“We will,” he whispers, kissing her lips. “Not tonight but we will.”
“Why not tonight?”
“You’re not eighteen.”
“Neither are you.”
He grimaces. “Maybe,” he mutters. “In any case no one would be looking for me. You’re a different story. This isn’t a movie, Loren. We need a plan. We can’t just slide into the night like a pair of criminals and expect there will be no consequences, that it will all turn out happily ever after.”
He’s right. Of course he’s right. She would be reported, the news would hit the tabloids.
“Teenager Loren Savage, daughter and granddaughter of Hollywood legends, runs away from home with a man rumored to be her cousin. The two are thought to be at large somewhere in western Arizona.”
“I know that,” she says with some bitterness as she slowly pulls her clothes back on. “Believe me, I understand exactly how it is.”
Oscar watches her. “Where are you going?”
“The big house. I have a feeling someone’s waiting for me there.”
His dark eyes are troubled and he starts to rise. “I’ll go with you.”
“No.” She kisses him. “No. I’ll be back soon.”
The smoke smell is stronger outside. Ren walks slowly, pausing on the porch of the brothel. The wind plays havoc with her hair and darkens her vision with dust. But in the west, toward the mountains, she thinks she sees a faint orange glow. It could be a brush fire or it could be the last gasp of the vanishing sun. It’s impossible to tell.
Why does she feel like she is being slowly choked from the inside? Every step toward the house is more difficult to take than the last one. She tells herself there is no reason to feel this way. Yes, it was her mother’s face at the window, her mother’s cold eyes of loathing, but there is nothing Lita can do to her. If she tries, Ren will convince Oscar that they have no choice but to leave, authorities and tabloids be damned.
The porch light is dark and she fumbles for the doorknob. The pickup truck is still gone, meaning Monty has not returned. For all their differences, Ren would rather have Monty around right now. No matter how much he despises Oscar, he would never stand still and allow Lita to hurt her. Ren has no such faith in her father.
At first the house is silent and Ren breathes with relief. She tiptoes past the front room and takes a right turn down the hall towards the bedroom she shares with her sisters. Suddenly she wants very much to be where they are.
A door opens at her back and light splashes the dark corridor. “Loren,” says her father. “Come here please.”
Ren tries to calm her quickening pulse as she turns around and cautiously enters her father’s study. She has never been frightened of her father in her life and she isn’t afraid of him now. But when she sees Lita sitting in a leather armchair with her legs crossed, a triumphant smile on her lips, Ren can hardly breathe.
She can’t do anything to me. She can’t do anything if I don’t let her.
Ren crosses her arms and stares straight ahead as August closes the heavy door at her back. That’s when Lita unexpectedly rises, crosses the room, and with the strength of a man strikes Ren across the face so hard her ears ring with the echo.
“You fucking whore,” Lita spits.
Ren barely notices the pain. There is just the shock of being hit. Her nose feels funny and when she touches it with her fingers they come away bloody. She inhales hard, levels a loathing stare at the woman who gave her life and says with stark clarity, “You goddamn bitch.”
“Stop it,” August demands but there’s no authority in his voice. Only exhaustion. “Goddamn it, both of you. Stop.”
“Gladly,” Ren says and turns to leave the room. Whatever these people need to talk about, they can do it without her. She needs to find Oscar. She needs to let him know that remaining in Atlantis is no longer an option.
Lita tears past August and blocks Ren’s exit. “You’re going nowhere. Not tonight. Not ever.” She shakes her head as her silver earrings catch the soft light of the Tiffany lamp on August’s desk. “I knew you were a loser, Loren. I knew it from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“Enough!” August actually raises his voice this time. “Lita, you’ve crossed the line.”
Lita throws him a withering look. “Oh, be quiet, old man. You might strain a vocal chord pretending you care.”
Ren clenches her fists. If Lita wants a fight she can have one. “Get the hell out of my way you poisonous cunt.”
Her mother seems merely amused. “Trashy little words from a trashy little girl. My god, I always figured you for a pathetic fool but assumed you would know enough not to slut it around with the gutter rat your crazy aunt kept for a pet.”
Ren closes her eyes, wishes to be somewhere else, anywhere else. “What is it that bothers you, Lita? That I’m with someone you consider inappropriate? Or that I’ve found something you’ve never had?”
“Oh,” Lita says softly as her smile returns. “I guess it’s time you heard. Loren my dear, sweet, supremely idiotic child, I’ve had everything you’ve had. Only I had it first.”
That’s what Brigitte meant. It’s not true. It’s not even in the same hemisphere as the truth.
“If you think I’ll believe that you’re more vile and crazy than I ever gave you credit for.”
Ren recoils when Lita suddenly reaches out to brush a few fallen strands of dark hair from her forehead. She doesn’t retreat soon enough to avoid being lightly scratched with her mother’s fingernails.
“You fucking little moron,” Lita sighs. “You actually believe he cares. No Ren, he’s the sort of trash who’s only looking for the next hole to satisfy himself.”
Ren glances at her father, silently begging him to put a stop to this nightmare. She doesn’t believe it. Not even for a blink of an eye does she believe Oscar would have a thing to do with Lita. August believes it though. Either he believes it or he can’t be bothered with a contradiction. He breathes heavily and sinks down into a chair.
Lita laughs. “Oh, don’t look at your father as if he’ll object. Oscar’s not the first one I’ve had fun with and he won’t be the last. I suppose you’re old enough to hear that your father and I have had an arrangement since Brigitte was born. I’m free to do as I please. And in this case, like so many others, that’s exactly what I did.”
Ren runs the back of her hand beneath her nose. It has stopped bleeding. “Sorry. It turns out you’ve wasted a round of theatrics, Mom. I know exactly what you are. You don’t know how to do anything but lie and inflict pain. But I won’t be your problem anymore. And neither will Oscar.”
Lita is amused. “Is that because you believe you two will just ride off into the fabled sunset like the dreadful films once set here? No.” She shakes her head with a private smile. “That won’t be happening, Ren.”
“Empty threats,” Ren whispers. That’s all you are. You can’t stop us.”
Lita clucks her tongue. “Well now, that’s not exactly true. Do I really have to remind you that you are a minor?”
“Fine, I’ll get emancipated. I have less than eight months until my eighteenth birthday.”
“Yes, a lot can happen in eight months. Scandal and disgrace. And of course a trial.”
“A trial?” Ren is startled. “What crime has been committed for god’s sake?”
“Do you really think we would allow Mina’s stray to camp out here without performing a few background checks? Among the more interesting nuggets of information we uncovered is the fact that Oscar is over eighteen and of course, as I just pointed out, you are not.”