Alex's Girl [Lesbian]

Chapter 10

I could hear the smile in my father's voice. "Valerie," he finally greeted. He sounded pleased, like he had won. "Let me guess: You've realized the inevitability of my catching you and want to lessen your punishment by turning yourself in?" Suddenly his booming laugh reverberated through the phone and I had to hold it away from my ear until he had finished. "If you come home now, I promise not to break every bone in your body. Maybe just your legs, as a precaution."

Was it strange that his words hadn't fazed me as much as I thought they would? I grew up on threats like these and he hardly ever followed through. I've gotten a good thrashing growing up but never anything compared to what Nico used to get. I was generally well behaved... until all my resentment bubbled over and got me in trouble. If I ever get out of this mess I was going to invest in some serious psychiatric counseling.

I tugged my knees to my chest and hugged them with my free arm. My eyes were on the closed door to the Zen room. Someone coming in right now could make this phone call awkward. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to get rid of the visual stimuli. I needed to focus on his voice, on his words. If I misheard or needed him to repeat himself I might risk ruining everything. This required concentration and confidence, two things I didn't always have.

"Actually," I began, feeling my throat had gone dry. I swallowed. It didn't help. "If you want me to come home, you'll need to do something for me first. I need you to send money to an off-shore bank account." He didn't like to beat around the bush, so I decided to keep this as to the point as possible. The faster we worked out the deal the faster I could return to Alex's side and feel reassured that Brian would hold up his end of the deal.

He laughed again. "Holding yourself hostage now? That's cute, darling. Ransoming yourself doesn't work, you know. If I send you money in return for you... then when would you get to use said money?" He sighed. "You really should think these things through..."

"I'm not daft. The money isn't for me," I grumbled."He says he'll let me come home if you give him money. I told him you wouldn't bother but—"

'Who?" He demanded to know, suddenly not finding much of anything funny at all. I was surprised at how easily he believed me, but we barely spoke and if you don't have experience with a liar then you don't know how to tell when they're lying or not.

"I can't tell you that," I said, trying to sound as if someone were pointing a gun at my head. I wasn't a very good actress, but it was worth a shot.

There was silence on the other end. Then, "Are you doing this for a woman?"

I guess I wasn't as convincing as I thought. That, or my father just knew me too well. "What?"

"That woman, Danvers, your teacher from school. If I find out you and her are planning on taking my money and fleeing the country—"

My heart jumped at the mention of Angela, and not in the good way. "She has nothing to do with this," I said quickly—maybe too quickly. I then tried to sound amused. "Come on, dad, I was experimenting. No, not even experimenting. I was just rebelling to piss you off."

I was telling him things he had said to me when he first found out about Angela and me. Back then I had vehemently denied such things: Angela wasn't a phase or an experiment. But now I was telling him what he had wanted to hear, what he had desperately wanted to believe. If he believed me, maybe he'd think she was no longer a bargaining chip he could use to get what he wanted.

I felt bad calling Angela a 'phase' but if she were here she'd understand.

"That's what I thought," he muttered. "Well I'm glad you've finally come to your senses. Not that I believe you've been kidnapped, but how much money do you need and why do you need it? Whose bank account is this?"