Page 2 of Insatiable

Before I can reply with ayes, I hear footsteps.

My shoulders slump.Here we go.

“Kade!” Mum bellows from the other side of my door.

I roll my eyes, place my toothbrush back in the holder and switch my phone screen off.

“Are you in there?”

I kick aside the chair and pull the latch. “Yep.”

When I swing it open, I’m met with her scowling at me, arms crossed, tapping her foot on the ground. She’s smaller than me, with blonde hair that’s nothing like my dark. Similar eyes, blue and sleepy, but hers are glaring at me while I look at her, giving her a bored expression.

“Were you smoking again? I can smell it from the stairs.”

“No,” I lie, dodging her and making my way down the spiral staircase my stepdad Ewan designed for me.

“Your sister was looking for you. You missed the cake.”

I pull up my hood and tighten the strings, burying my hands into the front pocket as I grunt. Luciella has always been the golden child, the favourite, the one who doesn’t give my mum and Ewan any problems. They both worship the ground she walks on. I get it. I’m not like them. I’m not like my twin sister.

Luciella would never be caught smoking or drinking at the age of thirteen, and definitely wouldn’t be brought home by the police after punching an officer.

He deserved it.

I’m sure everyone sees me as the bad kid. The one the family dreads when they get together. I used to give a fuck and attempt to fit in, but now I prefer my own company – the loner. They keep their distance, and so do I.

Mum does try though, probably too much.

She thinks I didn’t hear her crying to my dad over the phone about my “mood swings”, begging him to help her deal with their “unfeeling” teenage son. But I’m not a completely emotionless robot. I care about Dez and Base, and, when she isn’t a pain in my ass, Luciella. I just don’t see the point in following stupid rules or talking about feelings I don’t really get.

There’s nothing wrong with who I am. Even Dad tells me I’m special and never to take offence at how others view me.

He’s probably the only person on earth who truly understands me, yet he lives thousands of miles away in a mental institution – he’s committed numerous crimes and is deemed too dangerous to live amongst the public.

It’s pretty fucking promising for me that he remembers feeling the same way I do.

The famous Tobias Mitchell, American psychopath. The insane killer who took over every news channel in the world. He’s labelled as ruthless and unpredictable. Dangerous. A threat to life. Yet, when we visit the institution, he’s a caring dad who wants to know everything that’s going on in our lives. He tries to be involved as much as he can and looks at my mum like she’s the only woman in the world, full of complete adoration.

Even though he tried to kill her.

Yep. He can keep his crazy; I have my own.

My stepdad has been in my life since birth and does what he can. He takes me for boxing lessons in an attempt at some father–son bonding, like he did with my stepbrother Jason. But he’s grown up now and has his own life, so it seems Ewan has moved on to me.

I finish pouring a drink of juice and walk around the table.

Some of my sister’s friends are giggling, whispering between them while openly watching me, and it makes me uncomfortable. The mystery girl by the pool isn’t here though.

Not that I’m looking.

I make a quick escape by pushing through the crowd and going out onto the grounds. The glow from the spotlights leads the way to the pool house.

When I reach the end of the path, I glance over my shoulder to make sure no one has followed me before continuing. The ripples from the water reflect on the glass door of the pool house, and I lean against it, pulling out a cigarette.

I look out to the loch, the moon resting just above the Munros in the distance. The manor is surrounded by water and green forests, and it’s kind of relaxing.

I close my eyes as the nicotine burns my lungs, releasing it in a cloud of smoke.

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