Breaking Him

“What if she left you something?”

“If she left me anything, have it donated to that charity she set up for Grandpa.”

No, I wasn’t insane.  I just would not, could not, profit off her death.

Sure, I was broke most of the time.  I’d lost track of the times I’d spent my last twenty on a tube of M.A.C. lipstick, or maxed a credit card on a cute pair of shoes, but that was my problem and there was no reason someone else should bail me out of it, even if that someone was Gram.

“My God, you are as stubborn as ever.”

“Are you surprised?”

“Not remotely.”  He paused.  “Tell me about Anton.”

I’d completely forgotten about that.  And of course Dante had known his name all along, the fucking stalker.  “You’re never going to drop this, are you?”

“Never,” he agreed.

I sighed.  It was too ridiculous to keep up the pretense.  “He’s just a friend.  A good one.  Demi called him my boyfriend because she’s a sweetheart and that’s what friends do when one of their girls is locked in a room with her ex.”

He was stroking my hair, kissing the top of my head.  “You were messing with me,” he breathed.

“Are you surprised?” I asked him, nearly laughing.  Didn’t he know how this fucked up little song and dance went?

“I shouldn’t be, that’s for sure.”

We lapsed into silence, him stroking my hair over and over and, likely because I was sated and sleepy, it soothed me.  And I let it.

I don’t know why precisely it came to mind.  Because I was feeling vulnerable, I suppose, and spiteful, as usual.  Also, we hadn’t talked like we had for the last few days in so long, since before the breakup.

Tiffany was still after him, and I didn’t mind giving him another reason to hate her.

“That day,” I began, my voice small.  “When that cop pulled me out of school.”  I would not, could not describe it in more detail than that.

He’d gone stiff as a board, but he nodded that he knew which day I meant.

Of course he did.

“I saw her on the way out.  Tiffany.  I said something to her, because she was the only one I saw.  She was supposed to tell you that I was leaving with him.  Did she?”

I was only telling the truth and asking a simple question.  Had I known it would do some damage?

Well, yes of course.  That had been the point.

Had I known he would lose his mind?

No, I actually hadn’t.

But he did.  He lost his ever-loving mind.

First he started to shake.  Top to bottom, shake.

His trembling hands lifted me off him, he stood, and buck naked, strode from the room.

I didn’t follow him, but when I heard things starting to break, I didn’t have to wonder who was breaking them.

With a sigh I got dressed and went to investigate.

Ah, that made sense.  He was in the guestroom Tiffany had been occupying but, lucky for her, she wasn’t occupying it now because as I stood there she approached.

She was holding an ice pack to her nose.

That made me smile.

Bastian was behind her, Leo behind him.

“What the hell is going on?” Leo’s voice boomed through the hallway.

I almost rolled my eyes.  “What, did you get interrupted in the middle of screwing one of the maids?” I asked him in a taunting, baby soft voice, “Does that make you grumpy?”

I’d always had a problem with Leo, dating back to childhood when I’d first realized how he treated Dante.  Any chance I got, I antagonized him.

Bastian stifled a laugh.  I smiled at him.

“You,” Leo hissed.  “You’ve been nothing but poison in this family since my mother dug you out of the trash.”

My brows went up.  Usually it took more to get a rise out of the old lech.  “Yeah, cause otherwise you’re all just a bunch of teddy bears.”

Bastian was outright laughing now.

“Can you two stop bickering and tell me what is going on in my room?” Tiffany butted in.

“That is not your room,” I said, not even looking at her.  I was in a hell of a mood, every boom and crash I heard behind the door I guarded was only egging me on.  “That is a guestroom that you insisted on staying in, even though no one wants you here.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake,” Leo muttered, striding to the door.  “I want to know what’s going on.”

I blocked him, moving to stand in front of the knob.  “Dante is having a moment, and everyone needs to leave him the fuck alone.”  I looked at Tiffany.  “Especially you.  Trust me when I say that you don’t want to get near him right now.”

“Me?” she pointed at herself, doing her usual innocent routine.  “What did I do?”

I rolled my eyes.  “What, you want me to make a list?  Please.  Save it.  No one here believes your act.  Take it somewhere else.  Somewhere far away from Dante unless you feel like getting strangled today.”

As though to punctuate that, something very large broke with a screeching crash in the room behind me.

“Oh forget it,” Leo muttered, turning around.  “That boy is as melodramatic as his mother, I swear.”

“That’s right, princess, don’t worry your pretty little head about it.  You just go back to screwing the housekeeper!” I called to his retreating back.

He flipped me the bird and kept walking.