When Barr parked, I jumped out of my SUV and ran to get to him.
I grabbed his arm with force. “What the hell is this? You have no idea what’s happening in my life right now and you think-”
Barr kissed me.
The fastest kiss of my life because I got away from him.
And I slapped him across the face.
He grinned.
“Don’t ever do that again,” I said. “Ever.”
Barr licked his lips. “Just needed to shut you up for a second.”
“I don’t need to taste some whore on my mouth.”
“Follow me, love.”
The kiss definitely shut me up.
I followed Barr to the ditch and realized there was nobody there. At least nobody was there to watch.
But there was something happening inside the ditch.
The first person I saw was Kip.
In a white shirt.
With blood on it.
My mouth went dry.
“Figured you should see and know,” Barr said. “Since we’re all throwing shit at each other. Bringing up our pasts. Why not, love. Enjoy.”
Barr lit up a cigarette and my eyes moved across the ditch.
That’s when I saw Pres standing over someone.
I let out a gasp.
It was Devin… my ex from my old town.
* * *
I ran down into the ditch.
“Pres!” I yelled. “What are you doing?”
I understood what Barr was asking me. About letting the past go.
Devin was a big part of my past. A really big part.
And he was getting his ass kicked by the Rulz.
Pres looked at me and curled his lip. His eyes moved to where Barr was standing.
This was obviously something they planned on doing and not telling me.
I didn’t stop running toward Pres.
I thought about the way the football players tackled each other.
That’s what I wanted to do to Pres.
I lunged at him and started clawing the air, unable to wait to get to his face.
I scratched his face as his hands wrapped around me.
He turned both of us and put me on my feet.
Moving fast and without missing a beat, his hands tightened around my wrists. Not too tight but enough to get me to stop trying to attack him.
“Why?” I yelled. “Why? Why can’t you just leave me alone? Leave my past alone?”
“It was him, sugar,” Pres said in a calm and cool voice.
I looked at his hands holding my wrists. Beat up and swollen from hurting Devin.
“What?” I asked.
“He was the one who started this,” Pres said. “He was the one who said you were… untouched.”
I fought to get out of Pres’s grip.
I pointed at him. “That’s why you did this?”
“He hurt you, sugar,” Pres said.
“You’re beating the hell out of my ex for cheating on me and spreading a rumor about me? Something that had nothing to do with you?”
“It had everything to do with me,” Pres said. “And us.”
I looked at Devin. He was propped up on his elbows looking dazed. I wasn’t even sure if he knew what month it was.
“I’m sorry,” he managed to whisper.
Blood on his lips. Blood on his teeth. Strings of blood showing between his lips.
“Devin…”
“He did it, sugar,” Pres said. “He wanted to hurt you again and again. Saying things he shouldn’t have been saying. Doing more than that too…”
“Please,” Devin said. “I apologized. You said if I apologized it would be over.”
“I think I lied,” Pres said. “I’m not done yet.”
Pres moved forward and Devin let out a cry.
I managed to get a hold of Pres’s shirt.
“Wait,” I said. “What else happened here?”
“Everything, sugar,” Pres said. “This piece of shit did everything.”
“Please,” Devin sobbed. “Please…”
“He didn’t just spread the rumor about you,” Pres said. “He went beyond that.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
There was silence.
Too much damn silence.
I looked over to Kip.
His face was empty. Cold. Mean. Almost like he was dead.
I shivered.
Knowing that when he looked at me he saw Kait. He thought about Kait. He wanted Kait. And he wanted me to get to Kait. Or that he wanted me to be Kait.
Pres moved forward and stomped down on Devin’s stomach.
Devin cried out.
“Stop!” I yelled at Pres.
“No,” Pres said. “It was him and that little bitch of his.”
“Who?” I asked. My heart raced. Little bitch? “Who?”
Devin looked at me. He was crying. “Beth.”
“Beth,” I said. I looked at Pres. “Beth?”
He nodded. “That’s where it all came from, sugar. The two of them. He made it known you were untouched and she made it known that was a lie. That’s how we found out you knew everything. About us. The bet. Everything.”
“Beth,” I said. I looked down Devin again. “How do you know her?”
“I just know her,” Devin said.
Pres lifted his foot.
Devin winced.
“No,” I said to Pres. “I’ll do it.”
I kicked my foot and went for between Devin’s legs.
He squealed like a young girl.
He grabbed for his balls and rocked back to forth.
“Tell me,” I said. “Tell me. Tell me. Tell me!”
My voice grew louder and more desperate.
I felt something in my body ready to explode for good.
Like I was going to lose my mind over this.
“Tell me!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“They were fucking each other,” Pres said in the same cold voice.
“What?”
“It’s true,” Devin said. “Whatever. I don’t give a damn. We were fooling around. For a while.”
“You…,” I caught my breath. “When we were together?”
