Fiendish: A Twisted Fairytale (65 page)

“That
’s not true!” I pleaded. “I’ve been nothing but honest with you. I have told you so much more about myself and my past in comparison to you, so I’m asking for this one thing. Please.”

He crossed his arms in front of his chest giving me an unforgiving look.
 “You’ve been nothing but honest with me? There is
nothing
else you
aren’t
telling me?”  

His tone was icy
, causing me to cringe inwardly, and it made me feel like he was accusing me of holding back more than just my slip up last night.
Why did I push? Why couldn’t I just take his answer and let it go?
Now he was pushing for answers I didn’t want to give. This is what I get for trying to be someone other than who I am.

“No. Nothing,” I said quietly.

Seth stood rubbing his chin as if he were deep in thought for a moment. The look he gave me was reminiscent of the looks he gave me this morning.

“You say you
’re being honest, not keeping things from me, well other than your ‘skeletons,’” he said sarcastically.

“I am.”

“Then, if you won’t answer my first question, maybe you will be kind enough to offer up an explanation for this.” 

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a light pink compact. My heart dropped. I reached out for it, but he pulled it back
, keeping it out of reach.
How did he find them? Did he search my stuff?
I was careful to keep them hidden; I searched my brain trying to figure it out when it hit me. He hadn’t been around, so I’d left my pills out on my dresser so I’d remember to take one each morning. With everything going on last night, I never even thought about putting them away. His actions from this morning became clear. Birth control could cause changes in a woman’s body, so he was probably looking to see what he may have missed before.

“I can explain,” I said nervously.

We both looked towards the door when we heard muffled talking then the click of the lock. Seth slid the case back into his pocket, giving me a look that made me dread the rest of that upcoming conversation.

“Hey, Lee.
I called to let you know we were on the way, but guess you didn’t hear your phone,” Macy said as she walked into the house. “Or you were otherwise occupied,” she added, giving me a wink when she saw Seth standing there. 

“Hey, Seth, long
time no see,” Mitch said, closing the door behind him.

The two shook hands, Seth
’s demeanor changing from angry to relaxed almost instantly. 

“How long will it take you to get dressed?” Macy asked, giving a disapproving glance over my
bummy attire.

“Are you going somewhere?” Seth asked, looking a little perplexed at her question.

“Um, yeah. I figure I’d have more running around to do now, and that would be easier done if I had my own transportation. So, I asked Mitch to take me car shopping. It’s my birthday present to myself. I’m not very good at negotiating, so he agreed to come be the muscle so to speak. I forgot they were coming by.” 

I couldn
’t read the expression on his face; he was so good at hiding what he was thinking when he wanted to. 

“Yeah, but if you want to take her instead, that
’s cool,” Mitch said, walking out of the kitchen with a glass of juice. “Macy and I got rained out last night, so we can head off to the fair sooner rather than later.”

I smiled seeing Macy roll her eyes and let out a groan.
 

“I missed your birthday,” Seth said, looking over at me.

I couldn’t tell if that was a statement or a question. Not that it mattered, the nervous feeling in my stomach had yet to ease, and I struggled to appear relaxed so Macy wouldn’t suspect something was wrong.

“It
’s no biggie. I never do much anyway.”

“True, I usually have to drag her out somewhere. This year it was the spa and dinner,” Macy piped in.

“Well, I must do something to correct that anyway,” he said, giving me a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “So, Mitch, you are off the hook. Enjoy your afternoon with Macy. I’ll handle getting her a car,” Seth said, looking back at Mitch.

“Wow, thanks Seth,” Macy said, her voice full of fake enthusiasm
, causing Mitch to burst out laughing.

“It won
’t be that bad, Baby. Where’s your inner child? I mean how can you not like fried Oreos, or cotton candy, or Ferris wheels?” he asked, pulling her into his arms affectionately.

“My inner child likes trips to Paris and Luis Vuitton,” she said, giving him a quick kiss. “And cotton candy,” she added with a smile.

“I’ll buy you as many bags of the stuff as you want,” he responded, kissing her again.

“I
’m gonna go change,” I whispered to Seth.

Macy followed me into my room
, shutting the door behind her. “So what did we walk in on?” she asked, dropping down onto my bed as I switched out my sweats for a pair of jeans.

I should have known she
’d pick up on the tense vibe between Seth and me.

“Nothing.
We were just discussing the importance of honesty in a relationship.”

“Is he keeping secrets?”

“Aren’t we all?” I replied, taking a seat next to her.

“What
’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.
Hey, let me ask you something. You and Mitch, how open are you two? Like is there anything you haven’t or wouldn’t tell him for whatever reason?”

She looked at me for a minute while she thought about my question. “Nothing I can think of,” she said, giving a small shrug. “I can
’t think of anything I’ve done that I would be that ashamed of.” 

I started picking imaginary lint off my pants
, wishing I could feel that way. “Well, we can’t all be that lucky,” I sighed.

“Oh shit, Lee. I didn
’t mean it like that,” she said hurriedly.

“I know,” I replied, giving her a weak smile.

“So that’s what this is? Is he a heavy pro-lifer or something?”

I gave her a shrug, standing up
, mentally preparing myself for what was to come. “Old memories rehashed I guess seeing Paul and being back home. Anyway it’s not really important. You have a fair to get to, and I have car shopping.”

“Yay, the fair,” she said in a mock cheer. “He
’s so looking forward to it.”

