by Eden Beck
“Alex!” she chirps, and I look up, pretending to just notice her now.
“Hey, Olive,” I say, hoping I sound surprised rather than as nervous as I actually am. I don’t know what I was thinking, agreeing to this.
I already know whatever happens tonight is only going to lead to more trouble for me.
And yet … here I still am.
She strides up to me, hips swaying, and wraps one arm around mine. I stifle the urge to flinch away, but she notices how I stiffen at her touch. Unless I’m mistaken, I swear a secretive smile tugs at the corner of her mouth.
“What do you know about the village?” she asks, nodding down the darkening street.
“Not much.” I shrug and glance at the bar behind us. “I know that this is a bar.”
She laughs and tugs on me to start walking, but to my surprise, we walk right past the bar’s door and continue down the street.
“Sure,” she says, a bit of reluctance in her voice as she agrees. “But that’s hardly the kind of place for a proper first date.”
Proper first date.
My throat goes a little dry at the sound of it.
“Okay.”
She eyes me with that little secretive smile of hers again. “No, I’ve got something much better in mind.” Olive’s eyes have left mine and search the darkness behind me instead. The sun has long since set, leaving the streets lit only by the yellow light of the lamps lining either side.
“There’s a restaurant near here that I like,” she says, her grip growing tighter around my upper arm. “Just on the other side of town. It’s a little bit of a walk, I hope you don’t mind.”
Suddenly, the prospect of actually sitting down in front of Olive and having an actual date—with conversation and everything—hits me like a truck. I should not be here. I should not be doing this.
The night suddenly feels suffocating.
“Actually, you know what, maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” I say, glancing back down the road towards the bar where the taxi dropped me off. Is it too late to bolt?
“Oh my god, is this about the walk?” she asks, folding her arms across her chest. “I promise it’s worth it.”
“I—I—yeah, it’s the walk,” I say, mind wracking for an answer. “I didn’t eat all day, and waiting around for food at a restaurant …” I trail off. “What if we just eat at the bar?
It’d be much easier to make an escape that way. Order a drink. Slip out the back.
Apologize later.
But Olive came prepared, apparently.
She just rolls her eyes at me. “Boys and their appetites,” she says, with a loud sigh. “Fortunately for you, I came prepared. I’ve spent enough time around Jasper to know sometimes you’ve just got to feed a boy to keep him happy.”
I balk at her a moment, but when I see her tug a granola bar out of her purse, I suddenly can think of nothing else. She’s barely pressed the wrapper into my outstretched hand than I’ve ripped it off an inhaled the entire thing in one bite.
“We can cut through here,” she says, taking the opportunity to tug me further away from the bar. I have no choice but to follow her down a narrow alleyway between two buildings, my mouth too full of precious granola to argue. I don’t even bring up the fact that it’s kind of weird of her to bring up Jasper already.
Or the fact that somehow I doubt feeding him is the solution to keeping him happy. At least, where I’m concerned.
There are no streetlamps in the alley, leaving it so dark that we instinctively huddle close together as we walk. Her hand grips even tighter around my arm in the dark, her nails digging into me until I have to bite the inside of my lips to keep from crying out. I feel her resolve waver, catch her taking a turn to glance over her shoulder towards the streets behind us.
“Are you sure this is the way?” I ask, trying not to let the skittishness in my voice sound too obvious. I’m unsuccessful.
Olive just digs her nails deeper into my jacket and lets out a laugh. “First date jitters, eh?”
My own laugh is half-hearted. “Sure. That’s what this is.”
The alley grows so narrow that we have to stop and squeeze our way between a couple of enormous trash bins, and I see my chance. I’m steeling myself up to insist we head back at once when, as soon as I step out onto the other side of the bins, a figure appears, cutting off our path.
I put back an arm to try to motion for Olive to stop, but I’m too late. She stumbles out beside me and freezes at the sight of the silhouette in front of us.
Olive clutches me tighter. My stomach drops. What now?
