“I will beat your ass.” Brittney threatens and I start laughing, circling her again, then I move her hair over her shoulder, knowing damn well that I’m invading her personal space.
I want her to know what that feels like. To be backed into a corner by someone. To feel powerless as a monster rips every shred of innocence and youth from you. She shivers but I don’t over away.
“Whooo, you got some balls on you. I guess it goes with all that mileage.” I say, glancing at Kim who now has her arms folded, completely giving me the floor to wax this bitch poetic.
“You’re about to break yourself, Brit.” Kim says with a smile. “We don’t have to start talking about your mother just to shit on you, doll face. You shit on yourself on a daily.”
I watch with satisfaction as Brittney’s face grows red, her little foot starts tapping on the floor. She’s getting worked up.
Good.
“You fucking shut up! You have no idea what’s coming for both of you.” She seethes.
From the corner of my eye, I see them start moving but I raise a finger, halting their movements. I got this.
Kim snorts then, watching her. “You get ready for what’s coming now if you don’t shut your mouth. You wanted to be a big bitch? Put on your big bitch panties and face us properly.” She says, hate in her eyes.
Kim really hates Brittney with a passion that rivals mine. I don’t know what Kim sees in Brittney but whatever it is, I won’t let Kim get in trouble and waste away her life of this low-life. She has her sisters to take care of.
“I don’t know. . .” Brittney starts but I cut her off.
“Here’s how this is all going to play out, my dearest Brittney Toilet Slum.” I say, rounding to face her again.
“What my mother does, is none of your damn business.” I start, our gazes locked. “Who my father is, is also none of your fucking business but baby girl, those boys.” I point to Ace, Emmett and Noah who are standing by the doors, arms folded, gazes hooded and looking sexy and intimidating as hell. Brittney almost trips the moment she spots them, as does the rest of the students in the cafeteria but Kim and I are not fazed. We knew they were there a long time ago, catch up bitches.
“They are mine. They will never be yours. And since you’re desperate for something to gossip about, you can run that along down the chain.”
Her friends and the rest of the cafeteria gasps but Kim chuckles. Sexy, low, intrigued and very much enjoying this.
“I know you want to get your ass beat, Brittney and that’s coming if you don’t turn on your second hand, painted on red bottom heels right this instant. I don’t think you would appreciate it if I allow Kim to give you a proper face re-arrangement.” I say, scanning her face from left to right. And to think once in my life, I actually wanted to look like this girl.
“We wouldn’t want all that money to go to waste, now would we?” I mock in a baby voice.
I’m so sick and tired of this girl and I’ve just about had it with her always winning.
“Brittney’s shoes are designer! Made just for her!” One of her minions shouts behind her, placing a hand at her hip.
“Really?” I question, suddenly showing amusement that I don’t feel at all. I’ll be damned if Brittney walks away from this thinking she has me in a corner just because she heard about what happened after the game last Friday.
All eyes drop to the floor as people in the cafeteria push each other to look at Brittney’s shoes, which are truly chipping away. The ruckus laughter starts out slow as students take out their iphones to take pictures of Brittney’s shoes. No doubt she’s going to be all over Instagram as a meme by the end of the day.
“Custom made, huh?” I say, eyeing Brittney whose face is now so red, I feel like I need to step away before she bursts all over my white blouse. I don’t want Emma or Trumbull at home, thinking that I have truly lost my way. Committing murder is not the way to go.
“This isn’t over!” She seethes.
“Don’t break yourself, Brit.” I tsk softly, trying to make her feel as pathetic as she looks. “Your genes will start to show.”
She looks back at me with so much hate but by this point, her hate doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t even move me at all. Simply because I know what real, true, vicious hate feels like.
I can feel his gaze on me, studying me but I’m still so mad at him. Doesn’t matter though, I’m going to fucking hunt him down today or tomorrow. Not now.
“Oh, but you are going to wish I broke you.” She whispers, looking over my shoulder to Kim with a smile that makes a shiver race down my spine.
Devastation. . . .
That’s what I feel as Brittney’s eyes connect back to mine.
And with that, she turns on her heels, pushing her friends away.
“Oh shut up!” She shouts as she goes but I soon tune her out as I turn to look at Kim just as the end of lunch bell rings throughout the school.
“Are you alright?” I question her but she is still breathing hard, staring at where Brittney was, her gaze haunted.
When I look again, Ace is gone. Only Emmett and Noah are here, waiting for us.
“Yeah, I’m good.” She says, shaking herself. “I’m sorry, I think we should do that job search tomorrow, I’m not in the mood for school or that anymore.” She grits out, biting her words with so much tension and venom that I swear if anyone listens carefully enough, they will be able to hear her molars grinding.
“I mean, I don’t feel like going back to class, do you?”
I study Kim, watching the way her tense body is moving as she collects her bag, packing away her uneaten lunch. Her robotic movements suggest that she is about to burst at the seams and after what just happened now, so am I.
“Yeah me too. Let’s get out of here.” I start, getting my bag as well, avoiding the curious gazes of the students around us who are obviously trying to eavesdrop.
