Heartache and Hope (Heartache Duet #1) - Jay McLean Page 0,52

Peter yells, getting the strength to shove Connor away. Connor rolls to the side, but Peter won’t quit. “Who the fuck do you think you are!”

Connor kicks up his legs, gets Peter in his chest with a knee. “That’s enough!” Rhys shouts, trying to get between them.

“Ava!” Krystal calls out. “I’m calling the police.”

I can’t breathe. I can’t see through my tears.

Connor pushes Rhys away, and now he and Peter are on their feet, fists raised, both on the attack. “You ever touch her again, I’ll fucking kill you.”

Peter lunges for him, his shoulder going straight to Connor’s stomach. A guttural sound leaves Connor’s lips, and he’s on the ground, only for a second before he’s back up.

“A little help, Ava!” Rhys hollers, struggling. He’s holding Peter back, but he won’t last long, and fear and frenzy shake me from the inside.

I run as fast as I can from my house to Connor’s, my fists balled as I bang on the door. “Help!” I yell. I pound harder, faster, until the door finally opens. Connor’s dad looks at me wide-eyed and startled. “It’s Connor. You need—”

Corey’s racing down the steps and toward my house, and before I even make it back, he has his arms around Connor’s waist, trapping his hands to the side. “Knock it off!”

Now the two guys are restrained, and I stand between them, not knowing what to do or how to act. “I swear to God. I don’t give a fuck who you are or where you’re from, you so much as look at her again and I’ll end you,” Connor seethes, his face red. I stand in front of him, but he doesn’t see me through the rage flaming inside him. He spits blood from his mouth, his chest heaving beneath his shirt.

“Connor,” I cry, trying to calm him.

“Get out of my way, Ava.”

His dad tightens his hold. “Connor, that’s enough!”

Sirens approach, and when I look around, I see our neighbors outside their homes, all watching us, some with their phones out.

The Insane Asylum.

The Looney Bin.

Tears flow, cascade. I lower my gaze, cover my mouth to muffle my cries. “You need to leave, Connor,” I beg.

His heavy breath hits the top of my head, and I look up to see him watching me. Beaten and bruised, his eyes hold mine. “Ava,” he whispers, shaking his head.

“Please,” I urge. “Just go home.”

Chapter 31

Connor

I’m locked. Trapped in my own fucking home—my own nightmare—while outside, Ava and Dad speak to the police as if I don’t have a voice of my own. An hour passes, and Dad still hasn’t returned, and I’m losing my damn mind. I pace. Three steps one way, then three steps the other because it’s all the room this shitty house has to offer.

I’m pissed.

Beyond it.

Because she didn’t ask him to leave. She asked me.

Finally, Dad enters, and I stop pacing. Arms down, chest out, I’m ready for it. “I convinced them not to press any charges against you,” he says.

“Me?” I shout. “What about that fucker?!”

“Watch your goddamn mouth, Connor!”

I draw back. “You’re kidding, right? He’s the one hurting her, and you’re in here blasting me?”

“He didn’t touch her!”

“How do you know?”

“Because I was there, okay! I’m the one who treated her!” he yells. My stomach drops, and everything inside me stills. I take a breath. And then another. I start to speak, but he beats me to it. “Whatever it is that’s going on with you and that girl, it ends now.”

I shake my head, defiant. “No.”

“You think this is up for discussion?”

I start to walk away.

“I’m serious, Connor. I forbid you from spending time with her.”

I turn on my heels, an incredulous laugh bubbling out of me. “You forbid me?”

“Yes.” He stands in front of me, arms crossed, standing his ground.

I try to calm my thoughts, try to settle my breathing. “You forbid me?” I repeat, then take a step forward, tower over him. “For seventeen years I’ve done nothing, not one damn thing, to ever disobey you. You’ve never had to punish me or set rules for me. I’ve always tried so fucking hard to be the perfect kid because I was so afraid you’d abandon me, too—”

“Connor—”

“No!” I scream. “This is the first time in my entire life that I’ve ever needed your help, and this is what you do? You take away the one good thing I have in my life and—”

His sneer cuts me off. “You’re acting like an ungrateful brat. You have plenty of good things