“Let’s go,” Mr. Cole smiled at me as he buckled his seat belt. I watched him as I did the same. “Start her up.”
Again, I obeyed and did as I was told. I turned the key and she purred to life. It wasn’t as intense or as seductive as the sound of his car but I enjoyed it all the same.
As I backed out of the garage I caught sight of the look on my mother’s face. If looks could kill Mr. Cole and I would be dead and my brand-new car would be nothing more than a pile of ash. That lady ruined everything for me. I had the insane urge to stick up my middle finger high in the air and wave it around in her direction. Childish, I know.
“Sometimes your mother can be a bit… much.” Mr. Cole mumbled to me as I pulled out of the driveway causing a sudden burst of laughter to escape me. He could say that again.
“Where are we going?” I asked him when I stopped laughing. I didn’t really care where we went just so long as it got us away from home for a little while.
As I headed towards town I drove past an enormous black truck. Addison sat behind the wheel with Abel in the passenger seat. It did not surprise me one bit that they had a truck suited for a small giant. Tyson’s Audi was right behind them.
Mr. Cole must have recognized Tyson’s car because as soon as we drove past him Mr. Cole asked me if I’d met the neighbors yet. Seeing as we only had the one neighbor I assumed he meant Tyson. I shrugged in response, not wanting to have that conversation with him.
“Where are we going?” I repeated myself.
“Doesn’t matter, Ariel. Just drive and enjoy your gift.”
As I cruised around town he fiddled with the radio, going from station to station. Every time he stopped on a new station he’d ask me if I liked the song playing. If I did he’d leave it for the duration of the song. If I said no he’d move on to the next station just to do it all over again. I think it was his way of trying to get to know me just a little bit more in any way he could. I didn’t mind.
Exactly half an hour later I pulled into the driveway. He hit a button on the garage door opener clipped to the passenger side visor that I hadn’t noticed before. The farthest garage door to the left slid open.
“You’ll park in the garage from now on. I don’t care if you park in the driveway if you’re planning on leaving again, but if you’re home for the night I want your car in the garage with the rest of them.”
I shrugged and muttered, “Okay.” I could definitely do that for him. Easy. Though, I didn’t know why it mattered to him where I parked.
Right before I pulled into the garage something across the yard and at the tree line caught my eye. There was a man standing there, half in the shadow of the trees. I couldn’t make out his facial features or much of anything for that matter. Save for his eyes. They were as black as night and staring right at me. I shivered in my seat as he fell back and blended in with the rest of the shadows amongst the trees. Why was there a man lurking in the tree line at the end of our yard? Suddenly parking in the garage didn’t seem like such a bad idea to me now. Not with strange men lurking around.
I had my seat belt off and my door halfway open when he spoke again. “You mentioned getting a job earlier today to pay for things. I didn’t like this. I don’t mean to overstep my place, but I don’t want you getting a job while you’re living under my roof. I want you to focus on school and being a teenager. I understand that you’ll need money for things so I’ve had a separate account set up for you.” He slid a plastic card and a slip of paper out of his front pants pocket and laid both on the dash. “Money will be deposited at the beginning of each month. Your pin is on the paper. I suggest you memorize it and throw the paper away. It wouldn’t do for certain people to find it.” He opened his door and climbed out of the Rover. “Thank you for spending time with me, Ariel, it meant a lot to me, you have no idea. And if I get home too late tonight, I will see you in the morning.”
Tears hit the backs of my eyes as my throat closed up tight around the ball of emotion suddenly lodged there. Before I could get ahold of myself enough to tell him thank you after I tried to give him back the card he was gone. He didn’t even bother to go inside to see my mother. Instead he got in his sleek, black car and backed out of the garage.
I sat there for several minutes gripping the steering wheel tightly in my hands while I deep breathed until the tears were entirely gone. I didn’t want to face my mother with tears in my eyes. I slipped the card and the piece of paper into my back pocket, hit the button on the device clipped to the visor that would close the garage door and climbed out of the Rover. I’d keep it as long as I lived here, if that ever changed I’d try to give it back to him.
As I walked through the dark garage I shivered, thinking about the man watching me from the woods. I probably should have mentioned him to Mr. Cole. Maybe he’d know who it was.
This day felt like it would never end.
I picked up my book bag where I’d left it when I got out of Mr. Cole’s car and headed inside. The door to the garage opened up inside the kitchen beside the pantry. If the man at the tree line hadn’t been there it’s likely I would have tooled around in the garage in an attempt to buy myself time. Instead, I felt the need to hide myself behind as many locked doors as possible.
My mother was waiting for me inside the kitchen like I knew she would be. She stood tall, with her hips resting back against the granite counter top beside the sink. Today she wore a white, sleeveles
s dress that barely skimmed her knees. Skin tight, of course, but an appropriate length. The neck line dipped so low her boobs looked in danger of spilling out if she were to bend over. Vivian Kimber would never wear a dress that covered up what she liked to call her magnificent tata’s. She’d removed her heels and now stood barefoot. An open bottle of Grey Goose sat on the counter to her left. A glass of ice sat beside the half empty bottle. In the half an hour we’d been gone she’d done a significant amount of damage to that bottle. She poured herself another drink as I came into view.
“You think you’re better than me.” Her words were surprisingly clear for the amount of alcohol she’d consumed. I wondered how long she’d been repeating that one line in her head to get it to come out without a slur.
My stomach growled in hunger. Instead of answering her I walked to the pantry, opened the door and stepped inside. I searched the shelves looking for something I could take up to my room with me to eat behind my locked door.
“Answer me,” she yelled at my back. Ignoring her was always a stupid idea.
“I would if you had asked me a question,” I mumbled under my breath. Still, I had no doubt she’d heard me.
“Did you fuck him on your little drive?” she asked nastily. “Is that how you paid for your new car? Did you wrap your teenage mouth and then your teenage twat around his dick to pay for it?” She was screaming at me now. “Answer me!”
I turned to face her and yelled back, “No! I’m not you, mother.” I cringed, knowing I should not have said that to her. I should have ignored her entirely, said to hell with my hunger and ran right up to my room.
Stunned silence filled the room before she let out an animalistic snarl and hurled her glass at me. Pain flared through my head as it struck me in the temple. I blinked owlishly as my feet came out from under me and I crashed to the floor. The expensive (thus heavy) glass hit the floor first and shattered, scattering glass all over the floor. I landed on top of the glass. Blood trickled down my face from the cut at my temple. The glass beneath me bit into my clothes but hadn’t yet sliced into my skin.
“You stupid girl,” she screamed at me. “I finally find a man worth keeping and you think you can take him away from me. We’ll just see about that.”