“Well, first I want a stiff drink. If you can smuggle that in tomorrow when you come and visit that would be super fucking awesome.”
“You’re incorrigible,” I say, shaking my head.
“And you and I are going to be fucking best friends.” He smiles. “I mean, I could be a friend with benefits if you ever need to get laid to let off some of that steam that’s coming from your ears.”
I don’t know where the blush comes from, but I get flustered and he chuckles lightly, so I swat his arm.
“What makes you think I’ll come back tomorrow?”
“You like spending time with me,” he says, like it’s so damn obvious. “You like the way I make you feel and the way you don’t have to try to maintain shit. You’re yourself in here and you like that. That’s how I know you’ll be back.”
“You’re a cocky, arrogant little shit, aren’t you?” I lean back and he winks at me.
“Baby, I’m everything!”
“Are you a user too?” I counter and he frowns.
“I’m many things, cupcake, but I’m not a user.”
“I’m not talking about drugs, jerk.” I laugh. “You were using me to get Kendra’s attention at that party two years ago.”
“Well, you made a lot of bitchy girls jealous that night, hot damn,” he says with a whistle. “You were the hottest thing there and I had you in my fucking arms. Well, for a short while.”
Yeah, we both remember what happened right after he took my top off.
“You know, you’re a weird one.” Liam smirks. “Defiant, snarky, sexy as hell in that uniform and I bet in anything or nothing.”
My jaw drops and I stare at him. “You’re a crude one, aren’t you?”
“What?” He laughs. “Don’t act surprised now. You’ve heard rumors about me. Well, that’s what you said.”
“Well, thanks for putting some truth to those rumors.”
“Did they tell you I have a big dick?”
“Shut up!” I can’t help but laugh. “What’s the second thing you want? And just in case I don’t make it clear, I’m not smuggling alcohol for you in here.”
“No way, that’s not how this relationship is going to work.”
“You want to get me into trouble.”
“Mia, you are the definition of trouble all by your lonesome self.”
“Still—”
“Listen, if you need my help, you have to help me with my shit. Call it quid pro whore, if you will.”
The fuck?
“Liam, this is serious and if I’m right, it might save your skin.”
“I’m dead serious here too,” he says.
Fuck. In all the lessons my father taught me about the art of negotiation, I think I’m dealing with a jerk who already has his mind set on what he wants.
“What do you want in return?”
“Nah, I’ll tell you when the time comes.”
“That isn’t fair,” I huff.
“Really? This coming from you when I heard how you played John at the house when your little broken family moved in?”
“You heard about that?”
Liam raises a brow, like I’m asking dumb questions. I sigh, then glance out the window, gathering my courage because I know I’m going to need all the strength I can get.
“I want to talk about Saturday night and how the car blew up,” I start, keeping my voice low. “Specifically, about who wanted Julian dead.”
I extend the device to him and watch as Liam grows tense right before my eyes.
“Holy fuck!”
Yeah, I have the evidence in my hand that can throw my ass in disgusting jail for maybe the rest of my life.
21
“Mom, your son is fine,” I repeat for the hundredth time as my mother, the great Courtney Mason-Fitzgerald, blazes down the hospital hallway, a determined look on her face.
“Oh yeah, why wasn’t I called?” she demands, her voice tense with worry. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that my baby was involved in an accident?”
I groan, already feeling a headache coming on.
“I sent you a text—” But she cuts me off, her voice hardening.
“A text that said Liam was ‘in a bit of flux but he’s alright.’ You mean that text?” she shrieks. Fuck my life.
“Mom—”
“What the hell does that mean? He’s in the hospital, Julian!”
“I didn’t tell you about all of this because I knew you’d blow a gasket over nothing.”
That’s also the wrong thing to say. I should’ve just swallowed my damn tongue.
She stops, spins around in her heels right in front of Liam’s hospital door.
