“Freeze it?” I suggested, desperate to stop the next words in her thought process coming out. I did not need to hear that. I’d never need to hear that again.
Pulling her tortoiseshell glasses from her face, I saw the woman beneath and instantly felt bad for the way my body physically recoiled from her. Her makeup was slathered on so thick it looked like she’d employed a team of concreters to apply it. But where her glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, it had been wiped clean. Brooke’d had a rough day. Well, at least she looked like it.
“Lizzie! Lizzie, come on. Gotta go.”
Elizabeth set about grabbing her backpack and picking up the forgotten chalk and placing it in the bucket before bounding over to her mother, her eyes alive. She’d thought she’d been forgotten. Thought her Mum didn’t care. The relief was evident on Elizabeth’s tiny features and I couldn’t deny I felt a twinge myself. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d broken that promise.
“Mum! Mum! Look what I did today!”
“That’s nice,” Brooke replied automatically, not even bothering to look down at the papers her daughter was holding out hopefully.
Some people didn’t deserve to be parents.
“Let’s go, Lizzie. Mummy’s going out tonight.”
She winked at me.
At least she tried to. Like it was supposed to turn me on or something.
It didn’t.
If anything it made her look like she was a bit freaking special. I needed to get the hell out of there. “Well, ladies…have a great weekend, and Elizabeth…”
“Yes, Mr. Mitchell?”
“I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Yes, Mr. Mitchell.”
As I went to walk away, fingers wrapped around my forearm. Looking down, I spotted the purple nail polish that was chipped and worn. “Brooke…” I kept my tone firm and full of warning as I spun around to face her. This was getting really fucking old really fucking fast.
“I’ll see you tonight. Mr. Mitchell.”
She practically purred. But the stench of her breath was feral. It was the most nauseating thing I’d been exposed to in a long time. And that included the dead mouse I found last weekend in one of the closed up bedrooms.
Not trusting myself to say anything, I stepped from her grasp and headed back towards my room. I needed to get my shit together and get out of here like now.
“Let’s go, Lizzie. I don’t have all day.” I heard the harsh words, and as I turned the corner, I couldn’t help but glance back. Elizabeth, who hated being called Lizzie, slunk towards the car, her giant backpack dwarfing her. In front of her, Brooke was surrounded by a cloud of smoke as she stumbled back to the car.
I didn’t want to let Elizabeth go with her mother. Not in that state. But the stupid laws protect the stupid. There was not a fucking thing I could do. I couldn’t make her stay. I couldn’t hold her here. I couldn’t even cause a scene. All I knew was that little girl should not be in that car. And Brooke should not be behind the wheel.
Letting the hero complex inside me win, I dug out my phone and called Derek. He could deal with it.
