MR. MORENO'S SURROGATE ✔️

7 - Leilah

I hear footsteps thudding in the lobby, getting louder as they come into the kitchen.

Elijah.

He and Cayson exchange a look and from where I'm sitting, it feels pretty intense. "What's that about?" I ask, looking between them.

"Nothing." Elijah says.

"You sure it was nothing, 'cause-"

"I said it's nothing." He rolls his eyes and turns to the refrigerator to grab a drink. I rise from my seat and I narrow my eyes at him.

"What the hell is your problem?" I say.

He turns around and raises an eyebrow. "What?"

"I said what's your fucking problem." I say back, standing at the island.

"What fucking problem?"

"Don't play stupid Elijah. I don't what I did to make you hate me just for breathing, but could you actually cut it out? You're acting like a dick to me and I haven't given you a reason to."

"I never said I didn't like you." he retorts.

"Well you didn't really have to. Why do you act like this?" I snap back.

"I'm not going there with you."

"No, why? Tell me."

"I don't want to hurt your feelings, so please stop talking. I'm being nice."

"Nice how? Did someone piss in your Cheerios or something? What the fuck is up with you?" I interrogate further, walking up to him.

He whips around and grabs my throat, backing me into the wall.

"Elijah, what the fuck?!" Cayson yells. He runs up to us and tries to help, but Elijah yells.

"You stay the fuck out of this!" he yells, pulling a gun from out of nowhere.

Cayson reluctantly freezes as Elijah aims the gun at his head. His eyes meet mine and this time, all I can see is nothing but pure evil in his eyes, making fear build inside of me. Last time, I knew he wouldn't kill me, but this time he looks like he won't hesitate. Tears fill my eyes as he whips his head to look at me and squeezes my throat harder, making it impossible to breathe.

"Watch your fucking mouth when you speak to me. I'm nice enough to take care of you and invite you into my home. Mine. Don't ever fucking question or disrespect me again or I'll live up to that promise I made you last night."

"You're.... hurting me..." I gasp out, trying my hardest to breathe.

He looks over my expression and he lets my throat go, making me drop to the floor, taking in as much air as I can.

"Fuck," Cayson says, running to me. "I'm sorry, Leilah." Cayson says, dropping to the floor and just watching me as I cry.

"I don't wanna be here. I wanna go home."

"I'll take you tonight. If that's where you want to be, I'll take you. Elijah's fucked up in his head. He can't use his fucking brain. What clothes are you bringing?"

"I'll ask Tyler for one of his shirts or something. I just can't be here." I say, my eyes pleading with him as he sits there, shaking his head.

After a while, I'm sneaking outside with Cayson. He said Elijah would kill him when he found out what he did. He says he doesn't care though. He knows Elijah would kill me whether he wanted to or not. His anger is too uncontrollable and unpredictable according to Cayson. I didn't believe him until he told me that Elijah beat someone to death. Unintentionally. I get in the car, the darkness engulfing everything at least ten feet in front of us. Cayson keeps the headlights off until we pull out of the driveway and make ourselves down the road. As he drives, he looks over to me.

"Look, I'm sorry that happened." he says once again.

"As you've said a thousand times already. I told you, I'm fine." I say back, giving him a reassuring smile that doesn't quite meet my eyes.

"No you're not." he sighs, looking at me.

I look back at him for a moment, then I look out the window. "Fine," I say finally. "I'm not. I haven't done anything for him to act the way he does toward me. Why does he act like this?"

"He can't control his anger," he defends.

"Well he needs to learn how to if he wants me to carry this kid. Matter of fact, I can do this myself for all I care."

Cayson's eyebrows furrowed as he looks at me. "What?" he asks unbelievably.

"It's obvious he doesn't care about me or this baby so I'll be fine doing this on my own." I say, shrugging.

"You need someone to be there for you. Someone to help you through all this. Don't you want that from him at least?"

"Based off of what he just did, I seriously doubt he'll be able to give it. Tyler can help me." I say, shaking my head in thought.

He doesn't say anything else for a moment. "I guess I understand where you're coming from." he says finally. "I'll try to talk some sense into him, but he's reckless. We both are, him more than I, whether he likes to admit that or not. Our dad was really hard on him seeing as he was the heir." he says.

My eyebrows furrow. "Heir? Of what?"

"The uhm.... the business." he says.

I look him over and I shrug and nod my head. "I hate that for you. Elijah... no, he does deserve it."

"That's the thing though. He wasn't like this before. As a kid, all the way up until his... promotion, he was a good person. He was nice. He never yelled or raised his voice because he never had a reason to. Everyone always found a way to love him. But when he got promoted, his work attitude and serious boss demeanor came in. I started seeing him less every day. He doesn't sleep, he has terrible anger management... it's like he's a completely different person. Makes me miss the old him. Just a little."

"Hm.." Don't even think about it. This still doesn't excuse his behavior. "Yeah, well, I understand that, but that's still no reason to hurt me."

"Yeah... I know. I just thought you should know. Besides, I know you want to know about the father of your kid."

I look at him and back out the window as we continue to drive to Tyler's. As I sit there, I think about how I plan on being on my own. I think I'm pretty capable. I can take care of myself, I can go to appointments on my own. My eyes begin to flutter closed as sleepiness finds me and quickly puts me to sleep.