by Kai Juniper
Why did I believe him? Why did I trust Briggs? Why did I think he was anything more than the guy who's bullied me all these years?
People don't change. Briggs will always be an asshole.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Briggs
I storm out of my house, get in my car, and speed down the road to Ella's house, but her truck's not there. I get out my phone to call her, but know she won't pick up my call, so I decide to just wait for her to get home.
An hour later, she pulls in the driveway. She jumps out of her truck, her keys in her hand, not looking at me as she heads to the house.
"Go away, Briggs," she says as I approach her. "I'm not talking to you."
"Just hear me out." I hold her arm, stopping her.
"Don't touch me!" she yells.
I let go of her. "Please, just listen to me. I didn't do it. I swear!"
"Oh, so your dad just made that up?" she huffs. "Yeah, right."
I follow her to the door.
"My dad lied. I had nothing to do with the city taking your house. I promise you, I didn't."
She turns to me. "Why would your dad lie about that?"
"To make me look bad? Who the fuck knows? He lies all the fucking time."
"Like father, like son," she says.
"You're wrong," I say, feeling my anger surge at her comment. I hate when people say I'm like my father. "I would never take someone's house, especially yours. Why the hell would I do that?"
She goes inside, dropping her backpack by the door. "Because you're a rich snob who can't stand driving by this house every day!"
I follow her into the kitchen. "I don't even look at it when I drive by, and in a few months I'm out of here, so why the hell would I waste my time trying to get the city to tear it down?"
She opens the fridge. "You should leave before one of your rich, snobby friends sees your precious car in my driveway."
I yank the fridge door from her and slam it shut, then take hold of her shoulders and look her in the eye. "I didn't do this. My father did. He's the asshole who can't stand your house. If you want to yell at someone, go yell at him!"
"Obviously, your dad was part of it, but YOU put him up to it!"
"I did NOT tell him to do this! I don't give a shit about your fucking house. It can be here for the next hundred years for all I care."
"Yeah, that's why you make it fun of it all the time and call it a trailer." She shoves me away. "You call me Trailer Girl! That alone just proves how much you hate this house and want it destroyed."
"What's going on in here?" a deep voice says. I turn and see Ella's dad walking in. "Ella, what is he doing here?"
She glares at me. "He's leaving."
Her dad looks between Ella and me. "I heard yelling. Were you two fighting?"
"Yes, but it's over now," Ella says, her eyes on mine. "Briggs won't be coming over here again."
"Ella, please," I say under my breath, begging her to believe me, or at least consider I'm telling the truth.
"What is this about?" her father asks. "What's going on here?"
Ella walks over to her dad. "I just found out that the reason we're being forced to sell the house is because Briggs was tired of looking at it."
"It's not true," I say, shaking my head.
"You did this?" her father asks.
"Him and his dad," Ella says. "They worked with the city to convince them to take our house, or maybe they paid them to do it."
"I didn't do it," I say through gritted teeth, my eyes locked on Ella.
"I believe my daughter," her father says, putting his arm around her. "If she said you did it, I have no reason to believe otherwise. I need you to leave."
"Ella, you know I'd never do this," I say, pleading with her. "Not after—" I stop, remembering her dad's here.
He looks at Ella, his brows furrowed. "Not after what? What's he talking about?"
"Nothing," she says. "He's just lying, like he always does. I don't know why he's even trying to deny this. Mr. Lagoria, the guy who sent us the letter, is at Briggs' house right now. That's all the proof you need."
Her dad looks back at me. "Why is he at your house?"
I sigh. "I don't know. My dad invited him over. But I swear, I didn't know who he was, or that he worked for the city. I'm telling you, I had nothing to do with this."
Ella's father lets go of her and points to the door. "Get out of my house!"
Ella folds her arms over her chest, looking at me like she did when I used to bully her, like I'm evil and a horrible person. She hates me, and I don't know what to do to change her mind. I didn't do this, but I can't prove it. She just has to believe me, and she won't.
I glance at her as I go past her to the door, but she won't even look at me. I can't believe my father did this. He told her a lie and now she won't even talk to me. She believed him over me. Part of me wants to hate her for that, but the other part understands why she doesn't believe me. I've treated her like shit for all the years I've known her. It wasn't until recently that she started to see me differently, but it wasn't long enough to change her mind about me.
When I get home, I don't see Mr. Lagoria's car in the driveway. I'm hoping that means my dad went to dinner with him and isn't home, because if he is, I might just kill him.
