My Beautiful Poison (Wicked Poison Book 1)

by T. L Smith

  “I’ve never seen anything like this before. Even the bed matches.” She turns to me. “Did you build all of this?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wow! That’s some talent there, Auggie.”

  I scrunch my nose up at the name she has used.

  “My name is August.”

  “Oh, I know, but I prefer Auggie, it sounds…” she looks up, a mischievous grin playing on her lips, “… cute.”

  I shake my head. Cute. That’s not a word to describe me.

  We both go quiet as we stare at each other. She runs her hand up her arm, a gesture that she’s cold before she speaks again.

  “I should get going. I have to work tomorrow.”

  “You should,” I reply. She nods and goes to walk past me, but I don’t move. Half of my body blocks the doorway. Rylee sucks in a breath when our bodies touch, and I reach up out of instinct to touch her, the same arm she ran her fingers down earlier, so I do the same.

  “I should…” She doesn’t finish her sentence as I move my fingers back up her arm and the crease of her elbow. Goosebumps prickle on her skin as my fingers ever so slightly touch her stomach.

  “You should,” I say back to her.

  She leans into me slightly, and I open my mouth as she does. I know what she wants. “I’ll be seeing you, rich girl,” I say, dropping my hand away from her and stepping back so she can leave. It takes her only a moment to realize what was about to happen before she treads down my stairs, and I hear the front door shut, followed by the start of her car.

  “That was weird,” Paige says as she steps into my house the next day after school. She throws her bag on the floor, walks into the kitchen, and automatically starts baking. I bought her some essentials that she asked for, and the rest she brought over a few weeks ago.

  “What?” I say as I’m washing my hands. She makes me help, but just with the small things.

  “Don’t play dumb.” She gives me her teenager eye roll. I laugh and shake my head, passing her the mixer. A knock is heard on the front door and Paige is first to bounce off to open it. I grab the cupcake tray and place it on the counter for her.

  She’s quiet. I can’t hear any voices.

  The hairs on the back of my neck raise when I make my way to the front door.

  Paige is standing there smiling at Josh.

  Josh, the scum of the fucking earth.

  “Paige, get back to cooking.” She turns back to me, her smile fading, but she does as I say. When she’s gone, I stalk over to him and step outside, shutting the door behind me.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask. He opens his mouth then his lips turn up.

  It's fake, just like him. His silver grills sit on his bottom teeth, and he licks them.

  “Is that any way to greet an old friend?” the bastard has the audacity to ask.

  “Fuck off,” I seethe, leaning in. “And if you ever come back, I will fucking kill you.”

  “Now, now, now, August boy.” He’s always called me that. He’s only ten years older than me, but he acts like I’m some stupid fucking teenager.

  Wrong.

  I worked for Josh on the streets, selling, breaking into places for him. He paid me well, until the last job that sent me away for good.

  It was a job that was meant to be easy.

  But when I turned up and saw two of his other men there, I got cold feet. They called me a pussy and put a gun to my head, telling me I had no damn choice.

  Robbery.

  In the end, it was a set-up.

  They broke into the store, marched me to the cold room, and locked me in there, destroying the place and taking everything they could.

  I was found in the cold room with a gun on the floor next to me.

  The bastards had called the cops on me.

  Those bastards set me up.

  Josh denies it all to this day.

  In court, they told the judge that it was me who had a gun to their head and made them do it.

  They got parole.

  I got prison.

  Turns out, they stole a lot of money, and the shop was owned by a government official.

  Just my fucking luck.

  “I’m not your boy, Josh,” I spit back at him. “Now fucking leave.”

  “That your little sis in there?” He nods. “She’s a cute little thing,” he says with that evil fucking smirk of his.

  “I am not kidding, Josh.” I step up closer. “Don’t come around here again or anywhere near her.”

  “Your mom asked me to come around,” he says, that awful smirk never leaving his damn fuck ugly face. “Told me to tell you she wants you to come visit.”

