“Would you both like something to drink? You can tell me about your little trip.”
Thankfully Gran turns away to pour us both a lemonade, so she misses the colour that hits my cheeks as I think about what our trip mostly entailed.
Jake stays for almost an hour before he excuses himself. “Walk me out?” he asks, reaching out for my hand. I slide mine into it and he pulls me from my seat and out to the garden.
He comes to a stop just before the trees that hide his trailer from Gran’s bungalow. He pulls me to him and rests his arms around my waist.
“I don’t think she likes me.”
“She hasn’t had a chance yet. Give her time we kind of ambushed her.”
“She’s only seeing my reputation and my surname.”
My gossiping Gran is probably well aware of who his mother is and what his life is like.
“Just let her see the real you. The person you show me, not the arsehole the rest of the town see.”
“You really think I’m an asshole?”
“Jake,” I say with a sigh, lifting my arms over his shoulders and linking my fingers behind his neck. “That is you surviving. I get it. I understand why you wear the mask you do but I think maybe that it’s time to start shedding it.” I make a rash decision and one I hope doesn’t come back to bite me on the arse. “It’s Homecoming on Friday. Will you be my date?”
Terror flashes over his face and I immediately regret the question. I’m forcing too much on him too fast.
“It’s okay. Forget I said anything. It was stupid.”
“No, no. It wasn’t stupid. I just didn’t see it coming. If you want me to be your date, then that’s what I’ll be.” He lowers his head and brushes his nose against mine. Butterflies flutter in my belly at the thought of him announcing what’s between us to the world.
“Are you sure? Everyone will be there.”
“More people to be jealous that you’re mine then.”
My heart tumbles in my chest before he presses his lips to mine in a soft, simple kiss.
“I’ll see you later. Don’t lock the door.”
Heat pools between my legs at the prospect of a late night visitor.
“Okay. See you soon.”
He drops another kiss to the tip of my nose and disappears into the trees.
“You know who his mother is, right?” Gran says the moment I walk back into the house. The second I turn from the direction Jake went, I saw her looking through the window.
“I do now. She turned up at school demanding to see him yesterday.”
“She came back?”
“Yep. It knocked him for six.”
“Amalie, come and sit down a minute.”
I follow her order, although it’s with a ball of dread in my stomach.
“I’m not going to tell you what you can and can’t do, or who you can and can’t see. But that boy, from what I’ve heard, is bad news.”
“Trust me, Gran. I know exactly what Jake is capable of. I know about his reputation and how he’s forced to live his life. Our relationship wasn’t all flowers and hearts when we first met but for some reason, we keep finding ourselves drawn to each other.”
“And that kind of connection shouldn’t be fought,” Gran says, the old romantic within her bubbling up once again. “I just need you to be aware of who he is. His mother is—”
“A disaster?”
“Yeah, something like that,” she chuckles. “I trust you, Amalie. You’ve got a smart head on your shoulders and if you say he’s worth it, then I’ll welcome him into this house with open arms.”
“Thank you, I really appreciate that.”
“So, Homecoming dress shopping with Camila later then, huh?”
“How do you know about that?”
“She wanted to know if you’d be back for it when she came to pick you up for school this morning. She looked pretty excited about it.”
“She is.”
“Are you going?”
“It looks that way.”
“You should probably be a little more excited about it.”
“I know. It’s just that parties and I don’t seem to mix all that well so I’ve no reason to think this one will be any different.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. You’ll have a strapping young man on your arm this time.”
My lips curl up into a smile at the thought. “Yeah, I just hope that won’t bring me any more trouble.”
I fill Gran in on some of the high school drama that is now my everyday life before going to get ready for Camila to pick me up for dress shopping.
She ends up dragging me into every single clothes shop at the mall. And in true female style, the dress she buys was the very first one she sees.
As promised, she makes me buy her a burger and chips for dinner and nags me for every minute detail of my time with Jake.
“You know all the girls at school are going to want to kill you, right? Not only has Jake Thorn kissed you, but he spent the entire night with you.”
“Yeah, I’m aware.”
“It’ll be fine. If he’s as into you as he says, then he’ll kick them all into shape. No one will say anything to you if they’ve got half a brain.”
“I bloody hope so.”
As I lie in bed later that night waiting for my late night visitor to appear, I run through the events that led up to us skipping town yesterday. I still feel stupid for not putting two and two together, especially after he explained that it was where I came from and my parents’ industry that he really hated.
I’m just starting to drift off to sleep when the phone ringing fills the bungalow. I listen as Gran walks down the hallway to get it before her voice filters down to me.
“Amalie, are you awake?”
“Coming.”
Pulling a hoodie over my shoulders, I make my way down the dark hallway to where she’s standing by the phone with just a lamp on lighting the room.
“It’s the detective from London. I thought you’d want to hear first.” My stomach drops into my feet.
“Shit.” Blowing out a slow breath, I try to prepare for whatever he might have to say to me. I take the phone from her and lift it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Miss Windsor-Marsh, Detective Griffin. I have some news regarding your parents’ crash.”
