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23. Past

I left Mr. James in the garage before we started to make out in one of the cars. With the pregnancy I started responding to every single touch and that intrigued me.

With quick steps I went to Stephen's room, hoping that he had not flipped it upside down.

Turned out that he was casually sitting on one of the couches in his room, smoking something. His eyes looked tired and they were a shade of red. They alarmed me that he was indeed high. I must have forgotten about time when I was kissing Mr. James in the garage.

"Stephen, are you alright?" I asked him carefully. He nodded.

"You do not have anything to say?" I tried to get him to talk.

"Do you know why I stopped insulting and treating you badly?" He spoke steadily, taking his time. This time he was mad at Mr. James. I felt it. "You made me think of my mother. She looked like you in a way."

I really did not expect him to start talking about his mother.

Mr. James had a type then. Girls around my age looking like his son's mother.

"My father married her when they were young because she got pregnant early at sixteen, with my father being eighteen. Have you been wondering where she is?" He looked grim. I did not know what to reply. "Well, she was killed when I was five years old."

I remained silent. I did not want to push him.

"Do you want to know who killed her?" Stephen looked crushed as he re-imagined the memory. He was high and he wanted to say some things. I was there to listen. I would always be.

"You do not have to tell me if you feel uncomfortable, Stephen," I said in a little voice. I felt so small. It was like I did not matter in that moment.

"There was this man. Lanot was his name. He was this colossal business man in our city. Lanot owned everything. With all that money, you tend to make enemies. One day, the enemy decided to kill Lanot. My father worked for him and was the only capable man left to take it all over. Man, did he take over. We got filthy rich over night. All of that sh.it comes with a price. A few weeks after we became money famous, my mother was murdered brutally while she was visiting the hospital for a charity."

"I am so sorry, Stephen."

"He killed her. My father murdered my mother. I f.ucking hate him," Stephen uttered vengefully. His words were harsh.

"It was not his fault..."

He interrupted me, "My father could have stayed out of the business. He could have simply found a new job. No. He had to f.ucking become David f.ucking James, the money giant."

"Stephen, you need to calm down," I told him. I had experienced him high all the time, I never knew he could get this emotional. It was scary. I mean I knew what my mother meant to me. Losing her would devastate me to the fullest. But I had lived years with her. Stephen had never really gotten know her.

At least now I knew why he resented his father so much.

We survived that day. I did not speak to him about his mother or my mother again. I figured it would hurt him too much.

I tried to find a good opportunity to talk to his father about Stephen's murdered mother.
We never talked about the James family's past.