Then Olive breathes a sigh of relief. “Oh,” she says with a soft laugh. “It’s just you, Jas.”
Jasper. What brings Olive relief only makes the fear inside me surge even higher.
Jasper walks into the alley, smirking. There’s a shuffling noise behind us, and I glance over my shoulder as Heath and Beck push the bins out of the way from the other side. We’re surrounded.
Olive may feel safe, but I know that I’m in danger here.
“You two make a cute couple,” Jasper says, sneering at us after a moment of taking us in.
Olive hesitates next to me, and I wonder if she’s sensing the same things I am. Surely she can see the strange way he’s standing, as if there’s a nervous energy causing him to rock back and forth on his heels in front of us. Is he drunk?
The slur in his voice confirms my suspicions.
“Saw you meet up at the bar, thought we’d pop over and say hey,” he says, fixing his eyes on me. Once they meet mine, they never leave. His glare bores into me, making my heart pound louder in my ears with every passing second.
Though annoyed, Olive doesn’t seem to sense the same danger as I do.
“You were following us?” Olive asks, but the indignation that should be in her voice is missing. It’s almost as if … she expected this. Of course she expected this. Like everything else with these godforsaken people, this is all just another game. A game that still seems to make Olive pause when she glances behind her and notices Heath and Beck, too. “What are you all doing here?”
Her voice has changed now. There’s the slightest note of uncertainty.
“We just came to make sure Alex’s night went smoothly,” Heath replies breezily. He and Beck continue to approach. They’re growing closer, and with each step my heart threatens to hammer out of my chest. “It’s not every boy at Bleakwood that gets to take the enviable Olive out on a date.”
I knew this was a bad idea.
I knew this was a dangerous game to insert myself into.
“We’re doing just fine, thank you,” Olive says. There’s only the slightest hint of fear in her voice now. It’s tiny, almost indiscernible, but it’s enough.
This is my fault. Whatever happens here, Olive shouldn’t have to play any more of a part than she already has.
I gently remove my arm from hers. “Go,” I whisper to her.
“What?”
She turns to look at me with widening eyes.
“Just go. Run. I’ll be fine.”
“Run?” she asks incredulously. “Why?”
But even as she asks it, I can see the realization dawning on her face. This isn’t going to end as innocently as she imagined. There are consequences to this game, consequences that I’m going to have to take the brunt of.
I can’t answer before Beck seizes my elbow and yanks me to him, away from Olive. I try to go limp as Heath catches my other arm. Jasper stalks up, brushing past Olive.
“What are you doing?” Olive screams at them, but Beck and Heath stretch my arms out wide to either side of me, not listening. “It was just a date. It didn’t mean anything.”
“Go!” I repeat to her, my voice growing thick and husky with fear. At this rate, it’s all I can do not to sound like the scared little girl I actually am.
Jasper grabs my throat and stares down at me. He’s pressing too hard. I cough and struggle to breathe, then kick my legs, d
esperate to escape.
Heath and Beck lift me by my arms so that my feet kick uselessly at air, but Jasper doesn’t let go.
“What are you doing?” Olive screams again.
The grip on my arms falters a bit. I feel Heath and Beck shuffle a little to my sides, the first signs of unease as Jasper’s hand only grips tighter.
My vision starts to tunnel. I can’t get any air. My feet dangle limply above the ground as I lose the ability to move them—and then Jasper lets go and I suck in a deep breath.
Coughs rake my throat.
Beside me, Heath lets out a nervous laugh. “See, Alex. You don’t want to mess with Jasper.”
Still, he shares an uneasy glance with Beck—something that I notice even in my hazy stupor as I try to catch my breath. They weren’t counting on this.
I’m given no more time to contemplate what Jasper was and wasn’t planning to do with me before he delivers a swift punch to my gut.
It’s all it takes to send me sprawling as Heath and Beck do finally let go of my arms. I land hard on my knees, retching, one thought on my mind. I mustn’t throw up on Rafael’s jacket. I know it’s a stupid thought, that I have far more to worry about, but I still manage to keep from puking on my borrowed clothes.
