Chain Reaction 3.76: Cruel

Drake

     "Daddy!" Valentino exclaims when I walk through the front door.

     "Heya, sport!" I lean down to give him a hug. I've come to get him. We're moving in with Emily. We may as well. I spend all my time over there, and in doing so, I've been alienating my own son. He'll be a teen before I know it.

     Also before I know it, Emily will be pregnant with my child. 

     "Hi, stranger," I hear to my left. She's trying to sound sultry, but her stupid dress messes the whole thing up. Morgan could never be classy enough to be a Goth, and that's another reason why I'm here.

     "Daddy! Lemme show you this picture I drew!" He races away to go and get it. That's good. I need to do this quickly and get it over with.

     Morgan walks up to me. "I've missed you. Is Emily doing better?" I'd explained my absence by saying I was helping Emily and Alaric. I'm going to make my helping permanent now.

     "No, and I need to talk to you about that." Fast. "You and I can't happen, Morgan. I'm sorry, but I've never stopped loving Emily, and now that I have my chance to be back with her again, I'm taking it."

     She looks at me like I'm speaking an unknown foreign language. "What?"

     Valentino comes back waving a paper around. Dammit, Morgan! Can't you pick up on things faster than this?! "Look, Daddy!"

     I look. Kind of. "That's great, kiddo." Then, I turn back to Morgan. "I'm saying we need to break up."

      This time it's Valentino's turn. "What?"

      But I think Morgan finally understands. "How could you do this to me? You were just dragging me along, weren't you? I should've known."

      I wince. "And, unfortunately, I'm also going to have to fire you."

      "Daddy!"

      "Valentino," I turn to him, "why don't you go draw Daddy another picture, huh?"

      He gets a peculiar yet familiar expression on his face. "No."

      I turn back to Morgan. "Effective immediately. I'll direct deposit your remaining paychecks as well as give you a generous severance package."

      She starts crying, plum it all to hell that Valentino is still here. "How can you be so cold? So cruel?"

      "I'm not. I'm being realistic."

      My little man tries to reason with me. He's so smart. Not the same like Alaric is smart. Alaric is Emily's son. Valentino can't help that he's not Emily's son, but she can be his step-mother. "Daddy, no. Let Morgan stay here. She can stay here, and you can go help Alaric and Grammie." That needs to be fixed. "Morgan can stay here. We miss you, but we're okay." He turns to her. "Right, Morgan?"

      She doesn't answer him, unable to speak.

      I sigh. This is the hard part. "Valentino, I'm sorry, but this is the way it has to be. We're going to go live with Emily and Alaric now. You can fix up your new room any way you want."

      "No! I don't want to!" He starts yelling 'no' over and over again. Morgan calms him down and hugs him, and he starts crying.

      "I'm sorry, sweetie," she says only to him. To me, she stands and says, "I'll send someone for my things. I can't be in your presence for another second." She brushes past me and walks out. Finally.

      But then Valentino starts running after her.

      I can hear them through the door. "No, Morgan! Wait! Please!"

      Holy mother of plumbob. Why did he have to witness that? Why couldn't Morgan pick up on what I was saying faster than that? 

      Morgan stops and turns around to face Valentino again.

       I strain to hear now. "I'm so sorry, Tino." Tino? "You're caught right in the middle of this. It's not your fault."

       His voice has those heart-wrenching hiccups now. "But I... love you... and I... want... you to be my... mommy." He lets out a huge wail.

       I look down at my feet, and I finally take a good look at the picture he drew. It's one of me, Morgan, and him all standing together holding hands. There's a heart-shaped sun shining above us, and we have ridiculous smiles on our faces.

      You idiot, I mentally yell at myself. All you could think about was your own dick. You failed to see how having a relationship with Morgan would affect your son. You may as well call her Selena. I ball my hand into a fist, also crushing the drawing in the process.

      I'm no better than my idiot father. Well, no longer. Emily and I are getting back together, and we're going to make a family out of this mess.

      The drama outside continues. "I would've loved being your mommy, Tino. But sometimes, life throws things at you that you can't control. And you have to find the courage to face them. I'll always love you like you were my own, but it's something that isn't meant to be." She gets a tissue from somewhere and wipes his nose for him.

