30. Erik

Chapter thirty

Erik

I got up early this morning because my phone wouldn't stop ringing. I hoped to at least get a little rest before the chaos ensued, but I guess that was too much to ask. Leaving Jesse to sleep, I pulled on a pair of sweats and a hoodie as I slipped out of the room. Angel had disappeared at some point, but I wasn't worried about her, she probably just needed a bit of space after last night. I'd give her that, I wouldn't be an overbearing caveman, even though every instinct in my body screamed at me to hunt her down and drag her back into my bed.

Margot was in the kitchen, tsking and muttering under her breath as she bustled around, making what smelled like pancakes. I came up behind her and kissed the top of her head, earning myself a swat. "You boys," she chided. "The living room looks like a pride of hyenas went through here."

"Sorry Margot, no more hyenas. I promise." I grinned. My eyes caught on movement through the window overlooking the backyard, and I frowned.

"That's the other thing." Margot huffed, following my gaze. "Anders is wandering around without his shoes on. He's going to catch a cold that way, but god forbid the little princeling listen to me." She rolled her eyes and moved back to the stove, flipping the pancake on the skillet.

Normally, I'd just leave him to it since he was a bit of a bitch when I bothered him. But he didn't look well. I headed outside, my sauntering turning into a jog when he started punching himself in the head. Anders hadn't had an episode in a while. I forgot how jarring it could be to see that prick so… ruffled.

"Anders? Listen to my voice, can you hear me?" I asked, and he started to shrink in front of my eyes, growing smaller as he sank to the ground.

"Not now, King."

That was it? No elegant retort? No nasty comment?

He was in a bad way. I left him curled up on the lawn, running back inside to grab the secret weapon. I'd known Anders a long time, long enough that I'd seen him get like this more than once. Sometimes, if we caught it early, we could snap him out of it, but when he was too far gone, I found that only one thing helped. Grabbing my headphones and my ancient MP3 player off my desk, I jogged back outside, hoping like hell that the battery wasn't dead.

I found one of the bands he absolutely despised and loaded up the song, sneaking up behind him with the headphones at the ready.

"I said-" he started to snap at me, but I was quicker, dropping the headphones over his head and cranking the music until I was sure he wouldn't hear me anymore. His protests died out, and he settled back into the little ball he'd formed, his arms wrapped tightly around his legs. I backed away slowly, heading toward the house once more.

I remembered a smaller, lankier Anders in the same position, curled up under his desk at school during the lunch period. Two bullies had picked a fight with him and had been beating him bloody until Anders had finally snapped and given them both a nosebleed that wouldn't stop. Both of them had ended up being taken to the hospital, and a group of very irate parents had gathered in the principal's office to discuss a punishment. Jesse had found Anders first—he had a soft spot for broken things—and he'd come to find me. I didn't know what to do with him. To me, Anders was the weird kid who talked too seriously for an 8th grader. In my opinion, he got himself into most of these messes with his big mouth and condescending tone. But Jesse had insisted, and I could never resist his charms.

It had taken an hour to coax Anders out from under the desk, and still he refused to talk to us or even look at us. I'd finally let him listen to my music, and that seemed to calm him down, his face losing some of the pinched look it had taken on. My first time meeting his father had been that same day. Gregori Howell had stormed into the classroom, a look of barely disguised fury on his face. He'd ignored Jesse and me completely, grabbing Anders by the elbow and hauling him up and out of the room. I'd been so surprised, I hadn't even realized that he'd taken my headphones with him.

Two days later, Anders had appeared beside our table at lunch, sporting a vicious-looking black eye and a fat lip. Neither of those had occurred during the beatdown, I knew that for sure. He'd handed me back my headphones and my MP3 player, and I'd gestured for him to sit with us. From that day on, he'd been a brooding, somewhat sinister constant in my life.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, jarring me out of my reverie. My father was calling, again. I ignored it, following the smell of coffee into the dining room. It appeared that I was late to the party. Jesse, Levy, and Grace were already sitting down, each with pancakes stacked in front of them. I walked over to Grace and swooped in for a kiss, tasting the syrup on her lips. "Morning," she murmured, her cheeks flushing with heat.

"I think the time for modesty has passed." I smirked, and her lips twisted in annoyance, making me chuckle. I dropped down into the chair beside her, grabbing for the carafe of coffee in the middle of the table.

"Where's Anders?" Levy asked, flickering in my periphery.

"Not feeling good, he's out back," I replied, giving him a knowing look. Grace somehow went even redder, her eyes dropping to her plate, and I filed that little tidbit away for later. What had our Angel done to fluster Mr. High and Mighty?

My phone rang again, and I groaned, slumping back in the chair as I checked it again. It was a number I didn't recognize, so either my father was getting crafty or it was someone else for a change. "What?" I answered, and there was silence at the end of the line. "Who is this?"

