After Burn (High School Bully Romance) (Diamond Lake High School Book 1)

by K. L. Middleton

  “You seriously need help,” I told him.

  Looking like an enraged bull, he turned and stormed away.

  Feeling everyone’s eyes on me, I kept mine down and hurried to my first hour class. When I stepped into the room, I saw Mattie at her desk. She looked up at me and her expression told me all I needed to know. Whatever had happened to Chase’s car, she was definitely responsible. I couldn’t believe the lengths she was willing to go to try and destroy me.

  I walked over to her desk and stared down at her.

  She looked up at me in amusement. “What’s wrong? Having a rough morning, Bait Girl?”

  It took everything I had not to punch her in the face. “What happened to Chase’s car?” I asked angrily.

  She smirked. “I don’t know. You tell me.”

  My eyes burned into hers. “I’ll get back to you on that. See, I’m pretty sure there are cameras in the parking lot of Sports Mania. I bet they’ll be able to identify who really keyed your boyfriend’s car.”

  Her smile fell away.

  This time it was me grinning. “Didn’t think that one all the way through, huh?” I said before turning on my heel and walking to my desk.

  28

  Chase

  I couldn’t stop fuming about my car and knew I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. As much as I wanted to force Mackenzie into paying for the damages, I was afraid to actively pursue it. I couldn’t lose the studio and I wasn’t going back to my old man’s place. I didn’t want to take that chance, so pissing off her grandmother wasn’t an option.

  “Hey, Bro. Did you confront the new girl about your car?” Bruce asked, when we saw each other in the hallway after First Hour was over.

  “Yeah. She’s denying it.”

  He grunted. “Right. Who else would do it? She was angry when she left the store. We both saw it. I’m surprised she left my car alone.”

  “She probably didn’t know which one was yours. Anyway, Audra’s younger brother witnessed her vandalizing my Mustang. He has no reason to lie.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know. There’s not much I can do.” From her reaction, I knew she wasn’t going to cough up any money either.

  “Hell, yeah there is. Make her pay for it,” he said firmly. “That bitch shouldn’t get away with this.”

  I explained my predicament.

  “Fuck. That sucks.”

  I nodded.

  “Are you going to get it fixed?”

  “When I have the cash.”

  I thought about the contest with Gus. If I won, it would definitely help cover some of the cost of getting the Mustang repainted. I just didn’t know if I could push aside my anger enough to be friendly to Mackenzie. Let alone have sex with her. Although, I was no longer feeling guilty about using her for the bet. She was a cold-hearted bitch.

  “What about asking your dad for help?”

  I knew involving him would only make matters worse.

  “No. He’d probably try and get me to move back home if he coughed up the money,” I replied, brushing off the idea.

  Bruce sighed. “Well, shit. If you need anything from me, let me know.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  He took off and I headed to Chemistry. I sat down and a few seconds later, Mackenzie entered the classroom. She avoided eye contact and sat down next to me.

  Letting out a frustrated sigh, I forced myself not to bring up the car again. As pissed off as I was, I knew it wouldn’t help me get the money and I was more determined than ever to win it from Gus.

  Mackenzie, on the other hand, had other plans.

  “I’m going to prove that it wasn’t me who keyed your Mustang,” she said, looking right at me. “There should be video surveillance showing exactly who did it.”

  “Okay,” I replied, a little surprised.

  “I don’t know who Jack Freemont is, but he’s wrong.”

  Caught off guard by her determination to prove her innocence, I started having doubts now myself.

  Had Jack been wrong?

  Or was she playing me?

  Not knowing what else to say, I shrugged. “I guess we’ll see.”

  “We damn well will,” she replied firmly.

  When the bell rang for lunch, I decided to seek out Freemont and question him again. I hadn’t seen him since returning to Sports Mania, last night. I’d found him skateboarding in the parking lot by himself. He’d sworn up-and-down that it was Mackenzie who’d been fucking with my car. Now I wondered if I’d been made a fool.

  I found Freemont at his locker, by all the other tenth graders. Everyone in the hallway stared at me in surprise as I approached Freemont, who wasn’t paying attention.

  I tapped him on the shoulder. “Yo, Jack.”

  He turned and stared at me in surprise. “What’s up?”

  “I talked with Mackenzie. She swears she didn’t do it.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah. Are you sure it wasn’t another girl?”

  He nodded. “I’m sure. It was her.”

  “She said that if I checked the security surveillance it would that prove she didn’t do it. I have a buddy who works there. His dad owns the place. I think I’m going to see if he can set that up for me.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah.”

  He suddenly looked anxious.

  “Is there something you want to tell me?”

  Jack’s eyes moved past me. “Uh, no.”

  “Hey, what’s going on over here?” Mattie said with a smile in her voice as she came up behind me. “You two look like you’re up to something.”

  Had she followed me?

  I turned and looked at her. “We’re just talking about my car. You hear what happened?”

  “Yeah. It’s horrible,” she said. “That’s why I came to look for Jack. I heard he witnessed it. I wanted to ask him about it myself.”

  I looked at Freemont. “He said he saw the whole thing.”

