Chapter 19
Symphony’s P.O.V.
***
Olivia evilly smiled at me while darting her eyes in between Landon and I. Then the biz-nitch had the audacity to step up to my man and rub her stuff on his leg.
Now she wants to get slapped!
I took a threatening step towards her but Landon pulled me closer as he took a step back away from her nasty self.
“Sorry honey, this one is mine. Forever.” I said, emphasizing the forever and I let the disgust leak out through my teeth. My fists bunched up and I was ready to reel back and punch her in the eye. But I held myself back and replayed Landon’s words in my head. I gave a giggle when I thought about him calling her a slut.
Landon cleared his throat. I looked up at him innocently and smiled. “What? I was thinking about what you said earlier about Erik and the slutty people in this world.” I looked at Olivia and cocked my head to the side slightly waiting for her ears to perk up like a dogs.
Her face bunched up into a snobby sneer when she heard Erik’s name. “Oh you mean the Erik that dumped you for me?”
“Actually I do not recall that Erik. I am speaking of the one who cheated on me with a slut named Olivia. The one I dumped. Also the one who tried to get me back on my wedding night.” I flipped my hair and started to walk around her with Landon towed behind when I tripped over her stupid foot that she stuck out intentionally.
Landon caught me before I could hit the ground. He held me securely and shot Olivia a glare. “You need to knock it off. Symphony does not care about Erik and if I hear that kid’s name one more time I will punch the next one to say it.” I felt his muscles tense up and it felt like a scary position. Call it instincts but I pulled myself out of his reach like I was the one he was going to punch and I took a few steps back.
Olivia had noticed the whole thing while I didn’t realize what I was doing. Then she started laughing as a tear streamed down my face as I saw Landon’s arms and face fall.
“What, is he beating your ass?” Olivia’s menacing voice echoed in and out of my brain like an empty tunnel. I wrung my hands and looked at my freshly painted toes. “If he is, I am sure you deserve it. Everyone knows that you are uncontrollable unless you get slapped. At least that is what your dad told me last night.” My head snapped up and I felt like I strained a muscle. I didn’t care though. What the hell does she mean by “That is what your dad told me last night.”?
“What the hell are you doing Olivia?!” A man’s voice boomed. My head swiveled around to see a tall, dark, and sexy man walking towards us with a little girl in his arms. “I told you to go straight to the car and leave her alone. I knew once you spotted her and said some bullshit line about stealing another man or something like that that you were planning on doing something to her. Why do you always have to start something?!” His eyes were glued onto her and he set down the little girl by the car and told her to stay.
Being as protective as I am I spoke up. “You are not about to let that baby just stand in a busy parking lot while cars zoom by.” I walked over to her as the man’s sun glassed eyes felt like they were burning into me. “Hey honey. What is your name?” I asked as I kneeled down to her level.
Her violet eyes grew big as her dad took a step forward and I had total understanding for her reaction. I was a stranger and she probably wanted to scream out “Stranger-Danger!” but instead she whispered, “My name is Adele.” in a musical tone.
I smiled at her. “That is such a beautiful name. My name is Symphony Ray, but you can call me Symphy if you want.”
“I heard of you. Are you my mommy’s friend?” She lifted her stubby finger and pointed at Olivia when I raised a questioning eye.
I choked back a laugh. It’s not like I could tell this little girl that her mommy and I were sworn enemies and that her mommy was a—for lack of a better word, as I know I used this several times in the last hour—slut. “Yeah… friend.” I looked up at Olivia and rolled my eyes as she swatted at a fly. “Looks like someone’s gotten rotten crotch.” I muttered under my breath.
I looked over at Landon as he said my name. “Symphony?” he raised his eyebrows. “We still gotta get you something special. Plus we still have a long drive ahead of us.”
He jerked his head backward towards the direction of the mall and I smiled. “Right.” I held up a finger. “Landon?” I smiled childishly at him and clasped my hands together at my waist as I swiveled my hips while standing in place.
“What?” He asked clearly getting aggravated. He wanted to leave.
“Can we get a puppy?”
Landon has never said no to me so I doubt he will say no now. No matter how irritated he was. I gave him my cutest look I could for about half a minute. “Fine.” He finally let out with a sigh.
