Broken Pieces

Chapter 36

Azalea Garcia

I stood there in utter silence.

How did he find me?

Why was he here?

The music blares in the background, people shouting and singing, people celebrating a new year.

A fresh start.

But this?

This didn't feel like a fresh start, this felt like the same nightmare I had lived for the past how many years.

"Azalea where's the pizza, I'm starving" Aster shouts. My heart begins pounding and I can feel my body start to shake.

I try and control my breathing as I stare at my father. I need to show him I'm not scared of him anymore, how much of a coward he is for the way he treated me.

My palm hits his cheek with so much force his head whips to the side. He stands there still almost as if allowing me to do it.

So I do it again.

I hit.

And hit.

And hit.

Until I collapse on the floor into a ball of mess, sobs out breaking out of my mouth.

How dare he be here.

I look up to see my brother there staring at the scene, anger racing through his eyes.

He will kill him.

My dad stands at the door with his head down towards the floor. He hasn't changed.

He still wears his shaggy brown hair messily, his rough unkept beard. The only thing different is his skin is paler, different to the olive skin we once used to share.

"What the fuck are you doing here, at my doorstep!" My brother shouts. My dad looks up to him and wipes his hands on his jeans.

"I wanted to apologise- and start a fresh if Azalea let's me" my brother scoffs and I see Jax, the twins and Archer come into the hall.

Amelia rushes to my side and kneels next to me rubbing my shoulder. She pulls me up with her and I stand by the wall with Amelia comforting me.

"Why do you seem to think she would forgive you,huh? You treated her like pure shit why the fuck would she want to start a fresh?!" My brother screams at him.

"Wait this is her piece of shit dad?" Jax asks Aster who nods in reply. Without warning, Jax's fist launches into my dads face and he's knocked to the ground.

Jax continues to punch him until blood is smeared all over the floorboards. Ryder pulls him away and my dad wipes his nose, blood trickling across his hand.

I can tell that Ryder and Amelia are confused, and I now wish I had told them about my dad sooner.

"Please just-just let me speak to her,please?" My dad asks. My brothers chest rises and falls fastly with anger.

"O-ok" I say quietly. My brother head shoots to my direction. "What?" He looks at me shocked.

"I n-need answers" I plead. Jax looks at me in disbelief but I ignore him.

My brother sighs and runs a hand down his face. "Ok" he replies and I nod and everyone cautiously walks out of the hallway.

I step outside and sit on the porch and my dad sits next to me, a good foot away.

We sit for what feels like a lifetime before he speaks up. "I didn't mean for what happened to happen" he says looking at the ground.

I raise my eyebrows.