  Drugs and alcohol fucked her up early on when I was a kid. It’s how I met Josh to begin with. I worked for him to pay back her debt, then he offered me more money than I could refuse. It’s hard when you’re a teenager and have nothing and someone offers you something for jobs you know are wrong but you need food.

  And I needed food.

  I turn and reach inside, grabbing the bat I keep by the door. I swing back around to see he is no longer on the porch. Now he’s standing near his car, his hand up in the air.

  “I’ll be seeing you, August boy.”

  Chapter 9

  Rylee

  Anderson ignores me all week. Oh, he calls and texts, but not once does he make an effort to come and see me. So when Friday comes around, I know I have to go see him because clearly, he isn’t coming to me.

  Pulling up to where I know he is—at a party, as usual—I walk in with people staring at me. I’m dressed in my work clothes because I couldn’t be bothered to stop at home to change. I need to do this now, or I’m afraid it’ll never happen.

  One of Anderson’s friends spots me first. His eyes go wide with the realization that I’m here because I never come to these things. Getting drunk every weekend does not interest me. Sometimes you have to grow up, and clearly, Anderson doesn’t know how to.

  “Hi, Blade,” I say to him while checking around for Anderson. Then I spot the fucker walking out with a girl by his side. His eyes flick to me, then flare, before he strides my way. His hand goes to my waist, and he pulls me out the front door and away from everyone.

  I go because I need to speak to him.

  His hand is tight on my arm, and I shake it off once we get outside.

  I look up, then take a step back.

  “You have a little something right there.” I tap the side of my mouth. “Lipstick.” I smirk. “Thank you so very much for making this easier. Don’t contact me anymore. I’m telling my parents I have called it off. This…” I wave between us, “… is off.” I watch as he takes my words in. His face changes from confused to shocked, and finally to anger. His eyebrows are pinched, and his lips pursed as he stares at me with furious eyes.

  “You don’t get to call that.”

  “I do.” I step back again.

  The front door opens and a girl steps out. Her hand goes to her belly. She’s the same girl who was standing next to him when I arrived. “Your new flavor of the month is searching for you,” I say, glaring at him.

  He steps forward, grabs hold of my arm again, and holds it tight. “Rylee, you don’t get to choose. Haven’t you figured that out since I first cheated on you? It’s a weekly event. Don’t act like it’s affecting you now,” he snarls while his fingers dig deeper into my arm. I know it’s going to bruise, and I’ll have to hide them too.

  “Get…” I say silently, “your hands off of me.” I raise my voice for that last part. “Before I scream,” I say when he doesn’t drop them.

  Finally, he does, and I step farther back.

  “Rylee, you can’t escape me. We are destined.”

  “Bullshit! Now lose my number,” I say as I rush away and get into my car, only checking back once to see if he’s following me. Thankfully, the other girl is keeping him occupied.

  Driving away, my hands shake on the steering wheel. As soon as I see a park, I pull over
to give my shaking hands and beating heart a chance to rest.

  My phone starts ringing, but I ignore it. Clenching my hands, I try to stop the shaking that is taking over my entire body from what I just did.

  I just ended something that has been a part of my life since high school.

  It was well overdue, but that doesn’t make doing it any easier.

  It’s hard.

  But necessary.

  Anderson, despite being the cheating prick he is, and the abusive asshole he’s become, was there for me for many years. Yes, he may have shown sympathy in times of need for his own agenda, but he was there for me.

  A part of me loved him. It’s why I stayed so long when I really should have walked away years ago.

  My phone blares again, and when I pick it up to check, I see it’s my sister.

  “Ry, gosh, where are you?”

  “Driving.”

  “Okay, well, drive your ass here, would ya?”

  It’s where I was going anyway since home is not an option right now. And Anderson wouldn’t dare come near me around Rhianna. He knows she will not take his shit.

