Jaden (Jaded 3)

Bryce moved to stand next to him.

My dad burst out again, “Her case is everything! They only have circumstantial evidence on her, but with this stunt—this is actually something. The media has this now. They can see her yelling and cursing. You think people are going to like that? Public opinion matters. If the pubic hates her, that doesn’t help her case.”

Yelling and cursing. I started to laugh to myself. Of course that was all he had heard. He hadn’t looked past the volume of my voice. He didn’t actually hear the message I was sending. For some reason, this struck me as hilarious, and the laughter kept pealing out of me. I couldn’t stop it. The tension in the room was thick, and I knew this was inappropriate, but fuck it, how Corrigan said, just fuck it. This was hilarity gold. My own father had no clue the message I was sending to the real killer.

“You think this is funny?”

It wasn’t my dad who expressed judgment. I had expected it from him, but I glanced up, wiping tears from my eyes, as I couldn’t contain myself. It was Beth who stood with her hands formed into fists, resting on both hips. Her feet were spread out and a firm look of disapproval was on her face, it was worse than my father’s. A glaze of dislike mixed with it. That helped contain my laughter, and I stood, rolling my shoulders back, and I tilted my head to the side.

“Oh boy,” Denton muttered behind me.

I stepped toward her, but caught another look shared between Corrigan and Bryce. All three of them knew the shift that had just happened, but they didn’t say anything. They knew. They had learned. No one judged me, not unless they earned that right to judge me, and this time, this girlfriend of my father’s, had just made a huge mistake.

I asked coolly, “You disapprove of me?”

A flattened look entered her gaze, and her hands fell from her hips, but she didn’t move back. She held her ground.

That was a point for her, for now. I moved even closer, so it was just her and me, staring at each other. Face to face. On the same eye level, I asked, so softly now, “Do you think I’m not acting appropriately?”

“Sheldon—” My dad started toward us, but I caught movement from the corner of my eye. Both Bryce and Corrigan blocked him with their heads slightly down. They were going to let me finish what Beth had started.

“Do you?” I prompted again. She hadn’t said a word since her first outburst. I was waiting. I was hoping for it.

“I think—” she stammered, then stopped to regroup. Then her tone came out firmer, clearer, “I think your father has done nothing except try to help you, but you have only met his actions with a level of ungratefulness that I’ve never witnessed before.”

“You think that?”

“Yes.” Her gaze was firm. “I do. It would be in your best interest to listen to him. He’s only trying to help.”

Then I laughed. It was soft, almost tentative at first, and then grew to a harsher, mocking sound. As I kept going, Beth pressed her lips together.

“Do you think I was acting inappropriately when I was stalked in high school?”

Just a slight flicker of confusion appeared before it was masked. Her chest rose and dropped as she made a sound of annoyance.

I nodded. “Do you think it was appropriate for my father to leave me during that time?”

Another small flicker of question. Did she not know the history? I cocked my head to the side and scratched at my chin. Maybe she didn’t? So I asked, “How was I supposed to act when two girls that I liked and wanted to call friends were killed?”

She wasn’t holding back the confusion now. She glanced to my father, but I blocked her view. I wanted her to deal with me, not him, not whatever he would say to make my questions irrelevant. I knew he would somehow, it was his way and his idea of how to handle this, but I was the one with experience. Not him. Beth needed to get this reality check.

“Beth?”

“Huh?” She looked down to the ground and expelled another sigh.

I frowned. Why all the sighing? She hadn’t been stalked. “Am I bothering you?”

“No—”

I interrupted, with a chilling smile, “Good, because I haven’t even gotten started.”

“Sheldon, this is enough—” My dad tried to push through Bryce and Corrigan. They closed ranks again, forcing him back. When he started to go around, Denton straightened from the wall, a third in the line now. Bryce and Corrigan were facing me, their backs to my father, but Denton was staring right at my dad. He said quietly, “Let your daughter finish.”

“Denton!” My dad bristled.

“I’m sorry, Neil, but I think it’s something you both need to hear.”

I felt the change from my dad. He backed up and took another inventory of the situation. I considered it from his point of view. Here I was, a daughter that he hadn’t seen in years, but who came across like a bitch. She drank too much and was way too highly sexualized as a kid. That was me. Jaded, but real. Now fast forward where he’s in his own world, with his shiny new girlfriend, and he’s forced to bring in his abandoned daughter. She’s wanted for murder. She’s got an attitude and she won’t sit still and just be thankful for the help he’s providing. Now he’s been put in his place, the movie star had spoken, the one that had been separate from all my bad behaviors growing up.