Resist Me

Chapter 14

West

The inevitable happened. To say I was a bit of a mess right now was an understatement. I wasn’t freaking out. I’d moved past that when it came to my dad. That by no means meant I wanted to deal with it.

I stared at the three missed calls. He’d also sent some texts demanding that I call him back. ‘Immediately’ was put in all caps.

But what if I didn’t? He wasn’t paying for my school or anything. When it came down to it, he had no control over my life. He could drop me from his health insurance, but it wasn’t like I went to the doctor anyway because he’d yell at me for it.

With a sigh, I backtracked from that idea. I told Willow that she needed to let him know she was moving, so I probably had to hop on the communication train too. My dad didn’t deserve my respect, but if he wanted to have a conversation, I could manage that.

Putting in my earbuds, I waited for him to answer. Each ring made me want to hit something. When it connected, there was silence on the other end save for his breathing. It sounded like a horror movie with the creepy bad guy making phone calls without saying anything.

“I called you back,” I noted. “Should I just hang up? ”

“What… the hell… are you thinking?” he gritted out.

I rolled my eyes. “Let me guess. You’re going to blame me for what your adult daughter decides to do.”

“Don’t treat me like an idiot, West. You encouraged her to do this. Why would you convince her to drop out of school and move across the country?”

“That’s not what I did. She didn’t want to finish, so she decided to get her GED. It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters! She’s staying here. You’re going to tell her that.”

“No.”

Silence again. It was tense and made me grind my teeth. I readjusted on the bed, crossing my legs in front of me.

“Weston, I swear to God.”

“Willow wants to live with me,” I said matter-of-factly. “We have an apartment, she’s on the lease, and when she gets here, she’s going to find a job. You get to have the house to yourself. I don’t know what you have to complain about.”

“She’s too young to leave.”

I let out a dry laugh. “And I wasn’t? You didn’t say a damn thing about me moving. Pretty sure you couldn’t fucking wait, huh, Dad?”

“You can take care of yourself.”

“So can she. We’re not eight years old anymore and I’d never invite anyone into our lives who would hurt her.”

His breath caught and I immediately closed my eyes as shame washed over me. I hadn’t meant to bring it up. As much as I hated my dad, I didn’t like to do that. All it did was force us to continue this constant cycle of blame and guilt. There was no winner or loser. Only regret.

“You’re going to fuck it all up,” he said in a cold voice. “When something happens to her, it’ll be your fault.”

There was a click signaling that he’d hung up. Not keen on giving myself time to spiral, I called Willow. Her face showed up on the screen and her eyes immediately softened.

“How bad was it?”

“Not great,” I replied. “But it is what it is. I knew he’d be pissed.”

“He stormed out after I told him. I’m at Kai’s parents’ house now. ”

“Good. How long are you staying?”

“I don’t know. Probably just tonight. I want to give him time to think things through. Maybe we’ll be able to have a good few days before I leave.”

I made a noncommittal sound. It was possible but unlikely. He wouldn’t treat her like he did me. The strain in their relationship was completely different. He was terrified to get too close, to give himself the opportunity to fail her again. It was ironic because by doing that, he constantly failed her. Neither of us had much of a father since we were about nine.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” I asked.

She smiled and it made breathing feel a little easier. “Yeah, I’m sure. I need something new. A fresh start, as cliché as that sounds.”

“No, you’re right. It helps. The only things I’ve missed since leaving home are you and Kai’s parents. Everything and everyone else have barely crossed my mind.”

“Sounds like you’re a selfish dick.”

I pulled a face, which made her laugh.

“Oh,” she exclaimed suddenly. “Have you had any more roach run-ins?”

“Ugh. Not yet, but I’m sure it’ll happen. I got this spray that I put around the floorboards, but I don’t know if it’s working.”

“It’s gonna take more than that. If they’re in ours, they’re in the neighbors’ too. They have to treat the whole building.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll put on my best Karen hat when I get there and give the manager a piece of my mind.”

“You’ll get us kicked out.”

“Only if I threaten her or something. Don’t worry. I can keep my cool.”

“Sure you can.”

Willow launched into a story about how she came to the rescue of a Walmart employee who was getting badgered by a middle-aged man because the store was out of the yogurt he liked. I couldn’t keep from laughing throughout it. Talking to her made me feel lighter than I had in a while and I actually felt excited about the future now that we’d be together again.

**** *

Sen stared in horror as I loudly sang ‘Baby’ by Justin Bieber in the cafeteria. It had been in my head since I woke up, even though I hadn’t heard the song in ages. Since I couldn’t get rid of it, I decided to make it everybody else’s problem.

He turned to Kai, who shrugged, unbothered by my American Idol moment. He was used to it. Being my friend resembled developing Stockholm Syndrome. Eventually, you learned to love me and all of my flaws.

“Maybe we could hear something different,” Kai suggested when he couldn’t stand Sen’s desperate pleas any longer.

I drummed my fingers on the table for a moment, then grinned before I climbed on top of it. Sen was bright red and looked ready to flee, but Kai wrapped an arm around him and nuzzled into his neck.

