by K. G. Reuss
“Please,” I whispered, reaching out for him. “What do you want from me?”
“The same thing you want from me. Revenge.”
I shook my head. “Not at the risk of losing my freedom, Ian. I don’t want that.”
“Then be a better girlfriend, Rosalie. All you had to do for the horsemen was lie on your back and spread your legs, and you fucked that up. It’s all I really need from you to make this work more smoothly. Give me what I want, and I’ll give you what you want. It’s that simple.”
“Why is everything about sex with you, Ian? What the hell is your problem?”
“My problem is we had a deal, and you aren’t holding up your end of the bargain. I’ve gotten about as far with you as I did with Jamie. That’s not going to cut it. If you want, I can walk right back in that school and tell her how stupid I was for letting her go. I can say all sorts of shit she’ll lap up. I never lost her, Rosalie. You know that. The girl is head over heels for me still.”
“You’re a narcissistic pig.”
His hands came out lightning fast and landed on my waist. I let out a whimper as he pinched my sides. My eyes watered as he twisted. His mouth turned down into an ugly snarl.
“And you’re a fucking bitch. Guess we both have a few things that need to be worked on.” His lips brushed against my cheek. “And if I so much as catch you talking to the horsemen, I’ll put you through the worst hell imaginable. You’ll think of these moments as just a fucking warm up. Their little cheering section only pissed me off. And guess who pays the price for that?”
“Me,” I choked out.
“That’s right, baby. You.”
Ian kissed me, his tongue deep in my mouth. I kissed him back, nausea roiling in my guts.
This wasn’t part of the plan. Or it was, and it just wasn’t working. Bad planning on my part. This was all meant to keep Jamie safe, but he’d already spilled the secret to her. Now, it was about hurting Fox and the guys by me being with Ian. Not to mention he had the videos. Once again, I’d landed myself in another shitty situation.
Despair washed over me. My ribs still ached from him kicking me days in the bathroom. Ugly bruises adorned my side, a reminder of my bad ideas.
“Sad how fast you moved on,” Enzo called out.
I broke away from Ian.
Enzo stood a few feet away, his dark eyes wavering. “Thought we meant a little more to you, Sunshine.”
“Tell him to fuck off, Rosalie,” Ian murmured so only I could hear him.
Truth be told, I wanted to tell all of them to fuck off. Hauling in a deep breath, I readied myself. “You’re screwing Juliet, Enzo. You were even before you were after me,” my voice shook, my sides aching from Ian’s pinches.
Enzo scoffed. “Is that what you think?”
I ignored Ian still holding me as I pulled myself together and shouted at Enzo. “It’s what I know! I saw Fox in bed with her! I saw the notebook.”
Enzo took a step forward, but Ian shifted in front of me, his back to my front.
“Face it, De Luca. You played a dangerous game you couldn’t win. Walk away with some dignity.” Ian chuckled softly.
“Fuck you, you fucking weasel,” Enzo hissed, his hands balled into fists. “You’re a dead man and don’t even know it yet.”
“Let me tell you something.” Ian took a step forward, so he and Enzo were nearly chest to chest. “Your daddy and your money and your fucking supposed mob ties won’t get you shit here. They don’t fucking matter. I’m not afraid of you, De Luca, and you aren’t going to win her back. She hates you. She hates you so much, she came to me. And tonight, she’s going to come for me. Again.”
Enzo’s body vibrated with anger.
I wanted to step forward and stop Ian but seeing Enzo’s reaction was what I’d been longing for. I wanted him angry. Hurting. Sick with stress because I was sick. I was so fucking sick. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be doing the shit I was doing. If anyone was playing a game they had no business playing, it was me.
“That’s right, De Luca. Those little moans and her trembling body are mine now. And all because you and the horsemen didn’t know how to play the game. Amateurs.”
“If you fucking touch her—”
Ian let out a soft laugh. “If? Too late. It’s more like when I touch her.”
“Ian.” I reached out for him and took his hand. “Let’s go. Please.”
