Dark Universe (10 page)

“Who is this?”  A stern feminine voice asks me.  I pull the phone away from my ear to glare at it, as though the woman can see my “really bitch” expression through the screen.

“You called me!”  I say loudly.

“No.”  She says back, “No, I didn’t!  I called my son!”  She shrills. 
FUCK!

“Oh, um… Hello there, Mrs. Thomas.  Would you believe me if I said Drake put me up to this and it was all a big joke and I’m not really extremely rude with no phone etiquette whatsoever?”  She chuckles and I breathe a sigh of relief.  I can handle a parent with a sense of humor.

“No, but I think I can give you a pass this time.  And I haven’t been Mrs. Thomas in a while.  It’s Emory now, but you can call me Delilah.”  Something about that name makes me pause.  A niggling of a memory, or maybe it’s just because Drake already told me about his mom remarrying so I should have known it wouldn’t be Thomas anymore.

“I’m Lola.  It’s nice to meet you.  Drake’s in the… Um Drake will be here in a second.  He’s out and forgot his phone.”  I stop myself from telling her that her son is in the shower, knowing how that will sound and I’m not sure how much Drake has told her about me if anything.

“Okay, well have him call me as soon as he gets in, please; it’s very important I speak with him.”  She says hesitantly.

“Is everything alright?  Is there an emergency?”

“No, no, nothing like that.  His sister has just been making some very ill advised choices and… and Drake would want to know about it.”  She sounds more upset then she is letting on.

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

“Oh I’m sure; just make sure he calls me, please.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Have a good day, Lola.”

“You too.”

I set the phone down and back out of the room and straight into a wet wall of muscle. “GAH!”  I spin around and almost fall right on my ass, and Drake grabs both of my arms to hold me up.  “You scared the shit out of me!”  Drake chuckles and lets go of me as soon as he is sure I have my balance.

“Well, that’s what you get for sneaking around in other people’s rooms.”  I glare at him and he chuckles again.  Drake and I still have separate rooms and we haven’t slept in the same bed since the morning of my mother’s grand entrance.  This is all fine with me because snuggling was never part of the deal.  “What were you doing in here anyway?”  He asks me and I cringe.

“Okay, listen; before I tell you, I just want you to know I wasn’t snooping or anything.  Your freaking phone is the Godzilla of vibrators and it was driving me absolutely bug fuck.   She just kept calling and calling so I didn’t really have a choice.”

“Lola.  What the hell are you talking about?”

Oh for the love of…
“Your mother called.  She says you need to call her back.  It’s important.”

Drake’s eyebrows shoot up into his wet curly hair that is dripping wet.  “You talked to my mother?”  A drop of water drips from one of his curls and rolls down the side of his head to his neck and trails over his muscled chest before disappearing into his towel that is hanging… “Earth to Lola!”  Drake snaps his fingers in my face pulling me out of my sexual trance.

“What?  Oh, yea, she called and she wants you to call her back.”

“And that explains why you answered my phone how?”

“I already explained all of that.  Honestly, Drake, you need to pay more attention.”

“I need to pay attention!  You were the one who was practically raping me with your eyes a second ago.”

I scoff at him, completely outraged that he would call me out on my slip up.  “Have you ever heard the saying you can’t rape the willing, Drake?”

He shakes his head and turns and storms off towards his room and slams the door behind him, leaving me standing in the hallway wondering what the hell just happened.

CHAPTER 8

"If a man knows anything, he ought to die with it in him."

- Sam Bass

“Your mother is calling.  She will keep calling.  You might as well answer it.  Your mother is calling.  She will…”

“Dick’s Hotdogs.  If you love hotdogs, you’ll love…”

“Don’t you dare say it, Lola Scarlet Chase!!”  My mother shouts through the phone, cutting off the punch-line.

“Oh come on, Mom, you know that’s a good one.”  I snicker while she huffs in outrage on the other line.

“Lola, please, can you just focus for one second.  Your father and I would like to have you over for dinner.”

I sit in silence, processing her request.  In the past, dinner with the parents wouldn’t have been a big deal, but the tension between me and Mother the past couple weeks has been pretty thick.  “Lola, are you still there?”

