Cruel Read online

  Damien was howling so loudly that Marcus didn’t hear the door.

  “Screw you and screw your father!” his mother’s alternate personality screamed. “Damn you both to the fiery pits of hell!”

  Marcus willed himself to remain calm but with each booming word, he felt his nerves fraying more.

  “Damien,” he tried conversationally. “I’m only trying to help Lucy.”

  “You’re the devil!” he spat back. “You’re just like your cursed father. You don’t want to help anyone but yourself!”

  The sentiment burned deeper than it should have, even though Marcus knew the personality was only spewing pent-up venom from his mother’s past. Whatever was happening here had nothing to do with him.

  “Will you please take the pill?” he asked, his voice almost quavering with the effort to maintain an evenness.

  “Poison!” Damien hissed back. “You’re trying to kill us!”

  The pounding at the door grew louder and Marcus winced at the sound. His instinct was to ignore it but with Damien screaming, there was no way that whoever it was would accept that he just wasn’t home.

  “Do you want me to put on Netflix?” he asked, changing his tactics. “I can put on Designated Survivor for you.”

  Like a switch had been flipped, Damien’s mouth curled into a pleased sneer.

  “Yes,” he agreed, settling instantly. Marcus hurried to oblige as the knocking on the door continued.

  Whoever it is better have a life or death scenario on their hands, Marcus thought grimly, pulling up the streaming screen. Content that Damien (in his mother’s frail form) was temporarily distracted, he moved to answer the door.

  His breath was stolen when he saw who stood there.

  “What the hell are you doing here, Elyse?”

  Her wan smile faltered completely at his greeting, eyes shadowing.

  “I heard you dropped out of Cal State,” she answered, her tone defensive.

  “So what?” he snapped back. “I’m a little busy.”

  “I heard,” she replied softly. “Something I can help with?”

  The question both stunned and disarmed him. He hadn’t been expecting it.

  When was the last time anyone offered to help me with anything?

  Angrily, he thought of how quickly Mindy had hightailed it out of town.

  “Can I come in?” She didn’t let him argue, brushing past him to enter the foyer and he gaped after her, wanting to stop her but unable to find the words to do it.

  “Why did you leave school?” she asked, folding her arms over her chest to peer at him inquisitively. “Was it because of me?”

  Marcus snorted rudely but he found himself unable to meet her eyes.

  “Don’t flatter yourself,” he growled, closing the door.

  I guess she’s staying—for now.

  “Why then? I heard you had a full scholarship,” she insisted. “You won’t get it back if you drop out, even if you decide to go back later.”

  Marcus bristled.

  “You think I don’t know that?” he barked, shaking his head. “I don’t need you womansplaining shit to me.”

  “That’s not even a thing,” she sighed.

  “Look, I really don’t need to explain anything to you, Elyse,” he insisted, his anger resurfacing. “How did you even find out where I lived?”

  “Steve,” she replied. “Don’t get mad at him. I was worried about you and I wanted to see if you were okay.”

  Inexplicably, a rush of affection shot through him, despite his better judgement.

  “You were worried about me,” he echoed. “But you’ve thrown me out of your bedroom twice now.”

  Embarrassment colored her face.

  “It’s not like that, Marc,” she replied softly. “I…”

  She trailed off like she was trying to find the right words but she didn’t add anything.

  “I’m good enough to fuck, but beyond that, you don’t want anything to do with me,” he finished for her, a mirthless laugh escaping his lips.

  “I’m here now, aren’t I?” she shot back. “Obviously I’m worried about you.”

  Again, she paused, cocking her head to the side.

  “Who were you fighting with just now?”

  His instinct was to deny that she’d heard anything but when he read the compassion on her face, he wondered for the first time if maybe he wasn’t reading everything wrong.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he replied shortly. “I’ve got it under control.”

  “Marc?”

  His mother appeared in the hall, Damien nowhere in sight.

  “Oh!” Lucy smiled. “You have company.”

