Page 44 of Sparks of Insanity
I dragged a chair from the small dining area and sat on that, putting distance between me and all of the Cross family.
“I should start,” Ember said, but Dory shushed her.
“I want to hear it from him. He’s the one in the wrong here, and sure, none of us here are necessarily angels, but none of us kidnapped my fucking daughter, yeah?”
I ran a hand over my hair, trying to smooth it down.
“I had everything, you know. Great job, a nice house, good salary, a car, friends, neighbours, a life. A future.”
“Yeah yeah, let me grab my fucking violin,” Gray muttered, rolling his eyes at me.
“Dad, please, let him talk. You guys wanted this, so at least shut up and listen.” At least my little protégé had the balls to tell him, right?
“I lost it all, and I’m sure I don’t have to tell you guys that losing everything is a fast track to losing your fucking mind, because I’m a pariah now. The teacher who abused his student, the teacher who couldn’t keep it in his pants. The teacher who took advantage of a vulnerable teen. Never mind the fact that I never did a fucking thing!”
“Calm down, Former Teach. Continue before I get bored,” Gray said, clearly the fucking voice of these assholes. The mouth piece.Mouthy-piece.
“Ember turned up at my place, and I was in a fucking mess, okay? Stuff happened, and we needed to get away from there. I brought her here, trapped her with me, scared the hell out of her, forced her into sex, and acted like a complete unhinged asshole.The end.”
Ember groaned, catching Blaze by the hand when he tried to get up from beside her. He froze, staring down at her hand touching his.
“Whoa,” he said quietly, noticing she didn’t back off. Yeah, it took me a moment to remember that her family hadn’t touched her in years. Knew to stay clear, knew she wouldn’t reach out like this. I’d grown so used to her touch by now, to touching her, that I’d forgotten this was out of character for her.
“Em, this feels like a milestone here,” Blaze said, his face as shocked as both of their dads’.
“I have something to say too, so I need you to sit back down please. Yes, I went to Ethan’s, but not for the first time. No, stop, listen. It’s not like that. I wanted it to be. I wanted to be with him, but he kept pushing me away, saying it wasn’t right. I kept drawing these explicit pictures or pictures of him, and left some for him, even pushing one through his door, keeping some of them, so that I could look at them. I was… I guess, kinda obsessed, so when his neighbour looked like she wanted to get with him, I warned her off.”
“Is that what you’re calling it? You were about to kill her when I showed up, Em.”
Why did her dads look fucking impressed by that statement? No wonder they were all so fucked up.
“I meant the first time,” she said sheepishly, and that was a shocking reminder that when I caught her with Suzy, she’d told me she’d warned her off before.
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“Me either, nice one, sis.” Dammit. If they encouraged this kind of behaviour, well… haven’t I already thought it enough times? These people were next level fucked up, and I’d fallen for one of them.
26
Ember
Ethan was telling themeverything, and I knew my dads were biding their time, waiting to strike. He might think they’re listening and trying to understand, but I know them better. They’re just letting him dig a hole, and I don’t want them to bury him in it.
“Okay, so there was wrong on both sides. Can you all please leave now?”
Dad Dory looked at me sadly.
“Emb… Em, we can’t just leave you here with him. I appreciate we’re not the best people to dispute what he did, but harming you isn’t something we can just forgive, just like you shouldn’t.”
“But mum should?” I turned to Blaze. “And Anneka should? Some rule applies to them, but not me? I asked him to help me. I asked him to be with me. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be a fucking eighteen year old virgin, who’s so afraid to be touched, that she thinks she’ll freak out, but desperately wantsto be normal? Do you have any idea what it’s like to be an eighteen year old GIRL, who just wants to be touched, kissed, to make love, to be loved? None of you have a damn clue, and mum wouldn’t understand either. I’m not like any of you. I didn’t get over the things that happened to me, no matter how hard I tried, but Ethan has made more impact on me, and helped me heal in ways that nobody else could. Should I just walk away, and lose that?”
“This isn’t the way, sweetheart. We can get you help again. We can give you anything you want-”
“Well, I want Ethan. Alive, well, and with me.” My dads exchanged a look, seeming to have a whole conversation with just their eyes, and Blaze was still playing with that damn razor blade, flicking his unhurt thumb over the blade as he eyed Ethan. What would it take to make them go away, and leave us to ourselves?
Dad Gray cleared his throat. “Here’s what’s gonna happen. We’re all leaving here, and we’re doing it right now. This place is trashed, and it’s crappy, and no daughter of ours is shacking up in this kind of hovel. We do have another place in mind, so we’re going to set you up there, and give you a week. If you can’t prove to us that this is making you better instead of worse at that point, we kill him.”
“A month,” I countered, not even querying where they were sending us, because I knew my family had investment properties dotted all over the place. It was why they didn’t do day jobs.
