Page 57 of Husband to Go

I start to struggle against his hold, unwilling to leave the facility. I came to heal myself, and that process isn’t done yet.

“I don’t want to go with you! Let me go! Let go of me!”

Tanner pins my hands together before turning dangerous eyes to me.

“Kylie, what the hell is wrong with you? I’m here to save you, don’t you get it? Those guys were treating you like a fucking lab rat, what with the electroshock therapy. Do you really want to be Frankenstein?”

I struggle against his hold.

“Let me go, Tanner! I don’t want to leave! Don’t make me leave because I need to get better,” I say through gritted teeth.

I keep fighting, but Tanner’s too strong for me. I can’t escape him. Tears fall from my eyes as I realize he’s probably going to win. He’s married to my mom by now, their signatures fresh on the marriage certificate. The pain is immense and I lean forward to try and bite him.

He snaps back just in time.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he growls. “You’ve been brainwashed.”

But Tanner doesn’t hesitate. He literally drags me from the therapy room, struggling with my form as we make our way down one of the lighted halls. North Cross is a maze, but before long, we’re outside and I’m being manhandled into his car. He straps me in, although by now I’ve stopped trying to fight. My stepdad gets into the driver’s seat, one hand on the wheel, but he doesn’t start the car.

“Who did that to you?” Tanner rages. I don’t know why he’s so mad. It’s clear he doesn’t care about me. He’s chosen my mom over me, so what’s the point of getting into it?

I turn away from him, staring out the window.

“Who put you in that place?” he demands again. I almost laugh at his ignorance. Not because I find it funny, but because I’m so shocked he doesn’t realize what he’s done to me.

“I checked myself in,” I say through gritted teeth. “Why does it matter to you?”

That shocks him into silence. He stares at me in the close quarters of the car.

“But why?” he finally. “Sweetheart,why?”

The endearment does it, and I bolt up straight, suddenly energized.

“Why? You want to know why?” My voice is rising. “I checked myself in because I was tired of being a slut and sleeping with my mom’s fiancé, and I flat out refuse to sleep with her husband. I flat out refuse to sleep withanyone’shusband. You may not care, but I do.”

“Husband?” he echoes.

“Yes,” I rage. “Why, is that a surprise? I have morals, even if you don’t. I knew the wedding was going to happen soon, and if I stayed, I would have kept fucking around with you, so I did the only thing I could think of: I went to a place that could cure me. I can’t obsess over you like this. It’s not heathy. But you just blew all of that out of the water, and now, I’m guessing you think we can just go back to the way things were, huh? Do you like that, Tanner? Do you take pride in the fact that you’ve been sleeping with your stepdaughter? Or are you an animal who doesn’t give a shit about anybody but himself?”

My fury is all-consuming and my eyes blaze. I’m so angry at Tanner, at myself, and at the world come to think of it.

But Tanner looks puzzled.

“No one told you?” he asks.

I rage at him once more.

“I’ve been locked up!” I screech. “Didn’t you see that place? It’s an institution with no communication from the outside world. Tell me what?”

He takes a deep breath before looking into my eyes.

“Kylie, I’m not married to your mom.”

I’m stunned into silence.

“What?”

I don’t think I heard him right. I look at his hand and for the first time, notice he’s not wearing a ring. He shrugs.