  “Hello,” Elyse volunteered, stepping forward to extend her hand. “I’m Elyse Halston.”

  Lucy’s beam widened and she accepted Elyse’s outstretched hand graciously.

  “You are lovely,” Lucy breathed. “You remind me of someone though…”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Marcus thought he saw Elyse’s smile falter and he knew she was wondering the same thing he was—had Lucy met Irene before?

  “I get Lucille Ball a lot,” Elyse chuckled lightly, reclaiming her hand.

  “Maybe,” Lucy agreed, nodding, and Marcus exhaled in relief. The last thing he needed was Elyse to witness the alters take over.

  “Do you need something, Mom?” Marcus asked, noting her wrinkled nightgown and dishevelled hair. Anyone with eyes could see that his mother wasn’t right, but even so, Elyse maintained a pleasant expression on her face.

  “Did I take my pills, baby?” Lucy asked her son. Conflicted, Marcus shot Elyse a look out of the corner of his eye.

  “Not yet,” he replied. He needed her to take her pills but he knew he was opening himself to endless questions he didn’t want to answer.

  “Can I get you some water, Mrs. Preston?” Elyse offered and Marcus felt his heart crack at the question. There was no smirk to her tone, no blanket of judgement.

  “Yes, dear,” Lucy agreed as Marcus guided her back toward the bedroom. A moment later, Elyse appeared with a glass of water in her hand as Marcus tucked her back into bed.

  “It’s not Lucille Ball,” Lucy announced after taking her pills. “That’s not who you look like.”

  Marcus tensed.

  “No?”

  “It’s Hedy Lamar,” Lucy corrected. “With red hair and light eyes.”

  “That’s quite a compliment, Mrs. Preston.”

  Lucy grimaced slightly.

  “Call me Lucy, dear. The only good thing that came from the Preston name was Marcus.”

  “Lucy,” Elyse conceded, not commenting on anything else.

  “I’ll be back in a minute, Mom,” Marcus interjected, taking Elyse by the elbow and leading her out of the bedroom.

  “You too, Elyse!” Lucy called out. “You come back soon too!”

  “I’ll try, Lucy,” she agreed.

  When they were out of his mother’s earshot, Marcus whipped around, fire flashing through his eyes.

  “Are you happy now?” he growled, but he didn’t know why he was barking at her. She hadn’t done anything wrong.

  “Why would I be happy about this?” Elyse countered, seeming unperturbed by his brusque manners. “I’m sorry your mom isn’t well. Is it depression, or something else?”

  He was taken aback again by her astute observation.

  “H-how the hell did you know it was mental and not physical?”

  “I saw the bupropion script.”

  His mouth firmed as he studied her face.

  “You know a lot about drugs, don’t you?” he muttered.

  “I’m pre-med,” she replied flatly.

  “You just started college,” he retorted, unwilling to let her off the hook with such an explanation. “And you’re taking drugs of your own.”

  He watched as her face twisted into an expression of defensiveness.

  “Like Viagra?” he pressed, gauging her reaction closely. A flash of emotions flu
ttered across her face and suddenly, she threw her hands up in anger.

  “You’re a real ass, you know that?” she snapped. “Did it ever occur to you that Viagra had another medical purpose other than to get someone’s dick hard?”

  Marcus was temporarily at a loss for words.

  “L-like what?” he stuttered.

  “Never mind,” she growled, spinning to leave.

  “Oh! Are you leaving?” he cried out sarcastically. “I’m shocked! I thought you were worried about me!”

  Abruptly, she whirled back around and glared at him.

  “How the hell can anyone worry about you when you’re such a prick? Yeah, I came here because I was concerned. Coming here and seeing what you’re contending with makes me even more so, but I can’t force my way into your life, Marc. Now that I know your family background a bit, I get why you’re such a bully but I’m not a doormat. I don’t have to put up with your shit.”

  Shock rocketed through him.

