Page 19 of Vicious Titan

13

Elliot

“I think time stops in that damn room.” I plop down on the couch, grabbing Victoria’s legs to situate them over my lap while she continues scribbling in her sketchbook. The sketchbook I wrote the word love in, the same word that she has yet to say back to me four days later.

“Don’t fight at school,” she snickers, delighting in my misery over a Saturday spent in detention.

“Yeah, lesson learned or whatever.” I drop my head back on the sofa, rubbing my palm up her bare thigh as she continues scribbling away. “I even tried bribery just to leave early.” In order to see her and she has yet to look up at me. Shit, why am I being so damn needy? Reaching for her sketchbook, she notices my intention in time to pull it to her chest, guarding it as she holds up her finger, pointing it at me with an annoyed expression.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“What? I just want to see what has your full attention, because mine is on you.”

She rolls her eyes, cautiously resuming her sketch. “I’ll show you when it’s done. I need to head home before anyone shows for the party.”

“It’s at Wade’s house, not here.”

She gives me a curious stare. “I thought everyone was getting together here again.”

“I lied and said there would be parental buzzkill present here so we could have the house to ourselves.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“Never mind.” Shaking her head, she resumes drawing, which feels dismissive. I’m sick of parties. All I want is to be here with her.

The doorbell rings and her hand freezes. Her legs tense under my palms as I give her an encouraging squeeze. No one rings the doorbell unless they don’t belong here, so I’m not worried about who’s there as I make my way to the front door, pulling it open. A woman stands on the doorstep, a bright smile on her face. Her hand reaches out to me as she says hello, but I move to close the door, cutting off her words.

“We don’t want any.”

“Elliot, wait,” she says, the door inches from closing.

Reluctantly, I pull the door open as her outstretched hand moves to her belly, rubbing the swollen bump concealed mostly by a sweater. No. Fucking. Way.

“Sorry to meet like this. Your dad said he told you about us, but he doesn’t know that I’m here. I’m Heidi.”

I stand there, gawking at her like a moron. There’s no way my father’s mistress is standing at the front door. She’s the polar opposite of my mother. Short where my mother is tall, blonde in the place of my mother’s brunette hair, crystal-blue eyes instead of my mother’s deep brown eyes. He went and found the furthest thing in a new woman from the one he was married to.

“I’m sorry to drop by like this, but I was hoping to speak with you about Richard.”

The sound of my father’s name on her lips, personal and comfortable, like she has a right to say it, sends a rage through me. “Get the fuck out of here. Now.”

The smile vanishes from her face as she takes a step back. What the fuck did she expect? A warm welcome to the damn family by Richard’s delightfully well-mannered, gracious son? To be invited in with open arms to seamlessly join the big, happy party? What a fucking joke.

“Elliot, who’s at the door?” Victoria asks, coming up behind me. I flinch as she places her hand on my arm, removing it from the door as she steps between me and Heidi.

“My father’s pregnant bitch. Who else would be at the front door?”

“Elliot,” Victoria scolds, looking to Heidi with empathy. How can she show compassion to the woman my father knocked up? That’s who she feels sorry for in this situation—the woman who has the nerve to show up at my mother’s home, the place my mother nearly bled-out in after getting the news of her existence.

“I said get the fuck out of here.”

Victoria turns, attempting to force me back. “Elliot, calm down.”

A malicious laugh rises from my chest, one I don’t recognize but already know it’s signaling the beginning of the end. “Calm down? Are you fucking serious right now?”

“It’s all right. I’ll go,” Heidi mumbles, taking a step back with her eyes still on me. She stumbles a bit and Victoria reaches forward, steadying her. “Thank you, Victoria.”