Covet (6 page)

Debbie heaved a tired sigh. “Jesus, it’s just one issue after another with you, isn’t it, Michelle? Always ragging about one thing or another. Frankly, I sort of forgot about the fact that Tessa was staying with us, so I’m not sure what to do. I guess she’ll have to take the sofa. There sure as hell won’t be space to move a third bed into Kimmie’s room, that’s for sure.”

Michelle opened her mouth to protest, but Tessa shook her head. “The sofa’s fine,” she replied quietly. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve slept on one.”

“That’s ridiculous,” scoffed Michelle. “You won’t have any privacy, plus that sofa’s a piece of junk. One of the cushions has a big rip in it, and it’s got more cigarette burns than I can count. We’ll figure something out.”

Kimmie crossed her arms across her chest mutinously. “Well, she isn’t getting my bed, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she said grumpily.

Debbie looked at Tessa with a rather smug expression on her face. “We might have an old air mattress out in the garage. You and Michelle can hunt around for it if you’re interested.”

Michelle stared at her mother, aghast. “You want her to sleep on the floor? Like she’s a damned dog or something? This is bullshit, Mom. What would social services say if they learned you were doing this?”

Debbie pointed a warning finger at Michelle. “You keep your goddamned mouth shut about that, you hear me? I make the decisions in this house, nobody else, got it? And if none of you like it, then you can just fucking get out. Now, you’d all better figure out how the three of you are going to share that room and start moving your shit out so your sister can move in.”

And with that parting shot, Debbie took the pack of cigarettes and lighter with her and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving the three girls to clean up the dinner dishes.

“God, I hate her guts,” hissed Michelle. “And it is really going to be hell around here when Brittany moves back in here with her brats and her asshole boyfriend. I’m not so sure I did you any favors, Tessa, when I suggested you stay with us. My sister is not the easiest person to get along with, so you’ll have to watch yourself around her. While Sean – well…”

“He’s a creep,” chimed in Kimmie. “He lived here with us for awhile a couple of years ago until Brittany got pregnant and my mom kicked them out.”

Michelle rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but it sure looks like all has been forgiven now, doesn’t it? Brittany was always Mom’s favorite, she knows exactly how to kiss her ass. Guess she must have been doing an awful lot of that lately to get Mom to agree to the whole pack of them moving in. I have zero idea how this is going to work – three bedrooms, two bathrooms, eight people.”

“It’s going to suck,” agreed Kimmie mournfully.

“It can’t be any worse than living in a homeless shelter,” replied Tessa quietly. “Or your car. Or sleeping on the sofa in some stranger’s house that your mother just hooked up with two hours ago. Believe me, I’ve done all that stuff, so sharing a house with a few more people doesn’t seem all that bad in comparison.”

Michelle and Kimmie stared at Tessa in horror at her softly spoken confession. She rarely discussed her past with anyone, feeling uncomfortable when people looked at her with pity or disdain for having been homeless.

But all Michelle did was to give her a quick hug as they finished washing up the dishes. “You’re right,” she admitted. “It isn’t anything nearly as bad. I feel guilty for complaining.”

“Me, too,” agreed Kimmie. “We’ll figure it out, I guess. I mean, how bad could it be?”

Kimmie’s innocently spoken words on that night almost two months earlier had come back to haunt Tessa on a daily basis, as she discovered that it could actually get really,
really
bad. From the moment Brittany had stepped foot back inside her mother’s house, an already uncomfortable living situation for Tessa had become more and more unbearable as each day passed. Brittany was one of the nastiest, most unlikeable people she had ever encountered, and Tessa went to great lengths to avoid her – as well as her truly creepy boyfriend and the father of her children, Sean.

Neither of them worked, and in the nearly two months they’d lived here it didn’t seem to Tessa that they were especially eager to remedy that situation. They also did nothing to help with the housework or laundry or other chores, and the house was usually always in a huge mess as a result. Brittany seemed to spend an awful lot of time plunked on the living room sofa watching whatever happened to be on TV at the time, smoking constantly, and yelling at one or both of her children – when she wasn’t outright ignoring them. Sean fortunately wasn’t around all that much, but when he was he often invited three or four of his equally creepy friends over to hang out, and they would stay up until the wee hours of the night playing video games, drinking beer, and smoking pot. He and Brittany fought constantly about whose turn it was to feed their two-year-old son Cooper, or change their six-month-old daughter Mia’s diaper. Neither of them paid the children much attention, leaving Cooper to run around the house with a dirty face and equally unkempt clothing, and constantly causing mischief. And the baby seemed to cry twelve hours out of each day, whether it was from hunger or teething or being neglected.

And it seemed to Tessa that there was always a fight or argument going on now – whether it was Brittany and Sean, Michelle and Kimmie, or Debbie with anyone who came into her line of vision. Tessa felt as though she was constantly having to walk on eggshells, and tried her hardest to fade into the background and keep out of everyone’s way.

She had never been so unhappy in her life, surrounded by equally miserable people who were easily the most dysfunctional excuse for a family that she’d ever seen. She was appalled at some of the things they said to each other, how they made no attempt to hide the hatred and contempt they felt. Tessa tried not to feel ungrateful, knew that her situation could still be much worse than it was, but most of the time all she could do was count the days until she turned eighteen and could legally live on her own. She hated it here in the Wallace household, hated all the noise and confusion and arguing, and had recently begun to wonder if she wouldn’t be better off just living in her car, as awful as that idea sounded.

And the very worst part of all this, of course, was the fact that Sean did very little to hide the fact that he found Tessa extremely attractive. He ogled her openly, licking his lips like some slimy snake as his beady eyes fixated on her breasts, and he’d made all manner of nasty, obscene comments to her when no one else had been around. His scummy friends were every bit as bad as he was, and Tessa made sure that she didn’t leave the bedroom she shared with Michelle and Kimmie when any of them were around and stayed firmly out of sight.

