by Rebel Wild
“That’s putting it nicely,” she says. “He can be hard sometimes on people and on himself and I have told him that to his face when he asked me once, so it’s no secret that I think so. But underneath it all, he’s an okay guy. He just doesn’t like to show it. He does all the wrong things for the right reasons.”
“Bree,” Joe calls to her and we both look up at him.
She sighs.
“Well, I’ve bent your ear long enough,” she says as she clears our empty plates. “I’ll leave you to the rest of your morning. Feel free to come back around if you get too lonely. I know how it can be being in this big place all alone.”
“Thanks,” I tell her.
“Any time.”
She walks past an irritated Joe, who trails behind her. I have a feeling they’re about to argue and I’m proven right because the minute he thinks I can’t hear him he starts in on Bree.
“Babe, why do you insist on getting to know that girl? Weren’t you the one about to cut my balls off for talking to her?”
“Yeah, you were being an asshole and it’s different now that I know her.”
“You don’t know her.”
“I know enough.”
“You’ve barely spent thirty minutes with her.”
“Plenty of time for me to know that she’s a good person. You can see it in her eyes and the way she carries herself. And she’s not one of those money-grabbing sluts who he always brings in here. You really should talk to him about that. He gets on you all the time, but he’s fucked up too. Okay, yeah, you get high on Meth, but he gets his high by hitting women. He needs to talk to someone about that.”
I know I shouldn’t be listening to this but my behind is rooted to the seat and my ears are burning. Sometimes I hate being so nosy, but this isn’t one of those times, so I sip my water and continue to listen.
“He is talking to someone,” Joe says.
“Well, they suck because he’s getting worse. She’s a damn kid.”
“She’s not a kid and don’t let this whole thing with her fool you. Does it look like she’s here for anything other than his money? She’s no different than the rest of them.”
“The girl has a stuffed rabbit hidden under her pillows. I mean, come on.”
I roll my eyes at her knowing about my rabbit. I should have hidden him better.
“That’s real cute, but my brother’s treating her like all the others so I will too and so should you.”
“You and your brother can kiss my ass.”
“Why are we fighting about this shit?”
“What do you want me to do, Joe? I’m supposed to be here with her all day. I have to talk to her. I get bored here all alone anyway. I could use some company.”
“He asked me to hang around here too, so you won’t be alone.”
“He did what?”
“He had my community service changed to work here, so I don’t have to clean freeways all damn day.”
“For how long?”
“As long as she’s here. He asked me to keep an eye on her, to make sure she has everything she needs. I guess I’m her new errand boy.”
“So, you say he’s treating her like all the others? I don’t recall him having you at the beck and call of the others. I don’t recall him giving that many shits about the others. Even that loser bitch, what’s her name, that thought she was his girlfriend until he dropped her ass?”
“Portia or some shit,” he says. “Okay, so maybe Sydney’s not exactly like all the others, but she’s far from being anything other than his shiny new sex toy.”
I cringe at him knowing about that.
“I’m worried about that too.” Bree’s voice is lower now and I have to strain to hear her. “She was really uncomfortable when I mentioned the playroom.”
“Maybe she’s not the type to talk sex with strangers.”
“I think it’s more like she’s not having much of it.”
“Babe, that’s none of your damn business. Stay the hell out of it. They’re two consenting adults.”
“The girl is eighteen and I don’t think she has a clue.”
“She’ll learn.”
“Are you telling me you don’t care?”
“Are you telling me you think my brother will do something to hurt her?”
“No,” she tells him quickly. “Not intentionally, no.”
“Bree, I want you to stay away from her. You’re all worked up over nothing.”
“That girl is screaming for a friend. You know it as well as I do.”
“Maybe, but it shouldn’t be you. Weren’t you the one saying how you wanted nothing to do with her when she first got here?”
“So now I can’t change my mind? Since when?”
“Forget it. I’m tired of talking about it. Do what you want.”
“I always do.”
“Shit,” I say when I hear him walking back up the hallway. I slide out of my chair and run upstairs before I’m caught.
The rest of my morning is spent wandering around with nothing to do. I really don’t get why Mr. Garrett wants me here all the time when I’m by myself most of the day. I’m stuck here sprinting around like a scared cat whenever I hear someone coming, thinking it might be him. This place has a million doors for me to go outside, but the locks on them are mocking me. I try to pick the lock on the front door, but I’m busted by Joe.
“Going somewhere?” His voice comes up behind me.
“Who me?” I point to myself and I even look behind me to see if there’s someone else he could be talking to. “No, I was just wondering how I’ll get out if there is an emergency or something.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“But what if the house is on fire or we have a really big earthquake and I can’t get out?”
“You’ll be fine.”
“I’m not a prisoner here, you know? I have a right to leave if I want.”
“Not according to the contract you signed.”
