Playing with Temptation by Erika Wilde Page B

mood swings from extreme depression to these horrible manic episodes that sometimes lasted weeks. The depression was difficult enough to deal with, because when he was going through one of those phases, he was suicidal and would just sleep for days. During those times, it was easier for my mother and me to get him back on his medication, but as soon as he started feeling better, he’d insist he was fine and didn’t need any treatment, and the manic-depressive cycle would start all over again.”
    “Jesus,” Logan said and scrubbed a hand along his clenched jaw. “That sounds intense.”
    “It was.” She wrapped her hands around her coffee mug, figuring she’d come this far, why not share the rest of her family’s nasty secret? “Those manic phases were awful,” she went on, feeling her stomach churn when she thought about the terrifying things her mother, and her, had gone through. “He’d become paranoid and delusional, and it didn’t take much to set him off into a rage, which was always focused on me and my mother. He’d yell and throw things, and sometimes it even got physical. We just never knew when he was going to explode, and it was a constant cycle of crazy and madness.”
    She gave a bitter laugh and shook her head. “Most of the time, he was mean and controlling. He was always accusing my mother of cheating on him and screamed at her that she was a slut and a whore, when I knew for a fact he was screwing another woman who lived in the trailer park where we lived. Whatever he was paranoid about, he’d turn it around on my mother and blame her for his shitty behavior.”
    June came up to their table, startling Raina since she was so wrapped up in their conversation and the past. She placed a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit in front of Raina and served Logan his chicken-fried steak, eggs, and biscuits and gravy. The man hadn’t lied when he said he was ravenous in the mornings after his workouts.
    Their waitress topped off their coffees, made sure they had everything they needed, then was gone again.
    Logan cut into his crispy fillet and didn’t hesitate to ask a personal question. “Why didn’t your mother leave your father and take you with her?”
    Despite the oppressive memories, Raina was hungry and needed something in her stomach for the long day ahead at the shop. She ate a bite of eggs and answered Logan’s question.
    “My mother was meek and mild and scared of my father and the threats he made when he was manic.” Now that she was years removed from the situation, her mother’s weakness just made her feel sad. “She constantly made excuses for my father’s mood swings, and even when I told her about my father screwing the trailer park whore, she didn’t react. I think she was honestly relieved that he was getting it elsewhere so he would leave her alone.”
    “What happened that night with your boyfriend?” he asked as he dug into his biscuits and gravy.
    “Well, that night my parents were at church,” she said and nearly chuckled at the incredulous look on Logan’s face, because that image totally contradicted the man she’d just described. “Yeah, he was a hypocrite and wanted everyone else to believe he was a good Christian. And I suppose, in his deluded, bipolar mind, he believed it, too.”
    “That is so fucked up,” Logan said and shook his head in disgust.
    She laughed at his succinct reply, and the release actually felt good. What also felt good was how relaxed and comfortable he made her feel, even when she was dredging up the most painful events of her life. Talking about it lightened something in her chest, made her breathe easier and feel as if she was gradually setting something horrible free from deep inside of her.
    “I’d been dating this guy for a few weeks, and that night he came over and we started making out like teenagers do,” she said and took a bite of melon, the sweet taste counteracting the bitterness to come. “My parents came