“Blow a gasket?” she demands, her purse dangling from her arm like the wealthy, divorcee she is. “I’m about to blow a gasket because nobody in this god-forsaken town saw it fit to call me, the one who gave birth to that boy, breastfed him and raised him?”
I groan again, rubbing my neck as I look at her.
“Mom, calm down.” I keep my voice low to pacify her. Ever since she separated with Dad, she’s been more attentive—yeah, that’s a fucking nice word—to her children than she ever was before. Which is highly annoying. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise why everyone, including Liam himself, agreed not to tell her exactly what happened. “I didn’t mean to say it like that.”
“What did you mean then?” she demands, folding her arms.
“I meant, Liam’s a big boy and he’s alright. Nothing bad happened, besides, you said you were about to travel abroad.”
“And what kind of mother would I be? Traveling when my son needs me?”
I don’t say anything to that. I can see she’s truly upset, but then again, acting like a mother now, I still don’t how to feel about this so called ‘new leaf’ thing. My mother’s as unpredictable as they come, too unstable to take anything seriously, let alone a personality change.
“It would mean that you’re a secure mother, who trusts that her sons will call her when they need you.”
She huffs, then turns to open Liam’s hospital door only to come face-to-face with Mia sitting on Liam’s bed, so close to him, she’s practically in his lap. They look like they’re whispering secrets in each other’s ear.
The fuck?
My blood freezes in my veins in a flash. I’m hit by a sense of déjà vu seeing them close to each other that.
I hate it. I hate it with a fucking passion.
I notice her school blazer discarded on a chair by the window. She’s barefoot and smiling at whatever Liam was saying, but as soon as she sees me her smile freezes in place and I blink, feeling the faint remnants of her fading smile, making my heart beat painfully slow.
“What the hell is this?” I demand before Mom can say anything. I pass her, walking toward Liam’s bed, my eyes zeroed in on Mia who quickly jumps off the bed with a yelp, her eyes wide, watching me.
“Julian,” she gasps, but she looks away, her cheeks tinged red.
“Mom?” Liam starts, looking at the door. “What are you doing here?”
“Liam Christopher Fitzgerald!” Mom exclaims, her voice hard and unyielding. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were in an automobile accident and that you were laid up in here?”
Liam looks up at me, panicked. I was going to help him but after what I just walked into, the anger in me is demanding that I punch him right in the throat and then rip his fucking heart out. As for Mia….
“Uh, hey, Mom,” Liam stutters, then adopts his charming smile that works on our mom all the fucking time. “What’s up?”
“Hey Mom, what’s up? That’s all I get?” she starts. “I’ve flown all the way here, worried sick, my heart in my throat thinking that you were dying and here I find you with some skank who should be in school.”
Mia’s head snaps up and she looks straight at my mother, her jaw dropping open.
“Excuse me?” she starts, her eyes filled with shock.
“You heard exactly what I said.
” Mom waves her hand. “I bet you had your five seconds in heaven with my son. Leaving school for that? Yeah, no future and no brains. Now leave.”
Stunned into silence, I watch as Mia’s face pales, then she glances at me as if I’m going to say something. I don’t, even though the look on her face is making me feel shitty inside.
“Mom!” Liam chides. “This is Mia and that was rough. She doesn’t deserve your bitter anger over the fact that no one called you.”
The way Liam defends her makes me straighten up, my chest puffing out.
“Really?” Mom folds her arms again, staring Mia down like she’s the scum under her expensive shoes. “What’s so special about this gold digging, trailer trash little scum? Look at her, you can see her bones peeking? Are you here for money? Are you starving? I think I have loose change in my purse somewhere.”
Mia looks at Liam then she looks at me, her eyes hardening into aqua crystals right before my eyes.
“Mrs. Fitzgerald,” Mia starts, her voice calm, but firm. “I neither want, nor need your filthy blood money that you obviously have never worked for a day in your life.”
Mom reels back, as if she’s been slapped.