Additionally, it hadn’t escaped Brittany’s notice that her boyfriend had eyes for Tessa, and she never missed an opportunity to say something nasty to her, or insult her in some way in retaliation. Tessa had also noticed Brittany whispering to her mother whenever she walked by, and wondered what sort of lies and accusations were being spread.

Michelle and Kimmie had fought for days about how to equally divide up the closet and bureau space in their now shared bedroom, and Tessa’s head had ached from the piercing sound of their screaming. She hadn’t dared to ask for any space in the closet or even a single drawer for her own use, and kept the entire contents of her still sparse wardrobe inside an extra large trash bag. The air mattress that Debbie had mentioned had never materialized, so Tessa’s “bed” now consisted of an old exercise mat of Michelle’s and a pillow and quilt she’d bought for herself at a linen outlet store. She was constantly banging her head or shin into a wall or piece of furniture whenever she tried to turn over, and coupled with the constant noises of the TV blaring from the living room or someone arguing or a screaming child, she couldn’t recall the last time she’d had a good night’s sleep. Living in her car was beginning to sound more and more appealing with each passing day. Tessa thought caustically that she’d probably have a better shot at getting a good night’s sleep there than she would inside the Wallace home.

It was on a Wednesday, of course, when all hell really broke loose, because nothing and nobody would ever convince her that that particular day of the week wasn’t cursed.

Tessa arrived back at the house just after nine o’clock, worn out after a full day of classes and then work, and only having managed maybe a couple of hours of sleep the night before. All she wanted to do was brush her teeth, study for an hour or so, and then curl up on her mat and fall into an exhausted slumber. As she let herself inside the house, she kept her fingers crossed that the rest of the occupants could manage to refrain from screaming at the top of their lungs for just one precious evening.

But she was admittedly surprised when she walked through the living room to complete silence. There was no TV blaring, no babies crying, no loud voices hurling insults at each other. She recalled that Michelle was out on a date with Denny and probably wouldn’t sneak in until sometime after midnight, and had noticed that Debbie’s dark blue minivan hadn’t been parked in the driveway as usual. Maybe, just maybe, her prayers had been answered and she might actually get an hour or so of peace and quiet.

She ventured into the kitchen, which was in its usual state of disarray with dishes piled high in the sink and the counters littered with boxes and bags. She was just about to get herself a glass of water when she felt a cold shiver run up and down her spine, and the very unpleasant sensation of eyes upon her.

Tessa glanced up reluctantly, and couldn’t suppress a shudder as she spied Sean lurking in the doorway. He was tall and skinny, a distinct contrast to the short and pudgy Brittany, who was still carrying around an extra sixty pounds or more of baby weight. Sean was dressed like a gangbanger, in baggy jeans and a white ribbed wife-beater, his puny arms covered in tattoos. His greasy hair fell in lank, dirty blond strands almost to his shoulders, and both his ear and upper lip were pierced. Tessa had never been remotely attracted to that type of guy, and especially not to someone as creepy and vaguely menacing as Sean.

He gave her a smile that was really a smirk, and her hand shook a little as she replaced the glass. “Hey, Tessa. You look really hot tonight, baby. Your tits fill that sweater out real nice, don’t they? Not to mention the way your ass looks in those jeans. Mmm, mmm.”

She grimaced as Sean ran his disgusting tongue over his lips, and she thought yet again of how much he reminded her of some slimy, revolting reptile. “Leave me alone,” she told him firmly as she attempted to brush past him and retreat to the relative safety of her bedroom.

But he wasn’t about to let her escape quite so easily, and clasped surprisingly strong fingers around her upper arm before she could walk away. “But this is our big chance, baby,” he murmured to her in what he likely thought was a seductive voice. His sour breath reeked of cigarette smoke, cheap beer, and onions, and Tessa had to restrain herself from gagging. “Everyone’s out of the house. Brittany and her mom took the kids and Kimmie somewhere for dinner and then to shop at Walmart, and Michelle’s out with her boyfriend. Time for you and me to get to know each other a little better.”

Tessa tugged her arm free and edged a few steps closer towards the kitchen doorway. “No, thanks. I’m not interested.”

Sean quickly blocked the doorway, preventing her from making a quick escape. “Tough, because I
am
interested in you, baby. So are all of my friends. You should hang out with us sometime, have some fun, and stop being so uptight. You’re hot, Tessa, probably the hottest babe I’ve ever seen, and I’ve wanted a piece of this ass ever since I saw you. So, come on, let’s have ourselves some fun, huh?”

“No!” she protested vehemently, turning her head to one side as Sean moved in to kiss her. She placed a hand on his bony chest and pushed him away but he was stronger and more determined than he looked.

“I’ve wanted an up close look at these tits for a long time now,” he purred in a menacing voice. “Come on, let me see them, baby.”

Tessa slapped his hand away as he would have groped one of her breasts, an action that only served to anger him further. He clamped both of his hands around her upper arms and shoved her up against the wall, and this time she did gag when he ground his erection against the notch of her thighs.

“Feel that, baby?” he grunted like the animal he was. “That’s what a real man feels like. Come on, I’ll make you feel real good, baby. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a hot piece of ass like you. Screwing Brittany is like humping a whale or something. I want a real woman to fuck for a change.”

“Get off of me,” she pleaded, trying in vain to shove him away or twist out of his grasp. The combined odor of his breath and body odor was making her gorge rise, and she was on the verge of upchucking all over him when the door that led from the garage into the kitchen was thrown open, and the sound of an outraged female shriek reverberated through the room.