Devastated (Anger Management, #1)(66)

“I-I don’t need therapy,” Kylie said, because the last thing that she wanted was for anyone else to find out what happened.

“You need someone to talk to,” Grey said, as Hunter wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against his body, making this harder.

“I just want to drop this,” she said, because she knew what would happen if her parents ever found out that she told someone. They would make her life a living hell and they would go after Hunter, accusing him of all the sick things that they’d-

“She thinks she’s protecting you,” Grey said, earning a glare.

“I have to—Wait! No, put me down, Hunter!” she started to explain only to panic when the ungrateful man that she was protecting stood up and promptly dropped her back down on the couch as Ryan got up and headed for the door with a sighed, “I’m going to do damage control.”

“We’re going to have a talk, Miss McCann,” Hunter said with a heavy sigh as he knelt down in front of her.

“Hunter, you don’t understand what they’re capable of. They’ll ruin your life!” Kylie said, desperate to make him understand.

“A long fucking talk,” he stressed, with a sad shake of his head.

“No, Hunter, listen to me,” Kylie said only to end up glaring when Hunter placed his hand over her mouth as he leaned in and said, “You’re worrying over nothing,” before she pushed his hand aside.

“Hunter, you really don’t understand what they’re capable of,” she said, trying not to panic.

“Hunter will be fine,” Grey said, waving it off like it was no big deal.

It was a very big deal!

“You don’t understand!” Kylie said, desperate for them to listen to reason before it was too late.

“I probably understand better than you think,” Grey said with a sad smile.

“Look at me, Kylie,” Hunter said, cupping her face in his hands. “You’re safe.”

“But my family-”

“I’m your family, Kylie,” Hunter said, pressing a kiss against her forehead. “Not them.”

“Which is why I can’t let them do this to you, Hunter,” she said, placing her hands over his as she tried to make him listen to reason.

“You give them way too much credit,” he said, pressing one last kiss against her forehead before he pulled back with a sigh and sat next to her.

“There’s no need to worry, Kylie,” Grey promised her.

“What the hell do you know about it?” Kylie asked, moving to climb off the couch, done with trying to explain this. They were never going to understand why she needed to-

“They blamed you for everything, didn’t they? Every mistake they made, every time something didn’t go their way, they had a bad day, or someone pissed them off, they took it out on you. They also shifted the blame to you when other people found out what they were doing, the rumors they spread, and the things they did to them. They blamed you for everything,” Grey said, watching her as he pulled an old coin out of his pocket and began flipping it over the back of his fingers.

“Yes,” she said weakly.

Nodding absently, Grey said, “Nothing you did was ever good enough, was it? It didn’t matter if you got all A’s on your report card or did everything you were told; it was never enough.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Kylie said, releasing a shaky breath, thinking of all those times she’d tried to so hard to make them happy, hoping it would be enough, but it never was.

They always found something wrong.

Always.

“Your sister was treated differently than you, probably got whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. She was rewarded for everything and praised for every little thing she did, even things that she didn’t do. Your parents most likely embellished everything she did and kept their mouths shut whenever she did something wrong, painting her as the perfect child and when she didn’t do anything praise-worthy they made it up or-”

“Gave her credit for things I did,” Kylie found herself adding, frowning in confusion and wondering how he knew all of this.

“And whenever she did something wrong, they either pretended that it never happened or they blamed you,” Grey said, watching her as that coin continued to work its way across his fingers.

“Yes,” Kylie said, pulling her trembling hand free so that she could wrap her arms around herself as she thought of all the sick and evil things that Denise did. The people she’d hurt, the money she’d stolen, the lies she’d spread, and the way she-

“Your sister was allowed to hurt you, most likely encouraged to do it and whenever you complained about how you were treated, they belittled you, punished you, mocked you, and made you think that there was something wrong with you,” he continued, making her stomach hurt.

“Yes,” she whispered hollowly.

“They treated your sister better, probably took better care of her, always made sure that she had what she needed and more, made sure that her every need was met, and always had an excuse why she’d deserved to be treated better in every way,” he guessed correctly.

Unable to answer, she nodded as she thought of all those times that her parents had told her no one second only to give in to her sister the next. The way that her parents couldn’t seem to do enough for her sister, making sure that her every need was taken care of, giving her whatever she wanted. The way that they couldn’t seem to do enough to make sure that Denise was taken care of, making sure that she was taken to the doctor every year, the dentist twice a year, and saw every specialist there was to make sure that everything about Denise was perfect. They’d only taken Kylie to see a doctor when she’d missed too many days from school and needed a note, or the school demanded a physical, which wasn’t very often. They always made sure that one of them was in the room, making sure that she didn’t say anything, didn’t complain, or let the doctors look at her back. They’d always had an excuse, joked about her being shy or distracted the doctors to make sure that they didn’t raise the back of her shirt and see the damage they’d left behind.