by E. M. Snow
Her words are like a punch to the gut.
How dare she? How dare she? She knows firsthand how difficult it’s been for me putting up with the mocking and bullying from the other girls. She’s been on the receiving end of it herself plenty of times. I don’t know how she could justify treating me like this. What is going through her head right now that’s telling her this shit is okay?
What’s she telling herself that’s allowing her to push away our friendship so easily?
I’m seething, and I’m so done with this shit. I’ve put up with a lot from the people in this school, but I won’t take it from her.
“You know what?” I hiss. “You’re right, because it’s not fine. I don’t know what’s made you turn on me like this, but I can assure you it’s not going to get you Phoenix. He cares about nothing and nobody but himself. You’re pushing away the only true friend you have in this hellhole, and you’re going to regret it. I swear to God, you will.”
Margaret reels back like I’ve struck her. She’s … shocked. Shocked that I’ve actually stood up for myself. That only makes me angrier because she just expects me to lie down and take it. Just like everyone else in this school. Like Jasper. Like Phoenix. Her expression darkens as we stare each other down, and her lips twist into a cruel smirk.
“I was just doing you a favor,” she says in a voice loud enough that anyone standing nearby can hear. “Unlike some people, I had other friends to turn to once Gia left. Meanwhile here you are, desperately clinging to the Townsends like you’re worth something.”
My stomach pitches because I hate everything about this. Hate that it brings up my last argument with my brother and all the shit my dad used to say under his breath about me. “Do you even hear yourself? Do you know how arrogant you sound right now?”
She shakes her head, her ponytail swishing around the starched white collar of her uniform blouse. “I’m not treating you any differently than anyone else in this school. You’re a nobody, and you don’t matter. Why should anyone treat you like you do just because you clean house for a few rich boys?”
People are ogling us. Watching as my once-best friend completely guts me and my backbone slowly shrivels to dust. I have no idea what to say or do. I’m rendered mute, standing motionless in the middle of the school hallway, unable to do anything but take the cuts she’s inflicting on my soul.
“I should have known I’d find you conversing with one of Kallista’s plebeian sluts, Luna,” a deep voice suddenly booms. Margaret’s eyes widen, and her pale cheeks flush a deep crimson. “Why are you still just standing here? The bell fucking rang.”
Did it? I didn’t even hear it.
As if in a daze, I glance over my shoulder to find Phoenix standing at my back, slanting me with a glare. “Phoenix—”
“Let’s go,” he says, and I suck in a harsh breath when he slips beside me and drapes an arm over my shoulders, sending shockwaves through my system and Margaret’s eyes popping even wider. He bends his head slightly, until his lips brush the shell of my ear. “Unless you’d rather I carry you, but then the bell can truly go fuck itself,” he drawls suggestively.
That gets me moving. I stumble forward and we move past Margaret, who stares at us, clearly stunned. The crowd around us disperses as everyone either hurries to go to class or rushes to get out of his way.
He has that damning effect on people.
When we’re out of earshot of Margaret, I hiss, “What the hell was that?”
“A necessary kindness. You’re welcome, by the way.” He drops his arm from my shoulder and sneers down at me. “I didn’t realize you were so fucking weak. Do you let everyone chew you up and spit you out like that? What’s their secret and how can I unlock that shit to get you to obey?”
“None of this would be happening if it weren’t for—” I let out a strangled cry when his fingers close around my wrist. He pulls me into the hallway we’re passing and backs me into the narrow space under the stairs. By the time my shoulder blades touch the wall, my heart is in my throat.
“Go on,” he rasps. “Blame all your problems on me, Luna. That’s the only thing your good for.”
I think of Gia and her dad. Of my current situation. Of Jasper. And I clench my teeth until it feels like they’re close to cracking under the pressure. “That’s because you are the problem. The fact you can’t see that blows my mind! Everything would be just fine if you hadn’t come and fucked everything up!”
“You should be grateful,” he retorts. “I’m doing you a favor letting you live in my house and keeping you safe while your brother works through his mess.”
