Page 5 of Desolation

“Ha! I wish. Just sending a friend a message about something we have going on tomorrow,” she says with a laugh.

I guess it never occurred to me that Reba may have a life outside of work. Sighing, I silently berate myself, just because I have tunnel vision doesn’t mean other people do too. I only want one thing, to get away from this place as fast as I can. Others will stay here forever. Reba is one of those people. She is content here.

Reba pulls up a few houses down from mine. The few times I’ve let her take me home, I never let her park in front of the house. It’s better if I can just sneak past my parents. If they hear a car they instantly think it may be Dominic. More than a few times I’ve gotten a beating because I made noise coming home and they were disappointed that it was me and not their dealer.

I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day with way more social interaction than I am used to and I have no spoons left for the day. Telling Reba goodbye and thank you, I open the car door and close it quietly behind me, just in case. Walking up to the house, I notice that the living room lights are on. Stopping, I take a minute to try to decide what to do. I still have homework that needs to be done and it’s already almost ten.

Hands shaking and heart racing, I decide that I need to just go in. Hopefully I can just head up to my room with little arguing. Turning the knob quietly, I step inside.

Peering around the corner of the hallway I see my parents both sitting in the living room looking pissed off. Fuck. I wonder if Dominic told them what happened at the diner. I’m eighteen though and I can make my own choices. I certainly would never make a choice to date Dominic and it’s absurd if they think I will.

My palms instantly get sweaty. This isn’t going to be good. Heart in my throat I step around the corner into the living room.

“So, you turned down a perfectly good date?” my mom immediately asks with a sneer on her face. “You aren’t going to get a better offer than that, Elodie.”

Swallowing hard, I say, “I don’t have time to date. I’m going to college and I’ll be too busy with that to even think about dating. Besides, a drug dealer is not on my list of appropriate boyfriends, even if I was looking.”

It doesn’t matter what I say, when they are like this, I already know what’s going to happen. So, I just speak my truth. They are judge, jury, and executioner. And I am always found guilty.

My father grunts, “You won’t get a better offer than this. Weneedyou to do this. If you don’t there will be consequences.”

What the hell does he mean theyneedit and what consequences?

“I’m an adult, you can’t force me to do this. I’ll be out of here and no longer your problem or your punching bag in a few weeks. I’m definitely not going to do anything to make your habit worse either,” I say quietly but clearly.

“You will do this. You have no choice Elodie. And I’m about to show you just how much of a choice you don’t have,” my dad says with a twisted smile.

“I won’t do that,” I yell. Taking a deep breath, I try to calm myself. It won’t do me any good if I yell at them. It only makes things worse when I try to stand up for myself. But this is my escape from here we are talking about. I can’t make myself stay calm.

Dad’s on his feet in an instant and backhands me so hard I fall to my knees, blood dripping from my mouth. “You will go out with him, girl, and that’s that.”

Standing, I wipe my mouth, blood smearing across my hands. “No.”

Again, he back hands me, and the next thing I know, my mother walks over and straddles me, punching me over and over and shrieking at me at the top of her lungs. “You. Will. Go. On. The. Date. Period. We need this and Dominic has made promises if we make it happen.”

Shaking my head in disbelief, my mother grabs me by the hair and holds me while my father continues to beat me, spit flying as he yells. They must not have gotten their fix today. It’s always bad like this when they are withdrawing. My father’s blows slow down as he tires himself out. My mom is still yelling, but I tune it out. I have learned to just shut down when this is happening. It’s almost as if I’m floating over the top of my own body, watching as the people who should love me the most, show me how much they hate me.

They eventually tire themselves out, as they always do. I don’t think I can stand up. I’m pretty sure I have a concussion, my face feels like it’s cracked open, and my nose is definitely broken, whichmeans I’m going to have to call in sick to school for a few days until I can cover the bruises with makeup and the swelling goes down.

Crying, bloody, and hurting, I try to crawl towards the stairs. I just need to get to my room and lock the door. Eventually they will pass out and I can get myself cleaned up after that. Reaching the foot of the stairs, I fumble around for my backpack and pull it towards me. Still on my hands and knees, I crawl slowly up the stairs.

When I finally make it to my room at the end of the hall, I see my door is standing wide open and the room is trashed. Great, they planned this and wanted to make sure it was worse when I got up here after my beating. Groaning, I sit up against the wall to try to catch my breath. There is no way I’m going to be able to clean that up tonight.

Getting back to my hands and knees, I continue crawling my way into my room. Reaching behind me for the door, I close it and stop to reach up to lock it. Sitting back against it, I sob. Hard. Desolate, hollow sounding sobs wrack my body. I’m in so much pain that each hitch of my breath sends lightning shooting through my body, but I can’t seem to stop.

Why? Why are they like this? Why couldn’t I have parents that love me? Wrapping my arms around my knees, I gently lay my face on my arms, head tilted to the side. The sobs finally subside and I just sit there staring at the wall until I eventually pass out from the pain.

CHAPTER 5

DRAKE

My father was in his office with my brother and a couple of their enforcers when I came home from the diner, so I didn’t bother going in. I need plausible deniability as their future attorney. I don’t mind though; it’s not my thing anyway.

I pace back and forth on the balcony, wishing I knew what was bugging me so badly. Sighing, I swipe my hands down my face and sit down at the table. Grabbing my beer, I tip itback and take a long pull. I don’t often drink, but something is really bothering me tonight so I grabbed a couple beers on my way out to the balcony.

Fisting my hands, I take a deep breath and stare out across the city. I always come here to the balcony when I need to think. The first conversation not going well with El made me come back to talk to her again. Touching her and getting her agreement has been all I have been able to think about since I left.

Taking out my phone, I call the driver, Louis. I don’t need to get pulled over for drinking and driving. Heading inside, I take the elevator down to the ground floor and step into the car. I give him directions to Elodie’s neighborhood and he looks at me sharply, “You know that things could get hairy if we get caught there, right?” he asks.

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