“You know about that? Isn’t that a violation of the NDA?” I try to stare him down, but it has no effect on him. “You’re not going to tell me a thing, are you?” I ask him after he stands forever like a statue, wanting me to step away from the already locked door.
“Not a chance.” He laughs. “I know it may seem like you’re alone, but you never are. Someone will come for you if there’s an emergency.”
“But what if they forget me? I’m very easy to forget.”
“My brother won’t forget.”
“But what if he’s hurt or can’t talk or—”
“Look, I will personally come for you, okay? You have my word.”
The look in his eyes lets me know that his word means something.
“Okay. Thank you.”
I shuffle around until he goes back to wherever he was. He turns the corner and I can hear Bree laughing at him.
“What’s so damn funny?” He asks her.
“Just you forgetting everything you just yelled at me about.”
“Unlike you, I know when to duck in and out of shit,” he says.
“Whatever you say, Joe, but you never gave your word to the others.”
“Let it go, Brianna,” he warns. “For your own damn good, close that big heart of yours, babe.”
My cell phone goes off and I fish it out of my back pocket, walking away so they won’t hear it.
I read the text from Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett: I emailed you. Since you haven’t responded. I take it to mean you’re not in your room.
Sydney: No sir, I’m in the great room.
Mr. Garrett: Do you need my permission to visit your father today?
Sydney: No, sir, but I’ll need to check in with his new lawyer.
Oh, hell, I forgot to ask for permission.
Mr. Garrett: Granted. The school semester is starting soon. Let me know which classes you are interested in taking.
Sydney: Yes, sir.
Excited about going to school, I practically skip up the stairs. The school’s website is tagged on my computer, so I open it up to the course catalog. I’ve already been registered. How the heck did he do that? I lay across my bed and look through the requirements for the Linguistics program. I jot down the classes I’ll need. I hope that I’ll get to discuss it with him at some point.
I watch the clock get closer to five. My stomach flips when I think about us starting fresh in the playroom tonight. What does that even mean? How do you start fresh when beating and fucking someone? I know I agreed to this, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to pull it off. Maybe I should just take the money and run. Daddy has a great lawyer now. Maybe we can just take our chances that he’ll get him off.
Don’t be an idiot, Sydney. Mr. Garrett will personally see to it that Daddy gets thrown under the jail with you along with him. I’m screwed, in more ways than one.
I sit up when I hear a knock on my door, hoping it’s not him coming home early.
“Come in.”
I’m happy to see that it’s Bree.
“Joe needs me to run you over to your place,” she says. “The cops caught him breaking in.”
“But he has the key,” I say, getting up and putting my shoes on.
“Like they give a shit.”
I grip the console in front of me while Bree drives. She has to be going twenty miles over the speed limit. I don’t know if she always drives like this or it’s because Joe’s in trouble, but either way, she’s going to get us both killed.
When she pulls up to my apartment building, I jump out so fast I didn’t even see her put the car in park.
Joe’s sitting on the curb with his hands cuffed behind him, and some of my neighbors are peering out of the windows. Good thing Mrs. Leland is on the other side of the building or else I’d have some explaining to do.
“Oh, no.” I groan when I see Detective Dalton. He’s been a pain in my ass since Daddy got arrested.
“Sydney, nice to see you again,” he says.
“Hello,” I say before looking past him at Joe.
“I found him breaking into your apartment,” Dalton says, following my stare.
“Yeah, and how did I unlock the door, genius?” Joe asks him.
“Joe, honey, come on,” Bree says, coming to stand next to me. “Don’t give them anything to arrest you for.”
“Man, fuck that shit,” Joe says to her.
“I take it you know this guy?” Dalton asks me.
“He’s a friend. He has permission to be in my place. He wasn’t breaking in or anything.”
“There, you happy now?” Joe asks. “Get me out of these damn handcuffs.”
Dalton nods to his partner who stands Joe on his feet and takes the cuffs off. Bree runs over to check on him.
“Why are you even here?” I ask Dalton. “Detectives usually don’t show up for break-ins.”
“I needed to ask you some questions, ran into this guy.” He nods his head in Joe’s direction. “You need to be careful about who you let into your apartment.”
“As I said, he’s a friend.”
“Right. I know those types of friends. You mind coming down to the station with us?”
“I don’t know what else I can tell you. I already said I don’t know anything about anything.”
“I just find it hard to believe that your father never discussed what happened with you. You lived with the man. Perhaps he said something in passing, a conversation at the dinner table.”
“He didn’t and if he did, why would I tell you? You’re trying to put him away!”
“I’m not the bad guy. I’m just trying to find out the truth. I’m also trying to keep you from being charged.”
“With what? I haven’t done anything.”
“We can talk about it at the station.” He tries to take my arm, but Joe and Bree come to stand beside me. She grabs my other arm to keep me from moving.
