by A. J. Logan
About ten minutes later, I hear someone clear their throat, and I open one eye to peek out. Quinn stands there, looking at me curiously.
“Quinnster.” I wave a friendly greeting, before closing my eyelid, resuming my position.
“Um, Nathan told me about her dad. Is she okay?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” I open my eyes, watching Quinn as she takes a seat beside me on the floor.
“Is Asher here?”
“I think so, but my best friend is not a fan of mine right now, so I have no clue how he is.”
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have been sneaking around with his sister.” Quinn gives me a knowing look. “I’m actually surprised he didn’t find out sooner because neither of you were very good at hiding it.”
“He looked at me like he hates me … like my father looks at me.”
“Asher doesn’t hate you. He just has a weird way of expressing himself.”
“Don’t we all?” I laugh, but there’s no humor behind it.
“Yes, we do. Just give him a chance to adjust.”
I hope he does, and sooner rather than later. “So, how was your day?”
“Don’t ask.” She lets out a sigh, pulling her legs to her chest as she tucks her chin on her knees.
I pat her on the arm, closing my eyes, and we sit in silence. I’ve lost track of time when all of a sudden, I’m falling backwards, my back hitting the floor as I look up to see Victoria towering over me. “It’s about damn time. My ass is numb.”
“Elliot,” Quinn scolds, slapping me on the leg as she stands. Speaking to Victoria, she says, “I just came by to check on you.”
“I’m fine,” Victoria says lowly.
“I’ve heard—and told—that lie a few times.” My eyes remain fixated on the redness on her cheek where Monica’s hand had slapped her as Victoria stares daggers at me.
She looks to Quinn. “Really. I’m fine. Thanks for coming by. I’d rather just be alone though.”
“Okay. Give me a call later if you want to talk. Or you can come by and hang out if you want to get away from everyone,” Quinn says, giving me a pointed look as she steps away.
“Be sure and put in a good word for me with Ashy Poo.”
Quinn doesn’t share in my humor and I don’t blame her. I’m not feeling it either, but it’s easier to do than get shut down by the enraged beauty in front of me. Whatever, but there’s no way I’m leaving her alone.
Victoria pushes past me, heading downstairs as I follow. “I don’t want to talk, Elliot. Being alone includes you leaving too.”
“You really don’t know me at all if you think I’m going to leave you alone right now.”
“You’re right. You’ve never been good at knowing when to back the hell off.” She snatches a bottle of water out of the fridge, quickly making her way back upstairs with me right on her heels. “Just go away. I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to have sex. I don’t want to play games.”
I follow her into her room so she can’t lock me out again. “Me either. I just want to be here with you for whatever you need. That’s it.”
She opens the bottle of water, unscrewing the cap as she takes a sip before calmly stating, “I don’t need anything.”
“Liar.”
“You should know.” She sets the glass bottle on her nightstand before heading into the bathroom.
I plop down on the edge of her bed, sitting as patiently as possible until she reenters the room about five minutes later, though it felt like an eternity.
She ignores me, shuffling around her room but not doing anything, just busying her hands.
I can’t resist any longer. Walking behind her, I gently grab her hand, turning her to face me. Thankfully, she gives in and allows me to pull her into an embrace, my arms encircling her. Finally. She reaches up, hands gripping my shirt, and tucks her face against my chest.
“I’m mad at myself.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want anything bad to happen to him but he’s a terrible person.”
“That’s because you’re a good person. And he’s still your dad, even if he isn’t that great of one.”
We remain there in silence as I keep her against me. The best thing that can happened to Victoria, Asher, and Monica is for Victor to be locked away forever, but I won’t say that to her. He’s her dad and I get that she grew up with a different version of him than Asher did. Hopefully, for her sake, she never sees the true evil in him. There’s a huge difference between hearing about it and living it, and Victoria’s the last person who should experience the latter.
26
Victoria
The blaring music filling the house isn’t loud enough. I want it to drown out my thoughts, not just the sounds of the drunken party guests. Thankfully, Quinn arrives with the means for that task. Passing me the whiskey, we forgo the shot glasses and take turns drinking directly from the bottle as we sit in comfortable silence, both lost in the thoughts we have yet to straighten out. Her week hadn’t been any easier than mine.
My coping strategy for the week consisted of ignoring reality. I pretended my dad wasn’t locked in a jail cell. I didn’t acknowledge the fact that my mom and brother left me in the dark while they collected evidence on him. I glossed over all the times he’d been angry, all the times I’d tried to intervene, never knowing what was really happening right in front of me. I skipped admitting it’s apparently been that way my entire life.
“Oh, isn’t this a fun crowd!” Allison says, motioning to Quinn and me as she stops in front of us.
“I’m not drunk enough for this yet,” Quinn says, grabbing the bottle from me so she can take another swig.
“Agreed,” I reply, doing my best to ignore the bitch in front of me. But she can’t leave anything alone, and I am not in the mood to deal with her of all people.
Allison gives me a pouty face, patting me on the shoulder. “It’s okay. I understand it’s a difficult time for you.” She leans forward, her mocking pout upturning into a devilish smirk. “How’s Daddy holding up, Victoria?”
