Ugly Girl: Aston Creek High (Book 1)

by Sheridan Anne

  “I didn’t do anything,” Slade says, his anger intensifying by the second.

  As if not hearing a damn word that Slade has just said, Blake continues ranting at him, completely out of control as he slurs his words and wobbles on his feet. “That’s fucking bullshit. You’ve had Skylah on edge since day one. She only just got past that bastard forcing himself on her and then you come and fuck it all up.”

  No.

  My eyes widen in terror as my heart begins to race. Time slows and I watch as every last eye turns my way. Maze gasps and throws a hand to her mouth, Damian looks as though he’s about to be sick, and Slade…Slade looks as though he could kill.

  Blake continues talking shit, not realizing that my world has just gone up in flames and Damian tries his best to shut it down.

  I can’t move.

  My eyes remain on Slade’s dark ones, both of us completely motionless as I beg whoever exists above to open up the ground and let me fall.

  How could he do that? My own flesh and blood just betrayed me to the whole school and he’s too fucking drunk to realize.

  Damian pulls him away and the other guys on the team start pushing the crowd away.

  It’s just me, Maze and him and judging by the look he’s giving me, he now knows exactly what I was desperate for when I asked him and Damian to make me forget. He knows it all, every last secret I’ve desperately tried to hold onto.

  Slade takes a hesitant step towards me which is when Maze jumps into action, she glares up at Slade. “Don’t,” she demands, holding her finger out at him like a misbehaved child as she curls her hand around my upper arm.

  She tugs hard and the movement gets my feet going, and the second the momentum gets me going, I run, and I don’t stop until Maze’s is burying me deep inside her car, protecting me from the harsh ugliness of the world around me.

  Chapter 19

  I stand on Shay and Ben’s doorstep watching as Maze’s old beat-up car pulls away. She stayed for a short moment, checking that I was alright until I sent her away, knowing that was the last time I’d be spending my time with her. I put it to the back of my mind, desperate to get into my bed, climb under the covers and curl my knife into the palm of my hand.

  Her car hardly gets two houses down the street when a familiar black Dodge RAM pulls into the vacated driveway. Slade’s engine rumbles loudly and echoes down the street until he finally cuts it and meets my eyes across the front yard.

  I can’t handle this right now.

  I’m about to storm inside and lock the doors before the passenger side door opens and my dick of a little brother comes tumbling out and falls face-first into the grass. Frustration takes over and as much as I want to hate on my bother right now, I can’t fault him for trying to protect me. Slade though, I know damn well that he was drinking at that party and he sure as hell shouldn’t be behind the wheel with my brother riding shotgun.

  Slade gets out of his truck and walks around to scoop Blake out of the grass. He does it so effortlessly that I have to gawk as he leads Blake to the front door.

  I unlock the door and swing it wide. Slade gives Blake a push, only Blake has other plans. He uses his moment to change direction and stumbles right into me. My knees buckle under his weight and I fall back against the door frame, groaning as my back hits the edge.

  “Skylah,” Blake beams, reeking of alcohol and drenched from sweat, at least, I hope it’s sweat. “Where have you been? You missed the best party.”

  “Get off me.”

  Blake sucks in a sharp gasp and looks down at me in horror. “Sky,” he says, wide-eyed. “ I think you’re shrinking.”

  I peel him off me and push him through the door, not caring when he trips over the couch and falls to the floor. He attempts to get to his feet but gives up halfway and collapses back onto his stomach where he promptly passes out.

  I go to follow him inside but a warm hand curls around my wrist. “Wait, don’t go,” he insists. “We need to talk.”

  Exhaustion hits me like a wrecking ball and I’m suddenly so tired that I can hardly stand. “I’ve got nothing to say to you, Slade.”

  He steps into me. “But I’ve got plenty to say to you.” I don’t get a second to respond before his hand curls around the back of my neck and he pulls me to him. His lips crush down on mine and I instantly melt into him, hating myself for how badly I need it.

