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“Morning, kiddo.” Uncle Dave’s voice caused me to nearly jump out of my skin, and I turned to see him sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a coffee and reading something on his phone. He set his phone down when I met his stare, and he gave me a smile. “Your parents went food shopping. I told them I’d make you breakfast. I didn’t want to wake you.”
It might sound sweet to an outsider who didn’t know our past, but to me, I’d rather die than eat his stupid food… even if said stupid food was only my parents’ food that he cooked himself.
“I’m not hungry,” I whispered, about to turn to go back upstairs, but right then, my stupid stomach had to gurgle. You know, the kind of gurgle a stomach only did when it was, in fact, empty and starving.
Shit.
It was so loud Uncle Dave heard it too, and he grinned, gestured for me to take a seat at the table, and got up. “I’ll get it for you. Sit, sit. You and I need to catch up, anyways.”
I watched as he wandered over to the cabinet where the plates were, and he used a small set of tongs to pick up four round pancakes and plop them onto a plate. He did the same with the bacon, piling it on top of the pancakes he’d selected for me.
He went to put the plate on the table, just before the chair that was across from his, and he glanced at me and said, “Do you still drink water with breakfast, or have you upgraded to coffee?” He’d shaved either this morning or last night, his stubble gone. The bags beneath his eyes were gone too. He looked a lot younger than he did last night, and a lot more well-rested.
My throat was suddenly so very dry. “Water.”
Uncle Dave hadn’t moved from the table after setting my plate down. He stared at me, and I knew he wanted me to sit, to show him that I could still listen to him, that I was the same girl he’d taken advantage of for so long.
I wasn’t that girl. I was different. I was…
As much as I wanted to argue that I was different, that I was stronger, I found my legs drawing me toward the table in spite of it all. I sat down, my back rod straight, and my gaze fell to the bacon and pancakes as my stomach gurgled again.
He turned and grabbed a glass from an upper cabinet, and then he got me some water from the dispenser. When the glass was full, he returned to me, setting it down near my plate. “Oh, silverware. Duh.” He fetched me a fork and a knife.
“Thanks,” I whispered, sounding quiet and meek. It was like Uncle Dave had this power over me, something I couldn’t begin to describe. No one else would understand it. No one else could. Not unless they’d been in my position and knew exactly what it felt like.
I went for the bacon first, bringing a piece of it to my mouth and biting into it. It was crisp but not overly done, AKA the perfect kind of bacon. Not too soft and not so crunchy you could taste the char. Somewhere right in the middle, where it was still juicy.
Uncle Dave sat across from me, and he took a sip from his coffee mug before asking, “So, how is my favorite niece?”
“Fine” was my answer. I knew he didn’t really care, anyway, so I focused on eating, my stare glued to the food instead of him. I’d rather look anywhere but his face, honestly.
“Just fine? Charlie, from what I hear, things have been a little crazy. Your ex, who you used to adore more than anyone in the world, was killed, and now you have a boyfriend who’s practically as old as me. You don’t have to lie to me. How are you really?”
The way his dark brown eyes bore into me, I could tell he was waiting for me to say something, almost daring me to bring up the fact that he’d done things to me no uncle should ever do to their niece, especially when their niece was underage.
When I didn’t answer, he went on, “I remember hearing all about how depressed you were when you and that kid broke up. Your dad was pretty sad, too. He liked the kid as much as you did. I know it’s not right to speak ill of the dead, but I never liked him too much. He wasn’t good enough for you, Charlie. We both know it. A shame what happened to him, though. What a way to go. A robbery gone wrong, in daylight, on campus. Doesn’t it make you feel a little unsafe going there?”
“No,” I answered with a mouthful of bacon. I chewed it slowly, mostly so I wouldn’t have to talk.
“Hmm.” Uncle Dave didn’t seem like he believed me, the skepticism written across his face. “Seriously, Charlie, what’s up with Ian? Why are you with him? Your parents don’t seem too happy about him, and I have to say, I don’t really like him, either.”
I couldn’t help it. As I swallowed the bacon in my mouth, I muttered, “It’s a good thing you guys don’t have to like him, then.”
He grinned at me, and that smile made my stomach twist in the worst of ways. To think, that smile used to excite me, back when I had no idea of the dark, twisted desires he carried behind his mask. “Look at you, getting an attitude. Ian’s doing, no doubt.”
That time I held back. I started cutting into the pancakes, just barely able to resist the urge to jump up and run back upstairs, throw the lock and hide under my covers.
“You’ve grown so much,” he went on, leaning forward and staring at me all the while. “Into a beautiful young woman. I just want what’s best for you, and I don’t think Ian is good for you. There’s something about him… I don’t know what it is. It’s almost like I’ve met him before, and I don’t like him.” He chuckled at that. “I know that might sound silly to you, but men have a radar for these things.”
That’s funny, because Brett had basically said the same thing about him, though I wouldn’t tell him that. They didn’t like each other and they didn’t trust each other. Go figure. Two criminals able to pick each other out of a lineup, one a serial killer and the other an abuser.
He didn’t say anything else, settling for watching me eat, and I did my best to eat quicker. I didn’t want to talk about Brett with him. I wanted to finish and get the hell out of this kitchen ASAP.
I ate so fast my stomach didn’t agree with me, but I dutifully shoveled the pancakes down anyways. When I was finished, I guzzled down the water, then I grabbed my plate and the glass and got up to put them in the sink.
I listened to the sound of Uncle Dave’s chair scraping against the floor, and the man was seconds behind me. Before I could dart out of the way, his hands gripped the counter on either side of me, and I sucked in a breath, my eyes widening. I stared at the metal sink, my heartbeat picking up.
“You’re still my Charlie, you know,” he spoke, his voice chillingly low. “No boy or man will ever know you like I do.” He stood so close to me I could feel his body heat through my shirt, and though my back was to him, I could feel his breath on the back of my head.