Ian backed away from Enzo, a smirk on his face. “Don’t you just love it when she begs?”
“I meant what I said, Hall. You touch her, you’re dead.” Enzo peered past him and locked eyes with me. “I can help you, Rosalie. You know how to reach me. We have a lot to talk about.” He turned and strode away, his head down.
“What a bitch,” Ian snorted.
I swallowed hard and stared at Enzo’s back, wondering if maybe I should start listening.
But I was in too deep. This was a hole with no way out. I needed new tactics.
Seven
I woke with a groan, a heavy arm over my midsection. I lay beneath Ian’s arm, staring at the ceiling, my head throbbing. No other pain from his violent touches greeted me. Not even the slap.
After we’d gotten to his place, he’d launched himself into a rage about Enzo, ending it by slapping me across the face before getting me an ice pack and turning on the television. I almost wished his mother would come home, but she worked nights. His younger brother was at a friend’s place.
But I’d lucked out and only suffered from his heavy hand and not the other things he was capable of.
Guilt greeted me with the sun.
And hatred. Anger. More despair.
A tear slipped out of the corner of my eye. I reached for my phone on Ian’s dresser. I’d told my parents I was staying at a new friend’s house. I didn’t say who. But I was Rosalie, Daddy’s little girl. They would suspect nothing. And if they did, fuck it. Eighteen meant something to me.
My dress still hugged my body. My panties were in place. I shook my head. I’d gotten off easy last night.
I unlocked my phone screen to find a message from Fox.
Fox: Not him, Rosie. Anyone but him. I’m begging you.
I bit my lip and snapped a picture of me and Ian in bed and sent it to him, feeling like the biggest, pettiest bitch in the world. Let’s see how he liked me in bed with someone else. I hoped it hurt like hell, just like it had for me when I’d seen him and Juliet together.
His answer didn’t take long.
Fox: Rosie, why?
Rosalie: It hurts, doesn’t it?
Fox: I only did what I did to protect you, Rosie. Never to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you!
Rosalie: But you did. You were never honest with me. I was just a game to you. How does it feel to lose?
I waited for his answer. It took a few minutes for it to come.
Fox: Meet me tonight at the treehouse. I’ll wait for you. Alone.
I darkened the screen, my heart in my throat. Ian shifted beside me, his naked torso pressing against me. I held my breath as he reached out and rubbed my breast through my dress.
“You’re a nice sight to wake up to,” he mumbled, tugging me close.
“I need to go.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Ian, I really do. Please.”
He sat up on his elbow and loomed over me, his dark hair a mess. If I didn’t hate him so much, I might have swooned. Ian wasn’t bad to look at, but damn, my hatred canceled everything else out.
“Last night wasn’t much fun, Rosalie.”
I crinkled my brows at him.
“I can offer you the escape you need. I know you’re afraid to go all the way with me. One tiny pill. If you want it, it’s yours. But that’s not how I want to take you. I want you to tell me you want it.”
“I thought getting me high was how you’d prefer it.” I glared up at him.
“If that’s how you want to do things, I’ll do it, but I won’t be satisfied until you climb on me a
nd say you want me. That’s the only time it’ll count.”
“So you’ve grown a conscience?” I snorted. “Date rape isn’t doing it for you anymore?”
I let out a strangled cry as he gripped my throat. I thrashed against him as his hold tightened, making me wheeze. The way he could snap in heartbeat was terrifying.
“I’ve put up with your mouth long enough. I think you’re beautiful, Rosalie. But if you keep it up, I’ll fucking kill you and bury you in a place no one will find your body. Stop. Fucking. Testing. My. Patience.” Each punctuated word brought on a tighter squeeze around my neck until I clawed at him, kicking my legs because my ability to breathe was gone.
Stars dotted my vision. Tingles shot through my body, the loss of oxygen weakening me as he held on. He cocked his head and stared down at me.
“You’ll make a beautiful corpse someday. I can only imagine how much that would hurt the horsemen. I hate them too, you know. Fox and Cole are the reason I have no father. Well, Fox couldn’t really help it, but then he had to try to take you. Such a bad idea.”
