Caleb held still as he had been commanded, while Oliver and Griffin looked him over. They were trying to find clothes that would somewhat fit him; it was time to shower, and he'd need something to put on afterwards. All of their clothes were too big for him.

As he was standing there while they dug through Oliver's wardrobe, arguing over the garments they decided against and tossed aside, the door swung open. Two women walked in, stopping dead in their tracks when they saw Caleb. One was a little taller than the other, and had a nasty look on her face as she stared at him. 

The woman's eyes narrowed, and her posture stiffened with indignation.

"What the hell is going on here?" the tall one snapped, her hands on her hips. The other stood behind her, equally unimpressed, crossing her arms as she assessed the scene.

Griffin turned, annoyance flashing across his face. "Oh, great. You're here--"

"Who the hell is that?" The woman sneered, pointing a slim finger directly at Caleb, but her eyes were on Griffin.

Griffin turned back to the wardrobe as he answered. "That's Caleb. He is living with us now, and I will not hear any complaints from either of you."

The women moved closer, and the taller one ran a scarlet fingernail down Caleb's chest in a way that made his skin crawl. "So," she said pointedly, looking over to Griffin's back. "You found yourself a toy."

Griffin and Oliver both turned, and Griffin angrily threw the shirt he was holding to the floor. "Is there a reason you're here, or did you just want to come be a pest, as usual?" 

Caleb watched in confusion, unsure of who the women were. The smaller one, still behind the first, was staring at him with something like utter disgust painted across her face. She rolled her eyes when he glanced at her. 

Oliver sidled up beside Caleb, wrapping his arm around his shoulders. "Caleb," he said in a falsely-sweet voice, "these are our wives, Victoria and Bella. They're greedy blood-suckers that only ever want money--"

He was cut off when Victoria lunged at him, but he dodged the slap that was aimed for his face. Caleb scrambled out of the way as Oliver caught Victoria's wrists and swung her past him, letting her go and flinging her into the bedpost. She collapsed and pretended to cry into her hands. Bella rushed forward, shoving Caleb as she passed, and crouched beside the woman. 

"Look what you did, you bastard!" she screeched, standing and marching right up to her husband, pointing a finger in his face. "You lying, cheating, son-of-a--"

Oliver shoved her back to, and she stumbled to where Victoria had pulled herself up. "Stay out of my fucking face, you whore--"

The obscenities continued as the three argued, and Caleb couldn't, just couldn't, understand how these people were married. They threw accusations of cheating, and the women screeched about how their money would be spent on Caleb now, calling him 'their new toy' and so on. Griffin eventually stepped in when it got physical again. He grabbed Victoria and sat her forcefully down on the bed, telling her that if she didn't 'shut the fuck up and calm down', he was going to slap her. 

Caleb inched toward the bathroom, stretching the chain around his ankle as far as it would go. He crouched beside the toilet, putting his hands over his ears as the screaming escalated in the bedroom. His heart was racing and he couldn't catch his breath. He'd never seen people scream at each other so hatefully-- and it made him think of his parents. 

A tear slipped out of his eyes and he swatted it away, quickly replacing his hand over his ear when he heard Bella and Oliver in a fresh screaming match about how Oliver mistreated her and she was the victim and so on. 

All Caleb could do was close his eyes and wait for them to go away.

* * * 

Caleb felt a hand grip his shoulder and jumped, opening his eyes and glancing up to see Oliver crouched in front of him. Oliver reached out and pulled Caleb's hands away from his ears. 

"Those bitches are gone," he whispered, like he was trying to sound comforting. He pulled Caleb out from his hiding spot and dragged him upright. "Let's get you through the shower, and then you can go to bed. You've had a rough day today."

Caleb wanted to protest; he didn't want to shower, just like he hadn't wanted to eat that morning. But he could already see the warning in Griffin's eyes when he entered the room:

'Don't you even dare think about throwing a fit'

                Part 19 Coming Soon