“Okay,” I say, my voice shaky as my hand trembles at my ear.
“The crash has been deemed as a horrific accident. Our investigators can’t find any evidence of anything on the helicopter being tampered with.”
“Oh my god,” I breathe.
“It’s over, Amalie. I know it won’t be easy, but I hope that now you have the answer you’ve been waiting for that you’ll be able to move on with your life. You’ll need to speak to your solicitor but your parents’ possessions and accounts etcetera will now be released. I’d advise setting up a meeting as soon as you can.”
“Thank you.”
“I know it’s late there, but I wanted you to know as soon as I got word to tell you.”
“I really appreciate that. Thank you so much.”
He says his goodbye, I place the phone back on the unit and fall back against the wall. My knees give out and I crash to the floor.
Tears stream down my cheeks, but I don’t sob like I’d expect.
“What did he say?” Gran asks impatiently.
“That it... that it was an accident. No evidence of anything untoward. It’s over, Gran. It’s done and they’re gone.” It’s those words that make my dam break. Gran drops down beside me and holds me to her as we both cry for everything we’ve lost.
I’ve no idea how long we sit there crying on each other’s shoulders, but all of a sudden, a thought hits me and no matter what, I can’t make it go.
“I need to go back.”
“What?”
“I need to go back to London.” The thought of being able to pick up some of the things I was forced to leave behind has me on my feet in seconds.
“
Let’s try to get some sleep and then we’ll look for flights in the morning.”
“No. I need to go now.”
“Don’t be crazy, Amalie,” she says, but I’m not listening, I’m already halfway to my room to grab my laptop. In minutes I have the website open and searching for flights.
“There’s one for tomorrow.” Grabbing my card from my purse, I book it and slam my laptop closed.
“You can’t just run to London. What about school?”
“I’ll just be a couple of days,” I say as I fill a holdall with clothes. “I just need to be there. I need to... I need to say a final goodbye now that we know.”
“Hold your horses and I’ll come with you.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I need to do this alone. I need to figure out a way to put my old life behind me.”
“Okay,” Gran says with a nod and a sad smile. “I understand. I’ll drive you to the airport. Just promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Promise me you’re coming back.”
41
Jake
I should have been expecting it, but when the knock comes on my trailer door, I call out for whoever it was to enter, stupidly assuming it’s Ethan or Mason. But when I look up, my blood runs cold as I watch my so-called mother step up into my home.
“Jake,” she whispers as if I’m a wild fucking animal that’s going to bolt at any second. If she wasn’t blocking the door waiting for me to run, then I might consider it, but I’ve spent the last decade planning what I might say to her should she ever reappear and now it’s my chance. “I can’t believe how big you are, and so handsome.”
“Because that’s all that matters to you, isn’t it? Looks. You couldn’t give a fuck about what’s in the inside because your heart is black.”
“Jacob Thorn,” she scolds and it just fires me up more.
“No. You don’t get to come storming in all these years later and attempt to parent me. You gave up that responsibility the day you walked out of my life, leaving me with those two cunts.”
“How can you say that about them? They took you in when I couldn’t do the job properly. I was ill, Jake.”
“Bullshit, Mother. You weren’t ill, you were just fucking greedy. Someone told you that you had a pretty face, offered you a decent paycheck and off you went like you had no one depending on you. And as for those two.” I point up toward the main house. “They were so good at looking after me, they shoved me down here on my own when I was barely old enough to look after myself.”
“I’m sure there was more to it than that. From what I heard, you were a bit of a terror.”
“So they removed me from their house and left me down here to do as I wished. Are you fucking surprised?”
“I’ve made mistakes, Jake. I’m only human.”
My muscles tense and my chest heaves that she can stand there and make such claims after everything. My fists clench with my need to hurt something, mainly her but I won’t give her the privilege of calling the cops on me, because I’ve no doubt she would, followed by selling the story of her abusive, uncontrollable son to the press.
“No. You’ve not just made mistakes. You’ve ruined my fucking life. You had one job the day you gave birth to me. To put me first. To make me your priority. But you failed. You failed every step of the fucking way. So I’m sorry if you expected to walk back into my life and I’d welcome you with open arms but that is never going to happen. If you came back a few weeks, even a month later, I might have considered forgiving you. But now, no fucking chance. Too much time and too much pain has passed.” Taking a step toward her, she visibly cowers like I’m about to hit her.
I swing my fist, but it ends up nowhere near her face. Instead, it smashes through the kitchen wall and into the spare bedroom.
“Please, Jake,” she cries.
“Your pathetic tears won’t work on me.”
“Please, I want to make up for everything. I’m not going anywhere this time.”
“Well, I am. I’ve got nothing more to say to you.”
Pushing past her, I jump down from the trailer and run.
She has no right getting up in my space and trying to make up for mistakes. No fucking right.
