“I pop the clutch a bit and it makes it jump.”
“I don’t like it.”
He smirked, and his eyebrows went up. “I do.”
I shook my head, trying not to smile back. “Thanks, I think,” I said, adjusting my skirt and spinning on my heel to head down the driveway. I knew the older man who lived here, and he wouldn’t care if I cut through. “See you…never again, probably.”
“Hey,” he yelled. “What if I do want to see you again?”
I already shook my head. Not only did I feel too embarrassed, but I still really didn’t know anything about him, and the few things I did know didn’t lead me to good assumptions.
“You don’t.”
I made it into our neighbor’s backyard before I heard the bike take off, the sound of the screaming engine lasting forever until it finally faded away.
I waited a few more seconds before continuing. It was a hike to get to our house from here, but at least I felt a bit smarter for not giving a stranger directions to my house.
The mansion rose up in the night, the lights on it a beacon of home. Unlike the other homes around us, ours sat tucked away, with a long driveway and acres of land keeping everything private compared to the few neighbors we had.
My heart hammered as I opened the door, part of me feeling like my forehead had a brand of what I had done, the other part remembering no one cared what I had done or where I had been.
My part of the house stayed empty. Six bedrooms, one office, a giant kitchen, living room, and dining room. Endless rooms on this side and not a single person in them. Our house had been split up. One side belonged mainly mine now, the bedrooms, this living room, the kitchen. The other side had been built later by my father. It had his bedroom, an office, a formal living room, and a small kitchen, which was only used when he had someone come prepare meals for him.
Okay, more like every day. Not a single person here to care what happened to me.
I huffed as I headed up the ridiculously big staircase to my bedroom upstairs, already pulling a cookie out of the box and hitting Harper’s name on my phone.
“Hey. Elliot didn’t lock you in a basement?” she asked.
“Nope, but I think he might have done something a hell of a lot worse. I might have, too,” I said, locking my bedroom door behind me and getting into bed, telling Harper everything.
Six
Regan
Another day went by with me lying around the house. There were no events, no parties, nothing going on except endless days of no one needing me to do anything.
I had stayed around the house after college for my dad. He had made comments here and there about wanting help and not wanting me to be too far from him, and I quickly caught on. So instead of going out into the world after graduating, I came back here to take care of my dad and wait for the day he would let me step in and help him.
But he seemed to be running as fast as he could with the help of all his doctors, and I still waited.
So the most I contributed to this world was art, and even drawing didn’t interest me this week. I wanted a reason to get up.
Instead of doing anything worthwhile, I kicked my feet up onto the back of the couch, watching the next episode of Dateline upside down as if it could make it more exciting.
“What are you doing, Regan? Sit upright.” My father’s voice startled me, making me flip back fast.
He rarely came into this living room. He seemed to spend most days locked in his office here or at his company’s building in the city. Even when he was here, I rarely knew it.
Now he sat across from me, making me nervous as he cocked an eyebrow.
“Where were you last night which had you not getting home until one AM and snuck through the back of the house?” he asked, his eyes hard and angry.
“Out with Elliot. I told you I would be,” I said, trying to take short breaths to control my now racing heart.
“Then why were you seen walking through our neighbor’s yard to ours? He called to make sure you were okay.”
“Elliot took a wrong turn and annoyed me. I thought walking through the yard would be easier than staying in the car with him any longer.”