  Managing to catch my breath and stop my shaking hands, I drive to Rhianna’s to see her already at the front door. Her hands are crossed, and she is in her pajamas as she stands there waiting for me.

  Closing the car door, I make my way to her.

  “Anderson tried calling me. And we all know the only reason that would be is because you finally broke it off with him,” she says with a gigantic smirk. “I’m glad. Really happy for you, Ry.”

  I rub my hand up my arm where he grabbed hold. It’s hurting badly. “It was long overdue.”

  “Yes, very much so. Now come… let’s go and kick Noah out of my bed, and you can tell me how your week has been.” She hooks her arm through mine as we step inside.

  “I can’t kick your boyfriend out of your bed. I’ll sleep on the couch,” I say quietly, so we don’t wake Noah.

  “Nah, he won’t care. And he knows you’re always first, Ry, no matter what. Do you get that?”

  Her bedroom door opens, and Noah rushes out dressed in only boxers, rubbing his eyes when he sees us.

  After looking straight at Rhianna, he says, “I’ll take the couch.” We watch as he goes back in, grabs a pillow, then lies down on the couch with no hesitation.

  “Told you,” she says as she pulls me to her bedroom. It’s where I sleep when I stay. We shared a bed through most of our childhood. Even though we had our own, one way or another, we would always end up in bed together. It wasn’t until I started seeing Anderson that it changed, and Rhianna moved out. Then I started to come to her house when everything was too much.

  I pull my cardigan off my body and kick my shoes away before I climb into bed with her.

  “You’re bruising,” Rhianna says, gently touching my arm. When I check, it’s red, and a light purple is starting to come through. “So, it didn’t go well?”

  “Better than I thought.”

  If I’m honest with myself, I expected to walk out with worse than a sore, bruised arm. But she doesn’t need to know that.

  “I hate him,” she says and rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling. “If I could get away with it, I would put rat poison in that bastard’s coffee and kill him.” She works at a coffee shop and dreams about all the ways to kill Anderson, and she’s come up with some doozies over the years.

  I laugh at her.

  “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Noah calls from the living room.

  We both crack up laughing, knowing full well he’s a lawyer, and if she was put on trial for murder, he would get her off. He’s simply that good.

  “You hush, or I’ll put it in your morning coffee,” she says back to Noah, making him groan. He knows she would never do that. I have never seen my sister so smitten in my life.

  And she picked a great one to be smitten with, that’s for sure.

  “I heard something…” Rhi says, turning so we are both lying on our sides facing each other. “Well, Vicki did.” Vicki is Rhianna’s roommate and best friend.

  “Yeah?”

  “That Anderson knocked up a girl,” she whispers.

  My mouth opens, and my eyebrows rise at her words.

  “He’ll do anything to get rid of it,” I say. “His family believes marriage before kids, and he does whatever they say like a good little boy.”

  “Yeah, supposedly she went to his parents first, and she’s past her first trimester.”

  I go to speak, but words fail me.

  Why would he not have told me?

  How come no one told me?

  “I don’t understand.” A tear slips down my cheek.

  She wipes it away fast as if it wasn’t even there.

  “Did he expect to keep me as well as her?” I ask, confused.

  “I would make a solid bet on that. Absolutely he would think that way.”

  “He was with a girl tonight, actually…” I try to remember her appearance. “She had her hand on her belly when she came outside. I just assumed she was cold.”

  “Yeah, well, his mommy and daddy are not happy, so we hear.”

  “When did you find out?”

  “Tonight. Vicky told me, and when I managed to wrap my head around it, I figured you would be asleep, but then he called. I didn’t answer.”

  “How long has he known?”

  “For a few weeks,” she says.

  That would explain why he’s eased off on the pressure of a ring after that night he came to my room.

  How dumb can I be?

  Really.

  “I need to move.”

  “Yeah, you kind of do,” she says, sliding her hand into mine next to me. “Vicki might be moving in with her boyfriend, so you want to live with me?”

