“The Devil’s Track?” I frown, glancing at Kristine, but she’s now flirting with some senior at the car behind mine. Figures.
“Mia, your aversion to social headlines is a bit strange.”
I turn back around only to come face to face with Avery and Charlotte, the middle makers and the other half of the R.A.C.K. God, they need to get a better name for themselves.
“The Devil’s Track is where these airheads race,” Avery starts, her eyes wide and bright as always. “They use that dangerous road, you know, the one that stretches at the edge of the rocky cliffs?”
I nod mutely, seeing the road clear as day in my head only because both my parents instilled it so deeply in me, when I first got my driver’s license, not to drive there at night.
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Of course, it is. That’s why they call it The Devil’s Track, silly. Oh, and it’s totally illegal to street race, let alone there, but it’s fun none-the-less.” Avery extends a wine cooler to me. “Something to drink?”
I eye the drink skeptically and Avery sighs.
“I didn’t roofie it or anything.” She smiles, rolling her eyes.
“Yeah, sure you didn’t,” I mumble, but I don’t take it.
See, the thing about Avery Jones is, she’s nice. As in, she’s super polite to everyone. Never says a bad word about another soul. She’s always helpful to those in need, does all the good Samaritan shit. Volunteers at shelters and soup kitchens. She’s beautiful, has big, brown doe eyes to match her brunette hair. She’s petite and innocent looking, the whole nine yards of nice and sweet.
But, above all that, Avery Jones is FAKE.
“If I wanted to harm you, Mia, I’d have done it already without wasting energy smiling in your face,” she says with a light shrug.
“I believe that,” I murmur, and she chuckles.
See, the girl has a mean streak in her 5’4" body. The kind of mean that’s almost to my level, but no one’s ever accused her of being ice cold. That’s because she doesn’t own up to her ugly like I do.
She keeps it tucked underneath her good vibes and team spirit, Bring It On chants when she really is, AGGRESSIVE. She cares entirely way too much about what people think of her though. It’s sad really.
“Here.” She extends it again, making me sigh. “Take it.”
“I meant it, Av,” I chuckle. “I can’t. I’m driving.”
She shrugs then takes a sip herself. I fold my arms taking her and Char in. “I take it you’re not going to this illegal racetrack?”
“Please, don’t let her meek, daisy-loving exterior fool you. She loves anything forbidden. Isn’t that right, Av?” Charlotte starts in her sexy Australian accent that turns heads and rolls necks, standing in her suede combat heeled boots, fit for pranking or murdering someone and then going to slide down a pole in latex pants and a tight all you can ogle corset.
With a body like a goddess, her Brown skin literally glows like the light of a thousand diamonds in the sun. With an attitude for days, Charlotte Parker looks like Mazikeen from the TV show, Lucifer. And if I’m being honest, she dresses like her too. Down to the tight tops, the leather mini-skirts, the shiny black polished nails.
Char’s preference to dark matte lipstick works really well for her. Her curly black hair that’s sometimes straight, other times a glorious Afro makes her look like the flawless, gorgeous queen she is. She’s stunning and she knows it. And everyone at Clintwood A., knew better than to mess with her.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Char,” Avery denies, her voice soft and demure, looking around. “Anyway, Mia, we heard that you and Roxy actually exchanged more than two words today. Did it rain blood after that?”
“Almost, but not quite. We did get more crab cream for Flor over there,” I say, nodding at Florence McCall, the resident desperado of Clintwood A, a persona non grata who tries too hard to belong. She’s been like that since we were in kindergarten together. I guess some people make it, others just…don’t.
“Oh, the poor dear.” Avery sighs, shaking her head. “Who invited her?”
“Damn, she’s still around?” Char tilts her head to the left, studying Florence. For someone who spends all her summers in Australia, and is only here in the US for school, Char has a tendency of not really caring much about anyone else. I love her no fucks given, goth-like attitude. She’s real. “Would have thought someone finished her off already. But don’t change the topic, Mia. I heard you talked to Roxy!”
“Without cursing, too!” Avery smiles, her face lighting up like a beacon of hope and all that fairytale shit. Avery’s too polite. Too kind. Too sweet and sugary, the direct opposite of Char and everything that makes me want to barf. “I have to say, you’re destroying our rep.”
