Page 10 of Make Me Scream
Elise processes my answer for a minute before nodding with a small smile. “Bout time, you were almost late.”
“Yeah. Practice,” Peris mutters. We’re all ignoring the knocking that’s just sounded again. I’m afraid of what it means. Who the hell knows what they’re afraid of—if they’re even afraid at all.
“Well.” Elise pulls in a big breath and lets it out slowly and noisily. She clasps her hands in front of her outfit. She’s dressed nicely in a pair of khakis and a white blouse, her hair pulled into a clip close to her nape with some tendrils hanging down around her face. I glance over at Peris, still in his practice clothes and stinking of sweat, and then down at myself in my two-sizes-too-big-jeans-and-shirt and my ugly ass shoes. We make quite the picture.
“Let’s get the shit over with, I guess,” I mutter and step forward, taking the lead and pulling the door open.
“Abel, baby.” Lucy beams as the door swings open, her wrinkled, weathered face crinkling unpleasantly in the harsh, yellow light.
I frown and glance behind me. “Off to a great start,” I mutter.
Elise steps forward, but before her back is in front of me, I catch her lips twitching, fighting a smile, which in turn makes my chest feel the slightest bit of warmth.
Who knows, maybe when this is all said and done, if I can still talk to Elise, I’ll survive…
“Please, come in.”
“Please,don’t,” Peris bites out through gritted teeth.
“Peris,” Elise hisses, and I snicker.
Lucy’s eyes narrow as she steps over the threshold, but she quickly fixes her face as she walks inside, Bill following right behind her. We make eye contact, and I arch my brow, not saying a word. His big, bald head shines under the artificial light above.
“Sup, Bill.”
“Abel.”
“I would say it’s good to see you, but I was kinda hoping to never fuckin’ see you again.” While everyone makes their way into the house, Bill and I hang back a ways.
“Yeah, kid. I was hoping for the same,” he says quietly, hand gripping the back of his neck.
My stomach turns, acid burning through me. “So, what the hell is she doing here, Bill?” I stop, arms crossed over my chest. I can feel eyes on me—several pairs—but none of them matter.
“Well, I think it might be best if we all go sit and talk about what’s going on…” He avoids my eyes, and I know what that means.
“I don’t want to sit at a fucking table with her. I don’t want toseeher at all.”
Bill sighs and drops his large hand to my shoulder. I flinch and pull away. He withdraws, and Peris is beside me in the next moment, pushing me toward the table with an arm around my shoulder.
He drops his face near mine, and just as I think he’s about to say something, all I feel is the quickest graze of teeth, and then, they’re gone, and I’m being shoved down into the chair beside him.
“So, what the hell is going on?” he asks loudly, the legs of his chair scraping obnoxiously across the floor as he pulls it out slowly. Gooseflesh prickles across my skin, but I welcome it over the acrid churning in my gut.
“Peris,” Elise murmurs softly, eyes narrowed but in a protective way, like she’s trying to stave off her own anger and not add to his.
“Well, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one completely confused about what’s going on here. I didn’t think…” he trails off and cocks his head to the side. I glance over and watch his golden-green eyes narrow, calculating Lucy sitting diagonal from him. “I didn’t thinkegg donorswere allowed to just show up and try to take children away from their homes.”
“Excuse me?!”Lucy squawks, her sunken in, light gray eyes widening comically.
“Woah, hold on. Let’s all take a minute…” Bill tries to placate the situation.
“No, it’s a good question,” I interject, pushing my chair back and kicking my feet on the table. My eyes flicker toward Elise, noting her fleeting smile, which tells me it’s okay. My stomach settles marginally, giving me just enough courage to continue. “I’d like to know.”
Lucy keeps balking and making random annoying noises, but no one pays her any mind. Bill sighs loudly. “Lucy, please just be quiet a moment. This is a lot for them to take in, and it would be best if you let us speak first. It’s a sensitive situation.”
Lucy’s eyes narrow, her thick, spider-like eyelashes swallowing her irises. “He’s my son, Bill.”
“The fuck I am!” I shout, shooting upward and knocking my chair back. Elise and Peris are beside me in the next moment. Peris’s hand is on my lower back, and Elise has her hand wrapped around mine, her thumb rubbing incessant circles across the back of my hand absentmindedly.
