Page 3 of Wicked Titan

The sound of metal scratching against the ceramic plate is the only sound filling the kitchen. Normally the sound would make me cringe, now it brings relief. Anything that was unpleasant before lessens the deepest pain I’ve ever felt.

“Quinn, you really should eat before you head to school,” Candace says.

Raising the fork over the plate, I drop it in the middle with a thud as egg splatters on the marble table while glaring at the despicable woman across the table, the table that she values so much along with all her other material possessions.

Her lips form a thin line, a sign that she is already fed up with me, which only makes me want to shove even harder.

“Quinn, you don’t have to go to school today. The principal said you could take a few more days if you need some time to adjust.”

“I’m going. It’s better than being here.”

It has to be. I’m so tired of looking at a woman I should feel something about. Actually, I do feel something—disgust and disconnect. I can’t recognize any part of her that I remember from my childhood. She seems taller now, but in reality, Candace is the same height as she was then and is now equivalent to my present-day five-foot-five stature, which just reminds me how young I was when she abandoned me. I tuck my golden-brown hair behind my ear, remembering hers used to be the same. Now she bleaches it a platinum blonde, but I guess it fits her perfect, along with her fake nails. Her eyes are the same dark-brown color as mine, but nothing about them feels familiar.

“I know it’s an adjustment, but if you just give it ti—”

“Time? Is time going to bring back my dad? Because that’s the only way things will get better here or anywhere else.” I fight back the tears welling in my eyes. I don’t want to cry in front of her. She doesn’t deserve anything but my anger. “Fuck time.”

“Watch your language,” Candace says through clenched teeth.

“She’s right. Fuck time. I hate when people say time heals all.” Nathan enters the room just in time to see our stare down at the table while he pours a cup of coffee from the extravagant coffee pot that the housekeeper, Francis, made. Candace is so useless she can’t even press a simple button for herself.

Candace’s glare shifts in her husband’s direction as he shrugs his shoulders. “Really, Nathan?”

“Yep.” He takes a seat at the table, looking in my direction. “Time won’t make the pain go away, but eventually you’ll be able to breathe without feeling like the air is being choked out of your lungs.”

He’s right. I haven’t been able to take a deep breath since I heard the words that my dad was gone. Nothing has been right in the world since. Sitting at this table is the perfect example of how screwed up my life is without my dad.

Candace removes her disapproving glare from her husband and focuses it in my direction. “I know your dad would want you to be happy.”

A callous laugh sails through the air as I shake my head. “You don’t know shit about what my dad wanted, and you definitely didn’t give a shit about what he wanted when you walked out on us.” I should stop but I can’t. The anger is still raw, and the woman across the table doesn’t deserve my mercy. She deserves to feel every ounce of the misery she caused me and my dad, plus all the anguish coursing through me now as I question how well I knew my dad. With each passing day, more details emerge that completely go against the man I knew, the man who’d raised me.

“Play the part all you want, but as far as I’m concerned, I lost my only parent two weeks ago.”

“Quinn, if you just give me a chance to—”

“There’s no explanation for a selfish mother turning her back on her family.”

Memories of the horrible day surface in my mind. All the nights my dad knelt next to my bed, telling me everything was going to be okay as I cried myself to sleep, seeps into my mind. Fighting the tears back, I go in for one last jab to ease the pain of missing my dad.

“You’ve been dead to me since the day I screamed your name as you walked away from us without so much as a backward glance, so I guess that makes me an orphan now.” I keep a stony look on my face as I stare at the woman who should’ve been across the kitchen table from me for the last eleven years.

“On that note,” Nathan clears his throat as he rises from the table. “Come on, Quinn. I’ll drop you off at school since it’s on my way to the office.”

Candace pipes up. “I was going to take her before I drop Tanner off at school.”

“Sounds good, Nathan.” It’s all I can do to be in the mini castle with her. The thought of being trapped in a vehicle with her is too much.

Grabbing the starched maroon blazer off the chair, I glance at the gold emblem before sliding my arms into the stiff material. You’d think as much as these people pay the ridiculous school, you’d be able to wear whatever you damn well wanted to. It figures, serving as just another reminder that my life isn’t mine anymore.

It’s my senior year, and here I am, off to a completely different school where I won’t know anyone. There’s no shimmer of hope that Candace will give in and let me go live with Haley now. I’ll have to wait until I’m eighteen, which thankfully is really close … but not close enough. At least then I can finish out my senior year with my friends, but I know it still wouldn’t be the same without Dad.

Entering the oversize garage, I spot one of the four garage doors is lifted. I’d thought it was ridiculous to have four spaces in the garage, only to find out there’s a detached garage with four additional. My eyes reflexively roll to the back of my head. At least Candace was living well after she left us. Our house might not have been this extravagant mansion, but it was home. And Dad made sure we had plenty of happy memories in it to overshadow the sad ones.

Plopping into the passenger seat, I look over at Nathan, who has a big smile on his face. “What, no driver?”

“He has the day off.” Nathan winks, backing out of the garage.

“Seriously?”