“Yea, Mom, I’m here.  I would love to come to dinner, but I already made plans with Drake tonight.”  A total lie since Drake is still brooding from my interference with his family issues.

“Oh, I see.”  My mother says then pauses.  “Well, then, why don’t you guys just come here instead?” 

 
What the fuck?
  “Seriously?”

“Yes, I don’t see why not.  I know the two of us haven’t been seeing eye to eye in regards to your
relationship
with him, but I don’t want you to alienate yourself from the family because of some boy.  So, if I have to set aside my objections for a night in order to have a dinner with my only daughter, that’s what I will do.”

Again, I sit in silence as I try to process what she just said.  For some reason my gut is telling me she is up to no good.  That feeling is extremely unsettling because as much as I disagree with my mother on a regular basis, I have always trusted my parents.  So, I set aside my instincts and agree on dinner at seven before hanging up to go in search for Drake, having no idea how the hell I’m going to pull this off.

I find him in Ruger and Taz’s joint stall feeding the two horses biscuits and scratching their fur.  “Hey there, cowboy.”  Drake doesn’t so much as hesitate in his movements, solidifying my earlier assumption that he was going to make this difficult.  “So, I just wanted to stop by and let you know we are having dinner at the parents’ house tonight at seven, which means we will need to be there around six thirty so we should leave around six fifteen.  I’ll leave you to it!”  I spin to run away before he can finish processing my request.  The damn frustrating man is far too quick for that tactic to work.

“Don’t even think about walking out that door, Lola.”  I pause and consider just ignoring him, but I know that will do no good.  So, I sigh and turn around.

“Listen, I know that you’re still a little annoyed with me…”

“A little annoyed with you?  Lo, you answered my phone, you talked to my mother, and you interrogated me about my family and put your nose into my business.  We made it very clear to each other we would just have sex
,
and go out on occasion when the situation called for it. Neither one of us wanted any of the complications or drama that comes with a relationship.  And, sunshine, what you did had classic overbearing girlfriend written all over it.”

“I already explained that to you.  And reality check, Drake, I don’t have to be your girlfriend to worry about you as one human being to another would.  Haven’t you ever had a friend before?”

“We are NOT friends, Lola.”  Drake challenges with one dark eyebrow raised.

“I realize we don’t have a typical friendship…”

“Yea, that’s an understatement.”

“Would you stop interrupting me?”  I shout.  “You can’t tell me that if you thought someone was hurting me or my family you would feel nothing.  That you wouldn’t care in the slightest?  Because if so, then you’re not at all the guy I thought you were.  I didn’t say that if we got into this arrangement there would be absolutely no feelings whatsoever, just that there wouldn’t be any romantic feelings.”  I realize that as I’m saying this, I’m trying to explain- no convince not just him, but myself too.

“You don’t know me, Lola.”  Drake says softly after a few minutes.

I huff and throw my hands up in exasperation.  “You know what, fine, you don’t care.  Whatever.  How about this then, I already told them you were coming.  They are expecting you, and they are the ones who own the business that is sponsoring you and Rugar.  Not to mention the people who employ you and house your horse for free.”

Drake’s eyes widen in surprise for a moment before he chuckles softly.  “There she is.  I wonder why you didn’t lead with that one.” 

“Yea, me too.  So, you’re going?”

“See you at six fifteen.”

“Pass the gravy please, Drake.”  I ask politely to maintain some form of civility.  The tension is still present and my mother doesn’t seem to be affected by it at all.  Her cool demeanor makes me even more edgy.

I’m just getting ready to pop a slick of roast into my mouth when my dad decides to cut through the walls a little bit.  “So, Lola, was that Nina’s car I saw in the drive last week?”

“Yea, she stayed over for a couple nights last week.”

“Oh, so she’s met Drake then, since he’s living there as well I assume she got to know him a little bit.”  My mother chimes in, of course slipping in an unapproving tone when she mentions the part about Drake living in my house.

“Yes, she’s met him, but Drake kept himself occupied and only came in to sleep after Nins went to bed, so she didn’t know he was there.  She was having enough trouble of her own that I didn’t think it would be a good time to bring it up to her.”

