“And the whole ‘bump’ thing?”
“Just eat a few burgers and you’ll gain a few pounds,” she suggests. “But if you get fat, you’re off the squad.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
I get myself fixed up and flush the toilet before strutting out of the stall with way too many emotions fluttering through me. It’s like all my prayers have been answered but at the same time, it’s going to cause more drama as too much has been said. It’ll force us to face it. Finally, all the pain can stop and me and Noah can maybe get back on track, you know, once we sort through all the shit that’s been said and done.
I walk straight up to the sink where Candice and Monica are fixing their makeup and grin as both their eyes widen. “You know what I love about communal bathrooms?” I question as I wash my hands. “You always manage to learn something about somebody.”
I walk over to the hand dryers and hold them under there for a few seconds before holding up my phone and giving it a little wiggle as Monica’s face turns a deathly shade of white. “You know, I bet I know a few other people who’d be interested in learning about you too.”
With that, I walk out the bathroom door, finally feeling like things are starting to look up.
Chapter 18
I’ve spent the day cuddled up on my couch with a handheld mirror, watching the bruise spread across my cheekbone. Noah got me good, like fucking good. I can just picture his face when he sees this, which I wouldn’t be surprised if it was sometime this afternoon.
All I’ve wanted for the past few hours is to go over to his place and tell him everything I know, except he’s not there. I got a text from Tully just after I got home saying he was MIA. Rivers has already checked their place while Tully checked the school, meaning he could be anywhere.
I grab my phone and hash out a text.
Henley – I need to tell you something.
Delete.
Henley – Can we talk?
Delete.
Henley - …
Delete.
Damn it. This isn’t the kind of news I want to tell him through a text, especially with how things are between us. It would be too easy for him to accuse me of lying. I don’t think that would happen, but the thought is still there. Besides, I need to show him the proof on my phone. He needs to hear it with his own ears.
The other thing holding me back is the fact that if this comes from me, he’s going to forever remember that I was the one who told him he wasn’t going to be a father. All the shit that’s been running through his mind over the past week is all going to be torn away by me. I’m going to be the bitch who ruins that, not Monica.
Damn it. This shit is so hard, but if he was to find out that I knew and didn’t say anything, I’d be in even more shit.
Decisions. Decisions.
A knock sounds at the door and I jolt up on the couch. Could this be Noah already? Has he come to grovel for forgiveness? I’m not sure that I’m ready to hear it just yet, but at the same time, all I want is to throw my arms around him and have him tell me that it’s all going to be ok.
But if it was Noah, he would have barged straight through the door without knocking. No, it’s definitely not him. Maybe Tully? Or Rivers? It’s got to be Tully. She wouldn’t be able to stay away from this trainwreck. Rivers will probably just send a text later in the day making sure I’m not plotting Noah’s death.
I throw the blanket off me and place my stupid little mirror down, knowing exactly what Tully is going to say now that the bruise has formed properly.
I slink across the living room and pull open the door. It’s barely halfway open when a figure blurs in front of me, pushes me back with a hard shove that sends me flying down onto my ass as someone yells out, “Get her!”
“What the fuck?” I yell as my ass begins to sting from the fall.
The door is slammed shut by another person and it’s not until then that I realize it’s Monica and Candice with a few of their skank cheerleader friends. Monica throws herself down on top of me as cheer skanks rummage through my home, tearing it apart. “Find that damn phone,” Monica seethes just seconds before her fist slams into the side of my face and someone grabs me, holding me down.
I buck her off, but Candice joins in as I try my best to cover my already aching face. It’s no use, there are too many of them and fists just keep flying. “You better stay the fuck away from him,” Monica yells between punches. “He’s mine.”
I get kicked. Cut. Clawed at. Bruised and battered.
“You’re nothing,” she seethes. “You’re pathetic. Noah is mine. He always will be,” Monica adds, jamming her fist into the side of my ribs. Her punches don’t pack nearly the same force that Noah’s elbow had this morning, but they are more than enough to have me begging for it to stop.
My arms cradle around my head and I curl my body up as much as possible. It makes it harder for them to punch, so they go with kicking instead. I scream out as someone’s foot connects with the back of my ribs. “Stop,” I cry.
“Look at that,” Candice laughs. “We made the bitch cry.”
“Got it,” someone calls out from deeper in the house.
Monica and Candice leave me be for all of three seconds as Monica grabs my phone off her friend. She searches through it. Laughs to herself and grins down at me like seeing the blood covering my face gets her off. “Consider this your final warning. Tell him what you think you know and I will end you.”
With that, she throws my phone down, smashing the screen before crushing it beneath her foot. Not a moment later, Monica and her band of whores run from my house, leaving the door wide open for the world to see me crumpled on the ground.
I groan as I roll onto my side, kind of wishing Noah would come around now. My body aches and every slight movement I make seems to make it worse. I know I’m supposed to be hating on him right now, but this just seems to put things into perspective. Why have I been working so hard to push away one of the only people who actually give a shit about me?
I crawl along the floor needing to get up or do something to help make the pain go away, but it’s too much. My nose is bleeding and my ribs are screaming with each flinch of my body. My arms instantly give in, unable to move me across the room.
