Ch. 15 - Conrad
The first thing Conrad noticed when he parked his Jaguar in the front drive was the large depression indenting the rear corner of his son's new vehicle; the Hummer he received a mere three weeks before on his sixteenth birthday. The same Hummer Steven swore up and down he would guard with his life.
He killed the engine and removed himself from the driver's seat, keeping his eyes on the cavity embedded in the bumper of the shiny red sport's utility truck. Slowly, he walked toward it, annoyance flaring in his veins.
It was a beautiful evening in Washington. The gentle breeze moved through the majestic pine trees, playing with the strands of his hair, but Conrad didn't take notice. He was focused on the atrocity in front of him.
Conrad stared at the indentation for several moments, unable to believe his eyes. When Elizabeth had suggested they buy Steven a car for his birthday, he hadn't thought it was a good idea. The last thing the boy needed was an expensive toy like that. But eventually he had relented - against his better judgement - and now look what had happened. He'd been right all along. Steven couldn't be counted on to take care of such a gift, the fool could barely keep his room clean, for Christ's sake! And why should he? When his mother took care of everything for him, of course he wouldn't see the need.
Conrad shook his head, disgust settling in his stomach like a plague. He walked through the front door, his rage building with every step. Marching through the expensively decorated rooms, his hearing focused on the distant voices in the kitchen, the casual way they interacted with one another as if nothing had happened.
When he approached the doorway, the site of Elizabeth and Steven collaborating filled his vision. They were standing there, smiling at one another, discussing Steven's upcoming weekend plans with his friends. And something about the way they spoke to each other just seemed so... intimate. Conrad's upper lip curled in distaste. There was something almost unnatural about their relationship, it was painfully obvious at times. It wasn't right the way she indulged him, even now as a teenager - especially now. It was if she didn't understand boundaries. And Steven, being the imbecile he was, never cared to stop her. He just allowed her to hover, allowed her to come to his rescue time and time again, allowed her to turn him into the world's biggest pussy. There was something very wrong with the two of them, an unhealthy codependency. And what was worse - they both seemed to enjoy it. They thrived on it, as if they needed it to sustain themselves.
The sound of their laughter cut through his thoughts, and he cleared his throat.
Elizabeth looked over at him, startled. "Conrad. I didn't hear you come in."
He glared at her, his cobalt eyes steady. "No, you wouldn't have, would you?"
Nervously, she tucked a strand of dark, blonde hair behind her ear as her eyes darted uncomfortably toward Steven. "We were just talking about Steven's plans for the weekend. The guys want to hike to the waterfall at Mt. Teneriffe. I thought it sounded like a lovely idea. Steven could fit several of his friends inside the truck. Don't you think-"
"I don't think Steven will be going anywhere this weekend."
Elizabeth's face fell. Conrad's eyes shifted toward the boy, noting the way he coward beneath his gaze. "So, when were you planning on telling me?"
A smattering of pink covered Steve's cheeks and he shifted nervously from foot to foot. "I'm - I'm not sure what you mean," he stammered.
"The hell you don't know what I mean!" Conrad shouted, unable to stay calm any longer. "What the fuck happened to the Hummer? You've had it for three weeks and there's already a damn dent in the rear bumper. What happened to taking care if it, like you promised? Huh? What happened to 'guarding it with your life'? What the hell kind of moron are you?"
"Conrad, please," Elizabeth said, her voice gentle and soothing, as if she were trying to comfort a small child. "It's being taken care of. He has an appointment to take it into the body shop tomorrow. He made the arrangements himself-"
"Wait a minute," Conrad said, his eyes narrowing. "You knew about this?"
Elizabeth stepped back, swallowing hard. "It only happened last night. He told me as soon as he came home from school today. He backed into a car that was parked illegally."
"I don't care how the fuck it happened," he said, outraged. Conrad turned his attention toward Steven, whose face had taken on a ghostly quality. "Why the hell didn't you tell me about it? I'm only the one who bought the damn thing. I'm only the one who buys every goddamn thing around here!"
Steven dropped his eyes to the floor. "This is the first I've seen you. You were asleep when I came home last night and you'd left for work before I woke up this morning."
"That's no excuse!" Conrad lunged forward, his fists clenched in anger. Steven moved away until his back was flush with the corner of the counter, the sharp edge digging into his spine. "If you can't even man up to tell your father what you did to the truck how the hell are going to man up to anything in life?"
Steven's lower lip trembled slightly and his eyes veered toward his mother.
"Don't you look at her," Conrad demanded, gathering Steven's shirt in his fists. He pulled him forward until they were nose to nose. "She can't help you now."
