Paint You Wings

Fifteen

My room is freezing when I wake up. How the hell could it be so cold in Florida?

I throw my blanket off me and slink down the stairs. I grip my phone in my hand tightly as I push through to the living room.

Alice is sitting on the leather sofa watching friends on the 70" flatscreen.

"Hey," I croak out. The anger rises low in my abdomen.

Alice jumps and turns around. "God you scared me half to death!"

"Oh I'm sorry, are you going to have your fiancés men come and beat the shit out of me too?" Alice's hand flies over my mouth. I didn't realize she got closer while I was talking.

I push her away from me and step back, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You need to be quiet!"

I open my mouth to yell but her hand is there again.

"I'm serious." She slowly takes her hand away from my mouth.

"Alice, you need to tell me what the fuck is going on, or I'm taking this to Cleo and dad." Hate to be a snitch, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

She sighs and plays with her black hair sheepishly. "I can't tell you anything."

I stare at her fingers, watching them run through the thin mess. Then I realize she isn't wearing a ring.

"Where's the ring?"

"I can't wear it around the house." She retorts, getting rather frustrated.

"Well where is it?"

"In my room..."

I roll my eyes. "Alice, I give a fuck about you anymore. I don't care who the hell you are involved with, but I want them to stay away from my friends. Charlie shouldn't have to pay for something you did."

I walk out of the room with the image of her dumbfounded eyes staring back at me.

As I pass my dads office I hear a women's voice. I slow down to a stop outside the door and listen.

"Are you sure about this, Jared?"

"As sure as I'll ever be. It's whats best for her. I can't take care of her anymore. She's eighteen. The final decision of where she goes is up to her, but she can't stay here."

I lean against the door and take it all in. He's kicking me out?

"Jared, just remember, she's suicidal. It's dangerous to put her-"

"Put her in what?" My dad outbursts. "In a hard decision? A risky position? What about what shes put me in? What shes put my family in?"

His family? Last I checked he's my biological dad.

"Shes part of your family too." I hear Cleo say.

The women is next to speak. "If that is how you feel, I will return tomorrow. Hopefully you will have talked to her by then. I have other appointments."

I quickly rush into the kitchen just before the women comes out.

I see her strawberry-blonde hair pulled into a high up-do and shes dressed in a black pencil skirt and blazer. Her heels click as she walks past me through the kitchen and out the front door.

Cleo is next to come in. "Jared you're doing the wrong-" she stops as she spots me standing by the island. "Belle! Hi! Good morning!"

"It's two in the afternoon." I spit even though I'm not mad at her, I'm mad at my dad.