“You motherfuckin’ pig,” he growls. “You touched my daughter? You’re heruncle.”
“Ash—”
He punches my face again, and as I shake it off, he sucker punches me in the ribs, and I feel a harrowing snap.
“I trusted you,” he states, looking me in the eye, forcing me to see the pain, betrayal, and devastation seeping from his soul. Making me feel it with him. “How the fuck could you do this to me?” He shoves me hard in the chest and I stumble backward again.
“You gotta know I fought this. I fought it with every part of myself. I tried to put distance between us, to try to forget the feelings I had for her, and change the feelings she had for me—all of it. But everything just kept coming back stronger. I just couldn’t fight it anymore,” I admit. “I love her more than anything. I think I always have, as fucked up as I know that sounds. We have a connection. She makes me happier than I’ve ever been, and I know she feels the same way about me.”
He shakes his head as if he almost pities me for believing my own words. “She’s only eighteen, Toren. She has no idea what she feels.”
“That’s not true.”
“Whatever the hell you think is going on, it ends today.” Heshoves his finger into my chest. “I’ve given you everything, Tor. I’ve saved your ass a thousand times. You can’t have my daughter.”
My jaw clenches. “I’m not letting her go. With or without your blessing, I’m spending my life with her.”
His head tilts up to stare at the ceiling before he looks back at me. “Listen to yourself. What thefuckis wrong with you? She thought of you as heruncle. You babysat her for years! How sick are you?” He shoves me again, hard, and my ribs scream in pain.
“You’re right. It did make me feel sick.”
“So you just kept doing it? What the fuck, Tor? I can’t wrap my head around this.” He grips his head with his hands, glaring at me. “Whoareyou?”
I shake my head as blood drips from my face onto my carpet. “I don’t know. I couldn’t stop. I know it was wrong, Ash. And I’m so fucking sorry. You have no idea how much this has been killing me inside.”
“Killingyou?” he bellows. “No. This is killingme. When did you start touching my little girl, you sick fuck?”
The accusation I’ve dreaded hearing has finally been spoken, and it sounds worse than I ever could have imagined.
“I never touched her. I swear. This only happened a few months ago. I never once thought of her other than as my niece and a friend before that. I swear. I have never touched her or thought about her inappropriately. I could never do that.”
“You’re fucking sick,” he states, hatred heavy in his voice as he points at me. “You were my best friend. I was supposed to be able to trust you.” He punches me again. This time, I fall backward onto the floor and he takes the opportunity to kick me hard in the ribs with his steel-toed boots.
Clutching my side in blinding pain, I stare up at him. “Youcantrust me. I love her, Ash. I’d never hurt her.”
“Shut the fuck up!” His boot rams into the other side of my rib cage, and I see stars from the pain.
I try to sit up, and pain sears through me. “You practically handed her to me, Asher. You can hate me all you fuckin’ want but don’t act like I’m some kind of predator. I’ve cared about her since the day you put her into my arms and then left me to take care of her while you and Ember ran around with the band.”
“Mother-fuck-you, Tor. This is about Ember, isn’t it? You wanted her and you’ve hated me ever since I got her. You think I didn’t know that? Do you think you can just take my daughter as some kind of consolation prize?”
I slowly stand up, my vision blurry. “This has nothing to do with Ember. That was kid stuff.”
“That’s bullshit. You’re pissed because I got Ember and I got to keep the band while you lost everything. So now what? Screwing my kid is payback?”
I scoff at him. “Youlost everything, Asher. Not me. Your wife’s in a coma because you let her fall off a fucking cliff.” I lean in close to his face, and then glance down at his wrist, where beneath the ink and the leather bracelets are deep scars from where her fingernails dug in and ripped out his flesh as she clung to him before she fell. “Ineverwould have let her fall. And now you’ve lost your daughterandyour best friend. Congratulations.”
His eyes go dark with contempt. I just delivered the lowest blow, but I’m beyond caring. “Don’t talk to me about Ember,” he says. “I want you to stay the fuck away from my daughter.”
I shake my head, refusing to back down. “That’ll never happen. I’ll never let her go, Ash. I love you like a brother, man, and I want to fix this shit with us. But I’ll never give her up. I love her too much.”