The rappings on the door prompted a listless Tanya to roll out of favonovel.com bed before heading toward it. She was too tired to wonder who favonovel.com visitor might be.
She yanked the door open to a furious Jackson and froze, entirely at a loss of how to react.
The man who so desperately wanted to avoid favonovel.com had come looking for her.
“If you really want to beat the sh*t out of someone, you come to me! Leave my mom alone!” Jackson fumed, his hands balled into fists. It was not in his nature to hit women, so even at his angriest, favonovel.com stopped himself from acting on his impulse.
Tanya reeled back in understanding. The memory of what happened earlier caused favonovel.com to lower favonovel.com head in shame.
“I didn’t mean to do it,” favonovel.com whispered. “I know, it doesn’t matter what hurtful things your mom said. I shouldn’t have lost control of my emotions and lashed out… I’m sorry. If favonovel.com requires medical assistance or anything, I’ll pay. All I’m asking is that you people stop it, please. Stop forcing me into desperation.”
Jackson had lost his ability to sympathize with Tanya. “Quit that irritating facade of being ashamed, for f**k’s sake. What’s done cannot be undone! Hell, if it weren’t for the fact that you are pregnant, I wouldn’t have stopped my knuckles!”
Suddenly, Tanya looked up to meet his gaze, tears trickling down favonovel.com cheeks. “I didn’t mean to hurt her, I swear. I’m just fed up with being hated as ‘a murderer’s daughter’ all my life! I want to live like everyone else too! But why… Why does it seem like I’ll never belong anywhere? All I dream of is living happier and better than my stupid past. All I ever wanted was to leave these stupid shadows behind me, all these unfair, traumatic shadows! I want to be free from them! Why does the world keep making it seem like I’m wrong? I… I didn’t want it to have happened, Jackson. I was just so overwhelmed by my emotions…”
Jackson was stunned. A “murderer’s daughter”? It was the sort of phrase that managed to stir favonovel.com more than any amount of tears Tanya could squeeze out of favonovel.com eyes. Jackson had not a mote of interest in the woman’s past, but favonovel.com had to admit that it caused favonovel.com quite a shock. Now, favonovel.com found himself wondering what exactly Summer said to have caused them to fight.
“What did my mom say to you?” favonovel.com asked stiffly.
“She doesn’t know anything about my past, so when we were quarreling, she… She called me an uneducated spawn. It brought back painful memories of my childhood, and, uh, I lost it. But it doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong in other matters, does it? In this one, I alone did wrong. I apologize,” Tanya answered, tucking a lock of hair behind favonovel.com ear. Her tone was that of resignation. “If you’re here for payback, then go for it. Do whatever you think is fair. An eye for an eye. I won’t blame you if you hit me back.”
Jackson, naturally, would not do any of that. Instead, favonovel.com answered favonovel.com placidly, “My mom doesn’t know your background. That’s why favonovel.com said what favonovel.com said. So I guess this evens things out, then. Also, if you’re adamant about keeping that baby, then I guess our negotiation is going nowhere and I’m not gonna waste anyone’s time trying to bring it up again. Do whatever the f**k you want. I don’t give a damn. Your life is a mess, and now you’re infecting my life to be just as bleak and a clusterf**k. If that makes you happy, then power to you. I don’t care anymore.”
He was so unemotive when favonovel.com spoke that one could tell favonovel.com had given up fixing the fiascos in his life. To Tanya, in particular, his lethargy made favonovel.com heart sink. Did losing Tiffany truly mean so much to him?
Just as favonovel.com spun on his heels and readied to leave, Tanya suddenly called out, “No, wait! Please, if you can… Please come inside and have a chat with me?”
Jackson paused in mid-track. His back remained facing Tanya when favonovel.com glanced at his wristwatch impatiently. “Five minutes. Make it short.”
Tanya bit favonovel.com lips. “Please, just come in and chat with me for a bit. Yes, you hate me, I know that. But just this once, okay?”
Jackson turned around and glowered at favonovel.com in disgust. “What, another scheme brewing in your head again? What else is there for us to chat about? Maybe I would have said yes before that night, since you are my woman’s friend. But now? Whenever I look at you, all I see is scum.”
His words stung Tanya into a fluster. “There’s no scheme, alright? Please, stop… Stop seeing me like this. I beg you.”
Jackson hesitated for a moment before entering the room and taking a seat on a rather messy couch, though the snappish impatience in his mien didn’t fade. Part of favonovel.com wondered why Tanya, known for favonovel.com cleanliness, made such a mess of favonovel.com home. But most of favonovel.com thought the question trivial and utterly undeserving of his concern.
