~Demi's POV~
"What if we're just overreacting?" I ask Nick as we're returning home.
"What if we're not?" He retorts. "Wilmer's dangerous, Demi."
I exhale an exasperated breath, knowing that his words ring true. "But Geoffrey made him sound like some serial killer or something. It's one thing for him to want to hurt me, but he would never consider hurting Jordan."
"What about Bailey?" He sighs as I remain silent, meeting Bailey's gaze in the rear-view mirror before she resumes looking out the window. "I don't like knowing that there's even a slim possibility of you three getting hurt, and if I can prevent it-"
"We can't just intrude on Dallas' life like that!"
"She offered." Despite my voice raising in volume, his remains calm, though he does clench the steering wheel tighter. "And it's not like us living with her is a permanent thing. It's just until the police can catch Wilmer."
Knowing that I'm irrationally upset, I stay stubbornly silent until we reach the house - that is, until I notice that all of the lights in the house seem to be turned on. "Why are all of the lights on?"
"Shit," Nick groans, dragging his palms down his face. "I forgot to tell you-"
"Wait, where are you two going?" I interrupt him, poking my head out of the car window to question Bailey and Jordan who are heading for the front door.
"We know who's here," Bailey explains. "We heard Nick's blubbering on the phone."
Confused, I furrow my eyebrows at a sheepish Nick as the two girls enter the home. Shaking my head, I follow after them, not allowing Nick the opportunity to finish his statement.
When I enter the house, I'm immediately paralyzed by a bone-crushing hug, courtesy of my crying mother. Behind her, Eddie, Madison, Kevin, Joe, and their parents, Denise and Paul, stand anxiously.
"Mom," I awkwardly wrap my arms around her as she clings to me, "What's wrong?"
She breaks our embrace. "What's wrong?" she gapes at me.
"I told you all that she was fine," Madison chimes as Nick enters the house.
"Nick, you had us all worried sick!" Denise scolds.
I narrow my eyes at Nick. "What did you do?"
He sighs. "I called them all while Jordan, Bailey, and I were on the way to the hospital, and they all said that they would fly out here. When we learned that you were in a stable condition-"
"During which I was asleep, might I remind," Bailey sarcastically smiles, then rolls her eyes.
"- I called them again and told them to just come straight here."
"I'm sorry, but," Kevin's apology sounds less than sincere, "letting us know that Demi was in a stable condition after you told us that she was stabbed does nothing to reassure us"
Nick shakes his head, ignoring his older brother completely. "Where's Dallas?"
"She texted me saying that she had to drop Sara off while her parents ended their shifts at the hospital," Maddie responds. "Am I the only one who thinks that she should get paid for chauffeuring that kid around every day?" she snorts, then looks and Nick and me. "Speaking of Dallas, did you two take her up on her offer?"
"No," I reply at the same time that Nick answers her with an affirmative response.
My younger sister raises her eyebrows and gestures between the two of us. "Did I just start something?"
I sigh and comb my fingers through my hair before turning to Nick. "We're not staying with Dallas."
"Yes, we are."
"Woah," my mother interjects, her face finally dry of tears, "why would ya'll be staying with Dallas?"
"Dallas' house is the largest, closest, and most secure," I roll my eyes, my tone sarcastic yet the reasoning is true. "Because Wilmer is missing and the police think that he is a threat to our safety." My voice sounds tired to my own ears.
"He is a threat to our safety," Nick says, "but Demi apparently doesn't think so."
"I know that he's a threat to our safety!" I snap. "But I also think that the police are exaggerating, especially by suggesting that we leave."
"I can hear you two screaming from outside," Dallas announces, letting herself in without even knocking. "And, Demi, I really don't think you have much of a choice-"
"Of course I have a choice," I scoff. "I'm not intruding on your life like that."
"You wouldn't be intruding," she shakes her head, her voice calm.
"See?" Nick quirks an eyebrow at me. "You have no reason to refuse."
"Why must I have a reason?"
"Because you're not making any sense!" Rolling my eyes, I push past everybody and stand in the open living room, needing space. "Do you want Wilmer to harm Jordan and Bailey?"
"Why the hell would you ask me something so stupid?"
"Can you really blame me?" He scoffs, throwing his hands up in the air. "You're not doing everything in your power to protect them, Demi!"
"Who the hell are you to question the way that I raise my daughters?"
"You didn't even raise Bailey, Demi, and-"
"Neither did you!"
"-and Jordan grew up in an abusive household. You never cared about their well-being! You never cared about them!"
"Nicholas," Paul's tone is a stern warning, but Nick ignores him.
"You're selfish, Demi. It has always been about you, which is exactly why you're acting this way. You want to go back to how things were before."
"Nick!" Denise gasps, her tone a high, sharp shrill.
I almost tell her to let him keep talking, but the words die in my throat. I feel too shocked to speak.