  Jack nodded. “I… did.”

  Mattie sighed. “It just makes me sick. I can’t believe that Mackenzie took things this far. That’s really messed up.”

  “She claims that she didn’t do it,” I replied as the bell rang.

  Mattie snorted. “Of course she would say that.”

  “I have to get to class,” Freemont said, shutting his locker door.

  “Bye, Jack,” Mattie said.

  He nodded and took off quickly.

  “You don’t believe her, do you?” Mattie asked me.

  “I don’t know. I’m going to see if Bruce can get access to the video coverage.”

  Her eyes widened. “That’s right. His dad owns Sports Mania. I forgot about that.”

  “Yeah. It was her idea to check the camera footage. Maybe Jack is wrong. Maybe it really was someone else.”

  Or maybe I wanted it to be because I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Not just because she was gorgeous either. The girl had fire. She’d stood in my face and had denied everything without batting an eye. Either she was innocent or one hell of a liar. One moment I wanted to throttle her. The next, I wanted to grab her and kiss her.

  We started walking to the lunchroom, and I found myself looking for Mackenzie through the crowd. As pissed off as I’d been earlier, I really was starting to have my doubts now.

  What if she was innocent?

  I’d come down on her pretty hard. If she wasn’t the one who’d keyed my car then I had some apologizing to do. The worst thing was that I technically wasn’t supposed to be nice to her until after Saturday.

  A crazy thought hit me - what if Gus had been involved?

  He’d have to know how angry I’d be. How I’d blow up on Mackenzie if I thought she’d been involved. It would give him quite an advantage.

  Could he have paid off Freemont to lie?

  I brushed the ridiculous thoughts aside. It sounded too far-fetched for even Gus.

  Mattie suddenly stopped. “I forgot someth
ing. I’ll see you at the table.”

  “Okay.”

  She turned around and walked away.

  Meanwhile, I headed to the lunch line, still not sure what in the hell to believe anymore.

  29

  Mattie

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  I had to talk to Bruce. If Chase saw the surveillance tape, he’d never forgive me. Luckily, Bruce and I had hooked up once and had our own dirty secrets. If there was anyone who could get me out of this mess, it was him.

  I checked his locker first, with no luck, but then found him heading toward the lunchroom. Fortunately, he was alone.

  “Bruce,” I called out, catching up with him.

  He turned around and smiled. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “We need to talk.” I lowered my voice. “Alone.”

  He looked at me curiously. “Sure. It has to be quick though. I’m starving. All I had for breakfast was a damn granola bar.”

  “Don’t worry. It’ll just take a second.”

  “Okay.”

  We went to the library and found a secluded spot in one of the non-fiction aisles.

  Bruce turned around and looked at me. “What’s going on?” he murmured.

  “I need your help with something. You can’t tell anyone about it either. Especially not Chase,” I whispered.

  “What’s it about?”

  “Before I tell you… you have to promise me, Bruce,” I pleaded. “This can’t get out. Not to anyone.”

  “Okay. I get it. I won’t say a word.”

  “Thank you.” I took a deep breath and then revealed what I’d done.

  He stared at me in shock. “That was you? What in the hell were you thinking?”

  “I don’t know.” My eyes filled with tears. “I just freaked out and wanted to hurt her. And… him, I guess. When I saw them talking together last night, I thought she’d stolen him away from me. She’s already tried to ruin my reputation with gossip,” I lied, “Now, I’m beginning think it’s all been because of Chase.”

  “He’s not into her at all.”

  I laughed bitterly. “Only because he thinks she’s the one who keyed his car.”

  “Nah. He didn’t like her before either.”

  I brushed my fingers under my eyelashes, hoping that my mascara hadn’t smeared everywhere. “Maybe. Maybe not. He doesn’t seem to want to be with me anyway.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I explained how he only wanted to be friends. “Now, that’s not even going to be an option.”

  He grunted. “Probably not when he sees it was you.”

  I knew I should have paid Jack to key the car too. Not just to lie and say it was Mackenzie. Then he’d be the one on the video coverage.

  Dammit.

  “I wasn’t thinking straight. I regret it, Bruce. With all my heart. But, when he finds out I did it, he’ll go ballistic.”

  “Probably.”

  I grabbed his hand. “You’ve got to help me. I know I messed up. I’m even willing to pay for the damages. I just don’t want him to know it was me.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  “Look, I’m willing to do… anything.” I brought his index finger up to my lips, slid it into my mouth, and sucked on it.

  He groaned in pleasure.

  “Please, Bruce.”

  He let out a ragged sigh. “Fine.”

  I sighed in relief.

  “What exactly do you need from me?”

  I told him.

  “I’ll see what I can do. So,” he smiled wickedly. “When are you going to pay up?”

  “Whenever you want.”

  “How about I drive you home from school? We’ll discuss this further.”

  I forced a smile to my face. The idea of having sex with him again made my skin crawl. I’d been wasted the last time and had regretted it immediately. Now, I was stone-cold sober, and the idea repulsed me. Hopefully, he’d settle for just a B.J.