“Oops, sorry about that,” I start, smiling back. “I’ll make sure to slap her across the face in between cursing her entire family to hell and back. Maybe they’ll pass through a couple of ‘high-end’ thrift stores on their way there. We all know how Roxy likes to be the best dressed when she’s meeting her match, even in hell.”
Or her maker. It really depends on how you want to look at it.
“That girl would gladly send her own family down to the seventh circle of hell.” Avery glances over her shoulder at her besties, the other half of the R.A.C.K; Roxy and her twin sister Kendra. One of them is probably Liam Fitzgerald’s girl…but then, I might be wrong about that.
Roxy and Kendra look nothing alike and are currently in the middle of a one-sided argument, with an impassive looking Roxy just standing there with a disinterested look on her face. Each time Roxy responds, Kendra looks like she’s just been slapped across the face.
Kendra’s tall and a bit lanky. Roxy is petite and curvy. Kendra’s into sports, and Roxy, well, let’s just say her sport of choice is making other people’s lives miserable.
They once tried to ‘act alike’. They tried dressing the same, but I knew even when we were kids, that they silently resented each other even though they appeared to the rest of the world like they’re best friends.
They weren’t, and it’s all starting to burst out like fireworks on the fourth of July. I wonder if it might have something to do with a boy…
“Way to give us a prelude for the summer,” I mumble, watching the two polar opposite twins.
“What?” Char asks but I know she heard me when she shoots me a discreet wink.
“Since when is Kendra a redhead?” I question, narrowing my eyes at her.
“Since she decided those ugly, disgusting looking baggy plaid pants were the next ‘it’ thing,” Char says with a frown. “Talk about a fashion statement.”
“A messy fashion statement.” I shake my head. There’s a time to wear plaid sure, everyone knows that, but on Kendra, it looks like a plaid machine vomited on her. “That needs help.”
“My sentiments exactly!”
Kendra’s hair is a fiery red now, which gives one hell of a contrast to her pale skin. She’s even dressing differently from what I remember. She looks meaner, a bit more aggressive as she stares her sister down. They even look like they’re from two different worlds.
“Everything alright, over there?” I question, my stomach churning. I know it’s none of my business, but they are sisters after all. God knows how many times I’ve wished for a sibling.
“Yeah, same old, same old.” Charlotte sighs. “It’s not like people don’t know that they argue. A lot.”
“Don’t say that, Char!” Avery rushes to her best friend’s side. “They’re just having a disagreement. Families fight sometimes.”
Yeah. They fight until blood is spilled on the floor, mixed with tears and bouts of vomit.
“Avery, don’t be naïve. We both know they’ve been going at it like that for years.” Char argues, rolling her eyes. “I guess they’re reaching their point of no return.”
“What do you mean?” I question as Charlotte leans back on my car like I am, watching a
s the guys get ready, excited for the race.
“Well, if I’m right, it looks like…”
“Charlotte,” Avery cuts her off, a warning in her eyes. “Sorry, Mia, it’s just that making assumptions is where rumors start, and we don’t need that floating around.”
She says that while looking over at Kristine who’s now watching us with eager eyes. Roxy walks over to us, discreetly wiping her cheek, but otherwise her armor is intact. I think.
“Ladies, are we bad mouthing Mia for the rest of these assholes to hear or is this friendly?” Roxy questions, her voice soft. She grabs the wine cooler Avery passes her and chugs it all down in a few seconds.
All eyes shift to her, Kendra’s absence obvious to everyone watching. There’s tension around us and I know Roxy doesn’t want to deal with it, seeing as behind us, her sister is now kissing Roxy’s ex-boyfriend or is he her ex-plaything? I’m more out of the loop than I thought. It’s a good thing I don’t have freaking #fomo.
“It’s after hours, Roxy, we can be bitchy tomorrow,” I say with a smile, feeling the vibration of my phone but I ignore it. I bet Dad just realized his car’s gone.
“Thank God.” Roxy breathes, looking disgruntled. “I can’t do your particular kind of insults some justice tonight.”
