Milked

Meghranush | how did this happen?

Dusk had approached, and I was meant to be at Richard's. Shane and Loren were having a falling out when I finally decided to open my handbag and check on my phone.

I had so many missed calls and texts that I started to freak out, assuming they were from Richard, wondering what he thought about me not currently being over at his house for our planned dinner, thinking of what he might do to punish me for missing it.

But then I saw all of the calls and texts were from Skylar. I opened the texts.

"Meg. Where are you?"

"Did you take the gun from Phil's house?"

"What are you planning to do with it?"

"Please don't harm yourself."

"Please don't try to take him on."

"Please text me back!"

"We're coming to find you. Phil found out where Richard lives."

"Meg. I care about you."

I couldn't believe this was happening. I had taken the gun out of Phil's chest, but only because I had taken some happy pills and wanted to amuse myself. Or maybe I had wanted to see if holding a weapon of destruction would give me strength.

I had taken the cold metal into my right hand, feeling its weight and thinking about the way it made me feel. Then, I had stood before Phil's full-length mirror and pointed the gun at my own reflection, saying, "I am sorry, Richard, but I can't see you anymore. I don't feel comfortable with what we've been doing. I apologize for taking your money, especially if I gave you the impression that I was going to serve as more than a companion. I fully intend to give you back everything you have bought for me, and I will pay you back for everything else. I can't pay you everything right now, but we can start a payment plan."

The gun had certainly given the words an added weight, but then I'd had to laugh at myself, because I didn't know how to use a gun. I would probably shoot myself accidentally before effectively enacting any self-defense measure. And that person in the mirror had once again been someone I didn't recognize.

Then Skylar had called my name, and I had frantically put the gun under the medieval-looking chair's cushion, afraid I didn't have time to put it back in the chest before she came looking for me.

And that ridiculous decision had led us to this moment, where Skylar and Phil assumed I had taken the gun to Richard's with the intention of doing something horrible.

Of course I couldn't do that. I couldn't even use my own words to ward off Richard, and I had actual practice wielding words.

I began calling Skylar, and something unimaginable happened: my phone died. Normally, I charged it every night, but my good habits had been forsaken recently, and now I would suffer the consequences. If only I hadn't been on happy pills last night, I would have remembered to charge it.

I ran into Shane's entryway. "Where's Loren?" I asked him frantically.

"He left," he said, and once more, wetness tracked his cheeks.

"Do you have Skylar's number?"

"Why would I have Skylar's number?"

I let out a sigh in frustration. "Can you call Loren?" Even though I had Loren's address, I didn't have his number.

"Loren and I have no reason to talk to each other anymore."

This wasn't working. "I have to get to Richard's."

Shane wiped his face with his right hand. "Meg, we've been talking about this. You can't go. I won't let you."

"Shane, you don't understand. Skylar and her companion from that site think I took his gun to Richard's with some grand plan to shoot him or something. They've gone to his house, and my phone just died so I can't call her. I have to go there. They're going to confront Richard about me. What if something bad happens? You've seen the way his sons are. Imagine how he is."

Shane took in my words before finally nodding, saying, "Let me call Loren. I can get Skylar's number from him."

He called, three times, to no avail.

"I have to go," I said, growing more and more frantic with each passing second.

"I'm coming with you," he said. I couldn't argue; I didn't have my car with me, so the two of us went into his garage and got into his. I told Shane to head towards Fountain Hills, and we skidded out of his driveway.

The whole way there, Shane drove well above the speed limit.

When we got close to Richard's mansion, I saw Phil's big truck on the side of the road: not a good sign.

I hadn't been sure what we would do once we got to the gate, since I normally just called Richard and he opened it for me to let me in. Now that I knew Skylar and Phil might be in his house already, could I really just call him and hope all would be well? The gate wasn't very tall; maybe Shane and I could just jump it.

We got close to the gate and I realized jumping it wouldn't be necessary, because there was a car in front of us already passing through. We tailed closely behind it, and I thought it looked familiar.

It parked on the driveway that wound around the fountain, and Shane parked right behind it. Then its door opened, and a young man with blonde hair stepped out of it. Scott.

I looked at Shane, and Shane seemed to be struck by an epiphany. That's when I remembered he'd told me he'd caught Loren with some guy. That was right before I'd seen Scott running, presumably out of Loren's apartment. Shane had just realized that guy was Scott.

He gazed at us in curiosity, and before I had the chance to step out, Shane stepped out, and he and Scott seemed to face each other down.

"What are you doing here?" Scott asked Shane.

"I came here to give your entire family what they deserve," said Shane.

"What we deserve?"

"Your dad is disgusting, your brother is disgusting, and you are disgusting."

Scott began to clench his fists, and I wanted to remind Shane that this wasn't why we were here: we weren't here so he could beat up Richard's other son. But before I knew it, the two of them were fist-fighting, and before I could break them up, a gunshot sounded from inside of the house.