Just a Taste (SAMPLE)

Chapter Three

Although Axel was very skilled at lip reading, he'd told me that it was hard to decipher a full sentence. The words and people's mouths just tended to blur together. It had taken him years of practice to get it right.

He hadn't always been deaf.

He'd gotten meningitis when he was nine-years-old. One of the most common after-effects of bacterial meningitis was hearing loss. In Axel's case, it had resulted in profound deafness.

He could speak fine, though he rarely did it around me, and never around others. He worried a lot about how he sounded.

'Where's Kellan?' Axel signed, words I was familiar with.

'I don't know.' My signing was awkward and slow. "He got a job. He wants to pay Mom and Dad rent, even though they refused," I told him aloud, also signing the few words I did know as I spoke.

I was completely bemused by Kellan. I didn't get him at all. Mom and Dad were fine with him staying here for free, yet he was determined to work for minimum wage in order to pay them. He could have spent his money on a million other things, or put it towards getting a place of his own. It boggled my fifteen-year-old brain.

He was working at a garage in town, and getting paid really crappy by the hour. Apparently, he had some kind of criminal record, so his options were limited. I'd heard Dad talking about getting his record expunged so his future would be wide open for him. Kellan had agreed, but was determined to pay for a lawyer himself.

All he did these days was eat, sleep, and work.

I'd suggested applying to college one morning when he was moaning about going to work, but he'd just snorted at the idea with a, 'yeah right,' and slapped a nicotine patch on his arm. He'd been trying to quit smoking ever since he first came to live with us.

I didn't understand him. He moaned about his job, but he still carried on working there every day. He bitched like crazy about his nicotine withdrawals, but still continued to go without his precious cigarettes.

"Pride," Axel said, with a knowing look in his eye.

"Huh?" I turned to him, surprised he'd spoken out aloud. He just shook his head, turning back to the movie.

The Dad had ended up coming home early the following evening, supporting a nasty shiner and a check for three thousand dollars. It had been a very welcome sight – him safe and sound. I'd even caught Kellan lurking around the corner – the only sign that he too had been concerned.

- NOW -

The next few weeks flew by. When I wasn't at work, I was building furniture or painting. Dad wasn't around much. He was working all the time lately, determined to get me to college next year. He refused to listen to my countless reassurances that I didn't mind waiting if it meant he wasn't working himself into the ground.

On the other hand, Axel had been around a lot more than usual. He hadn't been himself the last few times I'd seen him. I was sure something was going on with his mom, but didn't want to pry. They'd never had the best relationship, which was why I found the weekly two-hour round-trips he was making concerning. He came down every weekend now, when previously he'd come down maybe one or two weekends in the month.

I was determined that he have a good time tonight. It was his birthday, and he was home for the weekend. We had plans to go out and hit some clubs.

So after taking a shower, I got myself ready. I had to rifle through my closet to find the perfect little number. A black, low-cut dress that stopped several inches above my knee, and left my back completely bare. Paired with a pair of black stilettos, my legs looked miles long.