Unraveling Mathias by Marisa Maichel (reading women TXT) 📕

Chapter Five - Betrayal

Well, we found out who was stealing Sarah's money. It was her own mother. Mother, Alexander, and Father confronted her and asked why. Alicia's face became a mask of stone.

"She gets everything. The money, the boy, everything. My husband is dead, and who gets a new boyfriend a year later? She does. Her problems have made my life a living hell. So I figured, why not take what's rightfully mine?"

Sarah burst into tears and cried for a long time. Father cut Alicia off from the family allowance and Mother offered Sarah a place to stay. Sarah refused, saying that she needed to see if her relationship with her mother could be fixed.

Alexander put a lock on Sarah's bedroom door and installed security cameras for extra protection. Father put a lock on Sarah's account so that only she could access it. When Alicia found out, she ranted and raved. Sarah tried to avoid her for the most part.

"She's drinking again," she told me on Saturday as she ate fried rice out of a carton. "It's always the strong stuff. Whiskey, tequila, vodka." On Saturday, Sarah spent the night at my house.

I held her as she slept, wishing that we could have gotten together under better circumstances.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I woke up, Sarah was gone. She left me a note.

Reese,

Sorry to leave you like this, but duty calls. I got a call from Mom, apologizing and begging me for forgiveness. She said that she didn't know what came over her and that she didn't know what she was thinking. I think she's faking it to get the allowance back, but I'm going to remain optimistic. Anyway, I'll call if I need you.

Love,

Sarah

I immediately called Mother, who promised to check on Sarah.

"Alicia seems serious," Mother said. "She's kissing up to Sarah. It's almost sickening." I smiled at Mother's jealousy. She and Sarah had had similar experiences, and Mother adored her.

I asked Mother to keep an eye on Sarah.

I sat in the pool, marinating. The pool area had been cleaned thoroughly, and there was no evidence of a party. I leaned my head back, enjoying the skylight. Shadowfang appeared beside me, and tasted the water. He made a face and licked his lips.

"That's yucky," I told him. He scowled at me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was hunched over my desk, studying for a Spanish test. I was already fluent in true Spanish, but I needed to take a language class in order to graduate. I chuckled. America has, well, Americanized their Spanish classes. If I tried to speak some of this to a true Spanish speaker, they wouldn't know what I was talking about.

I wondered if I could get away with speaking true Spanish in class. Our teacher didn't even speak Spanish until his college years. Though, we did have a new teacher's assistant who was Latino and a hunk. Surely he would be kind enough to grade my homework and give me an A.

There are some things I hate about being bisexual. One, sometimes girls expect me to be the one guy friend who likes shopping. I hate shopping. Also, some people have told me "there's no such thing as bisexual. You're either straight or gay". What they fail to realize is that the world is not made up of straight and gay, black and white. There are all shades of grey, and many sexualities.

People are complicated, beautiful, and mysterious. A person can be the ugliest sad sack on the planet, but have a beautiful soul. Or a person can be beautiful physically, but have an evil soul. Or a person can be physically attractive, and have a good soul. Not all people are good, and sometimes good people do bad things, and bad people can do good things.

You don't have to love what someone does to love them, and that was true with my relationship with Sarah.

I didn't like some of the things she did in the past, but that didn't mean that I did not love her.

She was drinking a fruity beer out of a bottle while I studied. After she forgave her mother, her mother went back to drinking right away, and now Sarah was following in her footsteps.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," I said.

"It's just one," she argued.

"What're you gonna do, call the fuzz?" Alexander snapped. He had snuck into my room and was watching both of us with a resigned air. Grandfather had loosened his ban on Alexander seeing me.

"She's pregnant," I reminded them.

"So? That beer has only two percent alcohol in it."

"She's underage."

"So are you, but you smoke. You're such a hypocrite, Reese."

"No, he's right," Sarah said. "I shouldn't be drinking." She threw the bottle into the trash can, even though it was half full. "I'm thinking about going blond full-time. What do you think, Reese?"

"I think you should keep the brown. It's a beautiful color."

"Eh, I've always thought my brown hair was kind of dull."

"Bullshit," Alexander said. "Your hair is naturally beautiful, Sarah Harper Cresley. It has many shades of both brown and blond, even some red in the sun." Sarah and I stared at him in shock. It was the first time I'd ever heard him compliment her.

Sarah took the tie out of her hair and let it fall loose around her shoulders. She ran her fingers through the tangles and started braiding. I admired her form. Everything from her thin ankles and small feet to her pert bottom and thin waist.

She laid on my bed and looked around. My room had changed a bit. Now it held romances and chick lit in addition to horror, thrillers, and mysteries on the bookshelf. Sarah Dessen was next to Stephen King. And my DVD rack now held titles like He's Just Not That Into You and 13 Going On 30.

Sarah herself whipped her phone out and started texting.

"Who're you talking to?" I asked her.

"Caden."

"Cartwright?"

"Who else?"

I admit, I felt a stab of jealousy. Caden was megapopular, got perfect grades, was super rich and uber-gorgeous. If he tried to steal her from me...I'd have no chance. My list of romantic rivals seemed to grow all the time. I saw Alexander bare his teeth out of the corner of my eye and gave him a quizzical look. He ignored me.

