Secrets (15 page)

AJ

Before I could step foot outside my car, the door connecting the garage to the house swung open and my father shut it behind him for privacy before coming my way.  Inwardly, I sighed.

Not again.

He still had that smug look on his face when he approached me where I stood.

“Did you enjoy your evening?”

“You don’t have to pretend to be human; Mom’s not around.  What do you want?” 

His expression soured and his posture stiffened just a bit when I shot down his attempt at small-talk.  “We need to discuss the manner in which you left the house this evening,” he stated with a surprisingly high level of composure.  His eyes lingered on the portion of my tattoo that was still visible. 

“My behavior was warranted.”

“Your behavior was irrational and selfish.”

I took a step back and shoved my hands in the pockets of my hoodie, finding him unworthy of eye contact.  “I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, then.
”

My father sighed.  He’d become accustomed to me bucking against him lately, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t frustrate him all the same.  “I’m sure your mother hasn’t disclosed the details of this business endeavor with you, but I’m willing to explain what Mr. Tanaka’s contribution to
Arata could mean for –“

“You’re using him to pay off your debt so you don’t have to watch your back anymore,” I interjected.  My quick assessment ruined any chance he’d have to wrap his
flawed logic in a pretty bow and try to sell it to me.  “That’s pretty much it, right?  He’s just one more person who’s getting ready to experience the consequences of being connected to you.”

His jaw tensed and I stared back when he tried to quench the anger that flooded his expression.  “You seem to
have forgotten that this situation has affected us as a family, Anthony.”

“
It’s kind of hard to forget that with Vick always creeping around corners.”

“Then you should be just as invested in Mr. Tanaka taking this deal as I am,” he said sternly.  Silence fell between us and I could feel my shoulders heaving as breath after frustrated breath rushed from my lungs.  Being the manipulative bastard that he is, my father knew exactly how to appeal to me – dangle the vision of a return to normalcy in my face.  No more lying to Sam.  No more sneaking around to take phone calls from my overly-protective mother.  No more death threats.  It’d be over. 

I expected my father to smile or show some sign of triumph at the slightest sign of submission, but he didn’t.  “Now that you’re listening,” he went on, “I can explain that this isn’t an attempt to exploit Mr. Tanaka’s kindness.”  My father lowered his eyes to the ground and I sensed the slightest hint of defeat when he added, “This deal will make him a majority shareholder of Arata.  There’s no way around it.”

Hearing that my father was basically selling my birthright should’ve impacted me
more than it did, but all I heard was a promise of getting my life back.  For me, that was enough.

“All I’m asking is that you resist the urge to rebel while the Tanaka’s are guests here,” he said far more humbly than I expected.  “
The future of our family depends on it.”

*****

One thing my father left out of our conversation was that he’d lied to Mr. Tanaka, leading him to believe that renovations in the guesthouse rendered it unlivable. He was doing everything in his power to push this deal into fruition and needed Mr. Tanaka to be accessible for frequent schmoozing, which would be harder if they weren’t here in the main house. As a result, two of our three extra bedrooms were now occupied, meaning I had to be mindful of the volume on my stereo.

The first thing I did when I came in from the garage was shower.  After that, I tried to stay in my room and away from everyone, b
ut my mother wouldn’t let that go on for long.  The soft knock at the door prompted me to shove my phone under the pillow.  Per my request, Sam had just sent a few dirty pictures and I didn’t have time to close them out before my mother entered my room.

She smiled
, unaware.  “Sorry to interrupt.  Were you busy?”

Trying to look as natural as possible, I shook my head, ridding my mind of the explicit images I’d just spent the last five minutes staring at. 
“Nope.  What’s up?”

Her expression was thoughtful when she gently closed the door
behind her and perched on the side of my bed.  “How was Samantha?”  She asked.

All the wrong answers came to mind – the dirty ones, the ones no mother would ever want to hear.  “Good.  She’s…good.”

There was definitely something on her mind.  “Will you be joining everyone downstairs?  I’m sure the girls would like to have someone their own age to interact with.”

I frowned.  “
They’re
their own age, Mom.  They don’t need me down there to entertain them.”  My gaze shifted to the clock on the nightstand.  “Besides, it’s almost midnight anyway.  Won’t you all be headed to bed soon?”

“Your father and Mr. Tanaka are in the study talking business.  I’m trying to keep the rest of the fami
ly occupied until they finish,” she said with a yawn before patting my arm.  “I suppose I can handle it, though, if you’re doing something more important.  I just figured, since you’re home…and since you owe me for defiling your body with that tattoo….”

I sighed inwardly but smiled when
she
did after giving me the side-eye.  “Fine.  Just give me a sec; I’ll be down.”

Satisfied with having
guilted me into meeting her demands, my mother left me in peace.  After retrieving my phone from beneath the pillow, I opened the most recent message from Sam, hoping that it was another photo, but it wasn’t. 

“I sent
urs, now where’s mine?”

“
What u mean?”
  I asked just to get under her skin.

“
Don’t play with me…lemme see it,”
she demanded.

I laugh
ed at her loaded threat and snapped her a pic that I then promptly deleted.

Seconds later my phone sounded off again. 
“I’m making this my new screensaver.”

I laughed and shot her back a quick
“Like hell you are,”
before shoving the phone in my pocket, and heading downstairs to play nice for the sake of ending this fiasco that had taken over my life.

