Chapter 38

ANYA

After Dimitri steps into the room and closes the door behind him, I head straight for Blake, marching with determination in every step.

Forgetting to throw my hood on, I make my way through the slowly filling crowd of the university, allowing them to get a good look at me. I catch some snickers from my side, while others don’t even glance twice, probably feeling secondhand embarrassment.

But I don’t care about anyone else anymore. I only care about Dimitri. If he won’t stand up for himself, I will. No one puts crap on my lover and gets away with it.

Not even his son.

Blake is in the parking lot checking his disheveled appearance in his motorcycle’s side-view mirror, correcting the disorderly strands of his hair.

“Blake!” I call as I see him throw a leg over the seat, about to put on his helmet. “Blake, stop!” My cry gets his attention.

He frowns as he catches my reflection in the mirror and climbs back down, turning to face me. I come to a stop a few feet away from him, panting at how fast I ran to catch up.

Crossing two thick arms over his wide chest, he scowls. “What do you want?” he asks before doing a careful sweep of our surroundings. A flush pinkens his cheeks when he finds that we have a small audience. He glares at them until they walk away.

“What do I want? What’s wrong with you?” I begin, snapping at him. “How can you talk to your dad that way?”

He blinks at me before scoffing. “What are you? My mom?”

His childish sarcasm makes my blood boil, and his careless attitude is such a turnoff. I wonder why I even dated him in the first place. He is a dick from head to toe.

I step closer, meeting his gaze with my cold one. “I’m serious, Blake,” I say, feeling a muscle twitch in my jaw. “Dimitri doesn’t deserve this shit from you. He gave you everything!”

“He fucked my girlfriend.” He gives me a deadpan look as if that statement is enough of an excuse for his bad attitude toward his father.

If it were just because of this, I would feel more guilty for coming between a father and a son, but I have known Blake for the last two years and have observed him being cold toward his dad, who has always given him everything.

He has taken Dimitri for granted for way too long; I won’t let it happen anymore.

“I wasn’t your girlfriend then,” I spit back, daring him to challenge me.

The jerk twists his lips to form an infuriating smirk. “Now that’s not true, Anya. We never broke up, remember?” As if to stake his claim on me, he rounds me up, trapping me between the motorcycle and him. He places his hands on the seat, leaning inappropriately closer.

“What? Did you want an official certificate of breaking up? Do you think I’m an idiot?” I retort, the bitterness in my voice climbing. “I was dumb enough to stay with you when you kept disappearing on me.” It is my time to smirk. “Turns out ~you~ were fucking other women.”

“So why did you stay?” He catches me off guard with the question. The barest of a mocking smile plays on his lips as he takes in my bewildered expression.

“What?”

“Why did you stay with me?” He speaks the question more slowly, enunciating each word with a dirty implication. “We both know you have enough guts to walk away from shit, but you stayed. What made you stay? Was it me, or was it him?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Blake leans closer, invading my personal space again as he keeps our gazes locked. “Your heart wasn’t with me, Anya. You stayed for him.” The scent of his cedarwood cologne mixed with cigarette smoke wafts off him in strong waves, making my skin crawl.

He continues, saying, “You think I didn’t see how you flirted with him every night after we were done having sex? You thought I wouldn’t notice? That ~he~ wouldn’t notice? You seduced him.”

His accusation isn’t completely false, but he seems to think my lack of response means he has caught me red-handed. My confidence wavers a little at his dark stare, and the beats of my heart grow erratic as I find myself momentarily trapped by his words.

“You… You’re…you’re being unreasonable.” I choke through the cacophonous thoughts ringing inside my head. “That has nothing to do with what you did to Dimitri. He is your father, and he loves you. How can you behave this way toward him? Just because of me?”

Blake punches the seat of his motorcycle with a strong fist. My body flinches as the hit falls close to my hip, and I wonder if he would hit me too. He certainly looks like he could with how red he is with rage.

“He is a dick, for all I care. My mom left us because of him. You don’t see it now, but you’ll notice it soon, Anya. He’s toxic.” He pushes away from me, giving me the much-needed space to take in the oxygen I need to face him again.

His thoughts about Dimitri are poison to my ears; they echo wildly.

“No, he’s not! You’re toxic!” I grab his arm, forcing him to look at me. “You’re the most toxic piece of shit to ever exist in his life. The mom you defend so casually? She didn’t even want you. When you were born, her first complaint was that you ruined her figure.

“She never wanted you. She only behaves well around you so that she can pit you against your father.” An onslaught of unprecedented tears stings my eyes as I reveal the truth Dimitri has kept from him all these years.

Something tells me that I am crossing boundaries, but I can’t find it in me to care. The image of Dimitri so broken and hopeless when it comes to being loved is everything that guides my words.

I hate seeing him that way, I hate seeing him blame himself, and I hate what he goes through just to exist in a world where his spineless son lives too.

Since when I started caring about Dimitri’s feelings more than what he feels for me, I don’t know. It just happened, and I can’t help but wish to relieve all his pain, even if it means taking it on myself.

“Shut up!” Blake yells to my face, grabbing my arms and shoving me back toward his ride. The force of his grip hurts. “That’s not true. My mom loves me.” His mouth says one thing, but his eyes are clouded with doubt.

“Really? Then why didn’t she demand your custody from Dimitri?” I say, proudly revealing more of his mother’s dirty laundry. “Why didn’t she even try to take you away? Dimitri tried everything to make her stay because he wanted to give you a good environment.

“When she left, he didn’t even bring another woman into your life because he wanted his only priority to be you. He gave you everything! Everything you asked for. And you—you broke his heart every time.”

With each word I speak, Blake’s hold on me slips until his hands have dropped to his sides. His chest rises and falls from heavy breaths. “Those aren’t his words,” he says, albeit in a quiet voice that lacks the confidence from before. “That isn’t true.”

“That’s for you to believe. Dimitri didn’t reveal any of this to you because he didn’t want you to hate your mom, but I can’t see him like this. He doesn’t deserve to suffer, and you can’t make him suffer.”

“You’re lying. My mom loves…loves—fuck!” He presses the heels of his hands to his eyes, which are glassy with tears. Then he crouches before me, his shoulders shaking. He covers his face with his hands, like he is ashamed to show the world that he can feel pain too.

The rush of anger in me douses down as I watch his body tremble with the burden of the truth. Pity replaces it, and my voice drops to a whisper. “I can’t change your thoughts, but I also can’t let you accuse him of never caring for you.”

He remains crouched, and I wait a moment before continuing. “He did everything a father should do for a child. He loved you so much that it made you feel like you deserve more love in every path. You should be fucking proud of having a dad like that.”

“Mom…she loves me,” he murmurs to himself as I turn my back to him and step away. “She cares…”

I leave him with his ramblings, and the weight in my chest lifts because I shared with Blake the truth that Dimitri’s selfless love never allowed him to.