  Is this him trying to help me forget or is this just him…wanting me?

  I struggle to pull away so I give in and allow his tongue to explore my mouth. He crowds me through the door and as we step over the threshold, he kicks the door closed with his foot.

  I’m picked up and he moves over to the couch where he sits down and places me directly over his lap. My legs come down on either side of his and he drops his hands to my waist, splaying his fingers to claim as much of my skin as possible.

  I grind down on him and his hands instinctively move to my ass, taking hold and giving a good, firm squeeze. I moan into him, letting him know I’m down when a heavy snore comes from the floor and we pull apart.

  I let out a shaky breath and look to Slade. “So, less than twenty minutes ago you find out that I was….you know, and the first thing you do is come here and man-handle me?”

  His eyes go big and I see the words ‘Oh, shit,’ flashing brightly in his head. “Fuck, Sky, this isn’t why I came,” he says as though getting me to understand his intentions is the most crucial thing he’ll ever do.

  I try and pull just a little further away to give myself a little breathing space as I indicate down to my brother. “It’s fine, Slade. It’s pretty damn obvious what brought you here.”

  “No, I would have happily left him there for Damian to deal with. I needed to see you and he supplied me with a pretty good fucking excuse.”

  I search his eyes, struggling to understand what the hell is going on here. “But why?”

  “I told you, I need to talk to you. I need to explain myself.”

  I shake my head, not ready to have this conversation. “I can’t…not tonight, it’s too much.”

  He pushes my hair back off my face and I flinch away from his touch. I can’t explain it. One second, his tongue was down my throat and I was loving it, but he touches my face in an intimate way and my walls begin slamming down.

  “You don’t need to talk,” he whispers, still with an odd hollowness in the depths of his eyes. “Just listen.”

  I nod. “Okay, I can do that.”

  Wanting to play this safe, I climb off his lap and crawl along until I’m in the furthest corner of the couch while trying to remember that I hate the guy, but those lines are becoming very blurred and despite everything that’s going on, wanting to hate him and actually feeling that way are two very different things.

  I look up at Slade to find him watching me. He leans forward and props his elbows on his knees. “Where should I start?”

  “I think you already know the answer to that.”

  Guilt pours out of him as he nods and lets out a heavy breath. “Lucien came to me a few days before you started school-”

  “Here?” I cut him off, sitting up straighter. “Lucien was here in Aston Creek?”

  Slade nods and a cold shiver runs down my spine and the need to grab my knife from under my pillow sails through me. “He approached me one night at the basketball courts. I was out practicing for a big game-”

  “Which courts?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Yes, it fucking matters.”

  He watches me a second before slowly accepting that this could turn into a very long conversation. “The court just down the road from here, the outdoor one.” I let out a slow breath and seeing that I’m ready for him to move on, he continues. “He told me that you were coming and that he wanted me to run you out.”

  My brows dip down low. “Run me out?” I question. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  He shrugs his shoulder. “My guess is that he wanted you to run
back home. I don’t know, it wasn’t exactly a long conversation.”

  “So, what did he tell you.”

  “He said you were dangerous and that it was in my best interest to do whatever it took to run you out of here.”

  “That’s why you were such an ass the second I walked through the door. I couldn’t figure out what I’d done to piss you off but I didn’t really care because fighting you felt so damn good.”

  Slade’s lips pull up into a grin. “You threw me a fucking curveball, Virago. I wasn’t expecting that fiery attitude from you.”

  I get him back on track, not wanting to get lost in this weird connection between us. “So, why’d you do it?” I whisper into the quietness.

  His eyes drop to the floor and I feel empty without them. “I didn’t want to,” he promises, gently shaking his head. “I had no fucking choice. At first, I told him no. I wasn’t interested in being a pawn in his bullshit games, but…”

  “He threatened you.”

