Taint Me More ☑️

Chapter Thirty Four

•Five years earlier•

Oriana had started staying out late again, ever since I got the scholarship at the university of Portland, I had been going for early orientations for new students and coming home in the evenings, but I always got home before her.

She was still a sophomore in high school, she was failing classes and partying more than usual. I guessed it was the drugs controlling her.

The last time I confronted her about the carefree lifestyle she was beginning to grow into, she had yelled at me and told me that I wasn't her mom. It made me feel awful, because Oriana never met her mother, and the mother she knew—my mother—never cared enough for her, and our father? He left our lives like we didn't mean anything to him.

Bill, our step-father was home tonight, and mother was working a night shift. I knew I had to go get Oriana before midnight, or we would have to deal with a drunk Bill by the time she returned anytime from midnight. And the last time that had happened, Oriana and I ended up with Bob-inflicted bruises.

It was almost becoming a habit. Oriana would come home high or drunk, or both. My drunk step father would yell at her for being high and late, she would yell at him to fuck off, and I'd be there to rescue her, earning myself beatings trying to get in between them.

The other day, Oriana had tried to run away, but I begged her not to leave, I promised her I would always be there to protect her and that she just needed to finish high school and we would leave together. I was still living in that house because of her.

I looked at the time, it was eleven thirty pm. I tried her cell phone for the ninth time and got no answer, so I made my way to the front door. Bill was passed out on the couch, so I tried to be as quiet as possible as I left the house to get Oriana.

Just in time, she appeared in the driveway with a group of her friends in a truck. I breathed a sigh of relief as she staggered down from the truck.

"Kitty cat, you forgot your back pack." Jackson, one of her friends called her back and threw her backpack to her, which she barely caught as she wobbled around. "Give your sister a kiss for me." He said, puckering his lips and winking at me.

I scowled at him and walked up to help Oriana balance as she staggered. "Act natural, Bill is still in the sitting room, come on."

"I'm-I'm-I'm fine." She whined, "I'm not drunk." She slurred and coughed, pulling out her inhaler from her bag.

"I'm not about to give you a lecture right now, but you need to quit all that smoking, it's not good for your condition." I advised as we walked up to the front door.

"Shhh. It's just asthma, not cancer or pregnancy. And be quiet about me being high, he can hear you." She whispered.

I opened the door and we walked inside, Bill was no longer on the couch. He was nowhere in sight, I hoped he had gone up to his room to sleep. Well, I was relieved that he was absent because the way Oriana was bumping into things would've caused him to wake up.

"Steady yourself and keep it down, will you?" I scolded as I pulled her behind me and led us to our bedroom.

Suddenly, her grip left my hand and she jerked backwards, a yelp left her lips and I tried to pull her back.