‘You are never going to see her again, you little freak. You are never getting your filthy hands on her. You aren’t worth shit kid, I want you to know that. This is what you get for even thinking you were worthy of her’

It hurt that his words rang true.

It had all happened too fast. I still wasn’t sure when I had moved from the couch, if it happened under my own power or his. There was the bright light as he entered the room and then just a blur of violence. Nothing for me to keep track of until the crack of my skull against the plaster and the pain through my back as it met the wall. The only things I had been aware of were the blur of movement and Cadie’s screams at her father.

Her father who made me lunch today, handed me the plate with a smile and sat with us while we ate just to hear about our day. Her father who played basketball with me last week, joked his way through a game of horse because I was never going to beat this 6 foot 5 guy. Her father who loves her, who cared for me for the past year.

Her father who was slowly cutting off my air.

The world was starting to fade again, grey bleeding into the edge of my vision, sounds getting further and further away. I could feel that slight fuzzing sensation in my ears that told me I would be unconscious soon. Everything was slowing down, drifting away and it seemed pointless to chase it. This was my fault after all, just another stupid situation I shouldn’t have got myself into.

Through it all I was aware of two things. The words ‘I’m sorry’ drifting out of my mouth over and over again in some hopeless attempt to get him to let go, and the constant thought that he really was a nice guy.

It may sound crazy, but that was the only thing I could think by the end. It was true, even if this wasn’t the most convincing situation to prove it. Before this moment, Jack had been nothing but kind, helpful, welcoming. It’s just that even nice guys have their limits. And it would seem Jack’s limit was walking in on his –supposedly straight- daughter making out with the foster kid. The female foster kid, to be more specific. He turned the light on, saw us then saw red. Sure, it was wrong, but I would never blame him for what he did to me. After all the nice things he’d done, all the times he’d help me out, it wasn’t really my place to complain.