We went to walk away when Olivia’s sexy boy-toy took off his glasses and looked at Landon. They made eye contact and Landon broke into a smile. “Kyle?” He asked with a small laugh.
“Dude, what’s up?!” Kyle said acting pretty chill now.
“Oh uh, nothing really. I was just looking for a summer house with my wife, Symphony.” That’s when they broke into their own conversation and I became the annoyed one. I was getting impatient. I wanted a puppy.
Oh great! I am turning into an Olivia, a gold-digger if you will.
One thing is for sure. I am not getting a small dog. I want like an Eskimo-type doggy or a Husky. Something like that.
I have always wanted a white Husky. They were mean looking dogs though. I guess it is the way their fur patterns are around their faces if you get it just right.
I unlocked the car and sat in the passenger seat. I saw Olivia shift impatiently from foot to foot. I know I hate her but we used to be friends once. She was a good person. Plus I had to be mature and put the past behind me. I rolled my eyes to myself as I let out a sigh and called out her name.
She looked over at me and I saw a little bit of sorrow in her eyes. “What?” She said with a snobby attitude.
“Come sit down.” I said quickly and opened the backseat door for her and Adele.
She snatched up that little girl like a rag doll. “Hey!” I hissed. “Don’t you dare yank that baby around like that ever again!” Olivia knew not to mess with me when I was pissed, so she set Adele down and held her hand gently and walked over to the car.
There was a few minutes of just silence except for Adele asking me a few questions like if Landon and I had a baby or not.
I turned in my seat and looked at her. “Well, Landon has a son Xavier. He is about three weeks old. But we want a baby but I am not sure if I can have one.”
“Why not?” She asked, her delicate eyebrows pulling together in confusion.
“Because my daddy did mean things to me.” I whispered so low I thought she couldn’t hear but I guess she did.
She scared me a little with the next question she asked me. “Is Mick your daddy too?”
“Er.” I gulped down the lump that was forming in my throat. “How do you know my dad?”
“Oh, he is my daddy too. Mommy told me so.”
I looked at Olivia who had closed eyes when the conversation first started, now her eyes were bigger than I have ever seen them before. She stretched out her hand to cover Adele’s mouth.
I felt tears stinging in my eyes. “What the hell Liv? When where you going to tell me?” I turned around in my seat and bowed my head.
“Symph. I-I—” Tears filled her own eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?!” I screeched. “He hurt you and you didn’t tell me!”
Adele burst into tears and her cries were louder than mine.
I knew that Olivia hadn’t had sex with my dad by will. She hated coming to my house because of him. I got out of the car, slamming the door.
The pain I knew oh so well clamed my veins and needles pierced my brain in the memory’s wake.
Flash backs brewed and I remembered the time that she “went away” because her “grandma was dying over in France”. Bullshit.
Then a thought came back to me. “Wait. You are still seeing him in the prison?”
“Symphony?” Landon called out, concern in his voice. I could hear him getting closer.
When the two men got to us Kyle jetted over to Olivia with alarm. Landon slowly made his way over to me. Great husband.
Sarcasm is my new best friend, I guess, because I was using it a lot lately.
Kyle looked up at me. “So I am guessing you know….”
“That my friend was raped by my sadistic father?! No dip Sherlock!” I threw up my hands and let them smack back down to my thighs. “Who the hell are you anyway? If you are not Adele’s dad then you are either a pedophile or Olivia’s boyfriend. I can’t decide though because I am guessing you knew Olivia because you were talking to her,” I sounded stupid. I know. I guess it was the shock. “But then again she was hitting on Landon earlier. Well this is Olivia we are talking about.” I muttered more to myself than to the Kyle guy.
“Symphony this is Kyle Offield. He was one of my best friends in collage.” Landon said rubbing my back soothingly as we sat down on the hard curb.
“And I am Olivia’s boyfriend slash undercover agent.” Kyle furrowed his eyebrows. “Well undercover to others. I guess I just let the cat out of the bag by telling you that.” He cleared his throat. “I am trying to find a kid named Erik. You know him.”
“What the hell did he do for you to be looking for him?” I asked, my voice peaking a few times in frustration.
“We found a body a few miles away from his house. It was a woman named Charlotte. If you saw her you would swear that she was you. You look identical.” He folded his glasses and hung them on his shirt.