"Do whatever makes you happy," he told Sarah.

"Any more news on the stalker?" I asked. Sarah gave me a horrified look.

"Stalker?" Alexander questioned. Oops.

"It's nothing," Sarah said.

"Don't lie to me, Sarah Cresley," Alexander warned. Sarah frowned at me, and I lowered my head.

"For the past few weeks, I've been getting the feeling that I'm being watched," she told him. "It's a big heavyset guy with brown hair."

"And you didn't tell me because...?"

"To be honest, you have a tendency to overreact." Now it was my turn to look at her in horror. Alexander didn't seem to care, though. In fact, he was more angry that she tried to keep it from him.

"Sarah Harper Cresley, I specifically told you to tell me if you felt threatened! What else does he look like?"

"His eyes are really dark, and his skin is slightly tanned, about the same color as mine."

Alexander grimaced. Sarah hid under the covers.

"Little girl, your boyfriend's bedspread will not save you. Come out and face me like a grown woman."

"I'd rather hide like a little kid," Sarah mumbled.

"I heard that. Sar-" Alexander cut off and started sniffing the air. "I have to go. This conversation is not over."

He jumped out my window. Seconds later, Father came barreling through the door.

"Where is he? Where is he?" He started turning my room upside down. Sarah came over to stand beside me. Father flipped over the mattress.

"Your family scares me," she admitted, sounding a bit like a mouse.

"Father! He's not here!" I yelled over the pandemonium. "He left!"

"Probably ran when he heard me, no doubt." He ran to the window. "ALEXANDER! GET YOUR FAT ASS BACK HERE! I TOLD YOU NOT TO COME NEAR REESE, AND WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU WALTZ INTO HIS ROOM! GET BACK HERE SO I CAN POUND YOU INTO DUST!"

Father fixed my bed.

"Sorry I frightened you, Sarah," he said to my girlfriend. She merely nodded, still hiding behind me.

Chapter Six - Rosita Bleedfellows/Crimson Kisses

It was a Monday night. Sarah was watching wrestling in the den with Louis and myself, and I was trying to figure out the appeal. Sure, some of them were good-looking. But Sarah was the last person anyone would expect to watch WWE.

I understand Louis watching it-he loves violence and rivalries. Sarah was so kind-hearted, though, and she hated having enemies. She wanted everyone to at least accept each other, even if they didn't like each other.

My question was, why wrestling?

"My uncle got me into it," Sarah told me. "My dad's brother. We used to watch it all the time. He even watched it way back when it was still WWF!"

I shook my head, still confused. Louis laughed as some wrestler hit the rope, landing on the area right between his legs. His opponent put his hand on his shoulder and bounced him on the rope. Even Sarah cracked a smile. The official declared the winner, the poor guy who landed on the rope.

The doorbell rang. I heard Father ask Toby to answer it. When the door opened, we all heard Toby suck in a deep, shocked breath. Then I heard Spencer ask "What is she doing here?"

Louis and I exchanged a look, and I went to investigate.

"I'll be right back, Sarah," I told my love.

When I entered the living room, I saw a tall woman with silver blond hair, a black pencil skirt, an old fashioned button-up blouse, and tall black boots. She carried a large purse that appeared to be mostly empty, and wore sunglasses, even though it was dark outside.

She lowered her glasses and eyed me. When Uncle Soren came into the room, he froze.

"Rosita Bleedfellows," Louis said, leaning against the doorframe. "Who have you poisoned now?" Uncle Soren shot him a look. It wasn't a reproving look, though. What I saw in my uncle's eyes was fear.

"I don't believe that Toby invited you in," Father told the woman.

"Oh please. That old myth?" Her voice had a slight English accent and sounded very girlish. I didn't know why, but I got a bad feeling in my gut when she spoke. She barely spoke a complete sentence, and she already frightened me. Father moved to stand beside me.

"This must be Reese," Rosita Bleedfellows said.

"Away with you, Rosita," Grandfather said, speaking up for the first time.

"I have a proposition that I think will benefit both our names and our families."

"Your family is dead. They have been for many years." For a moment, Rosita's lip trembled, then she got a hold of herself.

"My daughters may be dead, but you can still benefit me. Let us have a talk, Mordecai and Eilief Emerson."

"You're not welcome here," Uncle Soren told her firmly. Grandfather held up a hand.

"Control your temper, Soren. Let us see what she wants first. Mordecai, come with me. We can talk in the library." Grandfather and Father led Rosita to the library, one in front of her, one behind her. Father gave a significant nod to Dimitri, who followed after a minute. I wondered if I should follow them as well.

As if he could read my thoughts, Uncle Soren put a hand on my shoulder.

"It'll be all right, Reese," he said. "Rosita will be thrown out shortly, I'm sure." All of a sudden, there was a massive crash, and Father let out a bellowing roar. Before I knew what was happening, he flitted over to me and held me tightly.

"MINE!" he shouted.

"Father, what's going on?" I asked him. Father looked over at his older brother.

"The bitch wants to marry Reese!" he whispered below human hearing. Louis' jaw dropped for perhaps the first time ever, and Uncle Soren let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a roar. Even Toby