After she got over her mini-breakdown, we moved to the kitchen where Chase received a proper welcome. We sat at the little kitchenette table while my mother unloaded the groceries. We didn’t talk about me running away or why I had done it; neither of us wanted to go there, and I had bigger, more pressing problems to deal with right now. Her enthusiastic welcome didn’t mean a whole lot when I thought about the reasons I had left in the first place. My mother was a conflicted person – but it didn’t change the bare fact that she had chosen her douchebag boyfriend over me too many times to count. Her daughter. It didn’t matter that he was gone now. He hadn’t left because she had kicked him out – he had left because I had forced his hand and exposed him for what he was.
Chase looked over at me and raised an eyebrow.
I guess my anger was seeping out of my thoughts and becoming obvious. I took the hint and forced myself to push my troubled memories of her callousness to the back of my mind, so I could focus on my ultimate goal – saving Tony and getting the hell out of here.
I watched her cook and chat with Chase. He was a great fake boyfriend. He talked more with her than I’d ever seen him talk with anyone before. She was thoroughly charmed by his all-American boy good looks and politeness. The mystery that is Chase once again caught me by surprise. I put the thoughts of figuring him out in the back of my mind too, though. As much as I would have liked to play the part of doting girlfriend to my hot daemon friend, I had to figure out this stuff with Tony first ... like how I was going to get him away from Ben for our heart to heart talk. And then what exactly I was going to say to him when I did.
Chapter 27
My mom had just finished pulling the meatloaf out of the oven when she said, “Jayne, will you set the table please?” We were alone in the kitchen, Chase having moved into the dining room.
“Sure. Will you hand me three plates, please?”
She didn’t say anything, she just reached into the cabinet in front of her and handed me the plates. I looked at them, noticing there were more than three. “I think you gave me one too many; there are four here.”
“No, it’s right. Set the table for four.” She began preparing some mashed potatoes, so I couldn’t see her face.
“Who’s the fourth place for?”
“Whom do you think?” she asked, testily, refusing to look at me.
Then it hit me. The douchebag was still living here. I guess my little fantasy that she’d gotten rid of him was just that – a fantasy. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re still living with that asshole?”
She slammed down the potato masher she’d been using, still not looking at me. “Watch your mouth, Jayne! You will not speak to me like that in my house!”
I stared at her incredulously for a second and then stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the plates down on the dining room table. Unfortunately they didn’t break.
Chase looked up from the magazine he was paging through. “What’s up?”
“My mother is still dating the douchebag asshole piece of shit that she was dating before I left.”
“I take it you and he don’t get along.”
I laughed bitterly. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“Am I going to get any details?”
“Well, I’ll avoid the hairy ones, but let’s just say he’s the reason Tony started carrying a gun and why we ran away to Miami. He’s the reason for my decision to become fae.”
“Sooo, you’re glad he’s an asshole, right?”
“Chase!”
“What?”
“Stop with the silver lining shit, okay? It pisses me off and I’m not in the mood.”
“Okay.” He shrugged and went back to reading his Martha Stewart Living magazine.
I set the table, deliberately dropping the douchebag’s utensils on the ground and stepping on them before putting them at his place. It took all my inner strength to not also wipe them on my butt. Chase saw me do it but didn’t say anything. I was kinda hoping he would because I was in the mood for a fight, but I think he knows me well enough now to stay away when I’m cranky – smart daemon that he is.
I heard the front door open and a bunch of heavy things being thrown on the ground. That would be the asshole dropping his tool belt and lunch box on the floor for his personal servant, my mother, to come pick up and put away in the closet that is located just next to the spot where he dumped them.
I went and stood behind Chase, putting my hands on his shoulders, angry and nervous at the same time. I was not only angry at the asshole, I was also angry with myself for being nervous. The guy was lucky to be alive right now – I had nothing to be nervous about. But something about him, about what he’d done to me, had made me afraid and anxious. I felt like throwing up. Then I felt Chase’s hand come up and cover mine, even though he didn’t seem as if he was paying any attention to me, still paging through his magazine.
