Anywhere With You

by Stephanie Hoffman McManus

  I stood to return the glass to its place inside the cabinet at the same time someone else pushed open the door to the study.

  The thought, busted, barely had time to register before I spun around and realized it was just a couple of groomsman and one of the two bridesmaids I couldn’t keep straight; Tiffany or Jackie.

  I relaxed at the same time the best man, Dustin I think, froze in the doorway an apology falling from his lips, “Oh sorry.” Then as recognition set in, he no longer seemed concerned with apologizing. He spared a quick glance over his shoulder at the others who still stood outside the room. “It’s just the sister.” Then he turned back to me with a cocky smirk and took a step farther into the room.

  “Celia, is it?”

  I eyed him warily. He was trying to appear friendly, but I knew his type well enough to sense trouble.

  “Yes, and I should be getting back to the reception. If you’re looking for privacy, I recommend a bedroom upstairs.” I made like I intended to leave the room, but he and the other two who had followed him inside still blocked the doorway. They didn’t budge an inch, so I stopped short, dropping pretense and folding my arms across my chest.

  “Move or tell me what the hell you want.”

  “Come on now, you don’t have to be so hostile. Stay a while. Have some fun with us. You are the entertainment after all, aren’t you? We want to be entertained.” His buddy and the bottle blonde bitch with them sniggered.

  I, on the other hand, wasn’t laughing. “Sorry, I don’t do private parties.” I gave him a falsely sweet smile, while telling him with my eyes exactly what I thought of him.

  His smirk remained and his hand reached in his back pocket. He pulled his wallet out. “Is this what you’re waiting for?” He slid a few bills from the folded leather. “How much for you to lose the dress and dance for us?”

  “You don’t have enough, but if you don’t move out of my way, I’ll give you something and I promise you, you won’t enjoy it.” What I was envisioning involved my knee and somewhere I was quite certain he didn’t want it.

  He laughed off my threat, but after giving me one last leer and mental undressing, he turned to the other two. “Let’s go. Bitch clearly isn’t as much fun as let on.”

  I didn’t care about his insults, if they could even be considered that. I only cared that in the next instant the three of them left the room. I gave them enough time to get clear of the hallway, and in those few minutes, my phone buzzed. Luke was checking up on me.

  Everything okay?

  I was typing out a response, thinking maybe I should tell him to come find me so we could steal a private moment before returning to the party, but before I could send the message, I became aware that once again, I wasn’t alone. The door, which Dickface Dustin had left open, clicked softly, jerking my head up.

  This time, instead of annoyance at who stood, there I felt apprehension. Steven Myer, Eric’s father, loomed menacingly in the dim light. I slid my phone back into my clutch, forgetting about the text message entirely, and steeled myself. I matched his hard stare with my own, waiting for him to speak first.

  “What did you tell my son?” The hint of a threat was concealed within that question.

  My shoulders stiffened. “The truth.”

  He advanced and I took a step back, silently cursing myself for that display of trepidation. The corners of his mouth twisted up with just the barest hint of satisfaction. “How much of the truth?”

  I let out a shaky breath. “Only that the baby wasn’t his. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell him it was yours. I’m not that cruel. I figured I’d caused him enough pain.”

  “Good girl,” he drawled, the pleasure in his words sent a shudder running through me that left my skin crawling. I didn’t want to spend another second trapped in here with this man and the memory of the worst mistake I ever made. I felt like I was going to be sick. I attempted to skirt around him and make my escape, but he was quick and caught my upper arm before I made it to the door.

  “Not so fast.”

  “Let go of me,” I growled at the same time the door was yet again shoved open. This time I was all too happy to see the man filling the doorway.

  Mr. Myer’s hand released my arm and he took a step back. I moved toward the safety of Luke.

  “What’s going on?” He switched between glaring at Mr. Myer and shooting me questioning and concerned looks.

  “Nothing,” I answered. “Let’s go back to the party.”

