Wings of the Wicked - By Courtney Allison Moulton Page 0,56

“I’m invincible.”

I rolled my eyes. “That kind of thinking gets you killed.”

He gave a soft laugh. “Have a good day, Ellie.”

When I drove away, I was smiling.

I sneaked back into the house and crept up the stairs to my room, shocked not to have run into my parents. I set my things down on my bed and let out a sigh. It was in that moment that I heard shuffling, and then footsteps darting up the stairs. Before I could even think, the door burst open and my mom appeared, her expression wild and her hands covering her mouth in surprise.

Oh, no.

“Richard!” she called out breathlessly. “She’s back!”

My heart stopped and my throat squeezed so tightly I couldn’t breathe. “Mom, I—”

She ran to me, pulling me into her arms and hugging me. When she let go, she took hold of both my shoulders and stared into my face. “Ellie! Where have you been? I came up to check on you after you went to bed and you were gone. You didn’t come back all night! You have no idea how worried your father and—”

“You worthless little bitch,” my father hissed as he stomped into my room and right toward me.

My mom and I stared at him in shock. I couldn’t believe what had just come out of his mouth.

“Richard!” Mom’s voice shook me back to the real world.

“Dad, I can explain—”

“Obviously you know where she’s been, Diane,” he said. “It’s time you opened your eyes to this.”

For a moment, I thought he really knew where I’d been. But that wasn’t possible. “What are you talking about?”

He moved fast. His hand was suddenly around my jaw, and he jerked my head side to side. “I’m shocked there are no hickeys.”

I wanted to throw up. I jerked away from him, rubbing my face where he’d held me so viciously, staring at him in disgust. “What is wrong with you?”

“That is out of line, Richard!” my mom growled, and put herself between us. She pushed his chest, forcing him to take a step back.

“Where else would she have been all night?” he shouted, inches from her face. “Obviously she was with that boy!”

While that wasn’t exactly untrue, I wasn’t with a boy for the reasons he was accusing me of.

My mom looked at me. “Is that true? Were you with Will? I thought you were done with that boy.”

That boy. It was so wrong, so demeaning, the taste of the words like the shock of rancid milk on my tongue. If she only knew, if either of them only knew what that boy had done for me last night, a thousand nights before. I was so tired of lying. So tired of keeping all these secrets. They were killing me. I took a deep breath. “Yes, I was with Will.”

My mom’s mouth tightened, but her gaze was sympathetic. Behind her, my dad was laughing.

“You little slut!”

Before I could react, my mom wheeled around and open-palm slapped him so hard his head snapped to the side. He wasn’t laughing anymore.

“How dare you?” she screeched. “Never, ever, ever do you talk to your child that way. Ever!”

I knew I needed to say something, but I couldn’t speak. First I needed to inhale, but I still couldn’t breathe. I needed to defend myself, to stand up to my father, but I was afraid of him because he was my father. At last I found my voice.

“Get out,” I rasped. “Get the hell out of my room and out of my life. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

He turned to me, his face a toxic mixture of rage and amusement. “Oh? And how are you going to pull that off? This is my house!”

“Then I’ll leave.” My voice was steady, but cracking at its edges. “I can’t take this. I’m done with you.”

He got right up in my face. I could feel the heat radiating off him, and it was nauseating. “You’re done with me?”

I was too physically and emotionally exhausted to go any longer. My lip curled with disgust at him. “Get out of my face before I knock the teeth from your gums.”

Something flickered dark in his eyes. He lunged for me, hands outstretched, moving faster than I thought he was capable of. I whirled out of his reach in shock, but I felt his fingers rake my throat, and my mother’s screams deafened me. I watched him pass me and my mom dart between us, beating her fists on his chest, screaming