The first thing I noticed when the asshole came around the corner was his new haircut. He used to wear it long and stringy; now it was short. I guess my little electric razor to the scalp attack necessitated a change in style. That made me happy. I was sad to see that his eyebrow had grown back. You couldn’t even tell that I’d shaved it off ... shaved it off during that fateful night that started this whole fae thing going. Chase was right about that – I was grateful for that one side effect of his attempted molestation. Fucking asshole. There was something so wrong about seeing the bright side of someone sexually attacking me.
“Well, well, well. Look who’s here. If it isn’t little miss priss.”
His voice absolutely grated on my nerves. I clamped my teeth together hard, causing an ache to start in my jaw.
Chase laid down his magazine, slowly closing it and putting it off to the side.
“When did you get here?” the dick asked, ignoring Chase and staring bodly right at me.
I spoke in a low, vicious tone, “Let’s get one thing straight, asshole, we are not going to pretend we’re friends or that I even want to see your ugly face right now. So go fuck yourself.”
He smiled lecherously at me, squinting his beady eyes. “I see you haven’t lost any of your charm. But that’s alright. You know I always did like your dirty mouth.” Then he winked at me.
I started to gag. I wanted nothing more than to smash his grizzly face, yellow teeth and glazed over shit-brown eyes with every ounce of strength I had. I’d thought he couldn’t possibly get uglier, but I’d been wrong; he’d gotten even more disgusting while I was gone. He was worse than an orc. I started to tremble with the hatred that was threatening to erupt all over my mom’s dining room.
Chase slowly stood, pulling out his chair to the side a little so he could stand behind the table unimpeded. He rose up above me to the point that he blocked out my view of the asshole completely. I leaned to the side and saw the asshole’s eyes follow Chase’s form as it continued to rise up, several inches taller than him. That wiped the sneer off his face for a couple seconds. Fuck, yeah, Chase. Bust his sorry ass!
Then the douche said, “D’ya bring your boyfriend with ya? Hey there, man. Name’s Rick.” He walked over and held his hand out.
I willed Chase not to shake it – to break it instead – but he leaned over to take the asshole’s hand politely in his. Bastard Rick. Bastard Chase.
“Chase,” was all Chase said.
Well, at least he didn’t say, ‘Nice to meet you.’ I think if he had, I would have punched him in the kidney.
“Is that you, Rick?” my mother’s voice called from the kitchen.
“Yeah!” he yelled back rudely, not taking his eyes off Chase and me.
“Come here for a minute, will you? I need some help with this meatloaf.”
Rick looked at us for another second and then chuckled to himself as he walked away.
After he left the room I whacked Chase on the back. “What the hell was that all about? What’d you shake his hand for?”
Chase pulled his chair back in and sat down. “J
ust being polite.”
“Well, I hope you know you were just polite to the biggest douchebag of all time.”
“Yeah. I got that.”
I just looked at his back, shaking my head. Guys. They made no fucking sense sometimes.
My mom came out of the kitchen then with the potatoes, followed by Rick the Dick, carrying the meatloaf. Once all the food was put down on the table, my mom told us all to have a seat.
I sat between Chase and my mom, Rick across from me. I worked very hard the entire meal never to look at his ugly face, but I did smile a few times when I saw him using his dirty silverware. I was hoping like hell that I’d stepped in some dog poop today somewhere. His eyes narrowed at me when I smiled, which made me even happier. Let him try to guess what was making me so happy. Maybe I’d tell him later.
Thinking about possible animal crap under my shoe made me think of my cat. “Where’s Mr. Biggles, Mom? I haven’t seen him yet.”
My mom looked down at her plate sadly. “Mr. Biggles is gone, sweetie.”
“What do you mean gone? Did he die?” I was instantly sad. He was a really cuddly guy, even if he did have an attitude problem sometimes.