“She doesn’t know he’s living with you?”  My mother chokes out.  “You two tell each other everything.” 

“Well, she’s been pretty preoccupied lately.  I felt it was best to give her a little space.”

“Space?”  My dad cuts back in, worry lacing his voice.  My parents know about everything that happened to Nina.  She doesn’t know how much they know though, and she never will. 

After Ricky took advantage of her the way he did, I went to my father about it.  I knew the last thing Nina wanted was more scandal and calling the police would just lead to court cases and more unwanted attention; no doubt the news would dredge up her parents’ grisly death as well.  My father agreed and set some things into motion.  The power that money gives people usually disgusts me.  However, in this one case, I was glad my father’s financial status was able to get my best friend her revenge.  A couple phone calls and a dozen or so signatures made my father the benefactor of all of Ricky’s families assets once Richard Senior passed. 

It turns out, by some stroke of fate, that Ricky’s father has recently been diagnosed with tuberculosis.  Once he’s gone, Ricky will lose everything.  No inheritance, no trust fund, no money for college, nothing.  No amount of money will pay for his crimes toward Nina, but it’s a start.  My father plans on putting all of it in an account for Nina later on in her life.

“Why would you think she needs space?  Why was she upset last week?  What happened?”  I smile at my father’s panicked voice.  If only that girl knew how much my family loved her.

“She met a man, Dad.  They had a misunderstanding last week.  All is well now.  I think he might be the one.  He seems determined to be with her.”

Both my mom and my dad’s jaws go slack at that last statement.  “A man?”  My mother says at the same time my father says, “Who is this guy?”

“I know, crazy right.  But we all know it was bound to happen sooner or later.  Nina deserves happiness too much for her to live her life alone.  And no worries, Dad, he’s a good one.”

My father smiles and Mom mutters an, “Oh that’s lovely news.”

“So, it’ll be spring soon.  Do you think Rugar is ready for some training?”  My dad addresses a silent Drake.

“Yes, sir, we are both more than ready.”

My father nods approvingly then goes back to cutting his roast and slathering it in mashed potatoes.  “Speaking of spring being only weeks away, Lola, your father and I wanted to speak to you about some things.”  My mother chirps between sips of wine.

Dad chokes on his food and takes a drink of water to clear his throat.  “Caroline!”  My father shouts mid cough, but my mother plows on.

“You know your brother’s sentence is up next month.  Did you remember?”

I freeze at the mention of Nathan and blink at my mother then glance in Drake’s direction to see him looking at my mother and father puzzlingly.  “No, uh, I didn’t remember.  It’s already been three years then?”  I manage and drain my glass of wine.

“Yes, well, we were going to tell you in private.”  My father grits out through his teeth glaring at my mother.

“Oh, that’s right, I’m so sorry; forgive me, dear, it must have slipped my mind.”  My mother apologizes insincerely.  “Anyways, now that it’s out there I guess there is no hiding it now, and Lola obviously trusts Drake since he’s living with her right, dear?”

“Uh, yea, sure.”  I don’t look at Drake; sure there are all sorts of questions on his face that I’m not ready to answer.

“That’s enough talk about that.  Our stance hasn’t changed.  He is no longer part of this family.  End of discussion.”  My father glares once again at his wife as he closes the topic of my brother.

We finished the meal at my parents’ in silence, and then said our goodbyes and left.  My mother’s face was shadowed with guilt, though I couldn’t pinpoint what she felt guilty over.  She may have unearthed our family’s biggest skeleton in front of Drake but that shouldn’t make her feel guilty.  Although, my father seemed particularly angry over it, so she’s probably just dreading the confrontation they are sure to have once they were alone. 

As soon as we get inside the apartment, Drake corners me before I can high tail it to my room.  “So you have a brother, huh? Why haven’t you told me this before?”  He asks and I let out the deep breath I was holding.

“You heard my father, I don’t have a brother.  Not anymore.”

“I kind of caught that he was locked up.  Three years isn’t very long, it couldn’t have been that bad.”

“You’d be surprised how easy some people get off; especially first time offenders.   In the eyes of the court, no, it wasn’t that bad. In the eyes of me and my family though, it was enough.”