Her Destiny (Reverie #2)(6)

Dad pulls away from me slightly, a frown on his face as he stares at me. “Too much makeup,” he declares, his voice hard.

Immediately I roll my eyes and shrug out of his touch. “Stop.” I put on the extra eyeliner, shadow and mascara just to irritate him.

“You don’t need it,” he says with a smile. Trying to soften his approach.

It won’t work.

“You’re pretty enough without it,” he continues.

“Leave her alone,” Mother chastises. “Let’s have a nice lunch.”

Lunch is anything but nice. We sit around a too-small table eating decent room service food. Mother got me a salad because I need to watch my figure and I watch with envy as Evan eats a hamburger, dunking his fries into the mound of catsup on his plate and waving them at me before he shoves them in his mouth.

He’s so annoying. Almost twenty and he acts like he’s ten.

During lunch, Dad talks of lies and falsehoods and Evan rolls his eyes. Mother wants to talk about memories and live in the past. Memories of when Evan and I were little and everything was sweet and peaceful and we had the lord on our side.

Those are her words. When the lord was on our side. I bet he’s not on their side anymore, what with the way they stole from people. Innocent people, most of them elderly and the majority of them on a fixed income, who wanted nothing more than to help Reverend Hale and his flock.

If I think about it too much, all the innocent people who were affected by what my parents did, it makes me sick.

I remain silent as they talk and so does Evan. We listen to what our parents say but don’t offer much in return. Not that they notice. They’re too wrapped up in their problems and think they’re doing the right thing by keeping us away from them. That’s what Mother says every time she sees us.

I hate not having you with me Rev but I don’t want our troubles to taint you. It’s best you stay out of it.

Whatever. I think it’s easier for them to not have us around so they can be completely selfish and worry about their own problems. Heaven forbid they want to deal with us.

“I saw something on the news about that boy who worked for us last summer,” Mom says, catching my interest.

“What guy?” Evan asks, his gaze sliding to me. The look in his eyes says everything. He knows who she’s talking about.

And I’m silently begging him not to say anything else.

“That boy who shadowed Michael everywhere. Nick something.” Mom waves a hand, dismissing my Nick with a flick of her fingers. “He was questioned in the murder of his ex-girlfriend.” She mock shivers. “Disgusting. Can’t believe we had a supposed murderer working at our home.”

“It’s not our home,” I say, my teeth clenched so tight my jaw hurts. “Not anymore.”

“Well, you know what I mean.” She sounds uncomfortable and her nervous laughter grates. I hate her.

I hate myself. What if I turn into a version of her someday? I don’t know if I could deal.

“Leave it alone, Rev,” Evan warns but I ignore him.

I’m so sick of her passing judgment on something she doesn’t know or understand. He might’ve dumped me without a word but I know without a doubt he didn’t touch Krista. He was with me on what turned into both the best and worst night of my life.

“He didn’t do it.”

“Didn’t do what?” Mom rests a hand on her chest, her eyes wide in surprise. I bet she really did just forget who she was talking about. People mean nothing to her so this wouldn’t surprise me.

“Nick. He didn’t kill that girl.”

“How do you know?” Mom asks, her voice sharp. Even Dad is staring at me now, waiting for my answer.

I part my lips but no words come out. I can’t say it. The truth would freak them out.

I know because I spent the night with him, naked in his bed. He never left my side.

That so wouldn’t go over too well.

“I just…I know.”

“They talked a few times,” Evan adds, sending me another one of those looks. This one says shut the hell up before you make it worse and I decide to take his advice.

Clamping my lips shut, I fold my hands into my lap and keep my head down. I’m done. I have nothing else to say.

I’m ready to leave.

“We gotta go,” Evan the mind reader says after a few long minutes of silent, tense torture. The relieved look I send him doesn’t go unnoticed.

Mother’s face falls in disappointment as she looks from me to Evan. “So soon?”

“I have to be at work at five.” That’s not a lie. Evan found a job at a bar, cleaning tables and basically being the bartenders’ errand boy. Despite how awful it sounds, he likes his job and they pay him under the table, which he loves. He told me I need a job too to help with rent but…I have no idea who’d hire me. I have zero skills. Mom and Dad can provide us no money since their accounts are locked.

“But it’s only two-thirty,” Dad says. He sounds as disappointed as Mother but that doesn’t surprise me. They grab hold of this time together and cling to it like us being together again is going to make everything magically better.

Evan says nothing in answer. I don’t either and neither do my parents.

“Next Saturday then,” Mother says brightly, trying to cover up the uncomfortable silence that had just settled over the room. “Maybe you can stay longer. We’d love that you know. I understand you’re busy but…”