Eliott Price Should be Dead

thirty one - white noise

It's no surprise to me that my new residence is located in the bad part of town. I wouldn't have expected anything less from Ivan, especially with this sketchy rent-free deal he has going on.

It's a one bedroom apartment - small yet spacious. The wallpaper looks like it's from
the 70's and it smells like musty cigarettes. There's no furniture on the light brown carpet which looks like it could use a deep clean.

"Do you like it?" Ivan asks me, his arm wrapped around my waist with a firm grip.

"Yeah, it's nice," is all I can muster up to say.

This place is a dump! I don't want to tell him but it's going to be hard living here when the bathroom doesn't even have a sink inside of it and the "tile" is the same brown carpet from the living room.

"Maybe we should get some light in here," I say as I break away from Ivan's grip and walk over to the only window nearby, turning the blinds.

Sun peers inside and outlines the tremendous amount of dust and dirt this place has accumulated.

Ivan smiles and begins walking towards an old, beat up door. He twists the knob and pushes it open, revealing the one bedroom we would share.

It's quite roomy - enough for a double bed and dresser at least - but it smells like cat pee and the walls are splotchy with dirt. There's dust outlining the edges of the carpet, the window blinds in this room completely slit down the middle.

"Well, I guess we will need to make some improvements, but it's a start..." Ivan trails off as he walks around the perimeter of the walls and inspects things carefully.

I watch from the doorway, my body feeling limp. I don't want to disappoint Ivan, but I can't live here. I'm torn between going along with this or backing out right now. Fight or flight.

I swallow hard and clench my fists at my side.

"Ivan, I can't live here."

My hand brushes my forehead and combs through my hair to distract me, if only for a moment, from Ivan's reaction.

"But..." Ivan murmurs as he holds one hand out to point to the dirty wall. "You said you'd do it."

I take a deep breath in and am greeted again with the strong scent of cat pee. "We can move in together, just not here."

I exhale sharply and make my exit towards the front door. I hear Ivan's footsteps behind me and I'm not sure whether he's chasing after me or he's closing the door behind my back once I'm in the hallway of the apartment complex.

"Do you have somewhere better in mind?" Ivan's voice echoes through the dark, empty hall.

I turn around to face Ivan. He's leaning against the door frame, arms crossed.

"No. But we can look. Rent isn't as bad as you think near my old apartment. It's a better part of town and the quality will be higher."

Ivan's expression is unamused. He doesn't move and inch the entire time I'm speaking. He doesn't even blink.

"Well, I'm gonna have to cut this deal then," Ivan mutters as he stares at his shoes.

Here we go again, this stupid deal.

"And what's the deal?" I curiously ask, my arms now crossed to mimic his attitude.

Ivan sighs. "You know my father. He has a few men that work for him, doing miscellaneous shit. The one has a daughter in her late twenties - almost thirty. No children or husband."

Our eyes lock and I bite my tongue, already feeling an inkling of where this deal is going.

"The deal was that I get her pregnant and he would supply us with this apartment to live. So then you came along, right? The girl ain't pregnant. I have the keys because her and I were supposed to visit this place next week and get settled in. He trusted me with them for some stupid ass reason."

My mouth drops open and I feel my hands balling into fists again.

"You are fucking a woman, trying to get her pregnant?!" I loudly exclaim, veins popping from my neck to my forehead. "And what are you going to do when next week comes along and you're living in this shit hole with me?!"

Ivan shrugs and kicks his shoes against the dirty brown carpet. "Didn't think that far ahead yet."

My blood is boiling. It's not so much that he is having sex with a woman, it's the fact that he's having sex with a woman.

"Eliott. I don't want to do this with anyone but you, but this is how my cards were dealt. I'm sorry," Ivan mumbles as he steps into the hallway and closes the door behind him. "Just forget it."

I bend over and place my hands on my knees, letting my head hang for a few seconds, hoping to gain back some sense of grounding. "I really don't know what I'm going to do now," I whisper to myself as blood rushes to my head.

The sound overtakes me, my balance becoming unsteady. My knees give out and my vision goes white.

I feel my knees hit the hard ground and someone's arms trying to hoist me back up, but I cannot. Everything goes quiet.

----

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading. I've set up a Patreon account which I will be linking shortly. This will mostly be used for: Early chapter releases, extra chapters, and exclusive short stories with my characters (such as Eliott and Ivan). I also plan to re-write the ending of my other story, Bruised Knuckles, and post it there.

I appreciate all of you. This will not affect this story or my future stories in any way: you will still be getting the same quality/content, I will just be adding some extra goodies over there.

It could be a total flop and that's perfectly okay! Right now my income is extremely dodgy so why not try to make a few extra bucks doing something I love?

I will update as soon as I have the Patreon account set up and there is something posted worth your time.