“I don’t know what happened. One minute he was fine and the next he had foam coming out of his mouth and ... well, it was terrible. Let’s just leave it at that.”
“Yeah. It was terrible all right,” said Rick, smiling through his meatloaf. “It was like someone had poisoned him or somethin’.” He chuckled.
“You know what? Rick ...?” I dropped my fork and threw my napkin down by the side of my plate, getting ready to blast him. I could tell by the look on his fugly face that he was the one who had poisoned my cat. He wasn’t even trying to hide it. How could my mother be so stupid?
My mom stood up all of a sudden. “Time for dessert!” She shrieked, quickly gathering up plates, even though Chase was still eating.
He shoved the last half of a hunk of meatloaf in his mouth and handed her his plate, looking at me with a warning on his face as he chewed. I glared back at him but picked my napkin back up and put it in my lap. I just had to get through this meal and then I could get away from this turd monkey and my idiot mother.
The rest of the meal finished without incident. I was fuming over the death of my cat, fluctuating between being sad and pissed, while Chase occupied himself with eating three pieces of apple pie loaded down with ice cream. My mom chattered on and on about work, neighbors, the garden – a bunch of garbage I couldn’t care less about. Empty words filling up empty space.
I finished my pie and stood up. “Listen, Mom, do you mind if Chase and I spent the night here?”
She looked at Rick expectantly.
I refused to follow her gaze. “I didn’t ask him, Mom; I asked you. Can we stay or not?”
“Well, Jayne, it’s Rick’s house too.”
“Bullshit, it’s his house! This is your house, you got it in the divorce settlement.”
“Well, he’s on the deed too ... now that ... well, honey, we have some wonderful news, actually!” She looked at me with bright, shining eyes and a quavering smile. “We got married while you were gone! Rick is your new step-father!”
I pushed back from the table so fast the chair went flying out behind me. I ran to the bathroom just in time to vomit my entire dinner and dessert into the toilet.
A little while later Chase came to the door, pushing it open and leaning against the doorframe. I was sitting on the cold tile floor, resting my head on the closed toilet lid. I didn’t even want to look at him. I was exhausted from the barfing and then the crying that had followed. I just could not fathom how a mother could marry her daughter’s molester. She had to know what had happened; she wasn’t that clueless. This whole situation was just completely unreal to me. I felt like I was trapped in one of my own nightmares, unable to get out.
“Hey. You okay?”
“Do I look okay?”
“No.”
“Good. Thanks.”
“Rick said I can’t stay, but you can.”
“I’m not staying here without you.”
“I won’t let you stay without me. I’ll sneak in and stay in your room with you after they go to sleep.”
I looked up. “Really?”
“Really.”
In that moment, I loved him. He was such a strong, steady presence. I felt totally safe looking at him, and that was completely awesome. To feel safe when just now I had felt so vulnerable and violated was exactly what I needed.
“Maybe I should just go back to the hotel.”
“No. You need to make contact with Tony tonight if you can.”
I sighed. “You’re right. Fine. I’ll do it. I’ll stay here in hell for one night.”
I pulled the phone out of my back pocket and texted Tony.
‘LET’S MEET. 10? UR HOUSE?’
A minute later, while I was washing my mouth out with some mouthwash I’d found under the sink, he responded.
‘CAN’T. OUT LATE WTH B. C U TMRROW?’
“Fuck. He says he’s gonna be out late with Ben. He wants to meet tomorrow.”
“Tell him okay. Later tonight, we’ll break into his room and talk with him there.”
Finally. Some sunshine in my life. “Excellent plan, my daemon friend.” I reached up and absently stroked his bicep while I texted Tony back with one hand. ‘K. TTYL’
I nudged Chase on the arm when I finished. “Come on. Let’s go to my room.”
I walked to the kitchen where my mom was washing the dishes; I was trying like hell to keep the bitterness from my voice. “I’m going to go show Chase my room, okay?”