"Conrad, he said he was going to tell you when you came home. Why do you have to act this way?" Elizabeth pleaded, her voice shaking with emotion. "You expect things from us that are not even possible."
"Shut up! Why do you always have to interfere? Why can't you just let him deal with problems on his own? You've babied him so much all these years you've turned him into a fucking chickenshit! You did this to him. This is your fault," he said, nodding his head toward the frightened boy. Conrad gave Steven a violent shove.
"That's enough!" Elizabeth shouted. She rushed forward, her hands pushing against Conrad's shoulder, trying to free her son.
Conrad dropped Steven's shirt and turned toward his wife, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked, shock filling his voice. He gave her a push, and then another. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Conrad, stop it! I've had enough of you always bullying us. I won't take it anymore."
"Oh, yeah? And what do you plan to do about it?" he mocked, pushing her backward once more until her back was flat against the velvety, wallpapered wall.
Her voice caught. "We'll leave you. I mean it, we will."
"You're going to leave me?" Conrad laughed. "You're going to leave me? I seriously doubt that. How many times have you thrown that in my face and yet you're still here - just like I always said you would be. You're just lucky I don't leave you. It's not like I have a use for you anymore. I took the best years of your life, now you're just a middle-aged nobody. Wrinkled and saggy. Do you really think any man would want you now?"
"I don't need a man," she said, lifting her chin in contempt. "All I need is my son."
Conrad staggered back, the truth in her words slicing through him. How could she choose that puny, good-for-nothing boy over him? Conrad never lost. Never. He lifted his hand, connecting the backside of it with the fullness of her cheek.
The sound of screaming threw him off, filling his ears with an piercing wail. The deafening shriek was coming from his wife but an even more disturbing growl was coming from somewhere behind him.
Steven.
The realization entered his thoughts just as his son jumped onto his back, desperately trying to lock him in a choke-hold.
"Don't you touch my mother!" Steven screamed, his actions mimicking those of a rabid beast. A strength unlike anything Conrad had witnessed before consumed him. "Don't you ever touch her again!"
Conrad squared his shoulders sharply, the movement throwing Steven off his back. With inhuman speed, Conrad whipped around, taking Steven to the floor in one fluid move. Holding him down with his left hand, his right fist fused with Steven's jaw over and over until the boy stilled, unconscious.
Conrad hovered over the comatose body of his son, his normally slicked-back hair falling into his face in jagged pieces. He stood up and careened to the side, clumsily stepping over Steven's sprawled legs. His dress jacket hung loosely from him. Conrad hiked it back up, not even noticing it had ripped at the seams. He felt disoriented, as if he were moving under scalding water. Hot, breathless; the torrid liquid filling his lungs. His movements and his thoughts felt so heavy, weighted, sluggish with shock.
Soft, broken whimpers struck his ears. Conrad turned toward the sound, his eyes landing on Elizabeth bunched against the hardwood floor, clutching her cheek in her hand. Her eyes were wide and spilling over with fear, more intense than he'd ever seen before. His gaze moved back toward the boy, observing the odd angle of his chin.
Had he broken his jaw? Had he dislocated it with his own fist? His son..?
Conrad's eyebrows pinched together, trying to make sense of what had just taken place. The Hummer, the dent, his wife and son, the expression on their faces as they interacted with one another, their laughter...
Red-hot anger...
It was their fault this had happened. He wasn't to blame. It was Elizabeth's fault. She had allowed timidity to cultivate in their son's life, she had fostered a sick need, a dependency. A boy shouldn't shy away from confrontation like a scaredy-cat. A boy should be a warrior; strong and brave. It took pushing his mother around to finally bring the kid to life. Elizabeth had ruined him, there wasn't much he could do to save Steven now. It was too late.
Conrad drug his heavy-lidded gaze from Steven back to his wife as the sting of bile rose in his throat. Then, he staggered from the room.
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Hello and thank you for reading Secrets and Lies! If you liked this chapter, please remember to vote/comment. I try to update on Fridays.
As Steven gets older, the abuse becomes even more severe, and I'm pretty sure Conrad can tell there is SOMETHING strange going on between his wife and son (if you remember THAT from The Secret). ;)
This chapter is dedicated to new Wattpadder johannahefer, one of the winners of The Wattpad Class of 2014 (Soon to be known as the Wattpadres) Story Fair giveaways! Johanna is currently writing her first book called, Secret Treasure. I would love it if you would please stop by her profile and check it out and give her a warm Wattpad welcome! :)
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