“And that makes him what and how?” I asked, the confusion leaking into my voice.
Kyle inhaled deeply. “He is suspected to have killed the girl in the act of raping her.” My mouth dropped in shock.
I heard Landon chuckle and say, “I knew something was wrong with that kid.”
My head whipped towards him. “This is not funny Landon! What if that was me? What the hell is wrong with you lately?” He looked down at his feet and ran his hand through his hair. “Kyle just said that this girl looked just like me. Jeeze.”
I don’t know why but I felt like Landon and I were fighting a lot lately. First the argument about a surrogate mother then I yelled at him at our reception. Now I am yelling at him for just making a comment about Erik.
But then again all those reasons were because I as defending myself. Well most of them.
“Look babe, I am sorry. I don’t know what it is lately. Call it all crazy cancer mood swings. I’m not sure if they have them but hey, I have a new kind of cancer that no one has heard of.” I laughed humorlessly to myself.
I saw Olivia’s head jerk up out the corner of my eye and her tears subsided for a moment then she burst into fresh new ones. They rolled down her cheeks and onto her lips. I grabbed her because even though I was the one with the cancer and I was dying, she needed the comfort. I knew what she had been through with the rape and all and I know that before all of this mess, she was my best friend. She was even more of a friend than Lisa and Trey.
I mean, Lisa was always drinking, smoking, doing drugs, and getting suspended in the process. And Trey was figuring out his sexuality. I was getting raped so I wasn’t in the state to bring myself comfort like all the lonely emo kids at school. Then again, those emo kids had friends.
The only real thing I had as a friend was Olivia.
I knew she cared about me. So for once I comforted her.
“W-why didn’t you tell me y-you h-ha-had c-cancer?” She whispered in between sobs.
“Have.” I corrected with a fake smile. “Don’t worry Livy, I will be okay.”
“I thought they weren’t friends.” Landon said to Kyle.
Liv turned towards Landon. “I know what I did was wrong and I only did what I did with Erik because I wanted to get back at Symphony for what her dad did to me.” She darted her eyes towards me next. “I swear I didn’t know he did it to you. I thought that I was the only one.”
I hugged her again. “I swear Livy it is okay.” I sighed, still wanting an answer to the question burning in my mind. “Liv?” I looked her in the eye. “Why are you visiting my dad?”
She gave out a rugged breath. “Because… he-he said that if I didn’t bring Adele in to see him every week that when he gets out he will kill all three of us.”
“And who is us?” Landon interjected.
“Symphony, Adele, and myself.” She replied as if it were obvious.
I laughed in return. “What the hell Liv. Your boyfriend is a cop—”
Kyle interrupted me. “I am an undercover investigator.” He said stupidly.
I ominously glared at him for interrupting me. That was my biggest pet peeve.
Olivia laughed. She knew I hated it.
“Liv, you better getcha man.” I hissed. “Any-way” I started again, making my w sound like a soft Q with a WH sound. “Why didn’t you get Kyle to tell a dude from the prison?” I thought through my words and leaned on the car trunk. “I mean a guard.”
I looked at our surroundings and shook my head. Were we really having this conversation in the middle of a parking lot?
Kyle said, “Symphony, he is not getting out any time soon.” He itched his cheek and pushed his long hair behind his ear.
I noticed that he fidgeted a lot. It was weird for a cop. Oh! Excuse me. It was weird for an undercover agent.
Wasn’t it?
Or was it supposed to be a part of his “disguise”?
I shrugged it off and listened to what he had to say.
“He is definitely not getting out of this case. He has two victims that we know of and we have witnesses.” Kyle then jingled his keys.
My eye twitched in irritation. I swear it was like all of his moves were in slow motion.
Adele sniffled and pulled Olivia’s pants. “I’m hungry and tired. And I used the potty on myself.” She pulled at her pants waist and showed off a Dora pamper.
“Well we have to go.” Olivia said, squeezing me one last time. “Here’s my number. Text me.” She took out a pen and scribbled it onto the back of my hand.
As they were walking away I thought of something else I wanted to ask. “Liv!” She turned around. “Why are you all the way down here?”
“Kyle’s grandma lives a few miles north.” And with that she left.
Good. They weren’t following me.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 08.08.2011

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