Unraveling Mathias - Marisa Maichel (most read books of all time txt) 📗

tell you because she knew how you would react! And besides, she wasn't looking for him, she was looking up his phone number, which he gave to her weeks ago and she lost. He calls her at all hours of the night and day, pestering and harassing her. You didn't know that!"

"NO ONE TOLD ME THAT! HOW COULD SHE?! I'M HER BOYFRIEND! HER MATE! I PUT HER UNDER YOUR CARE BECAUSE I CAN'T ALWAYS BE THERE FOR HER!"

"Neither can I, silly boy! Your mother and I are working our asses off to finish this house and the nursery!"

"What house?!"

"Marina and I live together, boy! You didn't think we were going to move into that tiny cottage of hers, did you? There's barely enough room for two people! So we bought a house and are fixing it up. The nursery still needs to be stripped and painted. I will not allow my new son to move into a plain room. I would do the same for you."

His last words made me pause. Did he still think that I was his son? I decided I really didn't want to know, but at the same time, I really did. I was too mad at him to ask him about it right now, though. We were discussing Sarah.

"Reese," he said, his voice a lot more gentle, "Sarah's fine. She spoke to Glen and told him to leave her alone. She at least told Marina afterwards. I still can't believe she let it slip to you."

Calm down, Reese, Shadowfang said, jumping up beside me. She's fine. I checked.

I ignored the talking cat and focused on yelling at Alexander.

"I don't care if she's got the armies of the world surrounding her, I need to check on her myself. Clearly, I can't trust anyone else to do it."

"Why don't you just hire a guard for her?" Alexander snapped. "You have one yourself, and your father is hiring more people, is he not?"

"Is that Alexander?" Father said, coming into the room. "Tell him to go shove a torch up his-"

"Father! Behave!"

"Fine. I'll be gone for a few hours; I have some business meetings to attend. I've asked Stephen to watch you."

"Why can't Toby watch me?" I asked. I didn't like Stephen-he was creepy. Constantly staring at the women and not taking his eyes off them-Mother especially.

"Toby is with Spencer," he said. "They are still new in their mate bond and need time with each other. Don't bother them unless it's an emergency. And Dimitri is out with a female. A young vampire female ran across our territory a few days ago, and he's taken a liking to her. Her name is Bethany Tea, and she's beautiful and Dimitri thinks she could be his soulmate, so keep your distance from her as well. I know you don't like Stephen, and I'm sorry for that, but we need him right now. We're having problems hiring new guards."

"Fine," I said testily.

"Watch your tone. And give Alexander the finger for me."

"Father!"

"Fine, I'll behave. I'll see you in a few hours. Don't call my phone unless it's an emergency; text me instead or send me an e-mail. I'll be working overtime for a few months."

I stared at him. I knew he was busy, but he rarely attended meetings unless they were necessary. And now what with owning Emerson's and the mall, he was even busier. Truthfully, the mall and Emerson's were a gift to me when I graduated from high school. At least, Emerson's was.

"Reese? You still there?" Alexander asked.

"Yeah, I'm still here. Sorry."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, she's safe now, so don't worry your pretty little head."

"All right. I'm sorry I freaked out. But you know how I worry about her. I'll check on her later."

"You have homework and a house full of cats. Don't worry about it."

"All right, I won't."

"Goodbye, Reese. I love you." And then he hung up. I stared at the phone. Did Alexander really just say he loved me? Whatever.

He was right, though. Between the cats asking food, a clean litterbox, and attention, I was busy. I had the worst sense of smell, so I was tasked with cleaning the litterbox, at least, until we could hire somebody to do that as well.

I literally had a clothespin plugging my nose, which was unnecessary, but to be without a sense of smell for long is uncomfortable and demeaning. Of course, having to have a clothespin plugging my nose at all was demeaning, but cleaning up waste is part of living with pets. I took a picture of myself afterwards and sent it to Sarah. She thought it was funny. Of course, she didn't have to go near pet waste for a while.

My father had hired somebody to pick up their dogs' waste in the backyard and mow their lawn so Alicia could recover and Sarah didn't have to go near it. There was also Sabine, but trusting a fourteen year old to do an unpleasant task the right way is like trusting a stray cat not to spray in the garden.

I finished my homework and laundry, then started to reorganize my bookshelves. Sarah's books went on one shelf, mine took up the rest. I tossed aside books I didn't read anymore to store in the library.

 

Mother was feeding Sarah ice chips. Both she and Alicia were here, so I entered the normal way.

"What happened?" I asked as I entered Sarah's room.

"She's fine now," Mother began, "But she ran into Scarlett and Scarlett punched her in the stomach and called her a whore." I decided I didn't want to know how Mother knew about Scarlett.

"Baby," I said, sitting on the bed, "are you okay?"

"Fine," she said. "They did an ultrasound, and the baby's okay."

"It's a miracle," Alicia said. "My Sarah was able to protect the baby with her arms. I am sorry you got hurt, though, baby. I'm calling the school."n't

"Won't do any good," Sarah said. "Her mother's on the school board and her parents donate a lot of money to the high school."

"Worth a shot," Alicia said, smoothing her daughter's hair.