“Hey ladies!” Kristine chirps as she comes closer, a huge smile on her face, awe in her eyes. “Hey, Roxy.”
Charlotte, Avery, and Roxy stare at her, sizing her up, judging her. It’s only then that I get it.
The R.A.C.K doesn’t like Kristine.
Usually when this group doesn’t like someone, they make that clear. Why are they holding off now? Why keep their mouths shut?
Kristine is practically obsessed with the queen bitches of our school. She worships the ground Roxy walks on and I swear, she sees herself as Kendra’s replacement…since her name starts with a ‘K’ and all that.
“Hey, Kirsten,” Avery starts after an awkward silence. Like I said, Avery’s a fake one with a bleeding heart. Don’t ask me how that works, but it does for her. “Are you Gerard’s new fuck buddy?”
“Oh, uh…” Kristine starts, panic in her eyes as she glances at me, then over her shoulder at the dude she was kissing. “I didn’t know he was taken…”
“Oh no, love. I don’t, and I’ll never, have any attachments to that boy. You can have him, Kirsten.” Avery giggles.
“It’s Kristine.”
“Sorry, my bad Kristina.” Avery smiles.
“It’s—,” but before Kristine can finish that sentence, a loud noise breaks the laidback vibes around us.
“Oh hell no!” Sean shouts just as cans of something hissing are thrown onto the driveway.
“Get back!” Someone shouts and people scramble away from the cans.
“Omg, what’s that?” Avery rushes, clutching my arm with a death grip.
“Looks like fireworks.” I peer closer and then notice a number of cars zooming past the street, each one slowing down when they pass the open gate. Shadowy, hooded figures hang out the window, throwing the smoke canisters at us, laughing wildly.
“Who is that?”
“St. Jude!”
Chaos and pandemonium break out.
One of the cans lands on a pile of wood, close to what appears to be a shed. The boys notice it and rush toward it before a fire can start. Next, fireworks start popping off into the sky, one by one, with so much noise that I almost stick my fingers in my ears. But these are not the fun kind of fireworks. These are special.
Each firework lights the dark sky with the words, ‘COMING AFTER YOU’ in red.
Bloody red.
Chills go down my spine as I watch, immobilized and strangely fascinated. The sky lights up every few seconds with loud bangs and pops, each time displaying the same message.
“Throw them away!” A random guy shouts.
“Look over there!” A girl screams and I watch in horror as firecrackers start popping off in someone’s car.
“Holy shit,” Charlotte breathes as we stand there, watching helplessly, not knowing what to do.
“Oh my gosh, they put those fire thingies in Brian’s car!” Kristine shouts, horror on her face. Smoke fills the air around us, for a moment, it’s pretty difficult to see anything.
“We have to get out of here,” Avery stresses, her face scrunched up in a delicate frown.
“Yeah.” Charlotte agrees. “We need to get to the Devil’s Track right now.”
“You’re shitting me!” Avery gasps. “You can’t be seriously thinking of going out there after what just happened.”
“Are you kidding me?” Charlotte starts, excitement on her face. “Tonight’s about to be one hell of a night. We’re so going. My money’s on St. Jude!”
“I heard Julian is racing.” Avery’s eyes widen and she looks at Charlotte then back at me and Roxy. “I’m so going.”
I freeze the moment his name rolls off her tongue. My head snaps up and my eyes zero in on her.
“What?”
“Julian Fitz?” Avery sighs, then whistles like she’s in a strip club. “That man was created to make me hot and bothered, sweet Jesus.”
“Yeah, sure,” I grit out.
Some nights, I dream of the kiss we shared at that hospital. I think of what might’ve happened had I not talked to those damn journalists. He was coming after me when I ran off, wasn’t he?
“Hmm, why so bitter, Mia? You still mad about your car?” Char starts laughing.
“I’ll never not be mad about it. My baby is new!” I grumble, but that’s not it. He was there. He targeted my car on purpose. I know he did. And these fireworks, they feel like a message for me.
“Girl, it was a few eggs and some trash. They could’ve easily done much worse than that.”
Why do I get the feeling that ‘much worse’ is about to happen?