      "But I'll... miss you too much."

      "I'll miss you too, but you're strong. You're a brave young man who I think can one day take on the world. You can get through this. You like hanging out with Alaric, don't you?"

      "But he's a... teenager, and I'm a... a kid."

      "I don't think that'll matter to him." She kisses his forehead. Our eyes meet through the glass, and a look of pure hatred flows from hers. I don't care. I wish she'd wrap up talking to my son and get the hell out.

      "I have to go now," she tells him and stands.

      "NO!" He stubbornly wraps his arms around her legs.

      "Valentino, please don't make this harder. We have to go our own way now. I'll always love you, but I have to go." She unwraps herself and walks away to the garage.

     I hate my father even more for this. Valentino and Alaric should be the same person. But Dad had to go and plum all our lives up by stealing my girlfriend.

     Time to go make it right.

Emily

     I hate him.

     Drake.

     He's out of control.

     Meaning I've lost control.

     He's a demon, visiting in the night. I'd say he forces himself on me, but I've stopped trying to stop him. It doesn't do any good. Like he said: he will not stop. He's relentless.

     The first night, I told myself it was for stress relief. They wouldn't let me see Alex, and they wouldn't give me a reason why. Drake was right in a sense. I'd been anticipating seeing my husband and left having not been with him. Drake used that. I should've fought harder.

     Then Alex went missing.

     Now, Drake all but owns me. He likes to hover above me, saying he loves watching me react to what he does. He's more than made up for not caring whether or not I got any satisfaction when we were teens. But it's still every bit as cold.

     Both he and Valentino live here now. He says he fired his nanny.

      Often, I fantasize he's Alex, but I miss the love. Drake thinks he's in love with me. He's not. He's obsessed with me. I miss my husband, but for all I know, he's dead.

      No. He can't be dead. I'd know. Wouldn't I?

      Other times my fantasies go like Alex walks in on us. Then he wraps his hands around Drake's throat and chokes the life out of him. Then, he looks at me with a mix of hurt and fury. And I spend the rest of my life gladly working to make things right. Alex loved me. Loves me.

     Maybe it would be better if he were dead so he'd never have to see this. This: how the woman he loves is trapped in an evil man's cage, a cage I was too stupid to avoid. No, I walked right into it, believing Drake's lies of friendship.

     "Oh, Emily," Drake moans. Even their voices are so similar.

     "I hate you."

     "No you don't." It's the same conversation every night.

     "Leave me alone."

     "No. You need this. I need this. I love you."

     "Go to hell."

     "If I go, I'm taking you with me." He sucks on my earlobe.

     Tears escape my eyes. "I'm already there."

     He stops, and he looks down at me. "No you're not. Emily, why do you have to be like this? How can it be that your body loves me so much yet you're always talking about how you hate me?"

     "Because my body is no longer under my control."

       He starts up again. "You love to hurt me, don't you?" He pins me to the bed and lifts up. "Guess I'll hurt you right back." oh oh oh oh oh. Plum it. I hate my body. "Except you like it. You like pain, don't you, darling?"

      I cry out, and damn him. That feels so good. He drives me over the edge again. To answer his question, I say, "It's a sensation I can still feel."

      "You're sick. And plum it if I'm not loving every second of it." He finally finishes, and, panting, he asks, "Will you marry me, Emily?"

      It's like a bucket of ice water. Drake is all over me! "No!" I fight him, but I'm exhausted. "Get out!"

      I struggle like a kitten. "Let go of me!"

      "Never. Just like I'm not going to stop asking."

      "I'm already married."

      "He's probably dead, Emily, and you know it. And by the way, I switched out your birth control pills for sugar pills. You're going to have my child."

       I sob into the sheets. He's going to kill me. Having another child will kill me. But I might just kill myself first.

      "Alaric should've been mine. And I'm tired of him looking at you like you're a two-bit skank. That will stop when we're married."

      "I'll die before I so much as think about marrying you."

      "You'll change your mind. And I forgive you for being so cruel to me right now. Because I love you." He kisses my waist, lets me go, and leaves the room for 'his' bedroom.