"You're sick, old man," I sneered instead.
"Don't tell me you're queer." Something bright entered his eyes, and he smiled. "Actually, that would be just fine with me, as long as you can still manage to produce an heir. My God, that would be justice. Adelaide would lose her cunt mind."
I'd been rolling my eyes pretty hard, but he didn't seem to notice, so I finally just interrupted his strange tirade. "I'm not gay, and I don't want a whore for my birthday."
"I wasn't offering you a whore, son." In spite of everything, my heart jumped a bit when he called me son. It was pathetic. "I was offering you a room full of them. An apartment full. I was offering you as many different whores as you could stick your squeaky clean dick in between now and your next school day."
"No, thank you. I have a girlfriend."
"So? Is she here now? Grow some balls, boy, or at least get yours back. Gotta be a man sometime."
"Even if I didn't have a girlfriend, I'm not interested in prostitutes," I sneered.
That had him lifting a brow and calling, "Heather! Get in here."
"Why does she need to be here?" I asked him. I had no reason to like his longtime mistress. Just the opposite.
He grinned and it was unpleasant. "You're not interested in whores." Heather walked into the room, looking unfazed.
Well, dead behind the eyes if I was accurate.
The things she must see on a daily basis, I thought. I should have more pity for the woman.
"Heather, Dante says he's not interested in whores, but I still owe him a birthday present."
I still didn't catch on until she started to strip, her dead eyes on me. I was more naive than I'd realized.
"What are you doing?" I asked both of them, backing up a step, then another.
"Her tubes were tied after she had Lorenzo, so you don't have to wear a condom. You're welcome."
"You're disgusting," I told him.
"Is he gay?" Heather spoke for the first time.
Leo shrugged. "You prefer anal? Go for it. Heather's up for anything."
"Fuck no. Fuck you."
"He always was a brat," Heather noted.
This from the woman that had tried to smother affection on me in front of Leo when I was a child, then had shown me nothing but cruelty when his back was turned.
I gave my despised father the coldest stare I could muster over my rage. "I said I'm not interested in prostitutes. Get her out of here."
She left in a huff, like I'd deeply offended her.
"I'm going to tell Mother about this," I told him when she was gone.
I hated that I sounded like a child as I said it.
"Ha!" He got a real kick out of that. "Go for it. You think she doesn't know what I'm up to? I can't divorce the cunt, but she sure as hell doesn't get to tell me where I put my dick."
I stared at him, glared, and hated that aside from the eyes, I was the very image of him. Only on the outside, I told myself.
It cannot be stated strongly enough—I hate my parents.
"I'm going to Gram's for the rest of the weekend. Any objections?"
He shrugged, waving me off. "Whatever. More for me. Have my driver take you."
One good thing came out of the weekend: He never insisted that I stay with him again.
CHAPTER FIVE
"If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?"
~Lily Tomlin
PRESENT
SCARLETT
It wasn't an easy drive to get to my friend Gina's house. It would've taken a solid hour without traffic, which was a laughable assessment. There was always traffic. It was an hour and a half if traffic was good, two and counting if it was the alternative, which it almost always was.
I loved driving, loved going fast, even in my shitty old sedan I wreaked havoc on the streets like I was racing every stranger I passed. God help me if I ever actually owned a car that could perform to match my mood.
I loved driving, yes, but no one loved driving in this town. It was a chore to get to my dear friend's house, but when she called, I answered. When she asked, I came if I could.
It was a one-sided kind of friendship. I never called her, never asked or invited myself. But some friendships are just designed that way. It's unavoidable. A give and take that we need even if it's not what we want.
Some people are put into our lives at just the right moment. Of this I am certain.
And the why of it was this woman. Gina.
Gina was the kind of nice that made everyone around her uncomfortable. If I so much as mentioned a hardship I had suffered, even a casual one that was years old, her eyes would water as though it was a fresh wound. There was nothing I despised more than receiving someone else's pity. It literally made my skin crawl, but I knew that she couldn't help herself.
Eugene, her husband, was not much better. He was more in touch with his emotions than a Care Bear. And not in an annoying way. Well, not completely. He had a method of disarming that was rare. He brought out the soft side in everyone, asked just the question that let you know he was in tune with your mood. That he cared, that he felt.