Page 35 of Rot

“I don’t—” I didn’t know what the hell this girl was talking about, but I had the feeling that if I tried to say that, she wouldn’t believe me.

“Whatever you’re doing with Elias, stop. He’s mine. I had him first.”

“Did you? Because to me, it sounds like he’s just using you for sex.” There was nothing wrong with being used for sex; that wasn’t why I said it. I said it because a girl like Dana wanted to be important to Elias, and that so obviously wasn’t happening.

That struck a nerve. Dana let out a laugh, but it came off bitter and short. She opened her mouth to say something, probably to one-up me, but I said, “Sorry, I have to get to class.” And then, without saying another word, I moved around her and left her there, speechless.

I wasn’t used to the games pretty girls played, but I could learn. The rules of the game couldn’t be that hard, if someone like Dana played it constantly. In my old school, I’d steered clear of people like her—mostly because they steered clear of me, but that was beside the point. While being alone, I did a lot of watching, a lot of learning. I knew how to take girls like Dana down, if I wanted. I knew what to say to hurt them.

But I didn’t know what she’d do next. I didn’t know how Dana would react in the long term to what I’d said. If she thought I’d sit back and let her have Elias after this past weekend… she couldn’t have been more wrong.

If I had to start a war to keep him to myself, I would, and I wouldn’t care one bit about the casualties.

That afternoon, when I got into the car with Elias, I waited until we were out on the road before saying, “Dana talked to me today.” He didn’t so much as mutter a word to indicate he was listening, but I kept going, “I think she feels threatened by me. She said I could have her brother, but I can’t have you.” I turned my head toward him, staring at him, hoping for some kind of response.

But I got nothing.

Maybe it was time to tell Elias a little bit about myself, if his mother hadn’t already.

“She also said she knows about my dad. I assume she’ll try to use that information against me. I guess other people might be ashamed, but I don’t care. Did your mom ever tell you about my dad?”

He glared at me, finally showing some kind of reaction. “No. All she said was that he’s not in the picture and that he isn’t a good guy.”

“He’s dead, too,” I stated. “But his death wasn’t an accident. It was voted on by a grand jury and he was sentenced to death. He was executed a few years ago. I didn’t get to go watch. I wanted to—”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“My dad was the Bedlam Butcher. He killed, what? Seven people before they caught him? On his last night as a free man, he killed my mom’s best friend and family, and then he raped her. She was able to fight him and knock him unconscious so the cops could come for him. So, you see, I’m not the perfect little rich girl you think I am. Everyone hated me because of who my father was.”

Elias was quiet, but then he muttered a soft, “That’s fucked up.”

“Yeah, it is. I thought I might get a new start here, but Dana must’ve been trying to find me online. All you have to do is search my last name and a whole bunch of articles pop up. I don’t care about people knowing who I am. I don’t care about what they think of me. I… don’t really care about a lot of things.”

“But you care about Jordan?”

“I’m surprised you care, since you’ve ignored me—”

We were at a red light, which was the only way Elias could take his hand off the wheel, turn towards me, and reach for me. That hand curled around the back of my neck, pulling me toward him with a jerk of his arm.

“Do you want me to fuck you on the kitchen table with our moms watching?”

“Well, no, but—”

Elias let go of me. The light had turned green and someone had beeped behind us. He practically floored the car, getting up to speed in miraculous time and going way over the speed limit. He took a left turn where he normally turned right, which led me to think we weren’t going home.

So where were we going?

I wanted to ask, but I remained silent. The ghostly sensation of his hand on the back of my neck remained, a reminder of how commanding he could really be. So fierce and unyielding. Really, it wasn’t a wonder why Dana wanted him. I was surprised more girls didn’t want him, but maybe more people around here wanted nothing to do with human-shaped monsters.

We ended up driving about fifteen minutes away, to a dingy-looking house that was in some serious need of repair. The yard had a whole bunch of old, rusted vehicles, and the grass was an inch too long.

“What are we doing here?” I was slow in asking, glancing all around.

“You’ll see” was all Elias said. He didn’t turn the car off, nor did he go to get out. We waited there for five minutes before someone else pulled into the driveway behind us, in a car that was in such rough shape, I didn’t know how it was still road-worthy.

In the side mirror, I saw the same hoodie-wearing kid I’d seen Elias talking to earlier. He pulled his car beside ours and got out, heading to the front door with a key in his hand. Elias got out with him. I wasn’t sure if he expected me to follow him or not, so I stayed put, merely watching. They disappeared in the house for a few minutes, and it was up to me to guess what was going on inside.

Five minutes passed, and Elias came out of the house holding onto a small paper bag. Huh. Maybe my initial drug dealer sentiment had been spot-on.

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