  My first thought is to say no, but then…

  “Yes. Yes, I do.”

  “Good. It’s a done deal. I’ll tell her tomorrow.”

  I lay my head on her shoulder, and she runs her fingers through my hair as I fall asleep.

  I wake to Rhianna curled on her side, still asleep. I manage to get out of the bed without waking her and quietly make my way out of the room. When I get to the kitchen, Noah is at the counter, a coffee in his hand as he reads something on his phone. When he turns, he smiles. “Coffee?” he asks.

  “I’ll get it.” He nods and checks his phone again. I fix a cup and give him a sideways glance. “You love her, right?” I know it’s a silly question, but I need to hear it.

  He places his phone down and gives me his full attention. “With every breath I take. She’s it. The crazy and all.”

  “She’s pretty special.”

  “And so are you. You both are extraordinary…” He pauses as I pour my milk. “I can file restraining orders if need be. Just let me know.” He nods to my arm.

  I flinch when I see the black and purple ringing my forearm. Guess I’ll be wearing cardigans until the bruising is gone.

  “August mentioned you helped him,” he says when I bring my drink to my lips. “Thanks for that. He wouldn’t have liked it, but I’m sure he’s appreciative.”

  “He wasn’t,” I reply, remembering how mad it made him that I bought his groceries.

  Noah chuckles. “Give him time. He isn’t the monster people paint him to be.”

  Rhianna comes out of the bedroom, then steps up behind Noah and wraps her arms around his neck.

  “No rat poison in that coffee now, is there?” she says with a wink at me.

  I can’t help the laughter that leaves my mouth, and it’s genuine. More so than I have felt for a long time. My happiness has been something no one cared about, even me.

  “Woman, you aren’t making my coffee anymore,” he says, pulling her around so she is practically in his lap.

  “Oh, hush, you. I don’t want you dead… yet. I need you for the orgasms.”

  “Priorities.” He chuckles at her words. I look away because, no matter how much I love t
hem, I’m also jealous of what they have.

  Chapter 10

  August

  I never really had any true friends before I was locked away. People only hung around me for popularity or drugs. I had both, and they all wanted it. So it was no surprise when I got locked up that I never heard from any of them. But as I stand in front of Sully with my hands full of food, I can’t help when my face turns into a scowl.

  He was the only one I assumed would be there, who would at least write. I had known him the longest. We’d been friends all through school.

  “August,” he says and gives me a once-over with his eyes. I’m dirty from finishing up the backyard this week. I had to fucking do something after rich girl left because no matter how many times I stroked my fucking cock, it didn’t do me any good.

  Her pink lips wrapped around it is what it wanted.

  “Sully.” I nod and step around him to begin my walk home, not giving him the time he clearly didn’t want to give me. I hear his footsteps and then see him next to me. He hasn’t changed much since I last saw him, still tanned with blond hair. I had originally put him in that pretty-boy category, but he fell out of it when I realized I liked who he was as a person.

  “I didn’t know you were out.”

  Not stopping my pace, I squint my eyes and face forward.

  We’ve stepped out of the shopping area. I might add it was a lot easier to make my purchases this time than last time because asshole rent-a-cop must have had a day off.

  “You live locally?”

  He doesn’t ask if I am back with my druggy mother, even though I know that’s what he wants to know.

  Again, I don’t answer him.

  “August, can you stop, so I can talk to you?”

  I huff. Stop. Then turn to face him. Not speaking.

  Sully scratches his head and gives me a sort of smile. “Thanks, man. I’ve been trying to see you.” It’s a lie, but I don’t want to argue about a moot point, so I turn around and keep walking. “Fuck, man, I have.”

  “You don’t owe me anything, Sully. Now, fuck off.” I hear his footsteps stop, but I don’t slow down. As I walk down my street, I see a very attractive woman sitting on my bottom step. When she notices I am there, I swear I see a glitter in those dark eyes.