“You drove right?” I question, already thinking of what exactly I need to do once I get back home. I just hope Amanda or Richard isn’t there. I don’t think I can face them just yet.
“Yeah, Noah had my car fixed.”
I pause, my eyebrow raising again.
“Yeah, yeah I know. He said he knows a guy, who knows a guy, who does his cars.” She rushes to explain, color filling her cheeks again.
I grab the uneaten lunch so I can throw it in the trash as we go, choosing not to respond to what Kim just admitted to.
Noah is not a genuinely nice person. He doesn’t just think of doing things for other people that are not his family, and I know for a fact Noah doesn’t look at Kim like she is his family.
And I also happen to know that he doesn’t have ‘a guy’ who does his cars.
If Noah had Kim’s car fixed, he did that himself.
But, it’s still none of my business and Kim is mum about it but something tells me that time will tell when it comes to these two.
“Boys.” I greet as we pass them, heading for the doors. “Who is taking me home today?” I question. And for once, Emmett smiles down at me and my heart almost dances.
I can’t express just how much I missed seeing that absolutely gorgeous yet devastating smile of his. It makes my heart soar, my face beams with joy and my breath catches.
I missed him so much.
“Hey.” He mumbles.
“Hey yourself.” I say.
“I think you’re back now.” He says as he loops his thick arm over my shoulders and we start walking towards their private parking lot.
“Am I?” I question.
“You’ll never be the same but you’re not a victim, Raea.” He says then kisses my head.
Hmm, I did good, didn’t I.
If only it were that simple. . .
“Alexander sweetheart, let me talk to you.”
I ignore her grating, rough voice as I open the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water. My head is pounding with all the fucking scotch and then vodka that I have been drinking these past days
, not bothering to go to school after following Myers to fucking nowhere. The guy just drove, then circled around to fucking come back to Westbrook Blues.
I don’t know what kind of game he’s playing at but he’s damn good at it.
And then when I finally do go to school, I find my girl face to face with the girl that stabbed her in the back.
Fuck.
“I know you think I’m the bad guy here but sweetie, I’m trying to protect you.” She speaks again, trying to gain my attention. But as always, I ignore her. But in true Denise King fashion, she just carries on.
“I know I haven’t been the best mother in the world, Alex but I’m trying to protect you from these vindictive, lying trailer trash. . .”
I still as soon as those words leave her mouth. I snort and then chuckle, closing the large, industrial like fridge that seems to be so fucking out of place for a mansion that never has guests, unless those said ‘guests’ are in on a particular plot to destroy everyone else, then why the fuck not.
Everything in this house and about this house, is a sign of power, domination and wealth. Much like the lady of the house herself, dressed like she’s about to have tea with the queen of England—if ever the queen has biscuits with conniving women like my mother, that is.
“Trailer trash huh?” I chuckle, twisting the water bottle in my hand. Fuck, I’m going to crash soon, but not before I do what I need to do.
I keep chuckling and I hear her gasp when the words register with her.
“Well, yes.” She says. I can just about see her raising her chin, and straightening her shoulders, owning her harsh words towards the girl I love.
“Protect me, huh?” I question, turning around as I lean on the fridge, watching her.
“Alex, you know what I mean.” She breathes, now looking wary.
“Oh no, sweetie.” I drag the word, imitating her voice, remembering how she used it when I first told her about Larry.
“Not now, sweetie.”
“Sweetie, that isn’t possible. Larry wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Sweetie. . .”
“I truly don’t know what you mean, Denise. You are an intelligent woman, and I obviously am not, so please, enlighten me.” I mock with a smirk and she frowns, watching me.
For all intents and purposes, I probably look like I’m thoroughly enjoying this conversation but inside, I’m far from wanting to be near this woman, let alone hear any of the shit she’s about to hurl out. I watch, looking amused as she straightens her shoulders and takes a step forward.
Gearing up for a fight are we now? Well, you’re in luck Mother dearest, I feel like I could demolish the whole world right about now.
“I know you think I was a selfish mother and that’s on me. When you were born, I was really immature. Young and out of my mind, a fool for your father really and I didn’t know what it was like, being a mother. Or what it meant.”
“Aaaw, I’m sorry Denise. Did you want us to go on Dr. Phil or Oprah so we can dissect what a selfish human being you are?” I question with a smile, drinking my water.
She stops, her face getting sterner as if she’s about to cuss me out but instead, she takes a deep breath and tries again. Huh, will you look at that, she’s learning something from all those therapy lessons.
“Alex, I know you’re angry at me. I know that I wronged you, big time by being selfish and self-possessed enough that I wasn’t paying attention to what was happening under my own roof. . .” She cuts off like a broken record as if she’s actually feeling the pain that I went through but I’m not a fool. And I know my mother.
“Really?” I raise an eyebrow, feeling tense all over but I will never show it. “Tell me more, Denise.” I say, mocking how her therapist or her shrink, whoever she sees, probably behaves when she starts justifying her evil deeds.
“There is no need for sarcasm, Alex. It really doesn’t suit you.” She says.
“Being a bitch doesn’t suit you, but here we are.”