That’s it. Lunging forward, my hands snatch the first thing I can grab on her as we fall to the floor. All the anger I’ve held in all week bubbles up to the surface, releasing on the stupid bitch who has the nerve to taunt me again. My fist balls up, slamming into her face. Her mocking expression is gone but the image is burned in my mind as my fingers grip a handful of hair, yanking it back while my other fist continuously pounds into her face. I’m so sick of being the ass of the joke, the last person to know what is going on.
Suddenly, a tight grip loops around my torso, hauling me off of Allison though my hand remains clutching her hair. She’d asked for it, sought me out to remind me of everything I’m trying to forget.
She screams, her fake nails clawing at my hand. I jerk her forward and she stumbles, falling to the floor when my fingers are pried away. I struggle against the hold, attempting to get back at her as she gets up, cursing at me.
Quinn steps between us, ordering Allison to leave.
“Damn it, Victoria. Calm down,” Asher yells, finally breaking through my angry haze.
“She asked for it.”
Asher releases me finally as Elliot steps in front of me, cutting off my view of the stupid bimbo.
The crowd is silent though the booming music remains as I look around. “Anyone else have anything they want to say to me?”
A few cheers erupt, commending me for kicking Allison’s ass. It’s a well-known fact that no one likes her, I’m not sure she even likes herself. The remaining stares divert from me as the festivities resume, back in full swing.
“Let’s go take a breather, Rocky,” Elliot says, lightly grasping my hand in his before leading me out to the patio. He sits on an open lounge chair, pulling me onto his lap. “Relax.”
“I can’t.” My body remains tense, adrenaline still rushing through my veins. All I was doing was trying to relax in the first place.
&n
bsp; Elliot shifts, gripping my thigh so he can turn me towards him. He’s satisfied when my legs straddle him. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”
“Too late.”
“Nah. You know that’s not true.”
“Debatable.”
He chuckles, slipping his hands under my T-shirt to caress his palm up my back. His playful demeaner becomes serious as he looks to me. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” It’s not the full truth, but it’s not a complete lie either. My body is beginning to relax as I soak in his comforting touch. “I shouldn’t have let her get to me, but she did.”
“It’s been a trying week. Besides, she had it coming.”
“Yep.”
His smile returns. Shifting forward, he threads his fingers in my hair, pulling me in for a slow, passionate kiss. Elliot has been my saving grace, remaining patient and by my side all week even though I attempted to push him away. He wasn’t having it. Instead, he’d pried his way deeper into my soul, latching on tight. How can the same person who’d twisted me into so many knots unravel them ever so gently?
My forehead rests against his as I take in a deep breath and whisper, “It still feels weird to not hide.”
“It feels fantastic,” he flicks his tongue over my lips, causing desire to rise in my core. “Everyone knows you’re all mine.”
“Oh my gosh,” Quinn says from behind me with a laugh. “Okay. Well, I wanted to check on you, but it looks like you’re good.”
“She’s really good,” Elliot teases.
I lightly jab my finger in his side as I shift off of him, standing to look at Quinn. “Yes. Let’s go back to the party.”
“Seriously?” Elliot says, holding his hands up in the air, before standing and adjusting his jeans. He tucks his hand in the back pocket of my jeans, leaning over to whisper, “We will finish this later.”
“Debatable,” I tease, earning a snicker from him because we both know damn well that we will.
27
Elliot
“Did you need anything from downstairs? Water, food, boxing gloves?” I ask, kissing Victoria on her bare shoulder as she squirms.
“Will you stop saying stuff like that?”
“I guess I’d better so you don’t come out of retirement.”
She grabs a pillow and pulls it over her head, muffling words that sound a lot like not-so-nice names for me.
“I’ll be right back.” I slap her ass as she throws the pillow off her head and sits up with a beautiful grumpy face.
She’d been mostly quiet and shut off all week so the sight of her irritation is actually a relief. I know better than anyone that hiding emotions away is the worst. The pain under the mask, the truly excruciating feelings, are enough to strangle a person from the inside out, and I don’t want that for her. Ever.
The few peckerheads who had passed out on the floor are nowhere in sight as I make my way to the kitchen, finding Quinn sitting on the counter, Asher standing in front of her.
“Morning,” I say as Quinn jumps, turning to face me as Asher mostly ignores my presence, which has become the usual. I almost wish he’d just deck me again.
Grabbing two mugs, I fill one to the brim and leave some room in the other for cream and sugar, just the way Victoria likes her coffee.
I toss the spoon in the sink as Quinn calls my name. She doesn’t say anything, instead she nudges Asher’s arm and mutters, “Ask him.”
Asher ignores her and me.
“Nah. I’m not interested in a threesome.”
Asher’s glower lands on me, rage in his face. That deck in the nose might not be so far away.
Quinn obviously knows it was a joke because she rolls her eyes as she looks to me. “You’re really not helping yourself, and I can only do so much.” She turns back to Asher. “Ask him.”