I give up.
I stop dead center in the middle of the living room and wait. Maybe someone will come or maybe I’ll be left alone long enough for the pain to settle on its own, either way, I’m not moving anywhere. I can’t
Instead, I cry. I cry for my aching body. I cry for my messed up feelings for Noah. I cry for how broken he will be when he realizes it was all a lie and I cry for how shitty my week has been.
I don’t know how long I stay there, but it’s nearly dark when a familiar gasp is heard behind me just moments before someone rushes forward and I’m scooped into a familiar pair of arms that aren’t covered in tattoos.
Jackson carries me across the room and helps me onto the couch as the tears continue falling down my face. “What happened?” Kaylah demands from behind his shoulder, half cowering not to be seen, but her concern is too great to be ignored.
I shake my head as Jackson puts me down on the couch. “What are you doing here?”
Kaylah pouts out her bottom lip and it’s clear that despite whatever differences there are between us right now, she still cares a great deal about me. “Believe it or not,” she says. “I got a call from Rocko saying that you needed help. We came straight away.”
“Rocko?” I question in confusion. My dickhead neighbor doesn’t give two shits about anybody but himself and now all of a sudden, he’s calling someone to come and help me out? It doesn’t make any sense.
“Yeah,” Jackson says, slipping a hand under my back and helping me to sit up a bit better. I groan and cringe but all that manages to do is make me even more aware of just where I’m hurting. “Come on,” he says, reconsidering as he looks me over. “I should take you to the hospital to get looked at.”
&
nbsp; “No,” I grunt out. “I’ll be fine. I just need help up and an ice pack. You don’t have to hang around.”
Jackson looks at me blankly. “I’m not about to leave you alone with nothing but a fucking ice pack,” he demands. “Is there someone that you can stay with tonight? You probably shouldn’t stay in the house alone.”
I don’t like it, but he’s right. It also doesn’t go unnoticed that neither of them not offering to stay. “Yeah, can you call Tully? She’ll stay with me.”
“Tully?” Kaylah grunts. “Tully Cage?”
“What other Tullys do you know?” I throw back at her, hating her questioning tone. I mean, Tully certainly isn’t the kind of girl I would have hung out with in the past, but the little booger has certainly grown on me.
Kaylah scowls and Jackson steps in. “Go get her an icepack,” he tells her. “Find some bandages too.”
With that, Kaylah disappears into my home as Jackson runs a hand down his face and takes a seat beside me. “Are you going to tell me what the fuck just happened to you?”
I rear back from him, flinching at his tone. “Don’t take that tone with me,” I scold him. “You’re the one who fucked things up for me, not the other way around. You don’t have the right to question me anymore.”
He cringes and hangs his head. “Fuck, you’ve got to know how sorry I am about that,” he murmurs. “I guess I really did screw you over, didn’t I?”
“You think?” I scoff, cringing at the way my ribs scream at me. “You took advantage of me that night. You and Kaylah were my family. One day you were there, the next… nothing.”
“You know I’m sorry,” he repeats.
“How could I know that when neither of you has spoken to me since?”
“Shit,” he curses, running his eyes over the cuts on my face but lingering on the one courtesy of Noah, clearly realizing this had happened before as it’s already been stitched, but luckily, he moves right along. "I was hoping Kaylah would reach out before now. She misses you. I needed her to mend that bridge before I could dive in and start groveling. She wouldn’t have forgiven me if I’d forced it on her.”
“Jackson,” I sigh, hearing Kaylah rummaging around in the kitchen, “I don’t want to hear your bullshit excuses. Straight up, you knew how I felt and you took advantage of that. You never should have touched me and I never should have thrown myself at you the way I did. It was stupid.”
“Babe,” he sighs, giving me that smile that I used to think I was in love with as he reaches out and squeezes my shoulder, temporarily forgetting how sore my body is. “You and I never would have worked. You had a crush that would have faded and I look at you too much like a sister.”
I let out a sigh, hating how those words still have the ability to sting. “I know that now,” I admit. “I’m just sorry it took me so long to figure out.”
“Well, I’m sorry I used to be such a manwhore. Those days are gone now.”
“Yeah, I heard you locked yourself down in a serious relationship,” I chuckle, holding onto my stomach, hoping it can help soothe the pain. I mean, where the fuck is Kaylah with that ice pack? “Things really have changed, haven’t they?”
“I heard you’re getting a little too friendly with Noah Cage.”
“Are you keeping tabs on me, Jackson?”
He booms out with laughter. “Of course, I am, kid,” he tells me. “Just be careful with him, alright. He’s… into some things.”
My eyes narrow on him, knowing he must hold the answers to the big ‘disappearing’ secret. I’m two seconds from launching into my interrogation when a cautious voice murmurs behind him, completely throwing me off track. “What are you talking about?”
Jackson turns to take in his sister, staring at me with nothing but hurt. “Shit,” Jackson grunts, looking down at his bare wrist, “is that the time? I got to go.”