“Besides, did you hear about their older brother, Aiden?” Kristine starts, making Roxy, Char, and Avery fall silent. My heart starts pounding so hard in my chest, my stomach feels like it’s going to collapse to the ground through my ass.
“What?” I croak, then clear my throat. Sweat dots my brow as I think of Aiden. I’ve never seen a picture of him. I don’t even know what he looks like. The Fitz House made sure the press never got a hold of Aiden Fitzgerald’s picture after I went and opened my big mouth. “What happened to their older brother?”
“Mia…” Avery starts, a sympathetic look on her face. “You didn’t hear?”
I mutely shake my head then glance at Roxy, but she looks faraway. If I look at her closely, I think I’ll see tears in her eyes, so I don’t. I look at Kristine instead.
“What happened?” I demand.
“The papers say he had leukemia for a while,” Kristine starts, her words now a slight slur. “They say he had it for maybe two years? They’re not really sure.”
For three years. Aiden was in hospital with only his younger brother for support three years ago. The way Julian was so hurt and angry that day… but touched and kissed me like the world started and ended with me.
“I know that.”
“Yeah well, Aiden died from advanced leukemia a week ago,” Kristine finishes.
Aiden’s gone?
My heart cracks all over again in my chest. It seems when it comes to the guy I hate he manages to make me feel everything even when I don’t know him.
“But their parent’s divorce was…” I start, glancing at Avery and Char.
“That was three days ago, and it was very public,” Avery supplies.
Oh God. I feel sick all over again. A brother dies and mere days later, their parents are in a high profile, public and messy divorce? I try sucking in a breathe so I don’t pass out. I feel clammy and uncomfortable. And even more so, I’m in pain. I wasn’t counting on this much agony with this news.
Aiden’s gone. I wonder how Julian’s taking it. God…
“Do you know them?” Roxy blurts out from nowhere, her eyes narrowed on me.
“The Fitz brothers?” she stresses, straightening up now, eyes flashing with something I can’t place. “Do you know them?”
I freeze, forcing myself to remain stoic and neutral. But why am I panicking? I don’t know the Fitz bothers. Just a kiss here and there, is all.
“Roxy, I’d be a fool living under a rock if I didn’t know the Fitz brothers,” I say calmly, watching her right back.
“Yeah, Roxy,” Avery starts, a frown on her face. “What gives?”
Roxy shakes her head, looking tired all of a sudden. “I think I’m wasted now.”
No, she isn’t. That was possessiveness I saw in her eyes. It wouldn’t be the first time that a girl has felt like she owns the Fitz brothers. But… Roxy wasn’t just any girl.
“I don’t care if you’re wasted, we’re still going to the track,” Char states in a matter-of-fact way.
“But I thought—,” I start but trail off.
“Bitch, there’s only one Julian Fitzgerald, and fuck, that man is the definition of male species, created specifically to feature in women’s most erotic dreams.” Avery sighs, looking dreamily into the distance. “We’re are all going to the track.”
A flare of white, hot anger rises in me, and for a moment, I want to wring her neck. What the hell is wrong with me? He’s just a guy. A guy who I just had a moment with, then burst the bubble of privacy around his older brother. No big deal.
“Avery,” Roxy chides. “Down girl.”
“Holy glitter, I’d do that guy in a heartbeat.” Avery breathes, looking dreamy.
“Yeah, if he notices you,” Roxy counters, making Charlotte roll her eyes. “And for Pete’s sake, drop that holy glitter crap. Glitter is a nuisance, it’s not divine.”
Amen to that.
“Please, Roxy, we all know how you have stalker eyes for Liam but when we have a game or any other party where you suspect he might be present, you disappear!”
We all turn to look at Roxy. I notice the way she holds Avery’s stare, her chest moving up and down so fast, I swear, her heart is pounding.
“As if I’ll ever lower myself to be with that manwhore.” Roxy tosses her blonde locks over her shoulder as she straightens from leaning against my car, now looking at me. I almost smile but look away instead. “Why would I waste my time talking about him, of all people?”
Devious Kisses: A Bully Enemies -To-Lovers Romance (It's Just High School Book 1) Page 14
