Page 46 of Beg for Death
I licked my lips, a slight tremble scattered over my entire body. “What does it matter? I'm nothing but a placeholder anyway.”
“¿De qué demonios estás hablando?”What the hell are you talking about?
I groaned as I was hit with another realization. Another thing my father had over me; he knew Spanish and spoke it fluently. “Fuck you.” I sat up and scrambled out of bed. My sleep shorts rode up my thigh a bit.
“Have you lost your mind?” Ezra stared at me, his gaze unwavering. “I’m going to let you have this one chance?—”
“I don’t want it.” Heat swarmed my head as my blood rushed, blocking out any sound. “I said, fuck you.”
Ezra’s left eye twitched as an eerie calm came over him. “This is the wrong tactic to go about pushing me. You won’t like the results.”
What did it matter anymore? I was suffocating under my father’s shadow. Again. I thought I’d escaped it in college, but I should have known better. Tension filled the room and wrappedaround my throat like a rope. I swallowed, hoping to ease the feeling some. Still, I didn’t back down.
I was hurt. I wanted him to see me for me. Not as Jasper’s son or his replacement but as Felix.
Ringing broke the silence that had descended on the room. Ezra’s shoulders lifted, anger was etched on the hard set of his jaw and the way he glared at me.
“I have to take this.”
“Bet you do.”
Ezra’s jaw ticked, his gaze hardening. “When I get back, we will have a discussion about why the hell you’re acting out.”
“Maybe this is me, or better yet, maybe it’s because you kidnapped me and robbed me of my fucking life.”
“Sit down.”
I didn’t make a single move to listen even though everything in me screamed I should. Sit like a good boy. Fuck that and fuck all of this. I was tired of being stepped on and ignored. What I wanted, I’d finally gotten a taste of having it and it was being snatched away from me.
Ezra pointed a finger at me. “Te atenderé cuando vuelva.”I will deal with you when I come back.
Whatever he said was clearly meant as a threat. My heart pounded away, attempting to shatter my ribcage as I stayed standing in defiance. I thought I’d be able to forget what I saw, but I couldn't no matter how hard I tried.
I heard the front door open, and before it shut, Ezra’s deep voice carried down the hall. “Jasper, you have to stop being so obsessed?—”
My heart felt like it was being torn in half.
Jasper.
He was talking to my father. He left me to talk to my father. Bile burned the back of my throat, and I barely had time to make it to the bathroom before I emptied the contents of my stomach.I heaved over the toilet as a fresh wave of tears broke free. It looked like I, in fact, still had some tears left in me. I blinked them away as an ugly cry was yanked out of me.
I dry heaved until I was certain there wasn’t anything left. I quickly rinsed my mouth out, brushing away the bitterness that coated my tongue. My body moved on autopilot as all I could think about was dragging myself back into the bed and melting into the sheets.
Run.
A single thought sparked life into my brain, and I stood up straighter, staring at my reflection. Ezra had been gone maybe three, five minutes tops. I spat the toothpaste out and stepped out of the bathroom. Each step I took was like walking on a bed of needles. Fear and adrenaline crept up my muscles, making me jumpy.
The house was silent, and I made it all the way to the door. Ezra could come back any second, and I’d be caught. The smart thing was to turn back around and wallow in bed until the day came when I got tossed out.
My father’s partners in the past had never come around, but a few of them had found me after dating my dad. In hopes of getting back with him they’d be nice to me, show me care and happiness only to stop the moment they got my father’s attention again.
That's what this was.
I wasn’t a kid anymore. I tested the door and when fresh air hit me, I realized the outer lock wasn’t in place. Ezra must have forgotten, too busy kissing up to my dad. I grabbed a pair of boots he had near the door and shoved my feet in.
Shallow breath was all I could muster as I shoved the door open a bit more and eased out. I took the three steps down and stopped. I listened for Ezra.
There was nothing but woods, and it wasn’t like I’d gotten any information with my one day out. Ezra’s voice hit me after a few dragged out seconds.