If The Brotherhood didn’t kill me here, Rafael certainly would have finished the job if I’d ruined that jacket of his.
Despite my pleas to the contrary, Olive still stands frozen just a few feet away at the mouth of the alley. She sees me moving, sees the way Jasper still rocks unsteadily on his feet, and I see her hesitate once more.
“Stop it!” Olive yells, glancing between my three attackers.
I, in turn, look up at Jasper. He’s got a strange glint in his eye as he orders Heath and Beck to pick me up again. Like Olive, they hesitate only a moment before they do. I slump back against them, weakened already, and stare resignedly up at their ringleader.
“He’s fine,” Jasper says breezily, grabbing my jaw and forcing me to look at him. “This is just a little bit of fun.” He grins down at me. “It doesn’t mean anything, right, Alex?”
I can’t talk. His fingers press into the skin of my cheeks, holding my jaw in place. His eyes take on a strange sheen, and his features contort, the smile slipping off his face. He looks like he did in the bell tower of the abandoned church.
It’s a look that chills me to my core.
“How hard would I have to squeeze,” he says thoughtfully, “to break your jaw?”
I feel a cold sweat break out on my forehead.
“Jasper, stop!” Olive yells. Is she crying?
Jasper lets go of my jaw to pull his fist back, and I’m able to yell out “Just go, Olive, I’ll be fine!” right before his knuckles smash into my cheek.
But it’s a blow that never comes.
The arms holding me let go at the last second, sending me skittering backwards into the trash bins behind me. I feel my body slide down onto the ground, the back of my head narrowly avoiding the edge of the curb.
Almost as narrowly as it avoided Jasper’s fist—now met only with air.
Even so, the wind is knocked out of me so violently that my vision spins. Blinking, the world swimming as my blurry vision struggles to clear, I notice the shape of Jasper being tugged further away.
His hand is held aloft, his muscles already tensed and ready to send another blow.
“C’mon, dude,” Heath’s voice says, sounding strangely far away. “Leave him alone. Let’s go.”
My ears are ringing, blocking out any other sounds in the alley.
Is Olive still here? I can’t tell. I’m shaking so violently that I think I can hear my own teeth chatter in my skull. I hear screaming and yelling, but I can’t make out whose voices they belong to. I try to sit up, but I immediately feel like I’m going to vomit again.
That one blow to the stomach was enough.
Enough.
I see figures struggling in front of me, and I vaguely wonder how long Heath and Beck can hold Jasper back. The look in his face is clear now.
He wants to hurt me. Really hurt me.
Someone touches my shoulder. I look up and into Beck’s face. He’s frowning down at me with … concern? Maybe? Or maybe I’m just truly delirious now.
“Go,” he says urgently. When I don’t respond, he shakes me a bit, then starts nudging me towards the end of the alley. “Go, now unless you want to get hit this time!” he says, grunting again as he shoves me a little harder.
I fall forward, and the jarring motion seems to bring me back to my senses just a smidge.
My legs wobble beneath me as Beck turns me in the direction of the end of the alleyway. I chance a look over my shoulder and spot something I didn’t expect to see. Heath and Jasper are fighting.
“Let me go, Heath!” Jasper screams, his face red.
“Chill out!” Heath snaps back. He’s bigger than Jasper and has him in some sort of wrestling hold. “What’s gotten into you? We never agreed to this.”
We never agreed to this.
So what then, did they agree to?
“Go!” Beck snaps, pushing me again. I stumble toward the end of the alleyway. I feel myself limping, but that’s the least of my worries. Some sick part of me wants to watch Heath and Beck defy Jasper. But the rest of me, the part of me that wants to survive the night, pries me away.
Olive is nowhere to be found. Maybe she left. Maybe Jasper chased her off. Maybe she went to get help … doesn’t matter. I need to get back to the school. I need to get out of here before Jasper gets loose again.