"Briggs," my father says, coming toward me as I walk in the door, a smug grin on his face. "I didn't realize you'd left."
I storm up to him. "Why did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Why did you fucking lie to her?"
"Who?" His brows rise. "The Quinn girl?"
I hate when he does this, acting all innocent when he knows what he did. It just makes me angrier, which is probably why he does it.
"Why would you tell her I did that? There was no fucking reason for you to do that!"
He goes around me, walking across the foyer before turning back to me. "I didn't like what I was seeing."
"What the fuck does that mean?"
"You and the Quinn girl," he says, rubbing his jaw. "You were developing feelings for her."
"What are you talking about? I fucking hate her!"
He laughs a little. "Love and hate are surprisingly similar emotions. Fueled by passion. A need to control. I can feel the energy shift when you're around her. You may not yet be involved with the Quinn girl, but your mind is already there. You want her, even if it's just to satisfy your curiosity."
"You're fucking insane. I don't have feelings for Ella."
"Then you shouldn't be upset by this." His eyes lock on mine. "And yet you are. You're screaming at me for actions I took to protect you. To keep her away from you. What do you think that says about you? Tell me, Briggs, what does it say about your feelings for the Quinn girl?"
"Nothing! I just don't like you telling lies about me! And I don't need you to fucking protect me." I blow out a breath, staring down at the floor as I try to calm down. Getting angry is just proving his point, that I have feelings for Ella, but I can't help it. I'm so fucking angry!
"Let's go sit down," my father says. "There's something we need to discuss."
"Tell me how you did this. How did you get the city to take her house?"
He grins. "I'm very persuasive. You know that, Briggs. I saw a need and persuaded the city to take care of it."
"It wasn't a need. It was you not wanting her house on the same street as ours."
"It's not just me. The entire neighborhood is sick of looking at that run-down shack. It should've been torn down years ago with all the others."
I stand directly across from him in the foyer, looking him in the eye. "Did you pay them off?"
"I didn't need to. My lawyer went to the city and pointed out the financial damage the Quinn house was causing the rest of our properties, and they agreed. That house doesn't belong in this neighborhood."
"Why did you have Mr. Lagoria come to the house that night you told me to stay in my room? Why was he here?"
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"For insurance. I didn't want some do-gooder on the city council insisting that the house should remain standing, so I met with Mr. Lagoria to express my concerns and make sure that he kept any and all obstacles out of the way."
"Did you pay him?"
"I might have offered him some complimentary financial advice, but no, I did not pay him," he scoffs, as though he'd never do such a thing, even though I know he would.
"What if the city had told you no?" I ask.
He smirks. "Then there might have been an unfortunate fire at the Quinn house. Mr. Quinn would receive a rather large amount of insurance money, given what the land is worth, but it wouldn't be nearly enough to build the kind of house the city deems appropriate for this neighborhood. Mr. Quinn would have no choice but to sell his land and move."
My father is evil. He does horrible things and always finds a way to justify it. It's just who he is, and always has been, and he sees nothing wrong with it.
"You would've burned her house down," I say, "and been okay with it."
"Briggs, what have I always told you? Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. Mr. Quinn was unwilling to make this sacrifice, so we did it for him."
"YOU did it. I didn't."
His smug smile appears again. "Let's go sit down and talk about another matter I'd like to discuss."
"Just tell me." I fold my arms over my chest. "What is it?"
He starts pacing the floor, which makes me nervous. It's never good when he paces, and it's even worse when he paces and rubs his jaw, like he's doing right now. It's like he's working up his anger, getting ready to explode.
"I spoke with Ms. Whittaker today," he says.
"And?" I ask, my chest tightening.
"She informed me that you are not any closer to being valedictorian."
"We're only a month into the semester. I have plenty of time."
"You see, that's where you're mistaken. I asked Ms. Whittaker how likely it is that you'll achieve the number one spot, assuming you did all you had to to get there, and sadly, she informed me that your chances are quite low. She explained that there is little to no chance that the person ahead of you will fall behind, and that if anything, this person will end up even farther ahead."
"Then it's over. There's nothing I can do."
He stops pacing and walks up to me, stopping right in front of my face. "Is that the way a Chadwick thinks? That there's nothing we can do to take the lead over a competitor?"
"You just said the person is too far ahead."
"And do we let that stop us?"
I don't answer.
"Have I taught you nothing, Briggs?" he yells in my face.
"What the fuck do you want me to say?" I yell back. "That I fucked up? I'm not good enough? I'm not smart enough? Is that what you want to hear?"