I tapped frantically at Ian’s arm.
“It hurts, doesn’t it? Not being able to breathe. I bet your lungs ache right now.” He squeezed harder.
Darkness blotted my vision. Ian was going to kill me.
“I’m curious how long you can last.”
I swatted at him with a final burst of energy. I caught him in the nose. He shoved me hard, releasing me, and I tumbled out of his bed onto the cold, hardwood floor. I scrambled, choking in oxygen, to get away from him, but he was on me in an instant, fisting my hair in a painful hold.
“The more you fight me, the more I enjoy it. Fall. In. Line.” He smashed my face down onto the floor.
“Fuck you. Kill me, you fucking pussy,” I rasped as he put pressure on my head. I barely had a voice. I imagined I’d have bruises along my neck to match the ones on my ribs.
He let out a ferocious snarl and smacked my head off the floor again.
“You can’t even do it, can you? Can you?” My voice broke, coming out barely above a whisper.
He let out another snarl and lifted me to my feet before shoving me down again. His foot met my ribs, and I buckled beneath the pain. I got to my hands and knees again and let out a laugh. And once again, he kicked me. I fell once more, crawling away from him.
His foot came down on my lower back, knocking me to my stomach. The weight of his body straddling me made me wince, his hard length pressed against my ass.
I let out a choked sob as his hand closed around my throat again, his other hand pulling my head painfully up by my hair.
“Is this what you want? You want me to hurt you? Huh?” His voice was a low growl. He released my neck and fumbled with my dress, jerking it up. I let out a cry as the warmth from his dick pressed against my center.
“I could fuck you right now,” he growled in my ear, breathless. “Is that what you want me to do?”
“No,” I choked out. “Stop.”
He released me and moved away.
I let out a sob, my throat and body aching.
“Fucking bitch. This is all your fault. You make me this insane monster. God damn it!” He rammed his fist into the wall, creating a crater in the plaster. He breathed hard, his fingers tugging at his hair. A moment later, he turned to me.
I let out a squeak as he hauled me into his arms and held me.
“I don’t want to hurt you. I’ve never hurt anyone like that before. Fuck, Rosalie. Fuck!”
I wept softly.
He peppered kisses on my forehead and cheek. “Forgive me.”
He squeezed me hard when I didn’t answer.
“Tell me you forgive me.”
“I-I can’t.”
He pushed me away, and I tumbled onto my back on the floor, his large form looming over me again.
“Go home before I end up killing you.” He turned away from me and went to his bedroom window and gazed out. I didn’t waste any time getting to my feet and stumbling out, leaving my shoes behind.
If it meant I got to live long enough to bring him down, I’d say it was worth the cost of a pair of twenty-dollar sandals.
Eight
Turtlenecks and jeans were going to be my wardrobe for the next few days as I healed from Ian’s onslaught. I sat in my bedroom later that night and stared at myself in the mirror. Dark circles rimmed my eyes. Ugly bruises peppered my neck. My ribs were a purple disaster. Ian messed me up bad.
I looked down at my phone as it buzzed on my vanity.
Fox: I’m waiting. I’ll wait all night.
I stared at his message, my heart aching as much as my body.
I dabbed on foundation, covering the bruises on my cheek and eye. The purple eyeshadow helped, blending anything I missed. I did up my entire face until I barely looked like myself.
Hauling myself to my feet, I winced and grabbed a dark turtleneck and jeans. I put them on. Then I slipped on a pair of chucks before heading to the door.
The clock read just after eleven at night. My parents went to bed an hour before. The walk to the treehouse was long and dark. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing or why I was doing it. Maybe I needed to see Fox’s face just so I could gain more fuel for my quickly dwindling rage fire.
When I reached the treehouse, I stood at the bottom and stared up at it. A lantern was lit inside, casting a dim glow. I climbed the ladder and knocked on the door.
