Page 13 of Deluge
I’m stillin a daze sitting in my car.
I can’t believe that he’s so fucking loved by them that they will literally fall over themselves to get his approval.
Shaking the fog away, I reach forward and turn the key in the ignition. It’s only now that I realize that I never took it out when I saw Luna Thompson running down the street.
The engine roars to life, and I sit back for a second, my hands tightly gripping the steering wheel. As much as I don’t want to, my eyes steal a glance at the front door of his home again, only to find myself watching his shadow in the living room window.
He walks away from his chair, and I see Luna’s shadow chase after him, hands in the air, still begging him to believe her.
Tap, tap.
“Jesus!” I shout as I let go of the steering wheel. I turn my attention irritably toward the driver’s side window and am not the least bit surprised to see Jessa smiling at me.
“What?” I bark at her after I lower the window halfway.
“Relax,” she chides me with a laugh as she holds up her hands in mock surrender. “I was just wondering what’s going on over there. Between you and Luna running out of the house. I’m betting it’s because he’s in a mood.”
…
“Luna?” I ask, feeling suspicious. Just the other night, she referred to them assome girl taking care of an older man,and suddenly one of them has a name?
“I think they’re cute together, don’t you?” she asks as she glances by me through the passenger side window at his house. “I would leave them alone if I were you, Dalton. And I wouldn’t make it a habit of coming back to this block.”
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” I inquire in an even tone.
“Because you never know just how many of us there are,” she replies, a smirk playing across her lips as she turns her eyes back toward me.
So that’s it.
“I get it now,” I say with a bitter laugh. “You’re his little spy? Trying to make Daddy proud by watching me? Finding out what I do when I’m not here? I’ll tell you what, Jessa,” I continue as I straighten myself on the chair, then lean out the window toward her. “I’ll stay out of this obviously inbred block so long as you promise me that you’ll drop dead sooner rather than later.”
“Suit yourself,” she responds with a shrug as she stands up straight and takes a few steps back, “but don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”
I run a hand over my face irritably, ready to get the hell out of dodge, when something dawns on me.
If he wants me to be like him and carry on his legacy or whatever, I might as well act like him.
“For the record, he doesn’t love you,” I state conversationally. “He doesn’t love any of us. But the difference between you, me, and everyone else taking up space on this fucking street is that I don’t care.”
She looks like she’s suddenly been slapped in the face as her eyes rise toward the house, and I know I’ve got her right where I want her.
“When you lay your pretty little head down tonight and stare out of your bedroom window, hoping and praying for just a glimpse of him, I want you to remember that. Sleep soundly, toots.”
With that, I pull out of the parking spot and start down toward the street, a grin playing across my lips when she starts shouting angrily at me.
But what makes me laugh is when I look in the rearview and see her chasing my car, tripping over her feet, and choking on the bitter truth that none of them want to ever face.
ChapterEleven
Lingeringin Hailey’s bedroom doorway, I inhale a deep breath. I’m doing my best to let the memory of what Kalen did to her rot in the ground with them, and this is the only way I really know how.
By forcing myself to stand here and remember it as often as possible so that one day, it’ll be nothing more than a once-in-a-while nightmare instead of a damn near everyday reality.
I close my eyes for a moment, then open them quickly, feeling dejected.
The memory is still there, and I see it every time I try not to.I’ll get it eventually,I tell myself as I rub the back of my neck.
Knock, knock, knock.