Striptease

Elodie

Warning: This chapter contains mentions of violence and drug abuse, viewer discretion is advised.

[Everleigh]

"If you wanna be with me. Baby, there's a price to pay. I'm a genie in a bottle, you gotta rub me the right way. If you wanna be with me--"

Knock!

The slight banging sound of the knocking on the front door hours later interrupted my duet with ever so famous Christina Aguilera who was playing on the portable radio I've had since forever ago, she really is one of the superior female singers that dominated the late 90s pop music and well into the early 2000s music as well, and I glanced at the clock above the small, kitchen sink as I did not have time, ironically, to check on my phone for the time.

That's when I frowned a bit, confused as to why there was someone knocking at my door when Charlie wasn't supposed to be here for another hour or so.

We agreed that he would be here at six o'clock sharp, not a minute late since he was rather punctual as well but it wasn't barely even five….Which begs the question.

Just who the hell is at my front door right now?

My fingers then stopped stirring the wooden spoon holding the large pot of red spaghetti sauce around on the stovetop oven when I heard a voice, a voice that I dreaded and loathed to my very core, as clear as day speak through the slats of the wooden front door.

"Evvie! Get your fucking ass out here this goddamn instant!"

Evvie.

I fucking hate that nickname.

I've hated it since she started calling me that after what happened.

But she doesn't care.

She didn't care about me then, she doesn't care about me now and she sure as shit doesn't give a rat's ass about Teresa either.

As sad as it may be, my mother was probably the most selfish woman on the entire planet and now, here she was again.

Trying to crawl back into my life once more.

And like the idiot that I am….I still wanted to believe there was something good inside her.

Buried underneath all the years of drug abuse, whoring herself out to any man that was willing to pay a buck or two, that there might still be a good woman underneath all that crap.

I should know by now that she wasn't going to change and I could lead her to freedom but that didn't mean she'd necessarily want or take it.

The startling banging sound of her knocking on the door tore me out of my thoughts once again, she always said that I was more of a daydreamer than a woman of action, and so, I wanted to change that.

Maybe I could be a daydreamer or an optimist in another life but this life, I was a realist.

A planner.

An overthinker.

I wanted Esa to live the idyllic childhood life that I could never have and I was going to do whatever it took to give her that.

Even if it meant paying off my mother to stay away from us for good.

She never came around for much these days, other than to beg for money or drugs and I had no idea which one it was going to be this time around.

Wiping my hands off on a dishrag, I turned the stovetop burner off as I shifted the pot away from the heat. I didn't want the sauce to burn because then, Esa and I would have nothing to eat for dinner that would be ready in time and our guest for the evening would be sorely let down if he found out that I was a terrible cook as well.