“You came,” Fox breathed out as he closed the tattered notebook he’d carried around with him for years, tucking the pencil inside it. He looked like the night, dressed in all black. Even his beanie was black. It seemed like he wanted to pull me into his arms. If this was any other time, I would’ve loved for him to hold me. But I knew he’d been holding Juliet in those same arms. The thought disgusted me.
“What did you need?” I stepped inside and glanced around. I hadn’t been in there since we were kids. The same blue and pink bean bags were still on the floor. I swallowed hard and turned away from them.
“I miss you.”
“So?” I met his gaze.
“Rosie, please.”
“Please, what, Fox? What do you want from me?”
“I want nothing but your forgiveness.”
“Just my forgiveness?” I scoffed.
“No. I want your love as well.”
I let out a laugh and shook my head. “And what? I love you while you fuck Juliet? No thanks. Played that game. Won a stupid prize.”
“Rosie, it’s not like that with Juliet.”
“Are you fucking her?”
A muscle popped along his jaw. “Yes.”
My heart jackknifed in my chest. I already knew he was. Hell, I’d seen it. What did I expect his answer to be?
“But I don’t love her. None of us do.”
“Then why do it?” I choked out.
“I don’t have a choice. She owns me at this point.”
“Nice,” I snorted. “I sympathize.”
“Rosalie, I’m being honest. I don’t love her. I fucking hate her, matter of fact. It’s you I think about—”
“Don’t even finish that sentence, Fox. It’s disgusting.”
He hung his head and nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m tired. Like really tired. Tell me why you wanted me to trek out here.”
“You look beautiful,” he murmured, moving to reach out to me.
I pulled away from him, not knowing if I could handle him touching me. He dropped his hand back to his side, his blue eyes wavering as he stared back at me.
“I wanted to tell you I’m sorry. We all are. The book was a stupid game. We did it to get girls. We never made them do anything they didn’t want to do. We may have had dirt on them, but we weren’t big enough dicks to use it. We genuinely wanted them to like us. It was just a way to get them to be close to us in the beginning.”
“And me? Were you going to do that to me?”
Fox licked his lips and looked away. “I
-I had issues, Rosalie. I blamed you for my mom. She went and bought you those fucking earrings you wanted. That’s why she was out the night she died. Getting you a gift. So I blamed you.” A tear snaked down his cheek as he handed me a small, velvet box. “Take it. She wanted you to have them.”
My hands trembled as I opened the box and stared down at the tiny earrings. A tear trickled its way out.
“They’ll look beautiful on you,” Fox murmured.
I hurriedly wiped at my eyes, my throat tight.
“I lost my mom, Rosie. Then I fucked up and lost you. My life has been shit ever since that day. I drink too much. I get high too much. I fuck around too much. I hate everything. I make stupid fucking choices that lead to even bigger mistakes.”
He wiped his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing. I had to look away, my throat growing tighter from trying not to cry with him.
“I thought I was going to do that to you. I intended on it. I hated you, but I loved you so fucking much more. I kept denying it. Cole knew I loved you. He rode my ass about it. Ethan talked about you so much ever since the day he bumped into you in the hall last year. Drove us nuts with all his talk about wanting to get to know you. To ask you out. To even just gain your friendship. Enzo…well, the moment he saw you on your knees, he was done for. You were the perfect girl for us all. Even me with all my bullshit. But I couldn’t get past it. Then I saw the video of you kissing Enzo and Cole. You said you wanted it.” He blew out a breath. “Then in my bedroom. I-I tried to resist. I did. But I failed on that too. I kissed you. I tasted you. I fell so fucking deep with you, I knew there was no way out. And I was beginning to be OK with that.”
“But then you tripped, and your dick fell into Juliet.” I turned and glared at him. “Were you even broken up with her when you were with me?”
“Yes! I never cheated on you, Rosie! Never! My heart was always with you.” He took a step forward and reached for me.
I pulled away, backing up until I bumped against the wall. He didn’t stop. He came forward and stood in front of me, caging me between his arms.
