The Body #3: Rogue and Euphemia

Chapter 5 (Euphemia): My Escape

"Gotta go to church, Euphemia," Rogue was telling me, but his face was concerned. "There's some club business that I have to be there for, and if my presence wasn't required, I wouldn't leave you. It shouldn't take more than an hour, and Dayton's going to come sit with you while I'm gone."

It was now four weeks post-shooting and tomorrow night, Friday night, I planned on making my escape.

"I don't need anyone," I said from the couch, and tomorrow I'd prove it. 

Did you pick up on the subtext, there, Rogue? Notice there were no qualifiers to my statement?

For the last few days, I'd been up and walking more, and I moved from the bedroom to the living room, tired of being in one room, sick of being in such a small space with Rogue and his constant worried/concerned/pseudo-caring glances. When I'd made my move, Rogue had also moved his base of operations from the bedroom to the dining room so he could continue keeping watch over me. It almost seemed like he cared...until I remembered him covering Angelica's body with his own, of him scooping her up and running out of the clubhouse with her held carefully in his arms without even giving a single thought to me.

Her damn smile as he carried her away.

"I don't want you alone until you're one hundred percent, Euphemia. I feel guilty enough leaving you now."

Now is not the time you need to feel guilty. The time for guilt would have been four weeks ago, if we want to get technical.

He seemed to be waiting for me to say something, and when I didn't, he came closer to me. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Dayton just texted me that she'll be here in a minute, so I'm going to go."

No response.

"Effie?"

"You're blocking the TV," I said.

"Sorry. I'll be back as soon as we're done."

Stepping out of the way, he walked out the front door. About a minute later, I heard the back door open and then, seconds later, the front door did.

For a minute, I thought he'd forgotten something, but then I saw it was Angelica walking into his house. She'd probably been watching from her house, waiting for him to leave.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her, my voice unwelcoming. There was no longer a reason to pretend since I'd be gone after tomorrow.

Her fucking smile.

"Just stopped by for a chat. I've been wanting to set the record straight, and with all the brothers at church, there's no better time."

"You can leave," I said. "After all the lies you told about me to the ol' ladies, I have no interest in your straight record."

"A necessary precaution so you didn't get too comfortable around here, and those sycophants will believe whatever I tell them to believe, especially where Winnie's concerned." 

She stopped speaking for a minute and then she went in for the kill. "Did Rogue ever tell you he's Winnie's father?"

All of my internal organs dropped to my gut, and it was only due to the weeks of maintaining a blank expression around Rogue that I was able to keep my face neutral. Inside, I was a complete disaster, crying and screaming. He'd saved the mother of his child. A child he'd never told me was his. I could see it, now that she'd told me. Winnie did have Rogue's hair color, the dimples just like his that were visible even when they weren't smiling, eyes that had always seemed so familiar to me.

For eighteen months, this man had never told me he had a child, but for the entire time I'd lived with him, it'd been right there for me to see. He'd prioritized Winnie whenever Angelica said she needed help with her, and I'd often wondered why, of all the men who were supposed to be helping her, Angelica always called on Rogue.