Page 15 of Tainted Love
“How was your day, Bea?” Dad asks when there’s a lull in the youngest Vasilios’s storytelling.
“Fine,” I reply tightly, not wanting to admit I spent the entire day avoiding his new wife and stalking my stepbrother online. I smile at Roberta as she places my dinner in front of me. It’s my favourite—chicken tikka masala. “Thank you.”
Elias says nothing when his meal is placed in front of him, and I narrow my eyes. It’s not that hard to be polite.
“Did you get a start on your pre-course work? If you need any help, let me know.”
“Uh huh.” I push my food around my plate.
“Your father told me you were following in his footsteps, Bea,” Elena says with a smile. “Law school, very inspiring.”
My stomach twists in a knot. “I guess.”
“How was band practise, Eli?” Dad presses on, trying to keep the conversation flowing. “Your mum said you have a gig coming up at the Forum. I’ve seen a few good bands there in my day.”
“It’s Elias,” the brooding rockstar grunts around a mouthful of food.
“Eli,” Elena hisses, her cheeks reddening.
Dad just laughs it off. “My apologies, Elias. I listened to your latest album, and I was impressed. Your band is very talented.”
“Thanks.” He raises his fork to his mouth but pauses and lets out a sigh. “Does the offer of using the media room for band practise still stand? We lost our practise space today.”
Elena frowns. “What happened to Killian’s garage?”
“Dorothy is putting in another complaint.”
“Sure.” Dad grins at Elias. “That room barely gets used anymore. I’ll have someone remove the furniture in there next week.”
My mouth drops open. Maybe it didn’t get used while I was overseas, but I’m home now. Where else am I going to watchGossip Girlin surround sound to get the full experience?
“Tomorrow would be better. We need to get our set ready for our show.”
I wait with bated breath for Dad to call Elias out for not having any manners, but I’m surprised when he just chuckles.
“I think we can make that work. There are no pressing cases at work, so I’ll call my assistant tomorrow and rearrange my schedule. Can’t stand in the way of the creative process.”
My mouth drops open in surprise. He hasn’t taken a day off work since I had my tonsils out in grade six—nearly eight years ago—but Elias makes one rude demand, and he drops everything?
I clear my throat and push down the jealousy rising insideme. “How is work? How’s Granddad? Maybe I could come in with you one day this week and see him?”
“I’m sure he’d love that, Bea,” Dad smiles at me. “We can run over some of the cases we’ve got at the moment, give you some hands-on practise before classes start.”
I force a smile. “Sounds great.”
“Why don’t you give Hunter a call, maybe he’ll want to join us. It will be like old times,” Dad says with a chuckle. “Watching you two debate the cases. You never could see eye to eye, it always amused your grandfather and I.”
Elias’s hand clenches around his cutlery and I bite down on my bottom lip as I glance in his direction. He keeps his eyes trained on his plate and apart from the subtle tightness in his hand and posture, there is no indication of how my dad’s request affects him.
“I ended things with Hunter, Dad,” I say quietly, heat rising in my cheeks.
Dad looks up from his dinner, a look of concern in his golden eyes. “I’m sorry to hear that, honey. Are you okay?”
I nod, swallowing around the lump in my throat forming at the memory of my stepbrother feeling me up in the kitchen while everyone slept. “We’ve outgrown each other, I guess.”
“You’re still young. You’ve got your whole life to find the right person.” He reaches over and squeezes Elena’s hand. She smiles brightly up at him. “You’ll find love when you least expect it.”
Elias scoffs as Attie says, “I can’t wait to fall in love,” so no one hears him, but me.
