Sweetest Taboo

“Evelyn! Did you see my cell phone?” Michelle shouted as she tried to put on her wheels while walking to the front door.

“No, sorry!” Evelyn shouted from her bedroom. A rap on the door made her dart from her bedroom and join Michelle at the foyer.

“Hi Valary!” She greeted as Michelle opened the front door, and crouched in front of the little boy standing next to her. “Hey there, River!”

The boy released his mother’s hand to wrap his arms around her neck.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Michelle asked her sister, when Evelyn disappeared into the living room with River.

“You worry too much.” Valary gave her a warm smile. “He loves her and she’s old enough to take care of him. Now let’s go.”

Both women shouted their goodbyes and seconds later Evelyn was home alone.

Her lips curled into a smirk, as she stared at the cartoons River watched so obsessively. Her bare feet touched the floor, stepping out of the sofa and walking toward the kitchen. She opened the last drawer and removed Michelle’s cell phone from the inside of it.

“What am I going to do with you?” She whispered to Michelle’s phone, the smile on her face getting bigger. Her cell phone was protected by a password, but that wasn’t a problem for Evelyn, she knew it had to be an easy combination, and she had a few in mind. She managed to unlock it at her third attempt.

Walking back to the living room, she glanced at River, who kept on staring at the tv. She browsed through Michelle’s text messages, not finding anything particularly interesting, not even from the ones she had exchanged with her father.

For the last couple of weeks she had been thinking about a way to draw Brian closer to him. They already had a tight connection, but she needed to slowly push Michelle away from him.

“Let’s send daddy a kinky text.” She sat on the sofa, curling her legs beneath her. It didn’t take long for him to answer back.

“Someone’s naughty.” Evelyn giggled, her head resting against leather material. “Now let’s send another one, saying that the previous one wasn’t meant to be for him.” She laughed hard, making River move his eyes from the television to her, with a curious look. She winked at him and he quickly turned its attention back to the flat screen.

She laughed even harder when Michelle’s cell went off again. River laughed too, even without knowing why.

Brian was angry. There were a lot of questions in the text message she had received, but Evelyn answered none of them. Instead she deleted the messages they had exchanged and turned Michelle’s phone off.

“Do you want some ice cream?” She asked the little boy cheerfully, who replied with an equally cheerful ‘yes’.

She hummed as she served them two big bowls of vanilla and chocolate chip ice cream. Dad was going to be so mad when he got home; it was going to be something worth watching.

The sun was almost setting when Michelle arrived home, in the company of her sister who was picking up her son. The two women chatted for a while longer and Evelyn decided to retreat herself to her bedroom. Their conversation was simply annoying.

Valary had left for almost two hours, when Evelyn heard the front door open again. She smiled, her legs forcing her to stand up from the bed where she’d been reading, to run into her father’s encounter.

She hadn’t even reached the kitchen when shouts started to be heard. Evelyn stood at the door frame.

“I’m telling you! I lost my cell phone!” Michelle shouted, the look on her face being one of utter surprise.

“Then how did I get these?!” Brian yelled back, shoving his cell into her hands. It took all of Evelyn’s strength not to laugh.

“I… This…” Michelle stuttered, tears starting to well in her eyes.

For the first time Brian’s eyes landed on his daughter, his expression easing up. “Evelyn, please go to your room.” It was sweet of him not to want her to listen to their fight. Foolish, but sweet.

Evelyn gave him a short nod, promptly walking out of the kitchen and climbing the stairs into her bedroom. Her door closed, but she leaned against it, in hopes she could hear parts of their argument.

At first, nothing but muffled sounds and occasional shouts could be heard. The kitchen was too far from her bedroom, but when she heard footsteps getting closer to the stairs, Evelyn decided to open her door as quietly as she could.

“Just look wherever you want!” She heard Michelle’s screech. “Here, have my car keys!”

Evelyn had to step out of the door. Her hand covered her lips as she muffled the laughs that left her mouth. This couldn’t be any easier.

It was risky for Evelyn to keep Michelle’s cell phone so, in the two hours Michelle had been home without Brian around, she had managed to steal her car keys and place it there. It was the perfect hiding place, right? Why would a fourteen-year-old want anything to do with her stepmother’s car? And if she wanted Michelle to seem guilty, the car as a good place to hide things no one else was supposed to see.

The front door slammed and, and not even a minute later, it slammed again. Evelyn smiled. Brian had found it. A roll of shouts and insults followed, the noises downstairs camouflaging her giggles. Someone’s not going to have sex for a while, she thought to herself.

The footsteps on the wooden steps made her run to her desk, throwing herself at the chair and opening the first notebook she found. The footsteps stopped at her door. Evelyn smiled, her eyes never leaving the words she pretended to read. She knew her father was at the door.

A few seconds later the same footsteps walked down the stairs and the front door was slammed again, leaving the house with nothing but silence and the distant sobs from Michelle.

Evelyn didn’t hate Michelle. She was not the evil stepmother she thought she would be when they first met, almost three years ago. But she was not mom, either. She didn’t have the right to treat her like her child. Just like she didn’t have the right to have Brian. They could be married, but he was still her father, the keyword here being her. He belonged to her.

Evelyn closed the notebook, taking her ipod from the first desk’s drawer and placing her headphones. She was one step closer from having him just for herself.