  Luke’s eyes shot over to Mr. Myer in another protective glare, but he let me take his hand and pull him from the room. We were almost clear of it when he jerked to a stop. One look at his face and I knew everything was sinking in.

  “Is that him?” he bit out so low and harsh it would have scared me if I didn’t know Luke would never turn that anger on me.

  Still, I was afraid to tell him the truth, but I also couldn’t lie, and my silence was the only confirmation he needed. He whipped back around, ripping his hand from mine. I watched as he stalked toward Mr. Myer, who looked appropriately wary now.

  “You,” was all Luke growled at first.

  “Luke, please, let’s just get out of here.” He ignored me, even when I tried to grab his arm and pull him back. He shook me off, never taking his eyes off Mr. Myer.

  “I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, young man, but I suggest you listen to the lady.” Mr. Myer’s bold words and arrogant tone belied the uneasiness I read on his face.

  “I think I’m talking to the sick son of a bitch who took advantage of a teenage girl,” Luke spat at him.

  “Took advantage?” Mr. Myer snorted and then sneered, “She came to me. Wanting it.”

  “Shit,” I whispered to myself and closed my eyes, not needing to see what happened next, but I heard Mr. Myer grunt in protest and then slam into something that sounded like the desk. I opened my eyes, and sure enough Luke was standing over a shaken and rumpled Mr. Myer who’d caught himself on the desk. He straightened, putting on an air of superiority as he smoothed the lapels of his expensive suit.

  “I wouldn’t advise you to lay your hands on me again.”

  Luke ignored the warning and grabbed him by the collar. “You better believe you have this coming, asshole.” Luke prepared to strike him again, and Mr. Myer struggled futilely to free himself from Luke’s grasp. Just when I thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, it did, and all hell really broke loose with the appearance of my mother.

  “What in the world is going on in here?” she shrieked. That was enough to get Luke’s attention and he lowered the fist he’d been about to ram into Mr. Myer’s face, and gave him a hard shove instead. Mr. Myer stumbled back and then we all faced my mother who stood, hand on hip, expression demanding an explanation. “I’ll ask again, what is going on?” Her narrowed and furious gaze was fixed on me. No doubt, in her head she’d already decided I was to blame for whatever this was.

  “Nothing you need to worry about. We won’t wreck the party.” I grabbed Luke’s hand again and dragged against his stubbornness, but my mother was not satisfied.

  “I don’t think so. You will explain yourself, right now.”

  I started to tell her that there was fat chance of that, but Luke spoke first. “If you weren’t such a poor excuse for a mother, you wouldn’t have to ask that.”

  My eyebrows shot as high as my mother’s did, but her shock quickly transformed into a vicious scowl. “Excuse me? Who do you think you are that you can speak to me that way? I don’t know what trouble my daughter is into now, but you have no right, regardless of your last name, as a guest in this house to come in here–”

  He didn’t even let her finish cutting in to him before he flayed her again. “And you have no right to even claim her as your daughter.” I laid a hand on his forearm, hoping to reign him in, but he was determined to let my mother have it. “Before coming here, I couldn’t understand what would drive her away from her family. I didn’t understand why she would be
so reluctant to attend this wedding, but after meeting you people, I regret ever letting her come back here after she’d been free of your toxic and spiteful hold. And you,” he turned on Mr. Myer again. “You can be thankful I didn’t kill you for ever laying your disgusting hands on her. What you did isn’t far from rape, you bastard. She was a damn kid.”

  “But she was hardly innocent.” The muttered accusation came not from Mr. Myer, but my own mother. Before shock that she didn’t seem surprised in the least by Luke’s revelation could set in, someone else inhaled sharply, and the sinking suspicion in my gut was confirmed when I turned slowly back to the wide-open door and took in a horrified Eric standing there.

  And the hits just kept coming.

  He stormed in, going straight for his father. “What the hell is he talking about?” he shouted.

  “Son,” Mr. Myer said in a placating tone.

