Page 12 of Deluge
“Do you even know what that means?” I ask, hovering over the couch. I don’t recognize the tone of my own voice, the way it’s trembling slightly, but he obviously does because he smirks.
“In my house, it means obeying my rules. Even if you are only here for five minutes. You wanna put your ass on my property? Get me some water first, or go out the same way you came in, boy.”
I grind my teeth together as I stomp out of the living room to the sound of him letting out a rattled chuckle. He’s used to treating his children like shit, and while I have the unfortunate reality of knowing that Iamone of his, the only reason I’m doing as he says is because he’s an old man in need of a cool, refreshing drink.
I find a glass and fill it with some tap water, open the freezer and pry a couple of cubes out, plopping them unceremoniously into the glass before closing it with my elbow and walking back into the living room.
I beeline toward His Majesty and hold the glass out to him. He sits up, his eyes locked on mine again, and it’s enough to make me start trembling slightly.
He leans back in his chair again, takes a healthy swig of his water, then smacks his lips together.
“You can sit down now,” he tells me with a nod. I stiffen, my eyes boring daggers into his, before I turn and walk over to the couch. “So, what the hell makes you think you’re welcome in my home, kid?” he finally asks as he sets his glass on the small table beside him.
I don’t answer him right away.
Instead, I take a moment to really look at him.
Nothing about his features tells me that he’s a sickly old man. Hell, if anything, I wouldn’t think he’d look anything past fifty years old.
There isn’t a speck of gray hair on his head, nothing in his beard, no wrinkles around his eyes.
It’s almost like a mirage, and I’m worried that if I touch him, he’ll disappear.
When he lets out another rough cough, I watch as one of his hands moves to his stomach.
“What’s wrong with you?” I ask curiously. The coughing fit is a little more violent this time, and I cringe slightly when he finally gets ahold of it, then drops his hand from his stomach.
“Not a damn thing, and if that’s what you came for, then I guess we’re done here,” he says, reaching for his glass. When I look down at my hands for a moment, he sighs loudly. “You’re not here to try and make some bond with me, are you? Let me save you the time—unless you plan on continuing the family line, you’re useless to me.”
Angry tears sting my eyes as I raise them again, careful not to look straight into his because that’s when the fear sets in.
And this isn’t the time to be afraid.
“What does that even me?” I ask, raising a hand to my face tiredly. At this point, I don’t think he’s willing to talk about anything else, so I may as well humor him.
“Come on, you look like a smart kid,” he says with a chuckle. I watch his hand go to his stomach again, listen to a pained grunt, then watch him move his arm to drape over the side of the chair. “I mean, you graduated from high school and all. Didn’t you retain any of that shit they taught you?”
“They didn’t teach us to be monsters,” I retort quietly.
“Is that what you think I am? A monster? Let me tell you something, kid,” he begins as he reclines the chair and gets comfortable. “There’s not a goddamn thing about me that’s monstrous. I raised each and every one of my children I had access to the way I was raised. I taught them to love their family more than they would anyone else, and if you ask me, I think I did a bang-up job of it.”
“Then why are there so many of us? I mean, if you got it right the first time, don’t you think that could have stopped there?” I snap back, finally unable to control my anger any longer.
“Abandonment issues, eh? Well, I’ll tell you what. Hailey didn’t abandon you; she consumed herself with some shit that was never gonna happen, then laid down and died like a fucking waste. And to be honest with you, I wasn’t surprised to hear it happened. I didn’t raise that girl. Hell, I came across her by chance one day and thought I’d try to fix anything that got shoved into that muddled brain of hers. It didn’t work, but there are always disappointments, no matter what the task is,” he says with a shrug.
My eyebrows arch dangerously as I bite the bullet and look into his eyes again. “Task? Is that all we are to you?”
He shrugs again as he reaches for his glass. As I start to get to my feet, hellbent on demolishing him, the front door swings open with a loudbang.
Luna practically runs into the living room and falls to her knees in front of his chair, placing a hand on either side of his hips and taking a deep breath.
“I’m sorry I ran out. I’m sorry I got angry. Please forgive me, Daddy. I promise I’ll never leave you like that again,” she rambles.
I throw myself back against the couch in disbelief. It’s almost like she worships him, and he doesn’t care. He shoves her back with one of his feet, then raises the glass to his lips again, his eyes back on me.
“Think you have what it takes to run this shit when I’m gone?”
ChapterTen