  “Sure.”

  30

  Mackenzie

  It felt like all eyes were on me again when I entered the lunchroom.

  “I can’t wait for the day that I become uninteresting in this school,” I murmured, sitting down next to Sara after grabbing a tray of food.

  She smiled. “Give it another week. Someone else will piss off Mattie and she’ll have a new target.”

  I let out a weary sigh. “It’s just so sad how she has such an influence on everyone. I mean, are we the only ones who see what a complete bitch she is?”

  “No. Everyone is just afraid to go against her. Even some of the A-squaders,” Sara replied. “By the way, what did you say to her in first hour? You left her with her mouth open. It was hilarious.”

  The look on her face had been epic. I smiled, remembering it. “I confronted her about the damage to Chase’s car. I know she’s involved.”

  Sara laughed. “Oh, that’s why she looked sick to her stomach.”

  Maya sat down. “Who looked sick to their stomach?”

  “Mattie,” Sara and I said in unison.

  Maya’s eyes widened. “Why, what’s going on?”

  I told her.

  “Seriously? I thought I heard something about that today, but just ignored it. You really think Mattie was involved?” Maya asked.

  I nodded. “Oh, hell yeah. I’m going to prove it too.”

  “I hope you do. Could you imagine her dad’s reaction?” Sara replied. “His ‘Baby Girl’ causing property damage? He’ll have a conniption.”

  I snorted. “Baby Girl.”

  “That’s what he calls her.” Sara lowered her voice to mimic his. “Hey, Baby Girl. You need another pair of Gucci slides? No problem. Anything for you, Princess. Oh, you need a new purse too? How about another Louis Vuitton? Let’s get you one in every color.” She snorted. “Between her mom and dad, I don’t know who’s done the most damage by spoiling her. She gets everything she wants.”

  Maya unwrapped her sandwich. “You know, if she gets busted then she’ll be looking for a new place to sit at lunch. Popular, or not, none of the A-squad would side with her for damaging his car. They all love Chase.”

  I glanced over at their table just as she was sitting down. “I hope Mattie likes eating alone because when I’m done with her, she won’t have any friends left.”

  Maya raised her hand in the air. “You go, Girl.”

  Smiling, I high-fived her.

  When the last bell of the day rang, I headed over to my locker and ran into Chase. He pulled me aside, which drew the attention of many others in the hallway. Some did double-takes and others began to whisper right away. I had to refrain from yelling, “Take a damn picture, assholes!”

  “I talked to Bruce,” Chase murmured, oblivious to the stares. “He’s going to check the video later and let me know who keyed my car.”

  I chewed on my lower lip. “I don’t trust him. He’ll probably still accuse me of doing it even when he finds out that it was someone else.”

  His eyebrows knitted together. “Why would he do that?”

  “He already has it out for me. I told you how he threatened me the other day. He claimed that I was spreading rumors about Mattie. Which, I wasn’t,” I said angrily. “Hell, at this point I think she’s spreading rumors about me spreading rumors.”

  He stared at me hard for a second and then chuckled.

  I frowned. “Why is that funny?”

  “Because you’re probably right.” Chase’s face grew serious. “Okay. I’ll tell Bruce that I want to see the video for myself.”

  I relaxed. “I want to be there, too.”

  He nodded. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

  “I have to work tonight, though,” I added.

  “What time?”

  I told him.

  “How about afterward? What time are you working until?”

  “I don’t know exactly. It’s my first day.” Now I felt stupid for not asking.

  “Where are you working?”


  “Herschel’s.”

  “Oh, okay. Why don’t you text me when you find out?”

  “Okay. I will. What’s your number?” I pulled my phone out and he gave it to me.

  “Are you still going to that dance on Saturday?” he asked, out of the blue.

  “Yeah, why?”

  He shrugged and looked away. “Just wondering.”

  Sonny appeared next to us. “Ready?” he asked, ignoring me.

  “Yeah, let’s go.” He looked at me again. “Don’t forget to text me. I’ll even pick you up from the diner if you need a ride.”

  That solved another one of my problems. “Okay. Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  He and Sonny took off down the hallway and I went to my locker. As I was unlocking it, I could feel Mattie’s eyes burning into me. I glanced toward her locker and found I’d been right.

  Ignoring her, I grabbed what I needed and headed out to the parking lot to find Kara. I found her waiting for me at her car.

  “Thanks for waiting. I’m sorry it took so long,” I said, getting into the passenger seat.

  “It’s fine.” She smiled. “I saw you talking to Chase. What did he say?”

  I told her.

  “So, he’s picking you up from work?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I wish I could join you guys. Let me know what you find on the video.”

  “Don’t worry. You’ll be the first person I text.”

  31

  Chase

  “What was going on between you and Mackenzie back there? Don’t tell me she confessed to keying your car?” Sonny asked as we got into my Mustang.

  “No. She swears up and down that she didn’t do it.”

  He snorted. “And you believe her?”

  “Yeah, actually I do. I think Jack identified the wrong girl.” I told him how we were going to Sports Mania to view the surveillance video later.

  “Whose idea was that?”