  “Don’t ‘son’ me. Is it fucking true?” In my confession to Eric, some of the details I’d failed to mention were that his mother was having an affair with my father, and it was his father I went to see that night after he passed out drunk.

  Eric’s shouting quickly drew others to the room, and the next to appear were my brother and his wife, followed by my father. Eric was still shouting at his father, who was trying and failing to reason with him. Luke had a protective arm around me, but it did little for the panic that was swelling inside me.

  “What is going on in here?” My father demanded just as my mother had when she stumbled across us. The room went quiet and I used the moment to turn to my mother.

  “You knew?”

  “Of course I knew,” she scoffed.

  “Is this why Mom left you?” Eric growled at his father.

  “No, your mother left because she thought she could convince him to do the same.” He jerked his head at my father, who merely straightened his shoulders defensively. “They’ve been having an affair for years, but she should know by now, they’ll never divorce.” Mr. Myer looked almost bored by all this, but for the bitterness in his voice that betrayed him.

  “As if you haven’t been carrying on with my wife almost just as long,” my father lobbed back. That was actually news to me, and the haughty look on my mother’s face when eyes turned to her only confirmed it. I felt even sicker.

  “That’s fucked up,” Eric was shaking his head as if he wished denying it could make it not true. “But what did she have to do with any of it?” He was pointing at me now. “Why her?”

  I shrank into Luke’s arms as I felt eyes shift to me. I risked a glance at my brother’s face. I saw so many different emotions there. Confusion, shock, anger, disgust. I looked away as my mother and not Mr. Myer answered.

  “It’s obvious, isn’t it? When she showed up to seduce him, he thought to get back at me, because I refused to leave Neil.”

  My jaw went slack. “I didn’t–” I was choking on my words and everyone’s eyes were now fixed on me. “I didn’t seduce him,” I stammered.

  “Don’t.” Luke gave me a squeeze. “You don’t have to defend yourself to anyone in this room.

  “Somebody had better give me an explanation,” my father thundered, and by somebody, he meant me. “You and Steven?” he spat, clearly appalled. I didn’t know if it made me feel better or worse that he hadn’t been aware as my mother had. I guess it really made no difference.

  My lips remained sealed in a tight line. I was not a teenager he could bully.

  “You will show me some respect and answer me girl.” He didn’t make it one step in my direction before Luke put himself between us.

  “You don’t get to speak to her like that and from what I can tell, you haven’t ever been worthy of her respect. You want answers, get them from the man that plied your daughter with alcohol and took advantage of her when she was vulnerable.”

  Mr. Myer had the gall to laugh. “She’s good at that, isn’t she? The innocent act? Pretending she needs someone to take care of her, protect her. I fell for it too.”

  Luke was on him in an instant and then it was chaos. Everyone was shouting and flinging accusations. Just when my father and brother managed to pull Luke off Mr. Myer, Eric took his place. He was dragged back before he managed to land any blows, unlike Luke who had done some damage.

  Mr. Myer spat blood from his mouth. “That was assault.”

  God, how had this happened?

  Luke looked like he was going to go back for round two. I swallowed back the painful lump in my throat and blinked through the stinging tears to choke out his name, “Luke.” He took one look at my apparent misery and moved toward me, but it was my brother who reached me first.

  “I don’t know why you came back here. You should have just stayed away. You couldn’t even let today be a peaceful day. You’re never happy unless the attention is on you and you’re wrecking other people’s lives.”

  “Mitch!” The admonishment came surprisingly from his wife, who, until now, I’d forgotten was even in the room. She stood back, quietly, in the corner by the door, watching it all unfold.

  Before he could look to his wife, his head was snapped around by the impact of Luke’s fist colliding with his jaw. He stumbled back, holding his face.

  “That was your one warning. Next time you say shit to her, you go down. Just because you’re not man enough to be honest about who you are, and want to live a lie inside the closet instead, doesn’t mean you get to pile shame on her. She’s the one person who doesn’t give a shit that you’re gay, yet you chose the assholes who tore her down, forced her to get an abortion and disowned her. You’re a shitty fucking brother and human being and you deserve the fucking joke of a life and family you have.”