“And I will always love you,” I belted, extending my hand toward my best friend.

He laughed, then looked at Sen, who shook his head frantically. Kai ignored him, joining me on the table. He directed his attention to his boyfriend as he started singing. I was pretty sure the poor kid was gonna throw up. Personally, I’d be completely wooed if a man sang to me like this.

It was a wonder we hadn’t been kicked out of this place yet. Most of the students seemed entertained when we did things like this, but it was clear that some had been done with us on day one. They could always go eat somewhere else or reach around and pull that stick out of their ass.

“What the hell is going on?” Brooks asked when he reached the table with a sad-looking salad.

“I died,” Sen muttered. “Somewhere along the way, I died and I’m suffering for my sins in hell.”

“It’s all that sodomy,” I noted with a wink. Kai punched me in the stomach, making me curl forward. “God, learn to take a joke as well as Sen takes your-”

I scrambled off of the table when he tried to hit me again. Holding up my hands in a placating gesture, I bit my lip.

“No need to get violent.”

Sen tugged on Kai’s arm until he sat down beside him. He glared at me for another moment before he took a bite of his sandwich. Brooks chuckled, coming around to sit by me .

“He’s just a teensy bit protective,” he murmured in my ear.

“I think the term you’re looking for is ‘crazy asshole.’”

“I don’t know. I’d kill for love like that. Wouldn’t you?”

Lifting my gaze to Sen and Kai, I couldn’t bring myself to deny it. It wasn’t a priority, but nobody could look at those two and claim not to want something like that. Maybe I was a skeptic, but I didn’t think that sort of bond was common. Kai’s parents had it, so maybe it was genetic. If that was the case, I was screwed.

My parents weren’t together when my mom got pregnant. According to my dad, they had a great relationship- platonic, not romantic. They were best friends who slept together once in a while and they probably would have co-parented like pros. They never got the chance to find out since she died during an emergency c-section. And so, little West came into this world already spreading disappointment. Surprisingly, though, my dad had never thrown her death in my face, even when he was finding a million other things to yell at me for. I guess being minutes old gave me a pass.

Turning to Brooks, I flashed him a toothy grin. “Want me to love you like that?”

“No,” he snorted.

“If I was taking a guy’s dick, I’d shout it proudly from the rooftops.”

Sen dropped his face into his hands. Before I could make fun of him for his demureness, I realized that he was laughing.

“You’re so fucking dumb.”

“That’s rude.”

He lifted his head, still laughing. “I can’t stop imagining you scaling a building and shouting something like that.”

I took a bite from the celery stalk I’d stolen from Brooks’ tray. “Loud and proud, baby. There’s no other way to live.”

Brooks glared at the stolen piece of food. “You’d do that, then he’d leave you because you’re embarrassing.”

“That’s the thing about me, though. If they get that far, they already know who I am, so they should expect me to do some crazy shit. If they don’t, they’re just dumb.”

“Probably only in it for the pretty face,” Kai noted.

“Speaking of pretty,” Brooks sighed .

I followed his gaze and raised a brow. “You have a crush on Linc?”

“No, but he’s gorgeous.”

Taking another bite of celery, I watched Lincoln. He was leaning against a wall with his hands in the pockets of his black jeans. There were a few people around him that I didn’t recognize, but they seemed friendly. His white hoodie hugged his chest and the color contrasted his chocolate brown curls and tan skin. The black hoop on the side of his nose didn’t look out of place. I’d only seen a few guys with one and it worked for him.

Yeah, he was exceedingly attractive, but I already knew that. Anyone with eyes could see it. I thought he was more endearing when he was in his home looking a little nervous and uncertain. His face took on a softer quality, stripping him of expectation and labels. I felt like I’d seen a side to him he hadn’t intended to show me, one nobody else in this place had seen.

“He is hot,” Sen agreed.

Kai narrowed his eyes. “Really?”

“Don’t act like you don’t think so.”

“Yeah, okay. He did want to take me for a ride on his motorcycle.”

Sen’s mouth dropped open. “Did you guys…”

“No,” Kai laughed. “I thought about it, but think about what that would do to West.”

I scowled at the idea. “Good thing my hatred for him stopped you, otherwise you might not be here with Sen.”

Brooks grunted and leaned back in his chair. “Maybe I’ll jump ship and go for it.”

“What is this thing you have going on anyway?” Sen asked.

“My lips are sealed.”

“Why? It’s scandalous, isn’t it?”

It didn’t seem like Brooks was going to answer. I didn’t care that much. Besides, Lincoln was now looking in our direction. In my direction, actually. I was a fly caught in a web and my heart was beating like I was about to become a giant spider’s meal.

Why was he looking at me? Why was I looking back?

“I have a paper to get done,” I announced, grabbing my backpack. Slinging it over one shoulder, I headed for the door on the other side of the cafeteria. I forced myself not to check if his eyes were still on me.

It was true that I had a paper to do. I already had the rough draft finished, so it wasn’t urgent, but I might as well get ahead of it. Nothing wrong with being a responsible student.