"Put my sister on. Now." It was funny, but Douglas sounded like even more of a douchebag over the phone. I put it on speaker and set my phone on the table.

"You know Douglas, most people start phone calls with ‘hello' or ‘how's it going'?" I replied casually, and I could hear his teeth grinding from here. Grace set her fork down, the color draining from her face. I reached over and took her hand, tugging her up to sit on my lap.

"Doug," Grace stated coolly as I wrapped my arms around her, inhaling the smell of her hair.

"You stupid little b-" I reached over and ended the call, clicking my tongue.

"Erik! He's going to be furious now," Grace chided, but I caught the tentative little smile forming on her lips.

"No one talks to you that way," I replied, my hands roaming up and down her waist, making her squirm. "I'll tolerate no disrespect for my Queen ." I kissed the back of her neck, rolling my eyes as my phone started ringing again. I answered, waiting for him to speak this time.

"Grace!" Douglas snapped, and Grace tensed in my arms.

"I'm here," she bit out, and I smirked at my brave Queen. Levy was signing for Jesse, flickering in and out like a bad connection.

"Come home. Now!" Douglas snarled, the venom dripping through the phone.

"No thank you, I'm quite content where I am," Grace replied, leaning into my chest.

"You are forgetting your place," Douglas seethed. "You belong to this family! I'm sure you've convinced yourself you are important, acting like a whore for those men-"

"Shut up Doug, or I'll hang up again," Grace snapped, and Levy flickered into view again, his eyes wide. "Believe it or not, I am important here, and I will not come back to be your punching bag. You- you gave me to Sergio! Like some sort of trophy!" I ran my hand up her thigh, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Remember your place! Sergio knew not to harm you, you would've been none the wiser," Douglas protested, and Jesse's fist slammed down on the table as Levy translated for him.

"All thanks to the drugs you gave me, right? I still have bruises from what he did. I'm glad he's dead, and you should be grateful that Bill is still alive after what he said to me," Grace bit back. Douglas laughed bitterly, the sound chilling even muffled over the phone.

"They are using you Gracie, don't fool yourself into thinking that Erik King has honest intentions for you. At least at home, you know your place." Jesse shoved his chair back and stalked over to our side, his hand going to smooth down Grace's hair. Levy disappeared for a moment, only to reappear on the other side of us, his knuckles pressing into the table as he loomed over the phone, his face hard.

"I will slaughter every single one of them, Gracie. You can either return now, or I will retrieve you. If you stay, I will force you to watch each one of them die, and then I will drag you by your hair past their mangled corpses."

"Good to know," I replied, ending the call. "You did so well," I told Grace, wrapping my arms around her chest.

"He's serious," she murmured. "He loves to make me watch, he- he gets off on it," she whispered, and my grip tightened as Levy's eyes shot to hers before flickering out of view.

"Well, then he'll get a wicked case of blue balls because he's not putting his hands on you ever again, I promise," I assured her. She shivered in my arms, and Jesse crouched down to meet her eyes, shooting her one of his disarming grins.

"He takes your worst fear, and he kills you with it," Grace whispered. "His nightmares, they feel real, they can replace reality until you are so scared, you can't function." Her voice wavered, and I couldn't stop the chill that rolled down my spine at her words. I knew the Boogeyman had some nasty firepower, but that sounded pretty awful, I wouldn't lie.

"My worst fear is clowns, so if I see any murderous clowns, I'll know it's just a trick." I chuckled, lying through my teeth. It seemed to fool Grace though, as she relaxed in my arms, her lips coming up to brush my cheek.

"Erik King, you let that girl eat her damn breakfast. She is skin and bone, for heaven's sake! All of you now, I didn't just slave over the stove for two hours for those pancakes to grow cold!" Margot bustled in, a fresh pot of coffee in hand. "Leviathan dear, this is piping hot, you make yourself known or get out of the way right now," she continued. Levy appeared, looking sheepish, his hand brushing Grace's shoulder before moving back to his seat. Jesse was still crouched by my legs, his hand on Grace's thigh as he stared up at her, signing one-handed reassurances.

"Sweetheart, I have a spray bottle you can borrow if these fools start to get on your nerves," Margot offered Grace, who laughed, a smile cracking through the tension on her face.

"Thank you, I might need it," she replied softly, throwing a teasing glance at Jesse as she rested her hand over mine.

I did eventually let her go so she could sit back in her chair and continue to eat. We were nearly finished when Anders strode into the room, his eyes downcast and the headphones circling his neck.

"Douglas called," I told him, and he grunted, dropping down in his chair, a plate of cut-up fruit already set out in front of him. "He's going to murder us all violently and steal Grace back." I watched him closely as he popped a strawberry into his mouth, his eyes flicking up to her.

"He can fucking try," Anders hissed, and Grace turned a lovely shade of scarlet.

Hmm, so the Tin Man had found a heart after all.