I stood in shocked silence for a few seconds as the sound of my hand connecting with her teeth seemed to reverberate in my ears. I hadn’t meant to do that, but now it was too late to take it back. I was too afraid to look at Gabriel, to see the look of disappointment I was sure would be on his face. Now I felt like crying.
I’ve never just hauled off and hit anyone before, not since my wild childhood days when the bullies got under my skin. But it was just too much. I’d reached my limit with this girl and life in general. She just happened to be easier to face off with.
I’d just left my mother, who’d been bawling her eyes out for the last two hours, broken, hurt, and alone and me, her daughter, could do nothing to ease the pain. The man she thought had ran off and left her to suffer had been left for dead by the man she would eventually marry.