Page 57 of These Family Ties
“I don’t want to talk, Cal.” I grin, watching my father stumble into the room. “Unlike everyone else, I like you feral.”
“My baby.” My father throws open his arms, and I fall into them, letting him wrap me in a warm hug. He’s a drunk for sure, but he’s not as crazy as the town makes him out to be.
“Your mind's not totally broken, is it, Daddy? It’s just a little bent.” He’s been as good of a father as he could be, given the circumstances. Because, unlike his mind, his heart is completely shattered. Has been for as long as I can remember. But he’s still here with us, and that’s something no one else has ever done for us.
“Your mama’s coming back, kiddo. I can feel it right here.” He taps his finger over his heart. This softer version of my father is the one Calder resembles the most. At least, when he’s not trying to rip someone’s head off.
“I know, Daddy.” I step back and cup his cheek in my palm. “Have you eaten today? Can you check his pills?” I motion to his medication sorter on the counter.
Calder sighs, dumping the palm full of meds into his hand. “You know you have to take these every morning. Every. Single. Day. Seven days a week. Always.”
“I don’t need those damn things!” Dad sneers.
“Mama will be pissed as fuck if you don’t take them.” I bite my lip, hiding the lie for the good of my father.
“Alara,” Calder warns, hating when I manipulate him like this, but I’m not in the mood for this kind of fight, and he has to take the pills, regardless. Another mental break and they will lock him up. I can’t lose another parent to that place. I won’t.
“Gimme.” He practically snatches them out of Calder’s hand and swallows them down with his beer. “I miss them so much.” He walks over to the recliner and flops down, lifting a photo of the six of us from the table. His eyes shimmer with unshed tears, studying the faces staring back at him from behind the glass. “So beautiful that the Lord saw it fit to bless this rock with three. They were identical, right down to the freckles that peppered their noses. And I was lucky enough to love the set and be loved in return. You look so much like them, Alara. My beautiful little miracle.”
Now I feel bad about it. Shit. I lift a blanket from the back of the couch and drape it over his lap as his eyes get too heavy to hold open.
“Don’t let him ruin you,” Dad mutters when I take Calder's hand and tug him down the hallway to our room. “You’re too beautiful for this place, baby. You have to get out before he ruins you.”
***
When we get to our room, I flop down on the bed and roll my eyes. “What’s with all the dramatics today?”
“Dramatics?” Calder looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Alara, your father is mentally unstable, and you have a fucking stalker. It’s only dramatic if the problems at hand aren’t actually problems. And they are.”
“Daddy will be fine, and what stalker?” I press my lips together, knowing full well what he’s talking about.
“You know what? Forget it.” Calder flings open the window and kicks out a leg, ready to take off. “I can’t do this with you anymore today.”
“Fucking fine.” I grab the back of his shirt and pull him down with me. “What do you want me to say, Cal? You want me to tell you that Aaron isn’t a problem? He is. I think. He’s a big fucking problem. Maybe. Honestly, I don’t know. We’ve never actually sat down and asked him, have we? We don’t know what his motivation is. Maybe he wants to fuck; maybe he wants to have tea. We just don’t know, do we? But right now I’m living rent-free in his head and I would like to know why so that we can move out. I don’t want to live in his head, Cal… I want nothing more than to go back to being invisible. But for whatever reason, I can’t seem to go unnoticed anywhere anymore.”
“Whatever reason?” He rolls onto his side, greeting me with a lopsided grin. “Come on, Alara. You know the reason.”
“It doesn’t make it okay, Cal.” I turn, facing him, mirroring the way he’s lying beside me. He lifts a finger, running it along my jaw, down my neck, and gently traces the curve of my collarbone.
“These people treat us like things, not people, simply because of where we came from, not who we are.” A tear escapes from the corner of my eye in my moment of vulnerability, and I allow it to tickle its way down my cheek, uninterrupted. “They don’t even ask us what we want. They just push.”
“And what do you want, Alara?” he asks.
“You, Calder. I want everyone else to fuck the hell off, for Daddy to get better, and I need to spend the rest of my life loving you.” I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing for a world I know will never exist, waiting for… something… when his mouth crashes into mine. The force of his kiss steals my breath and rips past my reservations. He doesn’t give in to me often, but right now, I can feel that feral man from the cafeteria clawing his way to the surface, desperate to remind me who I really belong to.
“You’re safe.” He gasps between kisses, pulling back just enough to drag my shirt over my head.
“I love you.” His long, lean fingers, push my skirt up my thighs, bunching it around my waist, and I yank at his waistband, using my toes to pull down his pants and boxers, and I whimper when he settles between my legs, the head of his cock pushing against my entrance.
“I’m sorry,” he rasps as his dick slides inside my cunt, stretching and filling me in a way I could never allow anyone else to do.
His thrusts are carefully measured, bordering on making love but still desperate. He slams into me just to slowly back off, each thrust bringing me closer to the brink, only to be brought crashing back down.
“Calder,” I beg, so close to the edge yet still starving for more of us.
“Tell me what you need, Alara.” He looks down at me, his eyes mirroring the hunger in mine.
“I want –” I gasp, “No. I need to cum.”