CHAPTER 5

　　School things, my ass.

　　Seeing only one place set, he turns to the side and gives Dane a glaring look as he strolls in casually beside him. It looks like Dane told him he was invited when my mother never agreed. Dane shrugs back and smirks, that wicked gleam in his eye that he knows this will be something else to piss my mom off.

　　“Yeah, soz…. we had stuff going on. I’m starving. Smells good.” Dane walks up, eyes up the vacant seat next to me that sits between his father and me and the place setting clearly for him, then at Elisa beside my mother on the opposite side. He seems to do a mental calculation as to where he should put Tyler.

　　“Monique, can you set another place, please,” Bryan calls out to the housekeeper, who is never far from earshot, and motions towards Tyler with a polite finger wave. Gesturing towards the seat facing Elisa, right beside me on the other side. “The more, the merrier. Nice to see you again, Tyler.”

　　Bryan has always been a polite, calm peacekeeper who never gets riled at anything his son does. Not the tattoos, the piercings, the motorbike… the times he has had to bail him out of the sheriff's office, or the number of times he’s scraped his drunk ass off the driveway at four am. Just thinking about it causes a ball of rage in my lower stomach; in return, all he gets is a bad attitude and hate for something that happened ten years ago.

　　He was not the only kid who had their family ripped apart.

　　Dane ushers Tyler to the seat before sauntering on past behind me and hauls out the chair to plank himself heavily down. He exudes this overly confident and casual vibe no matter what he’s doing, and that alone makes me grit my teeth. Nothing ever gets through that outer ‘who cares’ attitude. He pulls his glass towards him, takes a sip, and then peruses the table with a lazy glance, seemingly unimpressed with us all.

　　“Are you not going to wish your father a happy birthday?”

　　And so it begins.

　　I hate conflict like this. My mom doesn’t even give him a second to settle, tension crackling in the air around her with her snappy tone, and the steak in my mouth suddenly feels like I’m chewing ash. Churning up my stomach as my nerves tighten, and for once, I wish my mom would leave it alone.

　　“Yeah…. happy getting older…. power to you,” Dane smirks his dad’s way, with no sincerity, and Bryan nods with a half-smile as if to say thank you. Dane waits until he sees Tyler being served food before he starts to dig in, obviously done with his well wishes. I shake my head at his lack of effort, praying my mom lets it go and stuff food in my mouth to curb the need to call him an asshole.

　　“Can’t you do something properly and respectfully for once?”

　　I sigh inwardly at her voice.

　　My mom could never back down and let it go where he’s concerned, just had to bite.

　　“He’s your father….. don't you have a gift? Something more meaningful to say?” She sits rigid, facing him and not moving to pick up her cutlery as the rest of us have. Bringing the black cloud firmly over our heads, I know there’s no rescuing this now. She’s only getting warmed up, and Dane will only get riled.

　　“Honey… leave it. Let’s just..” Bryan interjects but is immediately cut off.

　　“The gift is my presence….. you want me to say something heartfelt… I’m not sure you would like what I have to say.” Dane snorts and doesn’t look her way but leans in and stuffs food in his mouth, unphased by the audience, the bad atmosphere, or the way my mother is scowling like he’s a demon child sent from hell to make her life miserable. He chews loudly.

　　“No… please… let's hear it. I really want to know what you have to say to your father on his birthday.” My mother snaps, tone frosty and eyes glued to Dane. “Waiting with bated breath for your words of wisdom at the ripe old age of seventeen.”

　　My food becomes a lump in my throat, and I stare down at my lap to count to ten, so I keep my mouth shut. Anger is growing, and that inner ache of utter contempt that I carry with me whenever I share air space with this idiot. I curse the day he moved in here and made this my everyday life. The past six months have felt like six years.

　　I am also mortified that my mom is doing this in front of Tyler and Elisa when she doesn’t even know Tyler at all. That Dane is being this shitty once more.

　　My mom is normally a stable and warm person who has been my rock my whole life, but he brings out the absolute worst in her. I never thought my mom could hate a person, given she’s a doctor and people lover, yet Dane is the exception. From the second he walked in here with cases in tow, they have butted heads.

　　“Maybe I should go and take Ummm…….” Tyler interrupts and glances across at Elisa, who has further sunk into her hair because she is awful with drama. “Cousin It, with me.” He frowns, seemingly confused about her name or maybe even her identity, and I glare at him with a snapping head turn.

　　“Her name is Elisa, don’t be a jerk.” I huff at him, incensed at the Addams family reference.

　　Dane snort laughs under his breath at Tyler’s insult to my friend, so the impulse to use my fork to stab him in the leg becomes almost unbearable.

　　“It’s fine, eat. We will be going soon as we’re done.” Dane waves at him to pick his cutlery back up, uncaring about this train wreck atmosphere or my mom’s sarcasm, and my mom explodes. Like a time bomb that’s been ticking away since he walked in the door.

　　“Why are you like this? Why do you always make things this way? Do you enjoy seeing me angry and causing all of this? I have tried to include you ever since I brought you into my home and …….” Her voice raises higher with every word.

　　“YOUR HOME??” Dane’s head snaps up, cutting her off with a violent response which is new for him, as he meets her focus head-on. His face falls from that smug and casual look he always wears to instant anger and despisal. Energy vibrates around him that feels like aggressive hostility, and it has the power to make me go quiet. He’s normally full of smart-ass responses and smirks, not outright yelling venom.