Chapter 29: Chapter Twenty Nine

That was it, as soon as Alexander confirmed it, Ron was up, out of his seat and physically dived across the table to get him. There were only a few things between them, the table, plates... And me. Sadly, because I was between them, A glass of water got knocked over and completely drenched my lap. The freezing ice cubed water made me gasp and I pushed myself away from the table.

Great.

Why did Alex even need to say that? He could have just totally denied it, but noooo... he fucking admitted it. The second Ron was up, the others were too... I guess they anticipated the argument... Or worse... A full-blown physical fight, and judging by the look on Ron's face, the latter was more probable.

"You fucking what?!" Oh Christ, he was so angry. I wanted to run but I couldn't leave Alexander to take the blame for this.

"Ron, it's not really any of your business who I sleep with!" I shouted, feeling protective of both Alexander and my privacy. I didn't want my personal life made public knowledge.. Especially here, at a family dinner! I hoped my comment took at least some of the attention of Alex. Sure, Ron had been mad at me before, but he had never hit me and despite the fact that I fully believed he would hit Alex and I had caught him hitting Jemma... I didn't think he would hit me.

"Excuse me?" Ok.. yeah, that got his attention alright. I felt Everyone's gaze shift to me while he waited for his answer. "What did you say?!" I froze completely. I had no idea what to say and felt like no matter what I said at this point, nothing could make Ron calm down.

I'd rather I took the blame though. I'd rather it be me than Alex... or even Jemma. She has already taken a punch recently because of me... even if they did both claim it was a ‘mistake'.

I suddenly remembered I hadn't answered him.

‘Well... It's not." It was stupid that I felt bad saying it, but why should I? It wasn't his business. AT ALL.

"It is my fucking business! I am your father!" Oh... he's playing that card, is he? "And he is my best friend! You are way too young to be with, Harley. It's wrong!"

"Ron—"

"Don't! Don't you dare fucking talk to me, Alex, Or I'll kill you right now." Ok, this is way too much.

"Ron, Leave it. You're embarrassing her!" Jemma shouted, coming to my defense but he didn't seem to care. He didn't back down.

"Ron, please." I begged but still nothing. This was so humiliating. Everyone stayed silent.

No talking No moving.

"You shouldn't have turned out this way. If you grew up here, If I was in your life, you wouldn't act this way." I was actually speechless. "If you grew up with parents who cared for and protected you... God knows what the abuse did to you, fucked you up so bad you think this is acceptable behavior." I heard a few gasps from around the table but I just looked at Ron, my mouth hanging open in complete shock and surprise.

"How can you say that?!" I screamed before turning and running from the room.

He might be upset and angry with me but he had no fucking right what so ever announcing that to the table. I knew Jemma and the guys knew about it, but not everyone did... they did now.

I stood outside in the front yard, a welcoming breeze made me shiver, I went and sat down on the bench while I tried to decide what I wanted to do next, I could hear shouting inside. There was definitely an argument happening. The shouting was followed by crashing, smashing and banding, telling me it has clearly escalated beyond the verbal.

I felt so helpless. I just sat there, completely guilt-ridden that whatever was happening in there was happening because of me. There were more raised voices but it sounded more like a female this time, possibly Jemma? I wasn't sure, and then someone came out of the house, slamming the door behind them.

I looked up and saw that it was Alexander. I got up and rushed over to him, but as soon as I saw his face, I stopped. He had a cut above his left eye and he looked like he had taken more than a few punches too.

"What happened?" Though, it was completely obvious.

"Ron was just sharing his extreme disappointment for the fact we are seeing each other." Part of me wanted to smile and be both happy and excited for the fact that he said we were "seeing each other", but I knew that now was neither the time nor the place.

"Why did you admit it?" I questioned, genuinely wondering.

"He already knew Harl, He wouldn't have brought it up otherwise, especially in front of everyone."

"How did he know?" He shrugged. "He was probably keeping a close eye on who was giving you the most attention or most importantly, who wasn't. I knew he was getting suspicious of Harry, but the fact you chose to tell me about..." He trailed off, and I couldn't help but laugh without humor. I thought back to the morning Ron had confronted me in my room and asked me then if something was going on.

"It's not a big secret now, it is? Ron just told the whole family my deepest, darkest secret, no need to be coy." He signed, understanding exactly what I meant.

"I'm sorry."

"It is what it is." There was silence between us, but the argument inside the house was still very much going on. "Can you give me a ride back to the garage?" He didn't answer me, instead, he just walked off back to his bike. For a second I was taking his dismissiveness as a no, but as he climbed on to his motor, he offered me his spare helmet with a smile. Smiling back, I took it and climbed on with him, leaving the others to their argument, we headed back to the apartment.