“Grateful!” I scoff, splaying my hands on his chest when he tries to close the distance between our bodies. He regards me with an arched brow but doesn’t move another inch. “Are you kidding me? You’re all but keeping me captive and threatening my family. What if I just said screw this entire arrangement and left? Just went home? What would you do then?”
At first, he doesn’t say anything. Just focuses his attention down on me with an incomprehensible look on his face. Then, very slowly, he leans down so that we’re eye-level with each other.
In a low, dangerous voice, he promises me, “I’d fuck up your entire world.”
18
“Why won’t you leave me alone?” I ask Phoenix several days later when the scent of his cologne hits me in the hallway.
He steps beside me, glances down, and cocks a thick dark eyebrow. “We’ve established this. You are mine, and I’ll do whatever the fuck I please with you until your brother comes through. Speaking of the low-life fuck, have you heard from him?”
I jab my tongue in my cheek because Phoenix knows I haven’t. I’ve tried and I’ve tried, but Jasper hasn’t had the decency to acknowledge me since he sent that one text. I’ve always thought the whole “rolling over in her grave” thing is cliché, but that’s likely what my mom is doing right now.
“My brother’s arrangement is with your father, so shouldn’t your dad be the one threatening my existence every five seconds?”
His dad who has extended his business trip again and still has no interest in speaking to me directly. It’s past the point of weird now and bordering on just plain disturbing.
Sure enough, something dark passes over Phoenix’s features, but he manages to shove it away lightning fast. “I’m far more interesting than my father,” he points out with a lazy grin, tipping his head closer to mine. “I’d be happy to show you what I mean. Regardless, even when he comes home, you’ll still be mine.”
My stomach flutters at the way he says mine, but I manage to roll my eyes at him. We’re walking to our shared class together—or rather, I was walking, and he joined me uninvited—and I’m about to lose my goddamn mind.
Ever since the day Margaret told me what she really thinks of me two weeks ago, he’s somehow managed to show up almost everywhere I’ve been. He’s not treating me any differently than usual. He’s a condescending asshole who enjoys tormenting me in new and exciting ways. Still, it’s definitely strange how he seems to be trailing me these days with no regard for my privacy or personal space.
The only good thing that’s come from him sticking to me like glue is that Harmony has given up on harassing me. She hasn’t said a word to me since he called her out in class after she tripped me. Instead, she focuses all her energy on winning him back.
To my disgust, he finds her efforts amusing.
“Yeah, yeah,” I finally huff in response to his statement declaring his ownership over me yet again. “You know, you keep saying the same thing, and it’s getting pretty damn old.”
“If you actually understood the words that are coming out of my mouth, I wouldn’t have to remind you so often. I’m not confident you’ll ever understand, though.”
“You? Lacking confidence? What world are we living in?” We reach our classroom, and I sigh before adding, “Just leave me alone. Please.”
Leaning down, he murmurs at my ear, “Not a fucking c
hance.”
I shiver at the timbre of his voice, hating myself for reacting to him at all. Forcing my chin up, I keep my expression neutral as I shoot him a dark look before jerking away from him and walking into the classroom. As I cross to my desk, I do my best to ignore the cold and judgmental looks I get along the way. I’m almost used to them by now, which is pretty sad.
At least none of them will say or do anything to me with Phoenix hovering over me like a helicopter stalker.
Guess there truly is a bright side to everything.
Just before I reach my desk, I let my eyes wander toward the back of the room. When I find who I’m looking for, my gaze lingers. Easton gives me a half-smile and a wink. He’s been doing that a lot lately, especially since it seems to piss off Phoenix. In fact, I hear him growl at my back, and I grin, feeling a dark thrill at the knowledge that I’ve done something to crack his hard-as-stone exterior.
“Watch yourself, Luna.”
I slip into my seat with a chuckle and peer up at him from beneath my lashes. “Why do you care?”