“And with all due respect, I’m not one of your son’s latest conquests—and honestly, I don’t know what that says about your parenting skills,” she says, keeping eye contact with my mother as she puts on her shoes. “But from what I can see here, we should be asking you what’s so un-special about you, that your sons would make a conscious decision NOT to call you about something as serious as this. Your son’s in the hospital with bruised ribs, a broken arm and a mild concussion and…they didn’t tell you. How do you feel about that, as a loving, dedicated mother?”
Liam clears his throat loudly, trying not to laugh and I just stand there, watching my Little Minx prove herself all over again. Letting me know that she not only has a mind of her own but that she’s as sharp as a whip. That fire on her tongue makes me want to kiss her into submission and everything else that makes her behave like she’s fucking mine.
“What did you just say to me, little girl?” Mom demands, her jaw slack.
“You heard exactly what I said,” Mia counters, a sugary smile on her face. “But then again, I think I shouldn’t make assumptions about you, seeing as I don’t know you.”
“You’re damn right you don’t know me, you little—” Mom starts but I effectively cut her off, keeping my voice low but sure.
“That’s enough.” I walking toward Mia. She tenses but doesn’t look at me so I grab her blazer and bag, shooting Liam a look when he starts saying something. “It’s time for you to go. You’re not wanted here,” I murmur for her ears only. She stares at me with hatred in her eyes.
“I was going, anyway,” she seethes, grabbing her blazer from my hands with aggression. “I don’t need you or your mommy to tell me what to do.”
And with that she smiles at Liam, frowns at my mom, then leaves, her hips swaying seductively as she goes.
Without thinking about it, I follow her.
“Julian—” Mom starts but I shut the door behind me. Mia power walks down the hall, her shoulders shaking like she’s crying.
Catching up to her, I grab her hand and tug her with me.
“Fucking let go of me, you jerk.” Her voice is hoarse and throaty but I ignore her, quickly going down one hallway, then to the next until we reach the door that leads to the back stairs that nobody uses.
“If you’re going to kill me—”
“Shut your damn mouth,” I growl.
We go down a flight of stairs, then I notice the supply closet up ahead. Opening it, I don’t bother with the light as there’s a small window with sunlight filtering in. It’s enough.
With so much fucking tension in my body, I push her up against the shelfs in the closet, kick her legs apart and step close to her, caging her in, leaving no room for anything between us.
She’s breathing hard and fast, tears glistening in her eyes as she looks up at me, that for a moment, I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say to the torment mixed with confusion and sadness in her eyes.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Mia demands, a lone tear falling down her right cheek. I want so bad to reach up and wipe it away but then the other side of me wants her to cry more.
“What the fuck were you doing with my brother in there?” I demand, watching as she fights her hurt away, but she doesn’t quite succeed.
“Didn’t you hear your mother?” she mocks, then laughs. “I’m your baby brother’s latest conquest.”
“Liam knows better than to touch you,” I grit out, seeing red.
“Really?” she taunts, watching me. “You think he wouldn’t want me? That he wouldn’t fuck me?”
I pause.
A part of me knows that she’s trying to screw me over but another part of me knows that she might be right. I saw the way Liam was looking at her, the way he defended her. And I remember the way they were all hot and heavy at that fucking party.
“Yeah, that look on your face, Julian,” she whispers my name like a tersely worded moan, seductively reeling me in with pain and lust. “That look of horror and anger right there, you have no idea how much I like to see it. Your pain makes me feel so hot.”
She chuckles, but it’s bitter as another tear rolls down her face.
She stands on her tip toes, then leans in to whisper in my ear, planting a kiss at the base of my neck. “You’d never deny your baby brother anything. Not even me.”
“Fuck you,” I growl then grab her throat, wanting to mark her all over again. “Fuck you and that dirty mouth.”
“Aww, what’s the matter, Julian? Afraid that your overly sensitive brother will fall in love with me?”