My mom looked nervous, “Um ... I don’t know ... Rick said ... ”
Rather than blow up, I tried to speak calmly to her. “Come on, Mom. I’m just going to hang out with him a little before he leaves. It’s no big deal.”
She sighed. “Okay. But only for a few minutes.”
I didn’t hang around to hear anything else. “Come on,” I said to Chase, turning to head up the stairs.
We both went up to my room. I could hear the shower running in my mom’s room. I could have told that asshole – no amount of water was going to wash away his kind of dirt.
“So, this is where it all began,” I said, opening the door to my room and stepping inside.
Chase followed me in, looking around. He walked over to my desk and started picking things up, looking at them.
I shut the door behind him.
He had a picture of Tony and me in his hand. We had taken this one when we went to the school’s Halloween dance just last year. I had gone as a tiger and he had gone as a zombie. We were terrible at making costumes. I had put the self-portrait picture in a frame and wrote the year on the edge of it.
“Yeah, I know. Weak-ass costumes, right?”
“Maybe. But I was looking at this other guy in the picture – in the background. It looks like Ben.”
I walked over and grabbed the frame from him. “Let me see that.” Standing behind Tony and me, looking at the back of my head, was a guy who looked exactly like Ben. I mean, exactly exactly. He was dressed all in black.
“What the hell?”
“I thought you said he was new here.”
“He is. He didn’t go to our school before. Trust me, I would have known about him. He’s too hot to be unpopular. Plus, Tony said in his emails that the guy was new and had just moved in.”
“Well, what was he doing at your Halloween dance last year?”
“I have no friggin’ idea. Maybe he came with someone else?”
“What, trolling for fae?”
That was a chilling idea – to think that I could have been recruited by the Dark Fae before meeting up with Jared. Now Rick the Dick’s dirty hands were pissing me off all over again. I wanted nothing to do with that silver lining bullshit, so long as it involved him.
“That’s messed up. That means I came seriously close to getting pulled over to the dark side.”
“That means we need to get to Tony quick. If Ben knows now that you’re Light Fae, and that you’re here to get Tony back, he’s going to make his move soon.”
I looked at Chase, now thoroughly pissed. “Do you really think you’re helping this situation? By making me panic even more?”
Chase took me by the upper arms and stared me in the face. “Jayne. Relax. We’ve got this. You saw Tony today and he was fine. Tonight we’re going to go talk some sense into him, and tomorrow we’ll get him outta here, okay?”
He kept staring me in the eyes and somehow it managed to strip me of all my defenses. One second I was all tough and ready to kick someone’s ass, and the next I was getting all teary-eyed. Being in my mom’s house was seriously messing with my head. Correction – being in my mom’s and my molester’s house. How fucked up was that?
Chase pulled me into his arms, rubbing my back, saying nothing.
I stood there for a few seconds just breathing and enjoying the feeling of being comforted by his big, strong, warm body.
“Is this in your daemon handbook? How to calm down a crazy fae girl?”
“Yes.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. I’m just lucky I got a cute one to protect.”
I giggled a little, picturing Chase hugging a guy like Spike and patting his back. “I’m not cute.”
“Yes, you are. Very cute.”
Did Chase just tell me I’m very cute?
I sighed and leaned against him more. It was like I was melting into him a little, and it felt good.
His back rub got a little more wide-ranging and his hand pressed a bit firmer. I could feel more of his muscles against my chest and stomach. I was getting warm, and not just from our combined body heat.
My head started to spin with questions. Just what exactly was happening? Was I getting turned on by Chase? Did I like him that way? Could I like him that way? Did he like me?
I felt his head drop down towards my neck, his breath tickling me as he exhaled and then inhaled deeply. I wrapped my arms around his waist, tentatively touching the small of his back. I could feel the muscles on either side of his spine, like big, thick ropes that moved as his arms continued to rub my back slowly, languidly.