He doesn’t respond as he sits in his usual seat behind me, but his silence speaks volumes, and somehow, it feels like a victory.
“I’m curious about something, Josslyn,” Kallista calls out the next morning just after the warning bell rings and Phoenix slithers off to his first block class, gym in the rec center with Sydney and Margaret.
I pause in the middle of the hallway, close my eyes, and let out a noisy exhale. She doesn’t quit, does she? Whirling around, I narrow my brown eyes into tight slits as her and her group prowl toward me, brutal smirks teasing their lips.
Thankfully, there are no coffee cups in sight.
“Yes?”
She lays a hand on her hip and cocks her head. “Just answer this, whose dick is bigger: Phoenix’s? Or his dad’s?”
Heat eats away at my face and neck. “How would I know?”
“Well, you’re obviously fucking one of them. Probably both, so spill? Who’s bigger?” She holds her hands eight or nine inches apart. “Or is one longer and the other thicker? I seriously lose sleep thinking about this.”
“Maybe they alternate nights,” Daphne suggests.
Kallista chuckles. “Or share the nasty bitch.”
“Or maybe, you can just ask your sister, since she’s already fucked at least one of them. Possibly both,” I spit out, and Kallista hollows her cheeks. Her stance changes, like she’s ready to lay me out if I so much as breathe another word. “I’m not sleeping with either Phoenix or his father, so can you stop already?”
“You might as well give up the innocent act, Josslyn. Everyone heard about you sneaking off with Aric the night of Gideon’s party. The Townsends weren’t enough for you, you had to fuck him, too? Do you also get it in with Reina? I heard she’s not above a little muff diving, even if it is with a goddamn butter-body.”
Butter-body. That’s a brand new one. The sad part is that it doesn’t even bother me anymore. I just want to get this over with so I can get to class.
Still, of all the times for Phoenix to not be my shadow, it has to be now. I almost miss the bastard because his presence alone is enough to keep Kallista’s lips snapped shut. She’s that afraid of offending him. Telling myself that it doesn’t matter—that I don’t need him to fight my battles—I open my mouth to shoot her a retort, but a sharp voice lashes through the air before I can get a word out.
“You know, Kallista, just because no one’s interested in lubing up and climbing your lifeless corpse doesn’t mean you get to take it out on every other girl Phoenix looks at.”
Shocked, I glance over my shoulder and almost pass out when I spot Alaric, of all the damn people, lurking toward us, his hands stuffed deep in the pockets of his uniform khakis. He’s wearing his usual expression, the one that’s borderline uninterested, but his hazel eyes flash with fury. I look back to Kallista and all the color has drained from her face.
“Aric? I thought—” she begins, but Alaric comes to a stop next to me and draws a hand from his pocket, smooshing his finger against Kallista’s lips and smudging her pink gloss.
“You talk too fucking much, and I can smell the purge vomit from where I’m standing,” he says, his tone terrifyingly pleasant. Kallista just gulps, her face turning beet red. “I already know what you thought. That I’d keep walking like I didn’t hear you making a fool of yourself again. That I wouldn’t give a fuck you’ve been shit-talking my family—my sister—for weeks. I do, you stupid bitchy, so I’m warning you now. Let it go."
Did that just happen? Alaric Hartley breaking his vow to avoid me in the biggest way possible—coming to my defense? He drops his hand from her mouth, and Kallista instantly goes crazy.
“Who the fuck do you think—”
“You already know,” he interrupts coldly. “I’d be more than happy to remind you—that is, when you’re not sucking off Hux Michaelson in the janitor’s closet.”
Even my head jerks back at that, which is a vindictive move that would make both Phoenix and Reina proud. Hux Michaelson is a popular senior and football player. He’s also Daphne’s boyfriend.
Kallista stares at Alaric with wide eyes, her mouth opening and closing as she struggles to come up with a response. It’s so damn satisfying, especially when Daphne stalks off, leaving her best friend looking like a fish flopping on a dock.