“Jackson,” Kaylah seethes. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Bullshit,” he laughs, pushing up off the couch. “I don’t want to be here for this showdown.” He walks forward and presses a kiss to my cheek before looking back up at his sister. “Clean her up. I’ll wait outside if you need me,” he walks to the door before looking back at me. “Just remember, the trick with Kaylah is to go for the guilt trip. She’s a sucker for that shit.”
“Jackson,” she snaps.
“Make her see the light, Henley,” he calls. “I miss hearing you two singing Taylor Swift at the top of your lungs while momentarily forgetting that you’re not as hard as you think you are.”
I cringe as I try to adjust myself on the couch, still stunned that they’re even here and I seem to have started mending the burnt bridge between me and Jackson. I guess that leaves one other bridge to fix. “Can’t make any promises.”
“Well, try. I want to introduce you to Elle.”
“Fine,” I groan.
With that, he disappears down the pathway, leaving me to face the girl who hurt me in one of the worst ways, though to give her a little credit, she did think I was betraying her.
Kaylah drops to her knees in front of me and thrusts a packet of peas into my hand before getting to work.
I let out a shaky breath and try not to cringe. Why am I finding it so hard to talk to her? We used to be like sisters. “Can we at least talk?” I ask, trying to appear much braver than what I feel.
She watches me for a silent minute before looking away. “Not much to talk about.”
“Bullshit,” I grumble before an awkward pause. “How are you?” I ask, hating this weirdness between us.
She nods and looks away. “Pretty good,” she tells me with a fake enthusiasm. “Broken Hill High is great.”
“Really?” I scoff, remembering the millions of times we had complained about all the rich bitches who went there.
She bites down on her bottom lip before finally deciding to give in and try properly. “Don’t get me wrong, the chicks there are brutal, but Jesse is there and he’s kind of amazing.”
“I didn’t think you’d have to deal with the chicks if you’re with Jesse? Doesn’t he, you know, keep them away?”
She shrugs, putting a bloodied tissue aside and grabbing another. “He thinks he does, but you know how girls are when they want something. We don’t do things the way dudes do.”
I scoff, for the first time not agreeing with that statement. Dudes are usually the ones you expect to beat the shit out of someone to make a point, Noah and Spencer being the perfect example of that this morning. But I guess women everywhere are fighting for equality and wanted to get in on that action. After all, Monica and Candice literally just handled their shit the way dudes do.
I let out a sigh as I watch her expert medical skills. After all, we used to patch up Jackson all the time. He used to get in plenty of fights with the guys from Broken Hill, Jesse and Nate in particular. It’s funny how things change. “You left, Kaylah. You didn’t even say goodbye.”
Her mouth drops open as he fingers pause on my skin. “Are you serious? You screwed my brother. You turned out just like all those other skanks who were using me to get close to him.”
“How can you say that? After the years we spent being friends, how could you possibly say that? You know that two-faced, fake bullshit isn’t me. It never has been and it sure as hell never will be.”
“So, you just happened to fall into his bed? You tripped and landed on his dick? Give me a fucking break.”
“Kaylah,” I sigh, admitting my cold hard truth that I never once let myself tell her before. “I thought I was in love with him. For years I thought that.”
She pulls back. “Bullshit. You never once told me that. Don’t come up with shit like that to make you look like the good guy.”
“Are you kidding, right now?” I demand, wishing I was in the position to throw myself to my feet and make a scene. “I am the good guy. I couldn’t tell you because every fucking day you reminded me just how awful it would be if one of your friends wanted to get close to him.
You made me feel like what I felt for him was wrong. You made me feel worthless for having a fucking crush on an amazing guy. Of course, I couldn’t tell you.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not lying, Kaylah. For so long, I thought he was it for me. I had dreams of having his babies… and then, well, shit went up in flames and I didn’t only lose him, I lost you too. You were supposed to be my best friend and you didn’t even give me two seconds to explain myself.”
“Because you betrayed me,” she yells.
“No, you betrayed me.”
Kaylah continues as though I didn’t say a word. “You got close to me just so you could be with him just like every other girl in this fucked up place does.”
“Stop lying to yourself,” I sputter. “You know that’s not how it is. We were both drinking. You were home sick, and it just… happened. Look, truth be told, I should have told you from the start that I was crazy about him, and you should have told me that you were leaving. I deserved an explanation,” I tell her. "Do you have any idea what it was like for me all alone at that damn school? I’m practically a chew toy for Monica and Candice.”
Her eyes rake over my body, putting two and two together. “Is that who did this?” I sigh, not really wanting to get into it with her. “Maybe you need a few kickboxing classes,” she scoffs.
“And maybe you need to forgive me for having stupid feelings for your brother? It’s not like I could help it. He’s pretty cool, you know?”
She groans. “I know, he’s the best,” she tells me. “You don’t still…you know? Want to have his babies?”
“No,” I laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure his babies are going to be gorgeous, but they won’t be crawling out of me. It took me a little while, but I realized what I felt for him wasn’t the real deal. And to be honest, I had the shits with you both too much to even consider it.”
“How’d you know it wasn’t the real deal?” she asks, ignoring my last comment.
“Because what I feel for Noah is.”
Untouchable: Haven Falls (Book 1) Page 18