“Alex!” She gasps.
“Mom, you should have known that I really didn’t want to talk to you when I ignored you, all the way from the golf course to this fucking kitchen. You really don’t know how to read a room, now do you?”
“Alexander I’m trying to tell you how sorry I am for everything.”
“Everything like what exactly?” I demand but she opens and closes her mouth like she doesn’t even know what to say.
I chuckle again.
“You can’t even say it, can you?” I mock. “I guess actually acknowledging everything and saying it out loud is too much for you because it will make everything real, wouldn’t it?”
“Things are different now. I was young, I didn’t know how. . .”
“How to be a mother or how to at least be a decent human being and protect another human being even if you didn’t feel ready to be a mother?” I question, looking at her long and hard.
Silence stretches between us. I just watch her, drinking my water. Trying to be calm. Trying to forget the way Star went after Emmett on Friday. Trying to forget the way she dismissed me in Christina’s kitchen. Trying to forget the way she went after Brittney—Brittney who has a plan of destruction in motion, backed by the fucking Phoenix Corps.
Tonight.
I’m letting the demons come out and play tonight.
“Okay, so I wasn’t the best person before.” She starts, shaking out of her stupor. Denise has balls of steel, I’ll give her that. Only she only seems to have them when it comes to her personal agendas.
“But I’m present now. I’m paying attention.”
“To what exactly, Denise?” I question, with a sigh, as I finish my water, unable to stop thinking of the way this very woman eviscerated the heart and soul of the girl I love in one single night.
“To her! To everything! I know she has a plot against you and I’m trying to protect you from her!" She passionately cries as she takes a step forward. “I know her type, she attracts danger everywhere she goes and over my dead body will I ever allow her to hurt you.”
And you’re right. Over your dead body.
“In what way will she hurt me exactly?” I question, folding my arms.
“Well, you know, she’s from Amanda so she’s definitely a. . .”
“I would watch the next words that come out of my mouth if I were you.” I seethe, taking a step towards her, then another, watching her grow still, holding in a breath. I am my father’s son after all. I know she sees him when she looks at me.
“Astraea is not suitable for you. I’m sure her mother will use her to exploit you, then destroy you after breaking your heart.”
She is right though. Astraea has the power to break my heart more than anyone else in this world because my heart is in her hands Hell, life itself is in her hands.
“So, let me get this straight. You are trying to say that Amanda and her daughter, have hatched this wicked plot to exploit me?” I pretend to muse, pretending to look stupid. “Exploit me for what exactly? My money?”
“Yes! As well as the connections, the power and all the influence this family has had for generations upon generations.”
Is this woman delusional? Is she off her meds?
“Is that why you had her sent away?” I question, watching her flinch.
“You weren’t supposed to know that.”
“Oh but you were clear enough on Friday when you decided to do the devil’s work with your idle hands.”
“I did it for you, Alex.” She says as she starts crying. Actual tears roll down her cheeks but those too, are fake because that fire in her eyes that’s just beneath the surface, it’s still there.
I know that fire well. She’s gearing up for a fight.
“I did it for you because I knew if you found out what had happened to her, you were going to relapse into your own horrors and that would. . . that would lead to your father. . .”
My father beating me up all over again.
I stay sil
ent for a while, watching her as she breathes deep, hard and fast.
“I wasn’t there for you when all those terrible things were happening to you. I couldn’t stand up for you. I couldn’t fight for you. I was helpless and selfish but I knew I had to find my fight. I couldn’t just sit there and watch Amanda destroy everything. . .”
“So Amanda is to blame for what happened to her own daughter?” I question.
“Knowing her, yes! That woman is attracted to all sorts of danger and malice, Alex! That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I wouldn’t put it past her to set her own daughter up!” She says and I remain mute, tense as anger builds in me, nerve by fucking nerve.
“That woman had her beady sights set on this family for a long time, it doesn’t surprise me that she started. . .”
“Sleeping with your husband.” I finish for her.
“Well yes. . .”
“So, you decided to break her daughter’s spirit in vengeance.” I finish and watch as her eyes widen. There’s the truth.
She doesn’t deny it. She doesn’t even look away.
“Your fight is against Amanda and in the process, you decided, in all your esteemed wisdom as the great giver, Denise fucking King, the reigning queen of Westbrook—to issue a decree that whatever has your ex best friend’s DNA you would destroy. Even at the expense of your son’ sanity or happiness.”
I nod my head as I speak, tracing the way my mother thinks.
“Sending her away, was your way of trying to break our connection, wasn’t it?” I demand and she remains silent.
“Wasn’t it?” I demand again, my voice now silent and deeper this time, as the cloak of humanity threatens to fall away.
“You know why the fuck I sent her away!” She bursts out, her tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Oh please, I really don’t know.”
“You said it yourself once. You hated her when you met her.” She starts, walking towards me. “You despised her, the way she looked. The way she moved.”
“Denise. . .”
“Or was it the color of her eyes?” She questions, getting close to me.
“Stop right there.”
Vicious Hate (Westbrook Blues Book 2) Page 21