At last, Kallista clamps her lips together, a flash of defeat crossing her features quickly followed by embarrassed fury. “Too bad you and your bitch sister weren’t in that fucking car with your devil-worshipping parents,” she snarls. Turning, she flips her brown hair over her shoulder and storms off, her posse of airheads hurrying after her.
A bark of laughter breaks from his lips as he turns to me with a grin, but it’s strained. I mean, why wouldn’t it be after Kallista’s callous dismissal of his parents’ death? “She’s so easy to break if you know just the right places to press.” Eyeing me up and down, he then asks, “You okay, Hendrix?”
Honestly, I’m not even concerned about myself at this point. Not after what she said to him. When my lips part to say something, though, he gives a slight jerk of his head. So, instead, I flick my tongue over my lips and nod.
“I’m ... fine,” I say, then continue, “It’s not the first time she’s come after me, and I doubt it’s the last.”
“Fuck her.” He shrugs, a seemingly nonchalant move, but his shoulders are tight.
“Alaric, what she said about you and Reina and your parents—”
“Kallista is all talk, just like Kristyn before her,” he interrupts, his eyes flashing another warning, this one telling me that if I go there, we’re done for good. “But as soon as anyone connected with Phoenix shows up, all her shit hits the fan. Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t. And … thank you, Alaric. For helping me.”
“I didn’t do it for you,” he says in a hoarse voice.
Something twists in my stomach, and I lower my gaze to the floor, counting a few tiles before I manage, “Still…”
The tardy bell rings, and Alaric releases a low groan, mumbling under his breath about detention and football practice. To me, he mutters, “Try not to die today, Hendrix.”
I start to tell him that if they haven’t killed me yet, it’s probably not going to happen anytime soon—at least not until Phoenix gets exactly what he wants from my brother—but Alaric is already halfway down the hall when I glance back up.
“So, you’re actually a huge nerd, aren’t you? Reading Prince biographies in the library one day, trying out for High School Musical the next. Not sure what to do with you, Josslyn.”
Grinning, I glance toward Reina. “Just because I want to work on the school musical—which, by the way, is not High School Musical—does not make me a nerd.”
I’d honestly considered trying out, but I don’t admit that to Reina.
She nods, lowering her Chanel sunglasses so she can gaze at me over the top of the lenses. “Absolutely it does
, but in a cute way.”
We’re spread out in lounge chairs next to the pool behind the main house, enjoying what we can of the sunshine so late in the day. For the past hour, we’ve discussed normal things. There’s been no mention of Phoenix or Alaric or Kallista. It’s as if we’re just two regular girls chatting about regular, mundane life. Since she’d stumbled on me reading a Prince biography in the estate’s massive library last night, she’d poked at my love of music a bit to get me to spill more, so I told her that Miss Olsen had announced the winter production today during choir.
My teacher’s gaze had landed squarely on me as she added that it would be a great opportunity for any students interested in pursuing vocal performance in college. While that’s not my plan, I want to be involved in the show.
Music still feels like the only constant in my life. Since Mr. Parker hasn’t scheduled me to work at the store since Phoenix happened, this will at least make everything feel a little normal.
“They’ll probably put me on lights or costumes,” I tell Reina with a shrug. “It won’t be that big of a deal.”
“You should try out,” she scolds. “Go full nerd, all that razzle dazzle stuff. I mean, I’ve heard you singing in the shower, bitch. You can get whatever role you want. You just have to believe.”
I snort. “The fact you just auto-tuned your own voice is both impressive and disturbing.”
“You’ve been spending far too much time with me because that sounds exactly like something I would say.” Waggling her eyebrows, she reaches for her margarita and takes a long sip.
Laying back against my chair, I sigh. “Who knows if I’ll even follow through with it at all. I have a hard enough time visiting my grandmother as it is. Adding another obligation when I don’t have a car is only going to make things more difficult.”
Last week, Gideon had driven me to visit Nina three times, but even he has commitments now because wrestling conditioning has started. Apparently, little Townsend wants to follow in Satan’s footsteps.
