“Seriously?” Avery said. “Mom caught you in bed with that whore. The same one whose car is parked in the driveway right now. And you’re actually going to claim that leaving was her choice? Everyone says Grandma Letitia is crazy but I think they’ve got the wrong person locked up.”

“I will not listen to this. Your mother and I are getting a divorce. I’m not happy with her and I refuse to live the rest of my life that way. Chastity is part of my life now and you just have to deal with it.”

Avery gasped. How could he be so cold? This was her dad. The man who was supposed to love her. The man who…and that’s when it hit her…the man who went to work.

It was her mom who walked her to school and cooked the meals. Who read her bedtime stories and slept with her when she was sick. It was her mom who’d tried to help her learn baseball when she’d gone through her tomboy phase and wanted to make the middle school team. And it was her mom who’d taken her out for ice cream when she didn’t make the cut. It was her mom who helped her fill out her college and scholarship paperwork and went on campus visits. It was her mom who helped her pack her things and stood in the driveway crying as she drove away a week before.

“Fine,” she said. “So I choose to deal with it by not dealing with you.”

“You don’t have a choice in the matter. I’m your father.”

“A real father wouldn’t do this.”

“What’s wrong, Pookie Bear?” Chastity’s voice echoed down the hall. “Is that little girl of yours giving you problems?”

Chastity walked into the living room and circled her arms around Harold’s waist and kissed him on the cheek. And if that wasn’t enough insult, the whore was wearing Avery’s clothes.

Avery blinked as blood rushed to her head, causing the room to spin. She thought she’d been angry in the past, but those times were nothing compared to that moment. If there were a way she could have killed Chastity with her thoughts, the bitch would have dropped on the floor that very second.

“Now, Bunny,” her dad said, casting nervous glances between Avery and Chastity. “Let me handle this. You just head on to work and I’ll catch up with you.”

“Not in my clothes, she’s not!” Avery yelled. “Take my clothes off now, bitch, or I’ll rip them off of you.”

Her dad’s expression shifted from nervous to Oh Shit.

“I live here now,” Chastity said. “I can use whatever I want here. Right, Pookie Bear? What’s wrong, Avery? Afraid I’ll take your cheap wardrobe and your daddy?”

An explosion went off in Avery’s head and any sliver of control she might have been holding on to fled completely. She launched into Chastity, tackling her to the ground. Chastity clawed her arms with her pointed hooker nails and Avery screamed in pain. Her loosened grip allowed Chastity to get up and run for the door, yelling at her dad to do something.