I lose it completely at those words. Everything around me, the sound of traffic right out the building, the smell of cleaning detergents…it all falls away as everything in me zeroes in on her.
All I can see is her.
All I can feel is her.
And all I can hate, is her.
“Fuck you!” I tighten my hold around her delicate neck, then lean and take a whiff of her intoxicating smell. “I’ve waited too long to put you in your fucking place.”
“Or maybe you don’t have the balls to do that, Julian,” she seethes. “Maybe you’re a coward.”
I smash my lips to hers, unleashing all the anger and rage into that kiss. It’s not a sweet kiss. It’s not like the one we shared three years ago when she fucking stole my soul and everything good in me. This is different.
This is a transition from a once innocent kiss into a fucking bitter, angry kiss.
Our teeth clash as our tongues battle for supremacy. She kisses like a vixen and she tastes like betrayal, hurt, lust, lies, and bitter longing that makes my dick harder than ever before.
She’s tastes like my undoing and my salvation. She tastes like she’s fucking mine.
She pulls away, planting her hands on my chest she pushes me away, but I don’t budge, the need in her eyes so damn brazen, a large part of me wants to answer it. To fill her up with me until I’m all she feels, all she needs and all she’ll ever want.
“You don’t have the right to kiss me.”
Like hell I don’t.
“You don’t have a right to be anywhere near my brother,” I seethe. “You’re nothing and you’ll fucking stay away from Liam before I light your shitty world up.”
She holds my gaze, then she starts laughing and it’s as bitter as her fucked up life.
“Not before I light yours up,” she counters. “Does Liam know about your deal with your dad? You know, the one you were talking to Cole about?”
Frozen, I hold my breath, watching her sharp smile turn her into a vixen from hell.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Fire a fucking shot, Julian.”
Looking rebellious and fucking defiant, her eyes blaze with the threat to destroy the most important relationship in my life, th
e one I have with my brother. I’ve made it this far by making sure no one comes between my brothers and I, but the only one who’s ever managed to hurt my brothers in some way, has been her.
“You wanted to kill my brother, working with your fucking boyfriend to plant a bomb in my car.” I see red all over again the moment I think about fucking Matthews. “You’re going to pay for that.”
“Ew, that barely mature man-child is not my fucking boyfriend and I never tried to kill Liam!” she shrieks, that anger back in her eyes. “I’ve been trying to tell you that!”
“You’re lying.”
“Why the hell would I lie about that?” she yells in my face, eyes blazing. “What do you think I am? A serial killer?”
“You’re cold, and you try so fucking hard to be emotionless, but we all know the truth. I see you for who you are,” I start, and she shivers, her gaze still on mine, unable to look away. “You’re a scared little girl. Scared to lose everything and everyone. But guess what, Little Minx?”
“Don’t,” she gasps, her eyes glistening with tears again.
“You’ve already lost,” I growl. “You’re empty. You’re alone and yes, you’re a fucking murderer.”
She lets out a light chuckle then. “You know what, I’m all of those things. I’m cold. I’m probably unloved, and yeah, maybe I want to harm your last living brother. But guess what, Julian?”
She steps closer to me. I can’t help but be drawn into the web of lies she’s weaving.
“It’s all because of you.”
“Don’t blame me for your emptiness.”
“You made me this way!” she cries, looking up at me with accusation and devastation in her gorgeous eyes.
Tears run down her face and I can’t help but lean closer to her and lick the tears away, enjoying the way she’s breaking. She tries to push me away, but I don’t budge.
“Don’t,” she fights, but I stand right there, licking every teardrop, growling when she trembles in pain. “Don’t touch me! You gave your emptiness!”
“Little Minx,” I groan.
“You kissed me three years ago, single-handedly messed up my life and broke my spirit. You turned me into this!”
Devious Kisses: A Bully Enemies -To-Lovers Romance (It's Just High School Book 1) Page 27