  “He said that he could get to me anywhere, anytime and when I still refused, he pulled out his phone and showed me pictures of my little sisters at their swimming lesson, my mom, my dad, even my fucking brother in the military. I was trapped, I had no fucking way out.”

  Understanding dawns and I suddenly find it impossible to even want to hate him anymore. “It was me or your family,” I say, glancing down at my passed out brother. “I would have done the same thing.”

  “You’ve got to understand,” he continues, really trying to make his point. “At that stage, you were a nobody. I couldn’t even put a face to your name. He was asking me to chose my family over a complete stranger and if I came through…”

  “What?” I say with a heavy glare at the side of his head. “What grand prize was worth tormenting the broken new girl?”

  Guilt takes over his sharp features. “He was going to get me onto any college basketball team I wanted and if I didn’t come through, he’d make sure I never played again.”

  I don’t doubt that for one second. I’ve seen him do much worse in his study for far less. The man is simply a monster, the worst kind of monster. “I get it,” I say too quickly, still frustrated with the situation.

  “If I’d known who the hell you were or what kinds of things he’d done to you…”

  I shake my head. “Don’t. Don’t do that.”

  “Do what?”

  “Pity me.”

  Slade looks across at me and in a flash his hand is at my ankle and he drags me across the couch until his hand is at my back and he’s holding me up against him. “I don’t pity you, Skylah. I think you’re the strongest fucking woman I’ve ever met and the fact that you’re still standing proves that.”

  “Stop,” I whisper, feeling my emotions creeping up on me. “I need to hate you.”

  “What does that even mean?” he question, frustrated at still not having a clear answer since asking me at Nessa’s party. He drags me back onto his lap and when I don’t respond, he sighs. “Look, at the beginning, to me you represented the person who was endangering my family. All I had to do was get rid of you and they’d be fine, but the second I saw how fucking beautiful you were, it was all over.”

  “Slade,” I warn, begging him not to go on.

  “You opened that smart mouth and it became some twisted kind of foreplay. I hated the things I did to you, they made me feel sick. I mean, fuck, Virago. I snuck into your room in the middle of the night and grabbed you. If I’d known what he’d done to you, I’d never have done that, not in a million fucking years. You were terrified, I saw it in your eyes and it made me sick. You were so ready to slit my fucking throat until you realized I wasn’t him,” I swallow hard at the memory. “You fought back every time. No matter what terrible things I did or said to you, you were stronger and I realized that running you out of here was never going to happen.”

  “I’ve got nowhere else to go,” I admit. “Running out of here means going back there and I will never do that. I’d rather stay here and fight you than face that again.”

  “Yeah, I realized that after you put me in my fucking place on Monday.”

  “I really didn’t mean to tell you about the whole ‘highest-bidder’ thing. That just sort of slipped out,” he nods and I meet his stare. “He’s going to come after you when he realizes I’m not leaving, you understand that, right?”

  “I know,” he says, letting me see right down into his soul and I realize that while he doesn’t fear Lucien, he fears for his family. I drop my forehead to his and he runs his hand up my back. “I fucked up, Sky. I never should have agreed to play his games.”

  “When it comes to Lucien Valentine, you don’t have a choice. He decides who plays his games and you just have to hope that you come out of it unscathed.”

  He pulls me in closer and I struggle to breathe, terrified of what this could mean. “I’m going to make it up to you,” he promises me. “There’s something about you, Sky. I like you.”

  “Don’t,” I say with a frustrated groan. “I need you to hate me.”

  “Why?” he says, bringing us right back there again yet this time, explaining myself seems to come a lot easier. “Because it’s easier to hate you. When you’re trying to intimidate me, I forget that the world sucks, and when I’m screaming at you, the pain fades away,” I lower my voice, terrified of it breaking. “When I see you at the other end of the hall with your eyes locked on mine and that look on your face that tells me to run, I forget how bad it hurts and the fear disappears. You take away the memories of my mom’s blood, you take away the echoing screams that repeat in my head, you take away the sickening feel of his hands on my body. You’ve been like a drug to me, Slade, and I can’t risk losing that. I won’t. I’m not kidding, I need you to hate me, I need it so damn bad.”

