Page 113 of The Devastation You Reap
The second it’s over, I slump back in the chair, my eyelids lower as tiredness hits me.
“Sleep, baby. I’ll wake you when we’re there.”
I drift off before I even realize it with Leon’s hot hand still wrapped around my thigh. Something about his touch relaxes me like nothing else can.
I miss the rest of the journey and the next thing I know I hear a noise and when I open my eyes we’re parked out front of my uncle’s huge house.
I blink a couple of times trying to push the drowsiness away before I look over at Leon.
“Are you okay?” I ask when I notice his body is locked up tight, his face in the mask I remember from the first time I saw him.
“Y-yeah. It’s huge.”
“That’s what she said,” I deadpan, hoping it’ll shatter the weird tension in the car.
Leon throws his head back and laughs and I breathe a sigh of relief.
“You’re something else, you know that?”
“It would be boring if I were like all the others, don’t you think?”
“Damn right. Come on, then. I want the grand tour to get a grasp on how many rooms I’ve got to make you come in. We can already tick car off the list.”
My body burns up at his words.
“You’re going to be busy.”
“And you’re going to be exhausted. But I already know one thing,” he says, looking over at me.
“Oh yeah, what’s that?”
“You’re never going to forget me.”
“I think that’s already true. I don’t need a sex fest in my uncle’s house to ensure you’re under my skin.”
His eyes bounce between mine as unreadable thoughts flicker behind his eyes.
I’m desperate to demand he tells me what he’s thinking but I already know he won’t, so I give him some space in the hope he figures out that he can tell me whatever it is in his own time.
Pushing my door open, I stand and stare at the house that’s haunted so many of my nightmares over the years.
It’s late, the sun beginning to slip behind the trees on the horizon. It makes it look like paradise. I’m sure to many it would be, however it’s more like hell to me.
Night times here were always the worst. After he started drinking, that’s when the real monster used to come out. That's when the vile words and the pain used to commence.
I lose myself in my less than pleasant memories of the time I spent here as a child, and when Leon finally steps up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, I have no idea how much time has actually passed.
“I get the feeling you don’t want to go inside.”
“I don’t have the best memories of being here,” I confess. “The years after my dad died weren’t good ones.”
His lips press against my neck and I shudder.
“It’s over now. You’ve got me to keep you entertained instead.”
“Hmm… That sounds so much better.”
Leon follows me inside. He’s silent as he looks around at everything. His shoulders are still tense but his face is more relaxed and I wonder if his reaction to the place is just because he knows I don’t really want to be here.
