The Devil's Pawn

Chapter 25

Hours turned into days, and days turned into weeks.

                Before I knew it, I had been two weeks into my punishment.

                Trenton and I spent as much time as possible together. It was manageable, but I missed spending the evening with him, falling asleep next to his warm figure. A pang always rang through my heart at the memories.

                I had been wanting to talk about our relationship status for a while, but I didn’t think now was appropriate. I wanted him to bring it up. I wanted to hear what he thought of us. To assume we were together would be highly inappropriate if he didn’t think so as well.

                But the small things he did…

                It gave me evidence to support my thought.

                We were unofficially a couple.

                But I tried to keep that thought to the back of my mind. I didn’t want to dwell on it too much. Instead, I focused on the time we spent together.

                My mother and I hadn’t been talking in the past two weeks. My father called every few days to check up on me. Once my mother explained why I was in trouble, he explained to me that he agreed with her actions.

                I wasn’t surprised.

                I asked if I could visit him for a few nights.

                “That…wouldn’t be such a good idea.” He said awkwardly. Tension rose up through the phone. I tried to keep my face neutral. I knew my mother was in the room next door listening to everything I said.

                “Why not? I miss you.” I heard my voice crack at the end as I tried to suppress the rejection.

                “I love you to death, Taylor, you’re my only daughter. But right now your mother and I aren’t on good enough terms to share you. I need her to calm down.” He explained.

                I knew he was referring to her calming down from my actions, but I was grateful he didn’t say that aloud.

                “Plus, my living conditions aren’t appropriate enough for me to have you for a few nights.” He tagged on.

                “Where are you staying?”

                He hesitated before answering, “A motel in the inner city.”

                He changed the subject off of that.

                I had a suspicious feeling that he wasn’t in that motel alone, but I didn’t say anything. My father didn’t continue the phone conversation much afterwards, and didn’t call again until nearly four days later.

                We didn’t talk about his living situation again.

                At the moment though, I was in the car with my mother being driven home from school. I stared out the window as the banners for prom disappeared, the flow of students heading onto the bus. The silence in the car was typical between us.

                I didn’t want to talk to her, and she obviously didn’t care enough to talk to me. At least, not while we were both still furious with each other.

                Mom pulled the car into our driveway, leaving the engine running. I reached for the handle of the door. Once she put the car into park, the doors would automatically unlock. That was what I was waiting for.