“Yeah,” Devin said. “Her mother was taking care of my grandmother when she got sick. My grandmother knew her… you know what? Who gives a shit? You and I were never going to stay together for long. Prude.”
“I gave you everything,” I said. “I gave you… me…”
“No, Tinsley,” Devin said. “I took it. I took what I wanted.”
I sucked in a shaky breath.
Pres went on the attack again.
He threw punches that hit with force. Such horribly sounding force.
I looked away.
I started to walk away.
To get out of the ditch.
Pres was focused on beating whatever was left to beat out of Devin.
Kip stood there motionless. Lost in the world of he and Kait that never existed.
Barr was still smoking as I walked by him.
“Hey, love,” he said.
“Fuck off,” I said. “All of you. Fuck off. You ruined everything. You three. This town. Claire. My mother. Everyone.”
“I’m sorry for the way it all happened,” Barr said.
I looked back at him. I blinked away tears. I shook my head. “No, you’re not. You three aren’t sorry for anything. No matter what you say. I don’t believe you for a second.”
“You wanted the answers, love,” Barr said. “And they’re all on the table now. Was it worth it?”
“Fuck off,” I repeated.
I walked away.
I stumbled my way to the SUV and got behind the wheel.
My hand shook as I reached for my phone.
It wasn’t about being fake anymore.
It was about being lost.
I was lost.
I lost everything.
And maybe some things I never had to be
gin with.
My lip curled as my fingers started to move on the phone screen.
I was sending one text message.
Need 2 talk 2 u asap
I sent the message.
There was one more thing I had to do.
Then I was going to say goodbye to BFH for good.
sixteen
sixteen
I pulled to the side of the road and sat there.
Strange enough it was the same road where the Rulz had stopped me and told me I had to stay in BFH. When they gave me their sexy and stern warning, then drove off only to have me get approached by those BC guys.
That situation seemed to be done with for the moment. As it always was and would be. Just like with HCH. There was always something burning there waiting to explode. Then it would explode. They’d all fight. Then it would calm down. Then again, whatever it was Elijah was looking for seemed to be really important. And that bitch Nova… if I ever saw her again…
I laughed.
Out loud.
All alone.
I put my head back and laughed and laughed.
If ever saw her again?
I wasn’t going to see her again.
I wasn’t going to see any of them ever again.
Maybe that’s why I chose this road to pull over at. To sort of go back to where I had made my original decision. So I could fucking fix it. Once and for all. And for good.
My phone buzzed with a text.
Waiting
I grabbed my phone and had to see Iris.
Of course, with Iris came Gi. Which was good. Really good. Great.
I loved her.
I loved Gi.
And Iris too.
Of course I did.
They were fucking awesome.
They were fucking best friends.
To each other.
To me.
In fact, the second I saw Iris’s big face show up on my screen, I almost burst into tears.
“What does she want?” Gi asked, her little face poking over Iris’s shoulder.
“I don’t know,” Iris snapped. “I didn’t even say hi yet.”
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi,” Iris said.
It made me hate my parents even more.
Anabel and Tucker.
The two of them.
I hated them equally and wholly.
I wished they were rich. And that I was actually rich. So I had more than a few tiptoes to stand on to try and keep my balance in BFH.
It’s all over, Ti. It’s all over now.
“Ti?” Iris asked.
“Sorry,” I said.
“What’s going on?” Gi asked. “Where are you? Shit. Are you with Pres? Or Barr? Or Kip? Are you naked?”
“She’s not naked,” Iris said. “You can see her shirt.”
“Maybe from the waist down…”
“I’m not naked at all,” I said. I smiled. They were so fucking cool. “Not even close. I’m just sitting here…” I shook my head. “I needed to talk to you for a second.”
“About?” Iris asked.
“Beth.”
Iris’s face dropped. “No. You know everything. And if you think you’re going to have us become friends again…”
“Never,” I said. “She’s a cunt.”
“Yes, she is,” Iris said.
“Where is this coming from?” Gi asked.
“I found some stuff out about her,” I said. “She was the one who told the Rulz everything. She was with my ex.”
“What?” Iris asked.
“It’s a long story,” I said. “But I wanted to apologize to you, Iris. For talking to Beth. For being near her. For sort of being her friend. I can’t imagine how much that must have hurt you. And made me look like a bitch. If I had known…”
“You’re good,” Iris said. “Now you know. She’s not a good person.”
“I’m feeling that first hand now,” I said.
“Where are you?” Gi asked. “Come over. We can figure out a way to get her back. Or just talk about her until we have nothing else to say. Or just…”
“I’m taking care of everything,” I said.
“With what?” Iris asked.
“I hate that bitch,” I said with a laugh. “She had been planning all along to fool around with Bray. You know that, right?”
Iris’s face dropped. “And your point?”
“The same way she had been planning something with the Rulz and me.”
“Ti, you’re starting to scare me,” Gi said.