I run until my legs burn with pain and my lungs aren’t capable of sucking in air fast enough. What I need is Amalie, but I’m no good to her showing up like this.
Instead, I come to a slow jog as I head up Mason’s drive. Other than Amalie now, he and Coach are the only ones who know about my mom. I do my best to keep her a secret for fear of the guys Googling her and watching her fucking porn videos. I’m not stupid enough to think they’re all oblivious. When she was riding high, this town loved to ride her fame coat tails. Weird how it all came to a grinding halt when she was caught snorting cocaine off dirty old toilet seats in some backstreet bar.
I bang on the door as I try to get control of my breathing. Thankfully, it’s Mason who comes to the door, I’m not sure what anyone else would make of the state of me.
“Glad you’re still alive,” he says, opening the door wider for me to enter. “Where the fuck you been?”
“Uh…” I follow him down to his kitchen, the sound of kid’s TV blasts from the playroom as we pass. “Your mom here?”
“Na, she’s... out.”
Mason likes talking about his home life and family situation just as much as I do. So I just nod in understanding and continue following him.
He pulls two beers from the fridge and passes one over.
“Kate’s back.”
The bottle stops halfway to his mouth and his chin drops.
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
“Be a fucking hilarious joke, right?”
His lips twitch up but seeing as he lived through the whole thing with me, he finds it about as funny as I do.
“She turned up at school yesterday afternoon demanding to see me.”
“Shit, man. What did you do?”
“I ran. Seems Brit saw the whole thing and when I got back home, she was waiting for me. We stole my uncle’s car and fucked off for the night.”
His eyes widen in surprise, but I swear I see a little bit of pride in them too.
“And how was that?”
“Fucking mind-blowing, bro. But I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Fucking knew you were in love with her.”
“In lov—” My words falter as I consider his statement. Am I in love with the girl who I thought I hated? “Fuck.”
“Took you long enough to figure out, bro.”
“Jesus.” I scrub my hand over my chin as a child screams bloody murder.
“Mason, Charlie keeps hitting me with his truck.”
“Fucking hell. Let me go deal with them.”
Mason walks back down to the playroom and has a stern word with his two younger brothers before coming back looking exasperated.
“Is your mom ever planning on investing in a real sitter so you can get out and live your life?”
“She keeps promising things will change, but I gave up hope of that ever happening a while ago. Just gotta keep going. One day we might win the lottery or some shit. Anyway, my issues aren’t the most pressing right now. What the fuck are you gonna do about your mom?”
“Other than hope she fucks off as quick as she did last time? Stay out of her fucking way. I can’t be dealing with her bullshit.”
“Na, not now that you’ve got a girlfriend to worry about.”
“Fuck. I’ve got a fucking girlfriend.”
“Bro, the chicks at school are gonna lose their shit. They’ve all been vying for your attention for years and then Amalie walks in and sweeps you right off your feet.”
“She didn’t sweep—”
His eyebrows almost hit his hairline.
“Fine. Okay, maybe that happened a little bit.”
I drain my beer as Mason chuckles.
“Another?”
“Gimme all you
got. Gotta drink that bitch out of my system.”
I hate that I miss sneaking into Amalie’s bedroom when I told her specifically to keep her door unlocked. But getting fucked up with my best friend is exactly what I needed. Even if he did spend the night playing daddy to his kid brothers.
When I wake the next morning, it’s with a banging head but Mason ensures I’m up by ripping the sheets off and threatening me with a bucket of cold water.
“If you don’t get your ass off my floor, get dressed, and show up for practice, Coach will have your balls.”
“I know, I know,” I mutter, trying to get my arms and legs to work enough to get me off his rock hard floor. I already know I’m going to be in his bad books for missing the previous two days of practice.
Coach isn’t the reason why I drag my ass off the floor though. It’s Amalie that has me stumbling toward Mason’s bathroom so I can shower off the scent of last night’s alcohol consumption. Day two into our relationship and I’m already going to be groveling after not showing my face last night.
The thought of her waiting in bed for me wearing a tiny pair of panties and a shirt thin enough to see her nipples though makes me wonder what the fuck I was thinking staying here last night.
I avoid our usual spot when I get to school. The last thing I need right now is fucking Chelsea pretending to care where I was yesterday. Instead, I head straight toward Amalie’s locker. Only, she’s not there.
I have no idea what her schedule looks like, I’ve spent the past few weeks trying to pretend that I don’t care, something which I’m now regretting more than ever because it would help me find her faster.
Knowing who I need to ask, I walk toward Camila and her small group of friends. Sadly, that also involves Shane, someone who never needs to cross me ever again. Everything inside me begs for me to hit him for what he did to my girl at that party, but something tells me she wouldn’t be happy if I did. She seems to be under the illusion that he’s a good guy and couldn’t possibly be the one who drugged her.
Ignoring his death stare, I place my hand on Camila’s shoulder and turn her my way.
THORN: A High School Bully Romance (Rosewood Book 1) Page 23