  “A bully?” he choked as she reached for the door. “You think I’m a bully?!”

  “You’re kidding, right?” she shot back. “For as long as I can remember, you’ve done nothing but be a jerk to me.”

  “That’s because you’ve been too good for everyone!” he snarled back. “Always with your nose in the air. Hell, you even watched as I got beat up one time. You call me a bully? You’re the one with the attitude problem.”

  They glared at each other, the history of their feelings toward one another spilling out in a torrent.

  “You’re nuts,” she breathed, finally breaking the silence between them. “I-I have never been too good for anyone.”

  “Even now you have no problem throwing me out of bed,” he retorted. “Don’t give me your pious bullshit, Elyse. You know I’m right.”

  “You’re wrong!” she hissed back. “About everything!”

  She spun away, her hand reaching for the knob and regret sprang through him. He had a feeling that this time would genuinely be the last time he saw her if he let her go, but a steel rod of pride jammed down his spine. His mouth firmed, refusing to call her back.

  To her credit, she didn’t slam the door but the effect was the same as if she had.

  “Oh,” Lucy sighed from behind him. “Did Elyse leave already?”

  Marcus gritted his teeth, willing his breaths to even before he turned to face his mother.

  “Yeah,” he said. “She’s gone.”

  Lucy’s face fell and Marcus tried to think of a time when she’d ever been happy to see any visitor.

  Then again, how many people do I allow in here?

  More guilt and consternation shot through him. Every step he took, every decision he made, it just felt wrong.

  Like letting Elyse walk out of here.

  “I hope she comes back soon,” Lucy murmured. “She’s so beautiful.”

  “Yeah,” Marcus conceded. “She is.”

  He didn’t add that he hoped she came back too, even though it was exactly what he yearned for in his soul.

  Let her go. Your life is complicated enough without having relations with your stepsister.

  The thought made him cringe again. One way or another, he knew that they would be forever interwoven in one another’s lives. The universe had seen to that.

  Chapter 15

  She gaped at Dr. Chandra in shock.

  “What?” she choked. “What do you mean, you can’t do the surgery?”

  The doctor’s mouth twitched and he sighed heavily as if saying the words were as painful as her hearing them.

  “We can do the procedure,” he backpedalled. “But there are going to be risks we didn’t anticipate before.”

  She stared at him blankly.

  “What? What risks? What’s changed in a month?”

  She was dressed in a hospital gown, sitting up on the bed. The surgery was scheduled an hour from then and she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “You have,” the cardiologist replied. “Your body.”

  Elyse wished he’d stop speaking to her in riddles and spell out what he was trying to say.

  “Is the hole too big now?” she asked dubiously. “Is that what’s going on?”

  It defied logic that she had carried around the burden for a decade without any significant growth and suddenly there was an issue.

  Again, the older man shook his head.

  “No, it’s not your heart…”

  “I was never really good at Twenty Questions, Doctor. Can you please just tell me what’s going on?”

  “You’re pregnant, Elyse.”

  She blinked twice, the words not fully sinking in as she spoke.

  “That’s impossible,” she replied firmly. “Is this a joke? Did my mother put you up to this?”

  Dr. Chandra shuffled forward and showed her the tablet in his hands.

  “Your blood tests indicate that you’re carrying a child. You’re very early on and you probably haven’t noticed yet but…”

  He pointed at the results on the screen and Elyse felt her head grow light.

  “You’re not even five weeks along.”

  Wind rushed through her ears and without realizing, she sank back onto the pillows, her face draining of blood.

  “Fuck me,” she whispered, forgetting who she was with for a moment as the feeling of her carefully laid plans slipping through her fingers overwhelmed her.

  “Well, someone did,” Dr. Chandra muttered under his breath. Elyse scowled at his comment.

  Not just someone. Marcus. I’m carrying Marcus’ baby and I can’t have surgery on my heart.

  “W-what does all this mean?” she rasped. “What happens if I go ahead with the procedure anyway?”