Because if he does, I finally understand what that strange look in his eyes was.
Because if he gets hold of me again tonight, Jasper is going to kill me.
Chapter Fourteen
Fight back.
That’s what the nurse told me—but this, this, is not what she had in mind. I know that.
The night around me is oddly quiet and serene once the shouts have faded behind me. Outside of that alleyway, it’s just another peaceful night in the village.
Fortunately for me, it doesn’t take long for me to flag down a cab.
It pulls over reluctantly at first, the driver peering suspiciously at me through the glass until he finally relents and unlocks the doors to let me in.
“Bleakwood, please,” I wheeze, handing money to the driver.
He says something in German, but I don’t understand. He seems concerned. I probably look horrible. I just shake my head and throw the rest of Rafael’s money at him.
“Mein Deutsch ist nicht gut,” I mumble, dragging myself into the backseat. It’s one of the only phrases I can speak reliably. He tries to say something again, but I just keep repeating, “Mein Deutsch ist nicht gut” until he gives up and drives off.
The ride takes a bit, but soon enough I’m at Bleakwood. I don’t know if I paid him the right amount of money, and frankly, right now I don’t care.
There at that moment in the alleyway, I thought for a moment that Jasper was going to kill me.
I saw it in his eyes.
I should be terrified, but even now, as the shouts fade from my brain just as they did from my ears, all I feel is angry.
An all-consuming anger as a thought echoes through my brain from earlier.
Enough.
I’ve had enough.
I burst angrily into my dorm, startling Rafael. He sits up and pulls his covers up to his chest in a single, frantic tug.
“Geez, Alex,” he snaps as I storm in. “Warn somebody, will you?”
Normally, I’d be embarrassed, but I have no room for it tonight. I strip his suede jacket off and throw it onto his bed.
“You need to back off,” I say, the gravel in my voice coming out on its own as a warning.
“Uh … okay?”
He picks up his jacket and eyes it, and me, suspiciously. “So … what’s all this about?”
He gestures to the rest of me, which while a little unkempt, looks surprisingly less wor
se for wear than I expected. Less worse for wear than I would have been, had Heath and Beck not suddenly grown a conscience.
Somehow, this thought just makes the ire raise in me even more.
“The Brotherhood found me on my date and started pushing me around,” I say through gritted teeth.
That’s an understatement.
I run my fingers through my short, choppy hair, thinking back to that awful moment back in the alley. It just happened, just happened, and yet it’s already fading into a bleary memory.
I shake my head for a second to clear it before continuing. “The only reason I was able to get away—well, besides Olive stepping in, and Heath and Beck telling Jasper to stop—”
Rafael cuts me off suddenly.
“They stood up to Jasper?” Rafael asks incredulously.
“That’s beside the point,” I snap, jabbing a finger in his direction. “The only way I got away earlier was because I actually had the energy.” I stop for a moment to kick my shoes off furiously. “Because I actually ate something for once.”
Of all the things …
I was just jumped. Punched. Would have been killed.
But all that’s running through my mind right now is how much I want a cheeseburger. A real one. None of this shit Rafael’s been putting me through these last few weeks.
Rafael leans back in his bed and narrows his eyes at me. “How much did you eat? Is that what this is really about? You know you need to—”
“Stop!” I say, my voice coming dangerously close to a shout. I have to stop and gather my thoughts for a moment to keep from offending Rafael. I know he means well. I really do. I just … I … I’ve had enough. Of all of it.
“Look, Rafael,” I say, once I’m sure I can keep my tone level. “This isn’t about The Brotherhood. This isn’t about Jasper trying to murder me. This isn’t even about how Heath and Beck somehow made the right decision for once and actually stood up to that monster.”
I stop again, my fingers fumbling with the buttons on my dress shirt. I’m still shaking from earlier.
“This is about how, for the first time, I’m realizing it doesn’t matter if I look the part of a boy if it’s going to get me killed here,” I say. “I need to be able to defend myself.”
