The Heir's Little Badass

38: DYLAN COOPER BLOWS A FUSE

Elbows off the table.

Chew slowly, with your mouth closed.

Don't slouch.

Don't stuff your face.

Don't clean your plate.

Sophie's voice echoes in my head as I try my hardest not to make a fool out of myself.

At least not more than I already have.

Until of course, I spill water on myself.

Evelyn huffs as Ethan hands me a napkin, "Are you alright dear?" I look up in surprise at her nice tone, the surprise quickly fades when I realize what's coming next, "It must be so hard to be eating proper food in a proper setting"

Oh sweet Jesus give me strength.

I return the fake smile she gives, "It's alright, I guess I'm just nervous, my hands were shaking"

"Dylan has been really looking forward to meeting you guys" Ethan adds, squeezing my hand gently.

His father huffs and just continues scrolling through his tablet.

"So Dylan, how are your grades?" Evelyn asks, repeating the question she asked just before I spilled on myself.

I bite the inside of my cheek, "Ethan helps me a lot but I don't do remarkably well, I'm dyslexic"

I say that because I thought she'd be empathetic, seeing as her daughter has a similar disorder. Instead she turns her nose up, "That's very unfortunate" In the same tone you'd address someone who just confessed they collected and ate roadkill.

"May I be excused to the bathroom?" I ask quietly.

"I'll show you" Ethan offers instantly.

"You will do no such thing" Evelyn counters, just as fast. "You" she points to one of the maids, "Show her the guest bathroom"

The maid bows and doesn't look up till I stand up and she leads me out.

I follow behind her till we get to the bathroom. She turns to me and bows again, "Please stop that, I'm not a member of this household" I sigh, "there's an extremely high probability that I never will be"

She looks up and I see that she's a few years older than me, probably eighteen or nineteen. She smiles sweetly, "I've worked here with my mother since I was seven and neither of them know my name" I glance down at her name tag, "Celeste"

She smiles, "I personally take care of Kathleen and even she forgets my name once in a while"

"That's awful"

She shrugs, "The children are good people, but the parents need a good firm spanking, preferably with an iron rod"

I smile wide, "You don't happen to have one of those lying around do you?"

She giggles, "Just give me the signal"

I smile, "I think I'm ready to go back now, you're a breath of fresh air, Celeste"

She smiles, "And you're a really nice person, don't let them keep you from being happy with the young master, you two are good together"

Without thinking, I wrap my arms around her, "Thank you"

She pulls away instantly, "CCTV cameras" she whispers urgently.

I nod in understanding and let her lead me back to the Lion's den.

"Are you okay?" Ethan whispers as I take my seat again.

I nod just as Evelyn speaks, "I hope you washed your hands"