 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - WORTH IT

Two days later, I was sitting in the principal's office. I had no idea why I was here, only that I'd been called here, and they had asked my father to come down. Since my father was briefly a teacher here, I wondered if they wanted to take him on full-time. But if that were the case, why call me here?

A security officer was also here. Odd.

"Did I do something?"

"No, of course not," Principal Turner said. He looked oddly calm. "Ah, Mordecai. I'm glad you could come."

"Is Reese in trouble?" Father asked, sitting beside me and putting a protective arm on me.

"Mr. Emerson," said a woman in the corner, "my name is Leigh Clark. I work with Child Protective Services. There's has been some concern about Reese's diet, or lack of."

"He's not eating lunch," Principal Turner said. "He doesn't eat breakfast, either. Not even a sandwich or a granola bar."

"Reese is...on a special diet," Father said. "This diet is necessary for his survival."

"Is he anorexic?" Principal Turner asked. I choked out a laugh that I tried to disguise as a cough. Father frowned at me.

"He's not anorexic, although yes, he is anemic. He had a rare disease which has recently been cured. Only those of his line can get this disease."

"We'd be happy to help," Principal Turner said. "We can give him a coupon for free lunches. Or we can direct you to a doctor."

"Not necessary," Father said. He looked at me. "He will be eating more, whether he wants to or not." I groaned. Father nudged me.

At least school is over in a few days, I thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah had been nominated for school treasurer next year. She had also planned on joining the cheerleading squad again. She couldn't do intricate moves now, but she planned to do them before tryouts next year. When the cheer coach, Mrs. Abernathy, heard about it, she reserved a spot for my girl.

Sarah was walking on the treadmill when she told me all this. She was going to be treasurer and possibly cheer captain.

"School ends in two days," she said. "Then we're free for a few months. What do you want to do this summer?"

"I'm working," I said. "And studying. I'm planning to take several tests."

"I'm just taking the SAT," she said. "But my mom refuses to pay for it. So I'm going to have to pay for it myself."

"Bull," I said. "I'll pay for it."

Sarah bit her lip. "She's drinking again. Yesterday she almost threw out half my book collection and my old Barbies. We got into a fight over it. It got nasty, until your mom stepped in. She told my mom that if she ever hurt me like that, she'd regret it." A tear fell down Sarah's cheek and she turned off the treadmill. "I can't live like this. I need a real mom, not someone who hurts me."

"My mother adores you," I said.

"Yeah, and I love her, but she's not my mother. The other day, Mom implied that I deserved what happened to me."

"She did not!" I was appalled.

"She did. I don't think she meant to, but she did. I can't live like this, Reese."

"Well, if you ever need to move out, come live with me. I'm sure my father would let you live with us."

"That's nice," she said. "Is it safe?"

"All of our guards have great control, and all of them know that they aren't allowed to feed from certain humans, including you. Does your mom know that we're vampires?"

"She still thinks it's an elaborate joke." More tears fell. It broke my heart to see her so broken. I held her while she cried. I petted her hair and made soothing noises. I growled at a sudden knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" Alicia called. She opened the door.

"Hello, my name is Leigh Clark. I'm from Child Protective Services. May I come in?"

"Sure," Alicia drawled.

"She's drunk," Sarah whispered.

Leigh stepped into the room. "Oh, hello, Reese. How are you?"

"I'm fine," I said. "What's going on?"

"I'm afraid I need to speak to Alicia Cresley alone. Is there a private place we can go, Mrs. Cresley?"

"It's Ms., and yes, we can go into the dining room."

"Stay here," I said to Sarah. I kissed her forehead.

"Ms. Cresley, there have been some concerns," Leigh Clark said. "I am a representative of Child Protective Services, hired by the school district to look into these matters. How long have you been alone, Ms. Cresley?"

"Ever since Beckett died," Alicia said. "He was my husband. We were married for almost twenty years."

"I see. And how did Sarah and Sabine take it?"

"As well as could be expected. They were his princesses. He called them his Belles."

"I see. And how did you take it?"

"I got depressed. He had helped me through a lot, including my drinking problems." Alicia's face twisted, realizing that she made a mistake.

"And how much do you drink, Ms. Cresley?"

"Just a glass of wine every now and then." I scoffed. Clark looked around at the numerous beer cans and empty wine bottles.

"Do you clean, as best as you can?"

"Sar...Sarah does most of the cleaning."

"And she's pregnant?"

"Y-yes." Alicia was starting to realize that she was screwed.

"How did Sarah get pregnant?"

"Sh-she was raped. A kid in her class did it at a party."

"I see." Clark was starting to sound repetitive. I glanced at Sarah. She had tears in her eyes again. I went over to her and licked them away.

Clark continued to question Alicia. Sarah did most of the grocery shopping, she took her sister to school, and Alicia's job was on the brink. Yes, they fought sometimes. It was never physical.

"I would never hit my babies!" Alicia cried.

"I see. Well, that's all for now. I have no desire to recommend that Sarah and Sabine be removed from your care, but if things don't improve soon, I will be forced to. Thank your for your time, Ms. Cresley."

She left. Sarah was crying again into my