  “First, that depends on what you want to do,” the doctor replied delicately. “If you want to keep the child, I can’t recommend a catheterized procedure. It’s far too risky to the fetus. Do you want to continue with the pregnancy?”

  Elyse’s eyes fixed on his face but she could barely see him there.

  “What if I do?” she whispered, letting her instincts guide her through the conversation.

  “Then I would have to go in through the chest to mend the hole. That, of course, has its risks too. Anesthesia, bypass…they, too, could affect the fetus.”

  “So, I have to wait until after the baby is born,” she concluded but the doctor shook his head again.

  “You must know that pregnancy carries huge risks of its own. The fetus is something like a parasite, feeding off its host which then makes the host vulnerable under the best of circumstances. With your underlying heart issue, the pregnancy will only make the issue worse.”

  Elyse sat up, her face hardening.

  It’s a damned good thing this guy didn’t choose peds as his profession. He’s really not selling the procreation aspect well.

  “You think I should…I shouldn’t have the baby,” she faltered.

  The doctor shook his head vehemently.

  “I would never make that recommendation to you or anyone. I am simply laying out the risks and hoping that you can make an informed decision. Clearly you need time to think about this and maybe discuss it with the father.”

  The doctor bowed out of the room but Elyse barely noticed.

  When did my life become so goddamned complicated? I can’t discuss this with the father. He doesn’t know about my heart condition.

  She wasn’t even sure she wanted him to know that she was pregnant.

  After leaving his house that day of their fight, she had come to terms with the fact that she and Marcus were just like oil and water. No matter how much they were drawn to each other, she couldn’t envision a place where they trusted one another. There was too much bad blood and rocky history between them. Although how it had all started, she couldn’t quite unravel.

  Even with that in mind, she couldn’t dismiss what she’d seen, a man struggling to take care of his mother, going so far as to leave his coveted scholarship behind. There was mo
re to Marcus Preston than she had ever seen. He was indeed like an onion with many layers, each one making her cry but at the end, wasn’t the savory taste of him well worth the tears?

  I can’t reach out to him now. He’s got enough to worry about without me burdening him with this. But he has a right to know about his baby, doesn’t he?

  She reached for her cell that was sitting on the bedside table and with trembling fingers, began to send a text.

  A moment later, the phone rang in her hand and she inhaled sharply to answer it.

  “Hi,” she murmured. “I’m at the hospital and I need you here.”

  Dr. Chandra nodded at the nurse who thrust a stack of paperwork into her lap.

  “You’re going to need to sign these release forms,” the cardiologist explained. “Just in case—”

  “I understand,” Elyse interjected, swallowing the lump in her throat. She didn’t want to hear the words aloud again. The dangers were already replaying in her head on a loop since she’d made the final decision to see the surgery through.

  “You understand that there’s a chance the fetus won’t make it,” Dr. Chandra insisted.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, would you stop!” Irene yelled, jumping to her feet to snatch the papers away from her daughter. “You can’t put the baby at risk like this!”

  Blinking away the tears burning in her eyes, she looked at her mother, wondering why she’d been so stupid as to call for Irene.

  Because there was no one else to call and you couldn’t do this alone.

  “The baby is at risk no matter what I do, Mom,” Elyse moaned. “It’s just as dangerous for me to go through with the pregnancy without it.”

  “She’s right, Mrs. Colter.”

  Irene grimaced at the sound of her last husband’s surname.

  “Irene,” she muttered before refocusing her attention on her daughter. “Baby, think about this. You’re healthy now. I’m starting to wonder if you even have a hole in your heart, or if the doctors just want more money. You’ve been fine your whole life, except for them telling you you’re sick. The chances are that nothing will happen during your pregnancy, just like nothing really happened before this – in spite of all the doctors insisting you were gonna die, honey. If you still want to go through with this after the kid is born, fine. But don’t hurt my grandbaby.”