Page 14 of Encounter

Chast’s gaze burned into my peripheral vision until I finally decided to look at him again. As he opened his mouth, his phone started vibrating somewhere. He quickly drew a puff from the cigarette and took the phone out of his pocket. “My, my. It’s your pops,” he quipped before accepting the call. “Yeah?”

I tried to hear what he and Dad were talking about. There was a pause while Chast listened.

Did something happen?

“U-hm. I see.” Chast’s expression stayed bland. “Well, it’s fine, then...?” Another pause. Dad’s voice came from the speaker, but nowhere near clear enough for me to understand. “Fine. I mean—it’s your money. I can do that, sure.” As our eyes met again, I held my breath. I couldn’t tell what was going on, but my brain already had a stack of possible scenarios ready to stress over. “Yeah, he’s in his room. Gimme a sec.” Covering the phone with his hand, he passed it to me. “He wants to talk.”

With a submissive nod—which I hoped clearly conveyed I was going to follow up on the lie and not cause any trouble—I took the phone.

We’re both home. Never left. Doingnothingat all.

“Hello?”

“Galen. I hope you have gotten out of your moody slump.” Dad’s voice lacked any tint of caring. “I won’t be home tonight. I’m traveling to a meeting point to sort the situation out with Mr. Ramirez, whoso kindlydecided to finally communicate. The mercenary will keep guarding you until tomorrow. I should be back early afternoon.” Quick, concise, to the point—barely giving me a chance to react.

“Okay. Alright.” What more did I expect? At least it was going to be finally over.

Like someone flipped a switch, Dad’s tone changed into a cautious one, “Is Mr. Lahad causing any trouble?”

“No. He’s fine, Dad,” I answered quickly, glancing at Chast.

“Good. I’ll be busy with some other business dealings in the meantime, so we will speak once I get home. Make sure to catch up with your studies instead of lounging around or playing that piano. This sort of thing isn’t something to completely derail your life for.”

Without giving me time to react to the sharp order, he hung up, leaving me to stare blankly at the car dashboard. One would think all of this would change our relationship—maybe make Dad act like an actual human being for once. But no... Nothing changed. Nothing at all.

As I passed Chast the phone back, his gaze still lingered. “He won’t be back until tomorrow,” I said.

“I know, he told me. Guess we’ll have to spend some more time together.”

The sigh that escaped his lips was understandable.Who would want to hang around watching someone as boring as me?Saying nothing more, I sat there with my fingers intertwined together, fidgeting.

A while passed in silence before Chast shifted in the seat. With a nefarious smirk appearing on his face, he closed the window and turned on the engine. Whatever was going on in his head, I didn’t like it.

“Since your father won’t be around to complain, how about we have some fun tonight?” As my eyes widened in fear from all the possibilities, Chast’s smile grew even larger. “I knowjustthe place.”

We managed to drivea good few miles before Galen spoke again, all anxious and jittery. “I’m serious. Where... are we going?” He tried to keep his voice firm, to speak louder, but it wasn’t going too well.

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