Page 3 of Mine To Possess

“Yeah. Thanks,” I say tightly.

Just go away, I think to myself, but he doesn’t go away. He stands propped against the frame of my door. I don’t move because moving would bring me closer to my bed and I don’t want him thinking for even a second that it’s some sort of invitation.

He grins. “You know, Amelia, we’ve always had this chemistry between us, haven’t we?”

My eyes widen. Is he mad? I can’t stand him. As a matter of fact, I detest him. I’m dying to tell him exactly what I really think, but I have to keep this little gem to myself. Sleazy Dan is bad, but angry Dan is worse, far worse.

“I should call Mom and tell her to bring home some orange juice. I forgot to get it at the grocery store,” I say, mentioning Mom in the hope he’ll remember to be loyal to her. Unfortunately, it’s too subtle a hint for him.

He grins at me. “Aww… look at you. All shy and shit. But I get it, really, I do. You don’t want to hurt your mom. And neither do I. Violet is great. Fantastic woman. One in a million and she takes good care of me.”

I feel a touch of desperation. “Yeah, she does,” I say with emphasis, but at the same time I don’t want to risk angering him, or encouraging whatever the hell he thinks this is.

He pushes himself up off the wall and I flinch slightly. Dan notices and laughs cruelly. “Don’t pee yourself. I just thought someone should tell you how attractive you are.”

I feel myself blush, the searing heat rushing up my neck.

His eyes note my embarrassment, and he laughs, the sound unfamiliar. There is something cruel and sexual about it. For a moment it seems as if he wants to say something else, then he checks himself, turns and stumbles away, heading for the living room. I hear his body crash onto the sofa.

I step forward and quickly close the door. My heart is beating like crazy. Jesus, what the hell was that all about?

I check the time. My mom is due home in an hour. I’ll just lie low and hope Dan forgets I’m home. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s done it. One time, I came out of my room and Dan ran from the bedroom he shares with my mom with a baseball bat raised over his head. I managed to duck as he swung it at me.

Instead of apologizing he lost his temper with me, scolding me for sneaking around like a thief, and telling me that I should have the manners to greet him when I get home. I bit my tongue and didn’t remind him I’d been home for almost three hours, and I’d spent the first fifteen minutes of it making him a bacon sandwich. I think that was the time I realized just how drunk Dan could get.

The hole he made in the wall with the baseball bat is still not fixed. It is a constant reminder to me that Dan can be unpredictable and downright dangerous.

I move to my tiny bed, sit down, and pull my laptop towards me. My heart is still fluttering as I start browsing the jobs’ boards. I have to find something. Something that keeps me out of here for most of the day.

I freeze suddenly.

I can hear him moving around again. The fridge door opens, then slams closed. A beer bottle is opened, and the opener thrown on the counter. For some reason his not bothering to put the bottle opener back into the drawer irritates me. To think that Mom’s out there working herself to the bone for this lazy jerk. I mean how hard can it be not to get shit faced through the afternoon, and put the damn thing back into the drawer for fuck’s sake?

Like, everyone else manages it.

But my rage is pointless. I grit my teeth and return my attention to my laptop. I find a few promising openings. A waitress at a diner. A shelf stacker in a grocery store. Shitty, low wage jobs, but better than being stuck here with him. I fill out the applications to a couple of openings, hit send, and shut my laptop.

I pick up my cell phone, ready to text Lucy to see what she’s up to tonight. I might see if I can go over to her place. She lives in a clean and tidy little house and her parents are normal. They work for a living and her dad only drinks a glass of wine or two with dinner and the occasional nightcap. Like a normal man.

I hear Dan stumbling back along the hallway towards my room again. I put my cell phone down. Great. What now?

“Do you need something, Dan?” I call, hoping he just wants a sandwich made.

I hate that I’m practically Dan’s unpaid hired help, but if making him a sandwich gets him away from my bedroom, then right now, I’ll happily do it.

My door has no lock, and he opens it without knocking just as I stand up from the bed. He grins at me and blinks twice, fast. I frown and he does it again. Oh God, he thinks he’s winking at me. It should be tragic, but it’s not.

It’s disgusting.

3

AMELIA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGVZOLV9SPo

“I’ve been thinking,” he says, then pauses.

I nod tightly for him to go on, feeling that’s what he’s waiting for.