“Good,” I said. “You two are such good friends. I wish I knew you when I was younger. I wish I was really tight like you. I wish all of this wasn’t fake. I love you both. I mean that.”
“Ti, you’re acting-”
I ended our chat and tossed my phone to the passenger seat.
I pulled back onto the road.
Off to my next stop.
* * *
When I saw Beth standing outside her fancy car, I reminded myself I needed a really big smile plastered to my face to make this whole thing work.
My foot was tempted to step on the gas pedal and ram into the side of her car, but that wouldn’t have done much of anything. Other than damage both our vehicles, scare Beth, piss off Claire…
Hmm… that could all work in my favor.
I stopped the SUV and got out.
I left the engine running and the door wide open.
“Ti?” Beth asked.
Her face was crooked. Concerned.
Or maybe it was just guilt and she was trying to cover that up.
“I need to talk to you,” I said to her.
“About?”
“Everything, Beth.”
“Everything?”
“You know what I’m talking about too.”
“No, I don’t,” she was quick to say.
“Yes, you do. I’m going to ask you right now… again… Bray…”
Beth rolled her eyes. “Is that bitch sending you to fight her battles? Get lost, Ti.”
Beth turned.
“Wait,” I yelled.
She stopped. “What?”
“You wanted that all along,” I said. “You wanted to hurt her. You wanted to break their friendship up. You hate the idea of being alone. Or being a third wheel. Just like with me.”
“What about you?” she asked.
“You didn’t like I was the new girl. You didn’t like Denny and what he did to me. That he was being flirty with me. You thought something was going to instantly happen. And if I did fool around with Denny he’d never look at you again. You wanted Denny to get his ass beat by the Rulz. So it would scare me, scare him, and you could step in and kiss his cuts and bruises.”
“That’s a great story, Ti,” Beth said.
“You have a thing for him,” I said.
“Denny?” Beth asked. She laughed. “Wow. You really figured that one out, huh?”
“Not Denny,” I said. “Pres.”
Beth’s cheeks turned red. “What?”
“That’s what it was. The entire time. Because your mother took care of his mother. And nobody was supposed to know about his mother’s sickness. You thought by keeping that a secret it would make him like you. Right? You thought you could get to Pres’s aching heart over his dying mother. But that didn’t happen. Why not? What did he do to you? Just ignore you? Because you’re not worth paying attention to.”
Beth slowly turned, anger spread across her face. “That’s what you wanted? To meet me and say that?”
“Oh, I’ve got plenty more, Beth,” I said. “You knew you couldn’t fuck with the Rulz directly though. So you used me. I was the new girl. And Devin told you I was a virgin. Because he’s a piece of shit just like you.”
“He was hung up on you,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“You heard me. He never stopped talking about you.”
“So it’s all true. You and Devin…”
“What doe
s it matter?” Beth asked. “You two broke up. You moved here. It’s not like you love him, right? Not like you two will get back together.”
“But you were with him,” I said. “He told you I wouldn’t do stuff. To get you to do stuff. And you were too stupid to listen to him. And you thought you could fuck with me. And the Rulz. You had them convinced that I was this poor, naive, untouched girl. And they went for it.”
“Shows how stupid they are,” Beth said.
I clapped my hands. “I agree, Beth. Smart move.”
“And I gave you a chance to make a name for yourself here,” she said. “You’re welcome. You were able to get between all three of them and show them who you really were. I did that for you.”
“No, you didn’t. You waited for the right time to tell them the truth. Thinking they’d crush me. Why? So you could pick up my broken pieces? Laugh at me? Or make another run at Pres?”
“You know what, Ti? I don’t have time for you anymore. I tried to be your friend. You got mixed up with those other bitches. Maybe your mother did too many drugs when she was pregnant. Because your head is all fucked up.”
I stepped toward Beth and she jumped back. She put her hand out. “I have a gun.”
“What?” I asked.
“You heard me. I have a gun. In my car. You take another step and I’ll get it.”
“Fuck you.”
“Fuck me?” She smiled. “Fuck you, Tinsley Ditkiss. I could shoot you and nobody would care. Nobody would stick up for you either. I could make up any story and it would be okay. Nobody would defend you. You think the Rulz actually love you? They don’t. They’ll hurt you. Unless they have already. And Claire? Go find out who Claire really is. Real estate? Developer? Try… oh, I don’t know… what’s the fancy term for drug dealer?”
“Shut the fuck up, Beth,” I said.
“Go away, Ti,” she said. “Nobody loves you. Not the Rulz. Not those other bitches. Not even your own parents.”
I stepped forward and Beth pointed to her car.
Gun.
I nodded.
I showed my hands.
I backed up until I hit the door of the SUV.
When I got behind the wheel, I stared down Beth one more time.
She stood there like the cold bitch she had always been.
It was nice to see the real side of her.
I put the SUV into reverse and Beth held up both middle fingers.
She thought she had me.
UNTamed: a bay falls high novel Page 15
