Elizabeth
For someone who had treated me like shit and then nearly shattered my eardrums, Steele sure remained in my head for quite a while.
I couldn’t help it. I felt easily disgusted by things I could sense—broken glass, the smell of gasoline and oil, the sticky feeling of spilled beer that no one had ever cleaned up—but when Steele had said something about his father…
Tara had never said anything about that. She didn’t say much to me anyway about Steele, probably because I’d told her she was stupid for dating a biker so many times, but I would have figured she would have at least mentionedthat.And that didn’t even have anything to do with whatever “that’s not the thing to be sorry about” was.Nor with just how hot he is.
I should have just let things be. Yelling at Tara to stop going for bad boys did no good when I couldn’t get the worst one of all out of my head. It was almost like because Tara had dated him, I had to try as well—no matter how much I knew it would end poorly for me.
I parked my car at my parents’ house. I had planned on just heading straight to the office to catch up on any emails I had so my father could see me working diligently, but when I got inside, I felt a certain disdain seeing him. I couldn’t place it, but it was as if the words of Tara and Steele about him handing everything to me had lodged themselves in my brain, affecting how I perceived him.
I didn’t need to answer emails in front of him, did I? It wasn’t like I needed to do that every night. And besides, would he really notice? Would he say anything to me if I actually showed up?
I walked past the office, headed for the stairs, and went to my bedroom. It felt so wrong, like I was skimping on work duties, but it also felt oddly relieving.
“Hey, Elizabeth.”
Tara stood in her doorway, waving me over. I motioned for her to give me one second. I put my computer down and walked over to her empty room.
Empty?
“You’ve moved out,” I said, too dumbfounded to make it an actual question.
“Well, no, not really,” she said. “Everything is in a box in the closet. I haven’t quite had the time to procure a lease at an apartment. But I’m not waiting on anything anymore. I’m trying to get out of here as quickly as I can.”
Wow. Just like that?
I’m…kind of jealous.
“Where are you looking at?”
“Well, don’t tell Brock,” she said, as if I would ever talk to Brock regularly. “But I’m thinking about this high-rise complex that’s right near the Reapers bar. I know, I know, it’s a dangerous spot, but it’s actually right near downtown, and I think it will be good to have a nice place with a nice view I can call my own.”
“But don’t you worry about the crime?”
“What, because of one bar fight that involved a bunch of people from Santa Maria?”
“I thought urban centers would be more dangerous than living in the suburbs like we do now.”
Tara sighed and put her hands on her hips.
“Maybe so, but I’m OK with a little bit of risk. Not everything has to be perfect.”
But…but…
I ignored the instinct to fight Tara. She’d just changed.Maybe I should too.
“Well, I hope it’s safe enough that nothing happens to you.”
“It’s a gated place with a security guard. It’ll be like here, except I’ll be on my own and I’ll be like fifteen floors up instead of two. Really, Elizabeth, the whole world is not full of danger and crime.”
Odd thing to say for someone who nearly got raped last week.
“How was your day?”
I welcomed the change in conversation. I’d always thought that if Tara became less cautious and less careful, I’d judge her hard for it.
Instead, I judged myself for not being as relaxed as her.