“She’s not going anywhere,” Joe says to him, rubbing his wrist.
“Last I checked, she was old enough to make up her own mind,” Dalton says.
“Sounds like she already has, so give it up,” Joe says to him.
“You’re interfering with an ongoing investigation and breaking the law.”
“Like I care.”
“Some things never change,” Dalton says, shaking his head at him. He looks at the three of us, then at my apartment building, shaking his head again before turning back to me. “You need to make better choices, Sydney. Friends like these will drag you down. Just ask your father.”
“Are we done here?” Joe asks him, but Dalton ignores him.
“I’ll come back another time,” he speaks to me instead. “Maybe then you’ll be more cooperative when your friends aren’t around.”
“Good luck with that,” Joe says. Dalton leaves and I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding. “Jackass,” he says to the car when it drives past us.
“You know him?” I ask Joe.
“I’ve had more than a few run-ins with him. Nothing worth talking about.”
“He’s as dirty as they get,” Bree says, looking at the car as it turns the corner. “Don’t trust anything that comes out of his mouth.”
“I won’t,” I say.
“I better get you back home,” Joe says to me after he kisses Bree’s temple.
“Damn. I was going to take her clubbing,” Bree says.
“Get out of here.” Joe smacks her on the butt as she walks away from him to her car. “And keep it under forty. We don’t need the cops on us again.”
“Will do.” She blows him a kiss before hopping in the car and taking off.
“Come the fuck on,” he says as we watch her pull off so fast, she burns rubber.
Chapter Six
Mr. Garrett called Joe while we were driving back to check in with him. He told him about Dalton trying to question me and now he’s on his way home. I have a sinking feeling that I’m in some kind of trouble. Why else would he come home in the middle of the day? I run upstairs to change. No need to make him even more upset by not being dressed properly. I choose a black halter top mini-dress with a lace back and matching stilettos. After running a brush through my hair, I sit on the edge of my bed and wait. A knock on my door makes my stomach hurt in anticipation of who’s on the other side.
“Come in,” I say, softly.
The moment I see it’s Mr. Garrett, I stand and bow my head. I don’t know where to place my hands, so I lace them in front of me.
“Look at me.”
“Sir,” I respond, looking up to see him checking out my attire. His lips curl in his version of a grin, and I take it to mean I’ve made the right choice.
“Detective Dalton tried bringing you in for questioning?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What did he say to you?”
“That he wants information on my dad.”
“Did you tell him anything?”
“No, sir, but he says he’s trying to keep me from being charged.”
He blows out an angry breath.
“I’ll take care of it. I don’t want you in the middle of what’s happening to your father.”
“Why would I be in the middle?” I slip and ask without permission. “I don’t know anything.”
“That rarely matters,” he answers me anyway, although it’s really not an answer. “For the time you’re here, you’re not to deal with him.” I look at him in question. “What?”
“You can do that, stop the cops from doing their job?”
“Yes,” he s
ays, loosening his tie.
I take note of the cranberry color and my mind flashes back to when I used to tease him about wearing those blue suits that said, “I’m boring and I know it.”
Things were so much fun back then. Daddy was free and happy. I was excited about my birthday. School was almost out, and I was going to spend the summer in Miami with my best friend Leslie and her parents. I was on top of the world.
I zipped up the boots Mom sent me for my birthday, four months early. Her excuse was she wanted me to have them for rainy weather, but I just knew she forgot my birthday was in June. I called her on it and she got pissed off, saying how could she have forgotten when she was there. She was full of it. I knew she was knocked out on drugs the whole damn time.
“Foxy, you’re going to be late,” Dad yelled to me from the kitchen. I rolled my eyes at that stupid nickname he gave me when I was a baby. It was after some seventies disco band. He actually wanted to name me Foxy. Good thing Mom didn’t let him.
“I’m coming,” I yelled back, stuffing my calculus book in my bag and grabbing my phone. I tried my best to slick my hair down in the ponytail I had it in, but it was no use. “Whatever,” I said to it as I grabbed my jacket from where I’d tossed it on my chair the night before. “I hate my hair.” I tried not to touch the pimple that felt like it was about to pop right in the middle of my forehead. It was so big, the concealer I was wearing couldn’t even begin to cover it. My period was about to start. I always got these huge-ass zits when I was about to start bleeding and the stupid birth control pills weren’t helping.
“Good morning,” Daddy said when I joined him at the breakfast table.
“Instant oatmeal again.” I groaned.
“It’s your own fault,” he said. “If you would have gotten up on time, you could have helped with breakfast. So now, you’re just going to have to suffer through your old man’s cooking.”
“Excuse me for having to study for a stupid pop quiz today,” I said. “And you shouldn’t have let Hazel go on vacation. You could have at least found someone to come in and cook for us.”