A smile formed on her face that she couldn
’t hide. She moaned and complained, but it wasn’t as bad as she wanted to make it out to be, and we both knew it. Seth and Mitch sat on the couch discussing cars. Mitch looked over at us, and gave a little wink at Macy.

“Well,
Babe, you all set?” Mitch asked.

“Yeah, looking forward to my cotton candy.”

“That’s the spirit,” he replied, walking over to give her a kiss. “Well, Lee, enjoy your day. I think you will be in excellent hands with Seth. And this is for you,” he said, handing me a bag. “Happy belated birthday.”

“Aw, Mitch
, you didn’t have to get me anything. Thank you,” I said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Digging into the bag, I pulled out the box inside to reveal a new E-reader. “Mitch
, this is great, thank you,” I gave him a hug, fully aware of Seth’s eyes on me. 

“You
’re welcome. Macy said you’ve been wanting one and assured me it would be the perfect gift.”

“Yes,
Macy has a real knack for gift giving,” I replied, smiling over at my friend.

“Yes I do. Okay,
Babe, I’m getting hungry so we should probably get going.”

Macy gave me a quick hug bye and wished me luck on my car hunt. The moment I closed the door, I felt like a child waiting to be scolded by their parents. He had told me he would
take care of the birth control; he was very adamant about it. The pills were just an added precaution, but I doubted he would see it that way.

“That was very thoughtful of him,” Seth commented, walking out of my room with his shoes.

“Yeah, Mitch is a great guy, and Macy’s a very lucky girl,” I replied, putting the gift back in the bag.

I waited, holding my breath
, knowing he was a lot angrier than he was letting on. The quiet him worried me more than when he was yelling at me; at least then I knew what he was thinking. He’d had the pills all morning and hadn’t said anything. He answered my questions and listened to me go on and on about being honest, all the while knowing about my deceit.

“So, you need to get a car.”

I looked up him, shocked that he chose to bring up car shopping instead.

“Yes. I um, I looked online at a few used ones that shouldn
’t have too high of a car note.” 

I walked over to the coffee table
and picked up the printouts of the cars I’d researched. My nervousness showed as my hand shook while holding the papers out to him.

 
“They’re all at one dealership, so I shouldn’t take up too much of your afternoon.”

He took the papers out of my hands barely glancing over them before dropping them back on the table.

“Do you have everything you need?” he asked. I nodded in response. “Alright, let’s get going.”

Chapter 44

I lay alone in his bed, listening to the same song over and over again. He had been silent for most of the day. Car shopping hadn’t gone as I expected with him taking me to the Mercedes-Benz dealership instead of the place I had already researched. When I attempted to question him, he told me not to worry. The look that accompanied that statement made me drop the subject. I let him do all the talking with the salesman, they discussed options and safety while I smiled and said nothing.

Seth bought me a
brand new ML63 AMG in red with porcelain leather interior and a piano black lacquer wood trim. It had all the bells and whistles, things I never thought possible to have like seats that will give you a massage and a driver assistance package. Every option that could be added was added. Total cost, nearly one hundred and thirteen thousand dollars. I nearly spit out my Coke when I heard the price and he didn’t even blink. He bought it without seeing it in person since the one I would be getting had to be shipped in from another dealership out of state, but it would arrive in a few days. Until then, he insisted I use one of his cars.

We stopped at
Alon’s Bakery, and he bought me a mini cake to have after dinner. On the ride back to his house, he said only two words to me, happy birthday. I was worried and on edge waiting on him to bring up the pills, but he didn’t. I tried during dinner, but he would cut me off, offering me more wine or food. I expected him to take his anger out on me in bed, but he didn’t touch me. I lay in bed waiting, preparing myself, but instead I heard the music fill the house. I had no idea what the song was, but it sounded dark and angry as he pounded it out like a song on repeat. 

I put a pillow over my head to drown it out, but it didn
’t help.
Why didn’t I just tell him about them?
Who was I kidding; I knew exactly why I didn’t. But now he knew. Here I was demanding honesty from him, and I had been hiding something from him for months. The music stopped, and I held my breath waiting to see if that was it, if he was finally going to join me so we could talk, but instead it started again. I couldn’t take it anymore. Climbing out of bed, I padded softly down the hall to his music room. 

The space
was dark, with only the light of the full moon shining in the windows. Seth sat at the piano, his head hanging low as he played the song again. I stood by the door watching as he moved; lost in the music he was playing. I felt so guilty standing there as if I was intruding on some private moment that wasn’t meant to be witnessed. When he got to what I thought was the middle of the song, his fingers moved faster, dancing across the keys with such determination and purpose; it was beautiful to watch. 

Then when it slowed to the soft part, seeing the change in his body moved me. His movements mimicked the sadness of the music perfectly, but it was short lived before the more intense ending was upon us. He played with the anger that the music portrayed
, drawing it out until it finished. He sat there when it was finished. I could see the rise and fall of his chest, he was breathing heavily after playing nonstop for the last two hours. My pills sat on his piano, no doubt fueling him on.

“I could always tell the mood my mother was in based on the music that filled the house. She didn
’t have much of a voice when it came to my father, so this was how she would express herself.” His voice was void of any emotion.

Seth sat with his fingers resting on the keys. I stood, frozen in place by the door, not knowing how to respond. He
’d never voluntarily shared anything about himself. I felt a tear escape down my cheek, quickly wiping it away. Slowly, I walked over and took a seat on the bench beside him. His fingers continued to hover over the keys as he contemplated playing again.