Living With Ian

Chapter 18

Sarah looked up at Ian pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant.

 “Is this alright?” he asked. Sarah nodded. He parked the car and they got out and walked inside.

 Sarah followed Ian over to a table and they sat down and looked at their menus.

 Sarah looked up at as a waitress came over to them. She smiled down at Ian.

 “What can I get you to drink?” she asked.

 “I’ll take water,” said Ian. The young girl nodded.

 “Me too,” said Sarah, when she realized that the girl was not going to her any attention. She looked over at Sarah and then the waitress seemed to notice her for the first time. As Ian continued to ignore the girl and stare down at the menu deep in thought, she walked away. Sarah looked at Ian as he stared into space. She knew something was bothering him. Sarah mentally groaned as the annoying waitress came back up to them with their drinks in hand.

“Here you go,” she said to Ian. Ian gave a short nod. The girl set Sarah’s glass down on the table and pulled out her notepad.

 “Can I get you anything to eat?” she asked, only looking at Ian. Sarah rolled her eyes.

 “I’d like a cheeseburger,” Ian said.          

 “The same thing,” Sarah said. The waitress nodded once and then turned back to Ian.

“Anything else?” she asked sweetly. Sarah rolled her eyes.

“We’re good,” said Ian, not even noticing that the girl was flirting with him. The girl didn’t seem to notice the rejection as she took their menus and walked away.

“What’s wrong?” asked Sarah.

“What do you mean?” Ian asked.

“You paid no attention to that waitress even though she was obviously attracted to you. Normally you eat that kind of stuff up.” Ian gave a small laugh.

 “I’ve got a lot on my mind,” Ian told her. Sarah nodded.

“Is it about that man you saw?” Ian nodded. He looked at her.

“I’m just stressed out a lot about things right now.” Sarah nodded. Ian looked at her. “So was she really flirting with me?” Sarah laughed and nodded. “Was she hot?”

“I don’t know!” Ian laughed. “You were really out of it, weren’t you?” Ian sighed.

“I guess so.” Sarah shook her head. “I’m losing my skills.” Sarah rolled her eyes.

“What skills?” she teased.

They looked up several minutes later as the waitress came back.

“Here you go,” she said sweetly to Ian as she gave him his plate. She put Sarah’s plate down on the table without saying a word.

“Thanks babe,” said Ian as he winked at her. The girl blushed red and smiled down at him before she walked away. Sarah looked at Ian and shook her head. Ian smirked and started eating.

Sarah was halfway through with her meal when she noticed that Ian wasn’t eating his food. Instead he was staring at something behind her.

“What are you looking at?” Sarah questioned him.

“That man over there keeps staring at you,” he said. Sarah turned around and gasped. “Do you know him?” Sarah nodded and turned back around to face Ian.

 “That’s my uncle,” she said. Ian raised his eyebrows at her. “He was my dad’s brother. Once my dad died, I didn’t see him very often.”

“He’s walking over here,” Ian told her. Sarah turned around and sure enough, her uncle was about to be at their table.

 “Hey Sarah,” said her uncle. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Who’s this?”

“This is my friend Ian. Ian, this is my Uncle Roger.” Ian nodded and shook Roger’s hand.

  “I need to talk to you Sarah,” Roger said as he turned to look at her, a serious expression on his face.

 “I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Ian said as he excused himself. Sarah watched as he walked away and then her uncle took his seat.

 “Sarah,” he said sternly. “What are you doing?” Sarah sighed. “Are you living with him?” Sarah looked down at her food; suddenly her appetite was long gone. She nodded slowly. Roger sighed.

 “Sarah,” he said. “Why aren’t you living with your mother?” Sarah looked up at him. She only shrugged. She didn’t want a lot of people knowing what had happened with her mother and brother. She had only ever told Ian the truth and she didn’t want it to be spread around. She hated people seeing her as weak.

“She called me about a month ago. I guess it was right after you moved out. She was furious and she wanted to know if I knew where you were. I had no clue that you had left and it didn’t seem like she had any concern; only anger.” Roger hesitated before asking his niece the next question he had for her.

 “Sarah,” he said. “Has she hurt you?” Sarah looked down and picked at her cheeseburger before she slowly nodded.

 “Her and Chris both did,” she whispered. She looked up at Roger. “That’s why I ran away. And Ian found me and let me live with him.” Roger nodded.

"I'm so sorry Sarah. I should have been around more. If I had known I would have gladly taken you in with me." Sarah shrugged. "But you're in a better situation now, right?" Sarah nodded.

“You two aren’t involved, you know, romantically, right?” Roger asked hesitantly.

 “Eww,” said Sarah. “Gross! He’s my brother.” Roger smiled and nodded.

 “And you feel comfortable being around him?” Roger asked. “Ian has an infamous name around town.”

“I know he does. But I do feel safe around him. I know he won’t hurt me.” Roger nodded.

“Is he the one that got ahold of Chris?” Sarah looked up at him.

 “What do you mean?” she asked.

 “Chris got beaten up pretty badly in a nightclub last weekend. Your mother ended up having to take him to the hospital. It was really serious. He had a really bad head injury and a couple of broken ribs. But the police don’t know who did it.” Sarah sat silent for a minute trying to think of how her seemingly untouchable brother was put into the hospital. She knew that Ian was strong but was he strong enough to do that?

Sarah looked up as Ian walked back over to their table.

 “I’m going to go,” said Roger. He looked at Ian and shook his hand. “It was nice meeting you.” He looked down at Sarah and pulled out a business card to give to her.

“I want you to call me whenever you need to, ok? I’m sure Caitlin would love to hang out with you again.” Sarah nodded and she and Ian both watched as he walked away.

“Who’s Caitlin?” Ian asked.

“My cousin,” Sarah said absentmindedly. Ian nodded.

“Are you ready to go?” Sarah nodded. She watched as Ian threw some money on the table and then led her out to his car.

On the drive home, Sarah was silent as she thought about her uncle had said. Could Ian have been the one to hurt Chris so badly? Sarah had seen Ian in one of his fights before and it was terrifying. She knew that Ian was capable of doing some serious damage to whoever his victims were. But Sarah was just now starting to realize what Ian could truly do. He had put someone in the hospital.

Sarah had escaped her mother’s home because of the violence. Was she really ready to live with someone just as powerful?