Page 30 of Traces of Her
Nineteen
GRIFFIN
PULLING UP TO JARED’S HOUSE feels like a fucked up dream. I’ve seen him a few times over the past couple months butthe last time I was here was when he took Rowena. Being here never feels right. In the pit of my stomach, the acid inside rolls around, burning the back of my throat from disgust and anxiety. There’s no way this can be good.
Putting the car in park and turning off the car, I quickly unbuckle and look over at Rowena. “I will be right back out, okay?”
“I’m not coming in with you?” she asks, cocking her head to the side with her eyebrows pinched together.
“No,” I reply, opening the door and getting out. Leaning down, I look back in the car at her. “Please just listen for once and stay in the fucking car. I’ll tell you everything you want to know afterward.”
Her face falls into that neutral expression I’ve grown to hate. She’s come out of her shell, become an actual fucking person and here I am forcing her back in. I slam the door shut with her dead eyes burning holes into mine. Stalking up to the front door, anger radiates from my body with every step I take. This is the last time this shit happens with Jared. This has to stop, it has to end sometime.
“Little brother!” Jared pulls open the door as I reach it with a grin on his face and a pistol in his hand.
“Where is she?” I ask curtly, ducking away from him as he tries pulling me in for a hug. He brings up his hand and scratches the side of his head with the butt of his gun.
He shrugs. “She’s hanging around,” he smirks like he has his own personal joke until I hear a girl giggling from inside the house. “Scarlet, get the fuck out here,” he barks. Her bare feet slap the dirty wood floors as she rushes over to him, stopping right by his side. She is about as delusional as Jared, but she at least has a small fraction of a brain. Either way, I never did care for her very much.
“So.” He crosses his arms and narrows his eyes. “Where’s the freak show?”
I should have taken her home. Anywhere but here.
“She’s no longer your concern,” I say in a low voice, trying to remain cool and collected. Jared slowly leans to the side looking past me. I don’t need to turn around to know that he’s looking directly at my car where Rowena sits in the passenger's seat.
He clicks his tongue, looking back at me with a smile. “Well shit, bro, why didn’t you tell me you brought her along? It’s like a goddamn family reunion or some shit. This could be fucking fun.” He chuckles, lightly pushing into my shoulder with his gun.
How could I forget he has a gun in his hand?
And of course mine is in the car.
I’m losing my fucking edge, I’m not thinking straight with her consuming my every sense.
“Yo,” Jared says, pushing into me again. “Did you not hear me? Go get the fucking ghost.”
“Jared, put down the gun for starters because nothing’s going to happen with you swinging that around at everyone,” I tell him, keeping my tone light. “I don’t plan on staying long, so she’s perfectly fine waiting for me in the car.”
He looks at me with black empty eyes, void of any emotion, mirroring the expression of a corpse. As if he’s deep in thought, his eyes squint slightly while he stares at me hard, cocking his head to the side. His subtle expression vanishes within the blink of an eye and a smirk falls onto his lips as he directs his attention over my shoulder, pointing his gun at the car. “I’m not as close as I’d like,” he chuckles lightly. “I bet you I can still hit her from here.”
Moving slightly to the side, I step in front of the gun, feeling the cold metal pressing against the center of my throat. “Leave her out of this, Jared. You don’t fucking touch her. You don’t even fucking look at her, you piece of shit.”
Keeping the pistol flush with my skin, his eyes shift to mine.
“Please,” he scoffs, rolling his eyes. “A ghost won’t get my dick hard. Maybe a warm corpse, but not a fucking ghost. That’s some fucking bad juju and I don’t need that shit.”
“I fucking swear,” I growl, narrowing my eyes at him. “If you so much as lay a finger on her, I will cut it off and feed it to you.”
What the fuck am I doing? She’s become exactly what I tried to avoid, my weakness, and I’m laying all my cards out like a fucking fool. It’s going to push her away from me, even farther into herself but neither of us have a choice, not if we want to get out alive. Jared sure as hell won’t hesitate killing her, and I’m beginning to wonder if the same goes for me.
He throws back his head and laughs loudly. “Come on, Griffy, I’m not that hungry.” He sneers as I internally cringe at the nickname. “Plus, Scarlet’s tight asshole is pretty fond of this finger.” He winks and waggles his finger at me. “If you weren’t already getting pussy from the freak show, I’d let you fuck her.” He pauses, putting the gun back in the waistband of his jeans and throws his arm over me like this is something we do every day. “Man, I’ll tell ya, she fucks like a whore but not like a cheap one. She’s like one of those high dollar ones that you dropped a lot of coin on and she’ll let you do whatever the fuck you want.”
Chuckling, I slightly shake my head. “Like you wouldn’t do whatever the fuck you wanted anyway.”
“True fucking story,” he says, laughing. “Scarlet, get over here and get on your fucking knees and suck him off,” he barks at her, winking at me. My face remains impassive as she saunters over, dropping to the ground in front of me, right on the front porch, and grabs for my zipper.
Suddenly she’s lifted upward by her hair and Jared half shoves her. “You’re such a fucking whore, sometimes you even disgust me.”Jared winks at my blank expression when inside I’m ready to tear him apart limb by limb. Scarlet scrambles to her feet and runs off of the front porch toward the car in just a tank top and underwear. “See?” He gestures toward her thin form, leaning through the front window talking to Rowena. “That cunt does whatever the fuck I tell her. I bet your ghostly creature isn’t like that, that one's got too much spirit,” he says, laughing at his own joke.
Rolling my eyes at him, I give him a smug look. “You have seen her right?” I ask, raising my eyebrows, instantly hating myself the second I start talking. “Or what’s actually there of her.” I pause shaking my head. “I’m not that desperate and I like my dick too much to stick it inside of that,” I say and Jared’s eyes widen as a grin forms on his face.