I emit a strangled noise, trying to force words out of mouth to defend myself. "You-you think I want to go back to living like that? You think I want to go back to living with someone who I don't trust? You think I want to go back to walking on eggshells everyday? You think I want to live in fear, wondering which night will be the one when I go to sleep and don't wake up?"
He's no longer able to meet my gaze. "I didn't mean it-"
"Then what did you mean, Nick?" My tone is clipped, sarcastic even. "Because I can assure that I-"
"You act as if you're waiting for him to stir up trouble or something," he blurts, and I scoff at the absurdness of it. "Why is that so difficult to believe?"
"Because it sounds ridiculous!"
"How?" He advances towards me, and I instinctively take a step back. "You said it yourself that you still love him!"
My eyebrows knit together as I wonder what that has to do with anything. "I said that I will forever love the man that he once was, but I never-"
"Exactly!" He grips his hair in frustration. "If you still love him, then you're going to go right back to him, right? Why wouldn't you?" He shakes his head.
It is then that I begin to realize that this conversation was never really about living with Dallas to begin with. Sure, that might have been the catalyst, but this conversation is the result of emotions being bottled up for far too long, the result of words being unspoken, the result of insecurities being fed.
"You-you honestly think that low of me?" I intend for my words to sound harsh and accusing, but they sound like nothing more than a pathetic squeak. "You think that I'd just leave you-"
"You've done it before!" I flinch as he had just slapped me; I turn my head away from him as my vision begins to blur from tears.
"Nick, seriously," Joe places a hand on his younger brother's shoulder, but Nick brushes him aside.
"And now you're going to pull the self-pity card, aren't you?" I can't hold back the gasp that slips past my lips at his words. "You always do, so I shouldn't even be surprised."
"Nick," I whimper, not wanting to believe that he spoke those words towards me.
"Nick, seriously, shut the hell up," Joe shoves Nick slightly, finally silencing him.
I expect Joe's shove to have knocked some sense into Nick. I expect for his expression to soften and for him to immediately start apologizing, blaming his cruel words as being the result of stress.
I'm greeted by nothing but cold disappointment.
In fact, he glares at me.
Despite the tears that cling to my eyelashes, I feel angry. "You're just like him!" I scream, causing a few tears to fall. "Of course I fell in love with you because you're exactly like him! I trusted both of you with my secrets and with my damaged heart. I trusted both of you with protecting me. I trusted both of you to love and to trust me when I couldn't even love and trust myself. And what do I receive in return?" I bitterly chuckle through my tears. "Both of you fucking break me. You break me, knowing that I'm damaged, knowing that I've been broken, knowing that I might not be able to put all of the pieces back together again. And then what?" I pause. "What happens when I can't put the pieces back together again? Would you even care?" To no surprise, he doesn't reply, and I sniffle, but the tears won't stop. "You're just as bad as him, if not worse."
"I didn't put my hands on you, Demi." His tone is emotionless.
"So? Can't you see how much this is killing me?" A realization causes me to pause again. "I never knew either of you," I shake my head at my own ignorance. "I'm so fucking stupid." I notice my mom take a step closer to me, lips parted, as if to speak, probably about to refute my statement; I hold a hand up to stop her, and she reluctantly obliges. "If you honestly believe that I do nothing but seek pity," I return my attention to Nick, "if you honestly think that I would go back to him after everything that he has done to me and my daughters, I want nothing to do with you."
Finally his cold demeanor softens, morphing into one of shock. He's silent for a long moment, as if awaiting for me to take back my words. "Fine," he clenches his jaw and looks away from me, "You have until I get back to get everything you own out of my house and to be gone."
As he heads for the door, I yearn to stop him, to apologize, to tell him how much I need him, to tell him that I can't survive without him now.
"No," Bailey says, her expression and tone so vulnerable, as if she could break at any moment. "No! You promised!" She tries to run to Nick, but Madison and Dallas hold her back. "You promised that you would never leave me!" She thrashes, trying to break free from the grip that my sisters have on her. "I hate you!" She screams, but her voice cracks, making it evident that she's about to cry.
Dallas lifts Bailey up, carrying her shaking body up the stairs with Madison following behind them.
"Jordan," I mumble, my gaze flickering to the now empty staircase, and she gets the hint.
"I'll go see if I can help calm down Bailey," she mutters and retreats up the stairs.
Nick stands at the front door, his hand clasped around the doorknob, staring at the empty space where Bailey was standing. I approach him.
"You can hurt me and say whatever you want to me, but you will not hurt Bailey, Nick. You know that she has been through enough already."
He's silent for a moment before meeting my gaze. "And whose fault is that?" Despite him reminding me that Bailey suffering in the past is my fault, I don't flinch, even though the words do hurt. "Tell her that just because I'm leaving you, doesn't mean that I'm leaving her."
He walks out the front door without looking back, and I do not try to stop him.
ns 15.158.2.208da2
