“You’re almost too good to be true,” she breathes.
Unsure how to respond, I continue stroking her jaw with my fingers and take in her beauty. She’s the girl. With every ounce of my being, I feel it in my bones. If only she would allow me to kiss her, so I can prove that I am right about my theory.
Ella
Once I convince Shawn to leave, so that I can deal with my stepsisters, I wait a minute for him to walk down the long driveway before I step inside the house.
He was worried about the wrath of Bitch and Bitchier. But I can handle them. I was terrified when they found us together alone on the steps. I lucked out with them stomping off into the house before they said something to humiliate me.
Natasha and Anastasia are waiting for me in the sitting room with Clarissa, the three of them standing next to each other with their hands on their hips, staring at me in anger.
Clarissa tips her head up at the ceiling with every ounce of arrogance and authority she always projects. Her daughters are no better, giving me their usual self-entitled resting bitch faces. I should have thought things through before I had invited Shawn onto the property. After sharing so much of our pasts on the bus rides over, I lowered my guard more than I should.
While I appreciate Shawn standing up to my stepsisters, I have no doubt they will make me pay for every word he spoke against them. I imagine he sees them often enough that they could torment us both, though I’m not so sure what they would do that could affect him the same as me. I have to live with them, which is a big difference.
“You know the rules, Ella,” Clarissa says in an angry tone, despite the calm in her voice.
Even when Clarissa is ready to blow a gasket, she nev
er shows it. That alone makes her more menacing. How does she manage to stay in control all the time? It must be how she’d fooled my father. He had no idea he was marrying the woman I know. She was nicer when he was alive. Now, she’s cold and calculated and does everything with a purpose, one that usually ends badly for me.
“Yes, I know,” I mutter, staring down at the floor, deflated. “I’m sorry. It will not happen again.”
Why do the best nights with Shawn have to end like this? I hate them so much I wish I could break free from their constant harassment.
“You’re right. It won’t happen again because you are grounded.”
My mouth widens in shock, as I stare at Clarissa.
“I didn’t mean anything by bringing him here. I wasn’t planning to invite him inside. He only offered to see me home.”
“You are not allowed to have guests. It’s bad enough that you sneak off to see that old woman next door when you think I am not paying attention, but it is another to bring a strange boy to my house. There are rules for a reason. You seem to like breaking them, so I have no choice to punish you, Ella.”
How does she know about my visits with Mrs. Feighry?
With my schedule, I haven’t had much time to escape for an hour to have tea with Mrs. F, even though I make it a point to stop by on my way home from school to check on her.
“I’m almost twenty-two years old and not a child anymore.” The words roll off my tongue with so much hatred for this woman. If I had a superpower, I would use it make her disappear along with her wicked daughters.
“You live under my roof, which means you follow my rules unless you want to move out. That’s an option.” She wrinkles her nose at me as if I am beneath her and snorts. “I’m sure you would last all of two seconds on your own.”
“Natasha and Anastasia are allowed to have friends and boyfriends over,” I counter.
I hate when their friends come to visit. I’m forced to stay in my room, making me feel even more like a prisoner than I already do.
Natasha rolls her eyes and growls, “Mind your own business, Little Orphan Ella.”
My blood boils from the nickname she reserves for when she’s pissed, which is more often than not. It reminds me of everything I have lost and all that I have left. Nothing and no one. Natasha uses it against me because she knows how to hurt me most. They all do.
With my hands balled into fists at my sides, I lock eyes with Clarissa. A beat passes between us before I muster up enough courage to speak again. No matter how much I want to act out, I have to stay strong until the end of the school year. I lasted this long without my father, and I can make it another three months. All I have to do is follow her orders. Natasha and Anastasia are complications added to the mix, but I can deal with them.
“How long is my punishment?” I ask Clarissa to her satisfaction.
The corner of her mouth curls upward into a lopsided smirk. She lives to win and wins she does. I have no power here, and she knows it. Because of that, she uses it to her advantage. “Let’s start with this weekend and go from there.”
“But—” I whine, stopping myself before I can mention the football game. They cannot know that Tori had invited me to the first playoff game for the Strickland Senators. I hadn’t even mentioned it to Shawn, thinking I would show up and surprise him on the sidelines. Now, that plan is out the window. So much for having some fun before college ends.
“No buts. What I say goes in this house, and my punishment is final.”