Asher keeps a furious stare on me as Quinn curses under her breath.
“Whatever.” She hops off the counter, steps next to Asher, and points to him. “Stubborn ass number one is insisting on climbing today and won’t leave me the hell alone about it. So he wants to know if you, his best friend and stubborn ass number two, would be interested in joining him for a climb.”
Yeah. No. He doesn’t look like he wants to climb with me. Maybe toss me over the cliff, but definitely not anything that doesn’t end in harm for me. “Why does he get to be number one?”
Now both of their angry glares are on me.
“I give up.” Quinn throws her hands in the air as she stomps out of the kitchen, leaving me with Asher. He looks at the two mugs in my hands before disappearing in the same direction Quinn had.
“That went well,” I mumble, heading back to my bedroom. Handing Victoria the mug of coffee after she’s finished knotting her hair into a wild bun on top of her head—still beautiful, and still all mine—I say, “Ready to go?”
“Do I look ready?” she motions down to her cotton pajama pants and my T-shirt.
“You look beautiful.”
She bites back a smile as she looks away. “I’m going to get dressed, then we can head out. Can you tell me where we’re going so I know what to wear?”
“Please, wear a dress.” I smirk, memories of her riding my dick in my car already have me hard and wanting to do it again.
“Just for that, I’m wearing jeans,” she teases, stepping away from me as she sips her coffee.
“I can work with that. Just might take me a little longer.”
“You’re horrible.” She shakes her head, signaling defeat, and I have a sneaking feeling that she’ll be wearing a dress tonight for our date.
Following behind her, we descend the staircase as I continue teasing her. Just as we’re walking to the garage, she halts suddenly. All the air is pulled from my lungs as I look across the space at my mom. I’m scared to blink because I’m not sure if she’s a mirage or not.
She takes a step in our direction, an uneasy smile on her face. “Hi, Elliot. I tried calling first, but your phone went to voice mail.”
How can she be here? How can she be standing on this property with a smile after what happened here? And how can she be smiling at me after what I’d said to her?
Looking to Victoria, her smile grows more relaxed. “Hi, sweetie. How’ve you been doing?”
“Fine,” Victoria utters, glancing to me, her hand firmly grasping mine as she looks back to my mom.
“I’m not going to keep the two of you, I just wanted to see if we could get together. Maybe have lunch or something.”
Lunch? She’s been locked away for months, during which I’d told her I wished she was dead, and she wants to have lunch. Why does that seem insubstantial? “We have plans.”
Victoria quickly adds, “It’s okay. We can go out another time.”
“Oh. No. I don’t want to just barge in.” She gives us a heartwarming smile. “I’m glad the two of you found your way to each other.”
I jerk my hand away from Victoria’s and she looks to me, her eyes pleading not to make this worse.
“I’m going to head back to your grandfather’s house. I thought the transition would be better if I stayed at Lawrence’s house for a while to give you some time. I’ll be there if you want to stop by. I’d really love the chance to talk to you if you’d like, but I want you to know that I love you, and I understand if you don’t want to see me. Just know that I’m there if you need me.”
Victoria brushes her fingertips up my arm as we stand there, watching my mom wave goodbye to us, a smile is on her face … but is it real? Will I get a chance to find out if I let her walk away without saying what is demanding to be said?
“Mom.”
She stops just before she reaches the door, turning to face me with an apprehensive look, probably unsure if I’m about to say something nice or something hateful, and that makes me sick to my stomach. I never would’ve furthered her pain had I known what she’d been through.
Walking to her, I stop a few feet away. “I didn’t mean it.”
>
Her eyes fill with tears as she smiles. “I know.” She reaches for the door, saying over her shoulder, “Call me or stop by whenever you’re ready.”
Will I ever be? I think I am now, but something stops me from telling her. There’s no way we can just pick up and move on like nothing ever happened. What’s our new normal going to look like?
“Elliot,” Victoria’s soft voice pulls me from my thoughts as I turn to face her. “Are you okay?”
“I think so.”
Victoria steps forward, snaking her arms around my torso. “We can go on a date another day. You need to spend time with your mom.”
“I will, but I’m not sure I’m ready just yet.”
“It’s a lot to take in. I’m going to head home. If you decide you want to change the plan, just let me know.”
“Okay,” I reply with no intention of changing a damn thing. Victoria is the only sure thing in my life right now. I’m not canceling on her. Besides, she’s right. It is a lot to take in. The last person I thought I’d lay eyes on today was my mother.
“I’ll call you in a little while,” she gives me a quick kiss before reluctantly releasing me, heading for her car.
28
Victoria
My fingers ache from gripping the steering wheel so tightly as I turn out of Elliot’s driveway. Olivia showing up threw me for such a loop that it had taken me a second to remember how to breathe, so I can only imagine how Elliot felt. The fact that she is staying at Lawrence’s instead of her own house speaks on how unsafe she really feels in her own home. Even if Lawrence is Richard’s father, he’s a good man from everything I’ve seen of him. Then again, I’m not the best judge of character because I thought my dad just had a short temper. Turns out he’s an abusive monster.