Page 16 of Traces of Her
Ten
ROWENA
TWO DIFFERENT SETS OF EYES land on me as soon as I enter the room. Charlie’s look says everything I need to know.
“Well, well, well, look who we have here,” Jared sneers with a sinister smile on his face. His dead black eyes bore holes in mine as he stalks across the room to me. “Did Daddy finally let you out of your room to come play?”
The blank emotionless expression doesn’t leave my face and I keep my mouth shut. Jared grabs a strand of my hair, slowly wrapping it around his pointer finger.
“Don’t fuckin’ touch her,” Charlie growls, walking closer to us. I glance over at him, meeting his brown eyes that are no longer soft. An unfamiliar rage boils beyond his chocolate colored irises. “What did we talk about?” he asks, his voice low but his words are sharp.
I shrug indifferently. “I forgot,” I lie, giving him a small smile.
He sighs, shaking his head. “You need to go,” he says, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from Jared. As he starts to move toward the door, another hand wraps around my other arm, pulling me back.
“Don’t go now, baby.” Jared pulls me into him. “The party’s just getting started.”
“Oh yeah? Shouldn’t Scarlet be here then?” I quip.
He squeezes my arm tighter, constricting the blood vessels. “This isn’t a party she’s invited to.” His eyes are wild as he stares me down, trailing his other hand down the side of my neck. “But after I fuck you she’ll want to play too.” He winks with that sickening smile playing on his lips.
I only see this going one of two ways. Either I play along and get fucked up or I get fucked up and possibly end up dead. My instincts tell me to go with the former with a higher probability of surviving but fuck my instincts. I go with the latter, ready to fight my way out of this.
Charlie slips my mind until I’m brought back to reality by the sound of him cocking the hammer of his gun. From the corner of my eye, I see the metal piece glistening as it digs into Jared’s temple.
“This is the last time I say this,” Charlie growls, pressing the barrel of the gun harder into his head. “Get your fucking hands off of her.”
Jared lets out an annoyed, exaggerated sigh and drops his hands from me. “Alright, alright. There’s your little plaything, old man.”
Charlie’s free hand darts out, grabbing me and pulling me behind him. He slowly steps away from Jared, keeping his pistol trained on him. They’re caught in a stare down with both of their eyes growing darker by the second. “You’re fucking cut off,” Charlie says in a harsh tone.
Jared narrows his eyes. “The fuck I am!” he shouts.
“Get the fuck out and don’t come back here. Find a new dealer. We’re done here,” Charlie says with finality.
“You think you’re some big bad-ass dealer?” Jared barks out a laugh. “You’re just some piece of shit old head with weak dope.” He stops and his eyes fall on me. “And that fucking weirdo,” he says, pointing at me. “You need to give good old Ghost Busters a call and come haul that freak away.”
A loud bang startles me, making me flinch when inside I’m jumping. Charlie moves his gun away from the wall and back at Jared.
“What the fuck?” Jared yells, looking down at the hole beside him.
“Get the fuck out,” Charlie barks.
“God. Fuck,” Jared mutters, shaking his head and walking toward the door. He turns back around, with his black eyes glancing back and forth between us. His lips curve upward into a sinister smile. “I can promise you, I’ll be back,” he pauses before focusing solely on me. “We’re far from done here.”
With that, he leaves the room, slamming the door behind him, leaving Charlie and me standing there in a daze.
“What the fuck was that?” Charlie demands as he drops onto the couch and slams his gun onto the coffee table. He rubs his hands over his scruffy face and narrows his eyes at me. “It’s always been like this, Ro,” he starts, shaking his head. “We had an agreement. Why the fuck did you come in?”
I sigh, taking a seat opposite of him and folding my hands in my lap. “I was in the kitchen getting a drink when I heard all of the noise,” I tell him honestly. But with every truth, there’s always a lie. “I was afraid and came in without thinking.” I watch a silent Charlie, waiting for him to say anything.
“Nope.” Charlie’s eyebrows pinch together. “I see right through your bullshit. Not buying it.”
“Fine.” I shrug. This is the second time since I’ve lived with Charlie that he’s caught me in a lie.
“Look at you,” he says, waving his hand. “You’re always so fucking cool, calm and collected. You don’t even blink or breathe without it being calculated.”
“I wanted to make sure you were good,” I say, not knowing if that’s the truth or not.
Charlie lets out a harsh laugh. “YOU wanted to make sure I was good?” He laughs again. “Look at how fucking tiny you are. Shit, even I could break you in half.”
“Seriously?” I scoff, letting his words affect me more than they should. My size doesn’t matter in my survival and he should know that of all people. “I’m sorry for giving a shit,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“Just get out, Ro,” he says in a defeated voice, shaking his head. “Go to bed or some shit, just don’t leave the house.”
I rise to my feet carefully stepping over the broken glass scattered on the floor as I saunter out of the room without another word exchanged between us. My stomach rumbles, remembering our now non-existent dinner plans. Looking both ways up and down the hall, I scurry back to my bedroom and tuck myself away for the night, leaving my stomach empty.