  He shakes his head and it tears me apart. “I can’t do that, Virago,” he whispers. “I can’t hurt you anymore. I won’t.”

  “I’m not the girl for you, Slade,” I tell him, seeing exactly what he’s wanting and doing my best to warn him away. I pull back from his touch and climb off his lap, trying to give myself some room to think. “I’m all sorts of fucked up.”

  Slade gets up and steps into me, brushing his lips over my forehead. “No, you might have had some fucked up things happen to you, but you’re not broken. You’re fucking beautiful.” My eyes drop to the floor and he finally starts to retreat to the door. “I meant what I said,” he murmurs, making my eyes flick back up to him. “I’m going to make it up to you. I’ll deal with Lucien another way, but from now on, you don’t have to worry about me sneaking into your room.”

  I press my lips into a hard line, wondering if him sneaking into my room would really be an awful thing. “Then I guess you don’t have to worry about turning blue during your games.”

  He smirks and something brightens within me. “That was fucking good.”

  I roll my eyes, though still very proud of my achievement. “Just go before I change my mind and do something to really fuck this up.”

  Slade winks and I turn into a mess as he walks out the door, making sure to pull it closed behind him.

  I drop to the floor and try to catch my breath as I work out what the hell just happened, but one thing is for sure, Slade Cruz is no longer the enemy.

  Chapter 20

  I peel myself out of bed on Saturday morning feeling oddly refreshed. Despite the threat of Lucien looming over me, I slept like a baby and what’s more, my hand isn’t numb from clutching my knife. I haven’t slept like that since…well, years.

  I stretch my arms out over my head and make my way toward the bathroom, only a knock at the door stops me.

  The knock sounds again before a cringeworthy voice comes sailing through the door, muffled from the wood. “I know you’re in there,” Damian calls. “Hurry up and open the damn door.”

  The fuck? What does he want? It’s way too early for this shit, it’s like…actually, I have no idea what time it is but either way, early
morning wake up calls are another thing I don’t appreciate.

  I consider leaving him out there while I pee but I’m smart enough to realize that will only result in him sneaking around the house and climbing through a window. Knowing my luck, it’d be the bathroom window while I’m peeing.

  I groan and continue up the hall, making my way to the door. He knocks again as his impatience gets the best of him. “Yo, Skylah, open this motherfucking door,” he calls loud enough for the neighbors to hear.

  “Chill out,” I yell back, reaching for the lock, distantly realizing that I didn’t have to step over a passed-out body in the hallway and wonder what the hell happened to Blake. Hell, I’m even left wondering where Shay and Ben are. I must be home alone because if I wasn’t, Ben would have this turd in a headlock by now. “I’m coming.”

  I hear the grin in his tone. “Yeah, you are.”

  Ugh. I can’t handle him.

  I finally get the door open and have to clench my thighs to avoid wetting my pants. “What do you want? I need to pee,” I say with a groan, letting on just how desperate I am.

  His brows furrow as he looks up and down my body. “Did you just get out of bed?”

  “Umm, yeah. That’s generally what people do in the morning.”

  “Morning?” he laughs, barging past me into my home. “Dude, it’s like three in the afternoon.”

  I turn and gape at him as a mix of horror, confusion, and surprise takes over me. Not only did I sleep well, but I slept in? That’s just unheard of. “Bullshit.”

  “Swear to God,” he says, dropping down on the couch that Slade was only on last night. He gets himself comfortable, puts his feet up and reaches for the TV remote as I stare at him, gaping like a moron. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  His eyes flick up to me as though I’m some kind of irritating fly that just won’t go away before focusing back on the TV, grinning as he finds a Lakers game. “I thought you had to pee.”