He takes a step back, staring at me, breathing in and out of his nose. I don't know what he's going to do next, but I feel like I need to get the hell out of here before I find out.
"I have to study," I tell him.
"We're not done here." He rubs his jaw. "Do you have any idea who this person might be? The one ahead of you?"
"No."
"What about one of those tech kids? The ones who spend all their time writing code."
I shrug. "Maybe. I don't know."
"You need to find out. And if it's not one of them, you need to find out who it is."
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
"You're a Chadwick. You rule that school and everyone in it. Tell people what you want and make them do it. Goddammit, Briggs, have you not listened to a word I've said all these years? Use people to get what you want. I've told you that a million times!"
"And then what? After I find out, what I am supposed to do?"
He slowly smiles. "You destroy them."
"How? What do you mean?"
"You do whatever it takes to make sure they're no longer number one. You take it as far as you need to." He leans down to me. "You set your conscious aside, and you do what must be done."
What the fuck is he talking about it? Set your conscious aside? Meaning what? I don't think he's just talking about grades. I don't even want to know what he's thinking. I'm sure it's worse than anything I could even imagine.
"I'm not doing that," I mutter.
He grabs hold of my chin and yanks my face up to his. "What was that?"
"I said I'm not doing it. I'm not destroying someone's life over this."
"You will." His eyes lock on mine. "Or I will do it for you."
I stare back at him. "Stay out of this. I'll handle it."
"How?"
"I don't know yet, but I'll figure it out."
"If I trust you to do this, I expect it to be done. I expect you to be on that stage on graduation day, giving the valedictorian speech. If you can't make that happen, I will intervene. I will find out who is number one in your class and I will destroy that person. I will make it my personal mission. You're my son. You're a Chadwick. And I will not stand for second place. You WILL be number one, and I will make sure that no one stands in your way."
What am I going to do? He can't find out it's Ella, but my father won't give up. He's going to keep asking me who it is, and if I don't tell him, he'll figure out a way to find out. When he does, he'll go after Ella. He won't just go after her grades. He'll do something bigger. Something worse. Something I don't even want to think about.
He can't hurt Ella. I won't let him. But how do I stop this? How the fuck do I stop this?
TO BE CONTINUED…
Coming soon! The FINAL book in the Dirty Little Secret Series!
Do It Or Else, the third and final book in the Dirty Little Secret series, is releasing December 15th!
Click here to preorder Do It Or Else.
While you’re waiting for book three, check out my Broke & Bullied Series. Start with Don’t Try Me. Here’s the description!
Don’t Try Me
I told her my rules. She didn't follow them.
I told her to leave me alone. She didn't.
She's new so I gave her a pass. But three strikes, she's out.
She knows my reputation but keeps coming back for more.
She tests me. Pushes me to my limit, and doesn't stop.
I warned her. I told her to stay away. She wouldn't listen.
She wants to try me? Let her. She's not going to like what she gets.
Get Don’t Try Me now at Amazon!
Books by Kai Juniper
BROKE & BULLIED SERIES
Don’t Try Me
Don’t Tempt Me
TWISTED PINE ACADEMY SERIES
Twisted Lies
Twisted Sins
Twisted Secrets
Twisted Truths
DIRTY LITTLE SECRET SERIES
Do What I Say
Do What I Want
Do It Or Else
Also from Waltham Publishing
THE JADE SERIES
(New Adult Romantic Suspense)
Choosing You
Knowing You
Loving You
Promising You
Forever You
Finding Us
Becoming Us
Always Us
Garret: A Jade Series Companion Novel
THE KENSINGTON SERIES
(Romantic Suspense)
Needing Her
Keeping Her
Protecting Her
Only Her
KENSINGTON FAMILY NOVELS
(New Adult Romance)
Lilly
Lilly and Reed
MOORHURST COLLEGE DUET
(New Adult Romantic Suspense)
Secrets Kept
Secrets Told
WHEELER BROTHERS
(New Adult Romance Series of Standalones)
Next to Me
Give Us a Chance
Can't Let You Go
More to Us
THE SAMANTHA PROJECT SERIES
(Youn
g Adult Science Fiction Romance)
The Samantha Project
The Golden Couple
A Chosen Destiny
STANDALONE NOVELS
Still Love You
Holding On
One Night
Anyone But Her
The Geek and The Goddess
Road Trouble
Third Date
Lucky Star
With Every Breath
Home with You
The Path to You
Falling for Aiden
Kinda Hate You
