“I swear, I’m done, Jude. I only want to work backstage. I have a huge deal coming my way. I promise, I’ll never get on that stage again if you say not to and–”

“Claire, stop!” I shout, make her cringe as she wipes her palms against her legs. “This is not okay. You know how I feel about you, how I love you more than anything in this world, and you just don’t care. You don’t fucking respect me. You lied and you sold yourself for money.”

“I never sold myself!” she yells. “I danced. Something I love, and yes, I tried to seduce men with my body for money, but I promise, Jude, I swear, no one has ever touched me. I’m yours.”

When she tries to grab for my hands, I move them out of her reach, shaking my head. “No, you’re not, or you wouldn’t have lied to me,” I say, dying with each word that leaves my lips. “You’re basically your mother. Better pick up the crack pipe since you have the stripper part down.”

When her hand comes cracking against my face, I know I deserve that. As the sting of her hand burns my skin, my eyes don’t leave hers. She’s crying, sobbing as she looks up at me. I know I shouldn’t have said that, but I want her to hurt the way I do. Childish, fuck yeah, it is, but I’m basically dying right now.

“How dare you, Jude? I know I’m wrong, and I know that I should have told you, but calling me names is uncalled for. I understand that you’re upset, but what you just said to me is not fucking okay.”

“Um, Jude.”

Tearing my gaze from hers, I look to see my brother beside us, his face contorted in shock. Unable to speak, I just look at him until he finally says, “Some shit is going on at the house. We need to go.”

I nod once and then turn to look at Claire. “We have nothing else to discuss. We are done.”

“What?” she screeches, taking ahold of my arm but I shake it loose.

“Don’t touch me,” I warn and her eyes widen in shock.

“Don’t do this. Give me time to explain and apologize,” she begs, but I shake my head.

“I did that, and I can’t do it. We’re through, Claire. I’m disgusted with you. I can’t even look at you,” I sneer before starting for Jayden’s car. His eyes are wide, but he walks with me as I ignore Claire’s pleas.

“Jude, please! Stop, don’t do this!” she cries but I shake my head.

“Leave me alone, Claire,” I say, opening the door.

“If you get in that car and drive away without fixing this with me, then I swear to God, I’ll never speak to you again.”

Looking over my shoulder at her, I nod. “Good.”

With that, I get in the car and slam the door shut. Jayden doesn’t say anything; he just drives off, and I watch as she gets smaller and smaller in the side mirror. When I can’t see her anymore, that’s when I allow a tear to slowly roll down my cheek. When Jayden’s hand squeezes my shoulder, I stiffen up and wipe it away quickly.

I only wish I could wipe away the pain in my chest.

Nothing is said as we drive out to my parents’ home. Jayden doesn’t remove his hand, and I appreciate the support. I need it, but I wish I could just be alone, lick my wounds, and prepare to wake up tomorrow knowing that the first thing I’m not going to do is text her. I told her we’re through, but how do you completely let go of someone who is basically an extra appendage to you? How do you just stop loving someone? I know I have to, though. She lied to me, over and over again, about something she knew was wrong. That is the worst kind of lie, in my opinion.

Leaning my head back in the seat, exhaustion takes over, and I squeeze my eyes shut to keep from crying. I can’t believe this has happened. In one night, two relationships were ruined because of lies and deceit. The person I thought to be the most beautiful, amazing, perfect woman in the world just ripped my heart out and broke it. Broke me.

Tears sting my eyes and I fight them away as I take in lungfuls of air.

How did this happen?

Why did it happen?

I don’t have those answers, and when we pull up to my parents’ house, all the lights are on, the front door open. But that’s not what I see first. I see my dad throw a punch and hit Jace dead in the jaw.

“Fuck!” Jayden yells, and before the car even comes to a stop, I jump out, running full speed toward my dad and push him to the ground. Standing above him, I yell, “Get the fuck up!”

“Jude! No!” my mom cries from the porch.

“You son of a bitch, you broke my arm!” my dad yells from the ground, and a smirk replaces the line my lips were in.

“Good, get up so I can break your fucking face,” I sneer. “You don’t hurt my family and get away with it.”

I feel Jayden flanking my left and then Jace on my right, but my eyes don’t leave the man who is more a sperm donor than anything else.

“Boys, please!” my mom sobs, but all three of us ignore her. “Just leave, Mark, and don’t come back.”

“Shut the fuck up,” he sneers at her, and I don’t like that one bit.

I don’t even realize I’m doing it until my fist connects with his nose. Falling forward, he holds his nose as my mom screams. “Don’t talk to her like that.”

“Get the fuck out of here,” Jace says. “We don’t want you here.”

“I say we remove him,” Jayden says, his eyes dark with anger.

“No, boys, please. Just go, Mark!” my mom says. I look back at her, seeing that her face is red, tears streaming down her face, but the main thing I see is that her shirt is balled up in the front, like someone took a fistful of it to get ahold of her.

Snapping my head toward my sperm donor, I say, “Did you grab her shirt?”

Before he can answer, Jace says, “Yeah, that’s why I pushed him out the door. He tried to hit her.”

Looking back at my father, I’m not sure how I’m going to control my body, but somehow I keep it together and say, “So not only did you threaten my girlfriend, you tried to hurt my mom?”

He scoffs. “That slut you’re dating is just that. She’s the reason this is happening.”

Before I can defend Claire, though I’m not sure why when I just dumped her, Jace points at him. “No, this is happening because you are a cheating bastard,” Jace says, shaking his head. “This is no one’s fault but your own.”