“Was it hard leaving them behind?” I ask, unsure why I want to know. Our pasts don’t matter, not really, but knowing where Elyse came from helps me understand her better. She’s so sweet and innocent and gives everyone the benefit of the doubt. But only because she doesn’t know better, and I finally get a glimpse of why.
“A couple of them I miss…” She shoves a fry into her shake, then into her mouth. “But most of them hated me when they found out our parents were letting me go to college. And the only reason I think they let me go was because they knew I’d do it anyway, even if they didn’t want me to. I’ve always been kind of the troublemaker, did what I wanted and got the belt a couple times.” She pauses briefly.
The idea of someone spanking her, touching her porcelain skin…yeah, it makes me want to kill.
“This way, it made it look more like they were approving even though it’s painfully obvious they weren’t.”
That makes me straight up laugh. “You were the troublemaker of the family?”
“Yeah, I know, shocking. But being the youngest has its perks.” She winks.
It’s so adorable, I want to kiss her, but don’t. Instead, I let her continue to eat. “Is that where you went that morning? To see your parents?” I take a bite of my own burger, mainly because I look like a total idiot sitting here watching her eat while I ask a million and one questions.
Elyse nods, her eyes professing how sorry she is…still. Fucking Christ, this girl doesn’t let anything go.
“My mom said she had something to tell me, something she couldn’t tell me over the phone.” She rolls her eyes. “But like always, it was just another stunt to get me to come home. This time, though, she blew it. I don’t plan on talking to either of my parents ever again.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. Honestly, I wouldn’t want you to. Trust me, sometimes you’re better off cutting your parents out of your life.” Just thinking about the scumbag of a father I have makes me lose my appetite. He’s not even worth the thinking space inside my head.
“You sound like you’re talking from experience.”
“Nothing gets by you, detective.” I think about changing the subject, so I don’t have to talk about him, but Elyse just shared something about her family and now I feel obligated to do the same. That’s what normal couples do, right? They share things, even stuff they don’t want to talk about with anybody else. “My mom was the sweetest person you could ever meet, but she had a talent for picking the biggest assholes. She married my dad right after high school. He got her pregnant before she even graduated. I think they might have gotten married just because of it. Anyway, he started drinking, cheating, and abusing her when I was just a baby. My mom was scared of leaving him and raising me on her own, so she just let it happen. My grandma told me years later it wasn’t until he put his hand on me that my mom got up and left his ass. Of course, the guys she dated after weren’t much better. Like I said, she had a talent.”
“I’m so sorry. Is your grandma still alive?”
I can tell Elyse feels bad for me, but there isn’t any point in it. I don’t want her pity. “No. She died a year before my mom did.” Elyse frowns even more, and I hate the look on her face. I want her smiles, always.
“I’m really sorry, Hero.” She places her hand on my knee.
I welcome the warmth of her touch.
“What about your dad? Is he still alive?”
The subject of my father stings and leaves me feeling angry and disappointed. “Unfortunately, yes. I wish the fucker would die, but that’ll never happen.” No, god no, why take a piece of shit junkie who’s wasting their life when you can take a caring mother from her son?
Elyse seems a bit wary, her eyes bleeding into mine. “You don’t really mean that, do you?”
I swallow down some of the anger I was about to unleash. Her question pisses me right off. “You can’t be serious,” I growl.
Elyse’s eyes widen with confusion.
“He abused my mother and me. He’s the reason my mother married my now dead stepfather…” I’m seething. My entire night is ruined, and all because of him. “You know, Elyse, you’re naive to the world. You believe everyone has some type of good in them. I get that.” I clench my jaw. “But he doesn’t deserve an ounce of space in our conversation. He doesn’t deserve anything but a bullet in the head.” I let the words hang in the air, my eyes refusing to meet Elyse’s. This is where we are not alike—the part of us that would always remain different. Elyse sees the world as her oyster.