There was incessant giggling from over near the firep
lace where Reina and Kira sat at the edge of the rug chatting about God knows what.  From the armchair beside the window, my mother sat holding a polite conversation with Mrs. Tanaka.  She paused to shoot me an encouraging nod in the twins’ direction.  I smiled back because their mother was watching, but I wasn’t happy about spending the rest of my evening down here –
especially
when the conversation between me and Sam had taken such an interesting turn. 

I walked toward the fireplace and stood beside Reina and Kira, not caring whether they noticed
me or not.  The alert from Sam’s text message got my attention
and
theirs.  I looked down to see a snapshot of Sam flashing a cheesy grin with the caption
“I demand you to entertain me!”
beneath it – a sign of how bored she must’ve been. 

“My mom’s making me pretend to be a part of this family.  Be back in a few,”
I replied before putting the phone away again.

“Well, look who decided to grace us w
ith his presence.  If it isn’t Mr. Tall, Dark, and Hostile himself,” Kira said with a snarky smile, referencing my exit earlier.  It’d been six years since we’d last hung out, but she still spoke with the same air of dry sarcasm that I remembered.

I laugh
ed a little and took a seat on the ottoman beside her, feeling the warmth of the fire against my face.  “I would’ve come down sooner, but, you know…I didn’t really want to,” I replied honestly.

The twins laughed
, understanding that my mother had forced me to socialize.  “Still as broody and brash like always, I see,” Reina added.

I nodded cas
ually and checked my phone again.  “You know me.  I’m nothing if I’m not consistent.”

“Touché,” Kira replied. 

Reina’s eyes shifted over toward our mothers’ conversation.  “Since when did the old ones start staying up past 10?”

I shrugged.  “Who knows?”

“Ten bucks says they’re over there sharing recipes,” Reina guessed.

Kira disagreed. 
“Nope.  They’re making those same phantom plans for both our families to travel overseas together.  Watch this.” 

She addressed her mother in Japanese because Mrs. Tanaka had always encouraged
them to do so when speaking to her.  I guessed it was her way of making sure that they were in touch with the culture despite the fact that they’d been born and raised here just like I had.  When Mrs. Tanaka confirmed that she and my mother were in fact discussing a trip to Belize, Kira smiled.  “Told you.”

“Here we go again.  Good thing I’m old enough to opt out now.  If I had to spend one more summer at that lake, I swear…” Reina said with a sigh.

Kira shrugged.  “I don’t know; I didn’t mind it so much.”

“Big surprise there, Nerd.
  Could it be because you always had your nose buried in some dumb book?” Reina shot back coldly.

“
Cunt… ”Kira muffled with a cough.

I laughed, but Reina didn’t think it was funny.
  “Don’t start,” she hissed in a whisper to keep their mother from hearing.

Kira mocked her sister wordlessly and I
shook my head, realizing that they still had the same love/hate relationship even all these years later.  Mostly it was Reina’s fault.  She was the more assertive of the two and always tried to push Kira around.  Unfortunately for Reina, while Kira was never one to
start
beef between them, she never backed down to being the one to finish it.

“This is
not
how I planned on spending my break.  I should’ve stayed on campus and picked up some extra hours at work,” Reina complained.  Clearly, I wasn’t the only one displeased with this arrangement. 

“Calm down, kitten.
  I’m sure you’re pole will still be available when you get back.  With any luck the baby oil still hasn’t dried on it,” Kira said with a slick smile.  I looked away to laugh to keep from fueling their argument.  “What’s fun to do around here?” She asked as if she hadn’t just insulted her sister.

“Movies, clubs, bowling, shopping.
  There’s plenty of stuff to get into.”

“When do you leave to go back to Westwood?  It
is
Westwood, isn’t it?” Kira inquired.

I
nodded.  “Yeah.  I head back Saturday.”

I met Kira’
s gaze again when her stare persisted.  “What?”

“Either you changed your name to Samantha, or there’s a girl who inspired that
incredibly
subtle tattoo on the side of your neck.”

I laughed.  “Yeah, t
here’s a girl.”

The slightest hint of disappointment touched her eyes when she forced a smile.

“Been together long?”  Reina chimed in.

“A year last month.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”  Now when Kira spoke, she made sure that that look didn’t return.  “You guys celebrate big?”

I recalled how Sam and I could only video chat that day thanks to my lack of available funds and the distance between us.  “No…not like I wanted to,” was all I offered up. 

They both nodded and then looked toward the fire.  Footsteps coming from the direction of my father’s study drew all of our attention.  My father shot my mother a relatively satisfied smile which was difficult to read.  Mr. Tanaka’s expression didn’t give much away either as he gestured toward his wife to join him upstairs for the evening.

“Guess that’s our cue,” Kira said, hoisting herself to her feet.  “See you in the a.m.,” she added with a casual smile on her way to the steps.  My father took Mrs. Tanaka’s seat beside my mother and quietly filled her in on the details of the meeting.  Reina lingered by the fire although her family had already retreated to their rooms.

“So…tell me what you’ve been up to.  Judging by the drama earlier, I’m gonna make a guess that your house is not always this peaceful.”

I smiled at Reina’s summation.  “Not always.”

She nodded knowingly.  “Daddy puts us on notice about our behavior, too, when company’s around.  Mostly to keep me and Kira from clawing each other’s eyes out.”

I smirked and checked my phone to respond to Sam’s “
Hurry up!
” text.

“The girlfriend?”
  Reina asked.

“Yeah.
  I’m actually gonna head up so I can call her before she passes out,” I said, stretching when I stood.  “Night.”

“Does
she go to Westwood, too?”  She asked just as I’d turned to walk away.