Page 50 of Feed Your Fiends

“What iswrongwith you? You're talking as if you two became estranged naturally over the years and you’ve just had a coincidental reunion. You’re…you’re smiling like it’s a happy reunion.”

She’s lost for words, but only for a second before she’s wringing her shirt and making up excuses. She can always create an excuse for Jarett at the drop of a hat.

“I know a lot’s happened, but despite the past, despite everything, it was a happy reunion.”

Before I can part my lips, she raises her hands as if begging me to let her finish.

“When your father—”

“Jarett.”

“When Jarett saw me, he was elated, Elle. It was like he’d been searching for me all along. And…I think he was.”

Relieved? He knew where we were this whole time.

Or was it that he couldn’t get to us this whole time?

I shake my head slowly. “He was just…there? Just at the bar, alone?”

“Harod said he came in with a friend. A young blonde one. I thought it was a woman. Harod could tell I was getting upset, but then he reassured me that it was a man no older than twenty. “

Bit young to be a friend. More like a nephew. Blond hair. Sylo.

If Sylo knows my father, then he knows I’m his daughter. He must’ve always known about me this entire time, but why? And how? His father hit me. Nearly killed me, and now Sylo’s hanging out with my father? His uncle?

Nothing makes sense. My head pounds, and the loud lapping and splashing of water alerts me to Jarett again.

“Why would you bring him here?”

“This was his home—”

“And mine? Isn’t that why you gave me a key? For us,” I gesture between us, “to be a family?”

“When I gave you the key, I had no idea Jarett would pop up again.”

“And you don’t think it’s weird that he has? Why now?” I ask incredulously, my eyes darting to the parted curtain, but no one’s watching us through the window. Goosebumps tear up my skin, and I shake my head slowly as I watch him on all fours. “What…what’swrongwith him?”

“I think…he’s on some sort of substance. Someone must have given it to him at the club. The bathrooms can get full of that stuff when bands come to town. It draws a different crowd.”

I stare at him, licking at the tiles where he’d spilt the water, then at her because she’s entirely too calm.

“Why aren’t you freaking out?” I’ve seen Jarett high, but this…

“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him like this. Two decades ago was a different time. With all the nostalgia, I think he got up to some old habits.”

“He’s acting like a…” I tilt my head to observe him. “A dog.”

“I’ve seen him behave like an ape.”

I look at her, my eyes ready to shoot from the sockets. “And you’re okay with this?”

“It’s just a bad spell.”

“That you’re trying to help him out of? Why?”

“Because he needs me, Elle! At the end of the day, I’m still his wife. We’re still family. I couldn’t just leave him like that, plus he’s not staying here indefinitely, just the night until he comes down off his high. What if this time it wasn’t his doing? What if whatever he took was laced without him knowing?”

“I don’t believe you,” I say slowly. “He’s here for tonight and every night after. You’ll never let him go.”

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