Crash and Burn

e i g h t e e n: Nice Meeting You

"Tessa Lynne Walker. I was wondering when I would get to meet you. How's your father?"

Wait, what??

This man knows- or knew my father. Did he know that he was dead and trying to mess with me, or was he completely unaware of his death and simply asking a question?  I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that he had no clue, he was Roman's father(?) of course. However, I couldn't shake the way how icy the words sounded coming out of his mouth and how they got under my skin. The way his almost black eyes narrowed into slits, staring into my soul and awaiting my reaction, gave me chills. I shook off the feelings, putting on a very fake smile. Hopefully, the man was just trying to be nice, but I still wasn't going to mention anything about my dad dying. 

First of all, I didn't want Roman knowing yet. I knew that if he found out, especially like this, then he would want a full explanation, and I honestly wasn't in a place to retell that right now. Second of all, no matter who he was, this man seemed really sketchy and like someone that I couldn't trust. 

"O-oh, um...you knew him? I stutter out, my eyes flitting around the room, my hands becoming clammy. 

"Oh, more than just knew. We were old business partners. Very.....nice man," His lips curl as he says this, and evil glint shining in his eyes. I shiver. What was going on and why did this man give me the creeps? Roman finally decided to jump in at the sight of the grimace gracing my face. 

"Rick, I don't think she wants to talk about her dad...so uhhh we're gonna go to the kitchen now," he looks nervously between Rick and me, certainly feeling the tension and bad vibes. 

"Of course, of course..." he trails off, flashing a smirk. 

Roman grabs my hand and starts pulling me down the hall to the kitchen I guess when I feel Rick's grimy hand grip my own. 

"Such a shame... what happened to him....nice meeting you," with that last note, his calloused fingertips leave my skin tingling, not in a good way. He stalks off up the stairs, his combat boots clomping along. I gulp and run a shaky hand through my hair. I was so spooked I almost forgot Roman was standing to my left, his hand in my own. The feel of his hand was a contrast to Rick's, warm and tender as opposed to cold and dry. 

"Tessa...I-I'm so...I don"t even-" I cut Roman off.

"let's not talk about it, please?" I beg, the brims of my eyes watering.

"Yeah, of course. Anything you want," he swallows nervously. It's obvious that whatever Rick knows about my dad, Roman does not. 

I was so confused, my brain a fog. Roman leads me to the kitchen and sits me down at the table, then goes to get some water for me. 

How did this Rick guy know anything about my father's incident? He said they were business partners, but my dad was never close enough to anyone at work to talk about his condition. Maybe Rick only knew of his passing, not how anything went down. They were probably only acquaintances and when my dad died he only heard he had died from an accident. He had no clue it was suicide.  No one knew. Everything was fine. 

That still didn't explain how his beady eyes looked at me with such malice. Like he hated me with the fire of one thousand suns. His glare was more fear inducing than Roman's. Roman's was intimidating until you got used to it, then you were fine. But this, this was a glare of pure evil and hatred that no one could ever look past or get used to. However, I would just have to let it go. This man didn't know me, or my father closely. He didn't know anything about my life. He was probably just trying to scare me away from Roman. He was protective maybe? Yeah, that was it.