  “Luke!” I cried. “Stop.” Everyone was now staring at him and my brother, including Mitch’s wife. Carrie stood there, horror and disbelief warring over her features. A solitary tear trickled down her cheek and then she ran from the room.

  “Carrie!” Mitch hollered after her, but she was gone, and then he looked like he was going to kill Luke. Shit. Shit. Shit.

  What had he done?

  There was no fixing any of this.

  All of our truths and secrets had been exposed and were out there now.

  “What the fuck did you?” Mitch shouted at Luke and I expected him to launch himself at him.

  I flung myself between them before that could happen, and faced Luke. “I need you to go.”

  “What? No!” He grabbed my hand, but I yanked it back.

  “Yes. I never should have brought you here. It was a mistake. I need you to leave.”

  “No, I’m not leaving, not unless you’re coming with me.” The stricken and pained look on his face killed me, but it didn’t change my mind.

  “I can’t. I have to fix this, but you have to go.” The arguing and shouts around us were getting louder, everything was escalating out of control. I didn’t know what I was going to do, how I was going to fix any of it, I could hardly think straight. “Just go. Before you make things worse.”

  In the end, Luke did as I asked and walked out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, I felt like I started to suffocate. Everything was closing in on me, until I couldn’t take it and I shouted, “Everyone just shut up!”

  The room fell quiet and so many angry eyes turned on me.

  “Are you happy now?” my brother sneered.

  “Don’t you dare! Don’t any of you dare. I’m so sick of this shit! You don’t get to blame me anymore for your poor choices. It’s not my fault you can’t be honest with yourself, your family, your wife, so deal with it. And you two,” I turned all this boiling anger on my parents.

  “I’m done. I’m done carrying this guilt and blame. You can’t put it on me anymore. You’re the cheaters. You’re the shitty parents. If you don’t like how I turned out, then take some fucking responsibility for it. You’re my fucking parents! The two people who were supposed to love me most in this world, but you couldn’t manage that. All you had to do was acce
pt me for the daughter I was instead of being disappointed for the one I wasn’t. If you had, things probably would have turned out differently, but I’m done wishing they had. I’m done wishing for a different life. I’m done being angry at you for the one I got. You can go ahead and be ashamed of me, it really doesn’t matter anymore, because I’m equally ashamed of you.”

  The last person I turned to was Eric. “I’m sorry. So fucking sorry.” For so damn much. I turned his world upside down tonight, and I doubted if it would ever be right again. I knew how that felt.

  He nodded once, hardly able to meet my eyes, and then he spared his father one final hate-filled look before he escaped from this room. Mr. Myer called his name, but Eric didn’t turn back.

  He rounded on me again, still wiping blood from his mouth on his sleeve. “You will be sorry for this, you little bitch.”

  “Get the hell out of this house,” my father growled at him.

  Mr. Myer composed himself with an air of arrogance, smoothing his hands over his shirt. I looked at him.

  “I’m already sorry, but not for you. You don’t deserve your son, and if you even think of trying to press assault charges against Luke, you’ll be the one who’s sorry. I’ll make sure the entire story comes out.”

  His eyes narrowed and his mouth was drawn in a taut line, but he didn’t utter a word, and then he too was gone. Only my brother, mother and father remained.

  He faced me with cold detachment. “I think it would be best if you and your friends were going.”

  “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning to stick around. I’ll say goodbye to Tabbi and then you won’t see me or hear from me again.”

  Mitch couldn’t even look at me when I turned to him. “I know you hate me right now, but one day you’re going to wake up and hate yourself more.” His eyes snapped to mine, so full of contempt. “Someday they won’t be around,” I pointed at my parents, “but you’ll still be here, living the life of lies you created for them instead of the life you wanted for yourself. It is your life and if you want it to mean a damn thing, then it needs to be real. The truth will always be there, haunting you in the mirror. Question is, can you live with who you see there?”