Collateral Damage (From the Damage) by Jasmine Denton Read Free Book Online Page A

classes.”
    “Dad, I’m sorry, I—”
    He set his beer bottle on the coffee table with a loud thud. “You want to learn how to fight, Kay?”
    “No,” she said, shaking her head.
    “Really? Cuz forty bucks a week tells a different story.” He started cracking his knuckles, one at a time, each POP ringing through the air like a gunshot. “If you want to learn how to fight, I’ll teach you.”
    “No,” she said. When he narrowed his eyes at her, she added, “sir.”
    “Oh, come on. Where’s that bravery now? Where’s that attitude?”
    She just stood there, knowing she wouldn’t be able to get out of this. Wishing she could reach her car before he caught her.
    Suddenly, his arms shot out and grabbed her. Twisting one arm behind her back, pinning the other to her stomach, he pulled her against his chest and held her there. “They teach you how to get out of this one?” his voice was mean and gruff against her ear. “Come on! Show me what you got!”
    She attempted to stomp on his foot, but he slid it to the side. Struggling, she tried to wrestle out of his grip, but the pain shooting through her arms kept her from moving much. Bringing her legs up, she kicked off the couch and they both tumbled backward onto the coffee table. It cracked and broke under their weight, and before she could scramble free, he grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the floor.
    “What are you going to do, Kay?” he taunted. “Go running to one of your boyfriends? Or that counselor? Yeah, your mom let that slip, too. You think you’re so abused? So miserable?”
    She couldn’t breathe, and a piece of broken wood was stabbing into her back, and her vision was starting to blur.
    “Because I think you’ve become accustomed to my discipline over the years. It only makes you more difficult, angrier. Poor tortured Kay. So weak. So defenseless.”
    Her lungs begged for oxygen, and she started to think he was going to kill her. She just wondered if it would be an accident, or out of rage. “I…I can’t…” she couldn’t choke out the words.
    “I’m sorry, what was that?” He tilted an ear her direction. “I can’t hear you.”
    Finally, he let go of her throat, but his weight on top of her still kept her pinned. She gasped in a deep breath, coughing and choking on it as her throat expanded again. Her uniform was soaked with spilled beer and the stench burned into her nostrils and stung her throat, threatening to make her puke.
    He stood, while she stayed, trying to catch her breath. Nudging her with his foot, he said, “Get up.”
    When she couldn’t move, he added, “Don’t make me say it twice.”
    Her legs shaking, her body aching, she carefully stood to face him.
    “Hit me,” he ordered.
    “Dad—”
    “What’d I just say about obedience?”
    Fixing her disbelieving gaze into a glare of hatred, she balled her hand into a fist and swung at him.
    But he swatted her hand away like it was a fly. “Try again.”
    She came at him with her left fist this time, and when he grabbed her arm, she hit him with the right. Her knuckles cracked against his jaw, but he didn’t flinch. Didn’t budge.
    “Why?” she pleaded, as she kicked at his stiff body, without having any effect. “Why do you hate me so much?”
    “Why?” he mocked. “Why? Because you’re weak.” He grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her close. “A pathetic little tramp just like your mother, and I doubt you’re even really mine.”
    He shoved her to the ground and stepped back, looking idly around at the splintered coffee table and the spilled beer. “Clean this up.”
    Shooting one last hateful look at her, he turned away and went to his weight room in the basement.
    For a second, Kay couldn’t move. She just sat in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the mess, trying to fight the sharp stings of shame his words made her feel. But she could still feel it, a deep wound cutting straight through her heart.
    Standing shakily to her feet,