by Jaye Cox
Kalen corners me when I leave Monty’s office. “Let's get out of here.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because it’s boring as fuck and I want to get you drunk on your birthday. I know just the place. You have the keys to your car?”
I nod and he grabs my hand then pulls me towards the back of the house and into a garage. Kalen hits the lights and opens the massive roller door.
I throw Kalen the keys, because I have zero idea where to go, and we head out. I’m kind of glad to be out of there.
“Now, no judgements...my brothers may like to drink fancy beers, but I know a small pub on the outskirts of town that is sketchy as hell, but no one will find us there.”
“Then let’s go.”
We drive for about forty minutes, music blaring singing nineties pop songs as loud as we can. This is the most fun I have had in a long time. Kalen’s phone was ringing back-to-back, so he decided to turn it off.
The pub he was referring to almost looks like a little shack, out in the middle of nowhere.
After we park, he takes my hand and we go inside. The room is packed, full of different types of people, young guys, older couples, and everyone seems to be happy and laughing.
“Look, it’s the rich little pretty boy,” the bartender says jokingly.
“Hi, pretty girl, I’m Damien. Please tell me you’re not with that guy, you could do better,” the bartender says, giving me a once over. It’s not too lecherous, and to be fair, I am wearing a slutty school uniform.
“He isn’t so bad.” I shrug.
“Hey, asshole, you never complain about how much money I spend in here, and it’s my girl’s birthday, so a round on me. Start a tab.”
Kalen and Damien joke around some while they get our drinks organised.
“Let's get a table. I had Damien get us some real food. I think your mother thinks we’re birds with all that green shit.” I don’t bother to point out that birds eat worms and bugs, not green shit.
“Why start a tab?” I ask instead.
“I generally bring cash so my father can’t track me here, but I only have my credit card, so I guess the jig is up after tonight.”
“I have cash,” I tell him. And I do. I lifted some out of Baxter’s wallet when I was on the back of his bike Monday night. It’s kind of shitty, given how he helped me, but I figured he wouldn’t mind too much. I also had an inkling that it may not have been his money in the first place.
“Okay, but I’ll pay you back. You’re not paying for your own birthday drinks,” Kalen insists.
“So, the credit card is basically a tracker?” I ask.
“You got one too?”
“Daddy dearest wants me to like him.” I shrug.
“Well, he didn’t used to be like that when he was with my mum. Be glad you’re not allowed to take your phone from the house.”
Shit. So there’s a good chance that Monty has been tracking my movements since my first visit. That’s good to know. I thank Kalen for the head’s up and decide I’m done talking for now. I’m eighteen. It’s time to get shit faced.
Chapter Eleven
Kalen
The brain cells throwing a rave in my head need to chill the fuck out. Last night I decided to take Amelie and leave the tension behind. Sawyer was acting strange, not that he’ll tell me what’s going on, that’s just how he’s wired: family orientated, but private as fuck. He never opens up to anyone. The last few days he seemed happier and I was hopeful that he might finally have found a girl, or got laid at least, but last night he was like a bear with a sore head.
The twins are battling their hatred for our new sister, and also guilt over taking their prank too far. If I’m honest, I felt guilty by association, so I wanted to make it up to her and give her a birthday she would never forget.
The drinks went down like water and we danced the night away. Somehow, at the end of the night – or early hours of the morning, however you choose to look at it – we took a taxi back to school. I made sure she got back to her room safely. Even behaved like a perfect gentleman. More or less. I mean, come on, she was dressed like sex on legs!
A swift boot to the ribs quickly wakes me from my incoherent state. I remember the key not working and lying on the floor to rest my head.
“What the fuck?” I shout, instinctively cradling my ribs but wishing I could hold my pounding head at the same time. Fuck. Why did I yell? What the fuck did we drink last night?
“Get up,” Slate demands, leaning down to snatch the key from my hands. He opens the door and I fall inside, army crawling my way to the centre of the room. I’m not even bothering to try and stand yet.
“Classes start in ten minutes. You missed breakfast,” Onyx adds in his damn monotone voice. No matter how many therapists dad sends him to, he still doesn't have a range of tones. If you don’t know him, you would think he is in a constant state of pissed off. Which, he pretty much is, come to think of it.
“Just leave me, save yourselves,” I joke.
“Get up! Sawyer and Dad are livid that you took off last night, Laura was beside herself.”
“Ugh,” I groan. “Let’s not pretend that woman gives a shit for one second! How long have her and Dad been screwing? And not once did she mention kids!”
“We don’t give a shit about her, or her kids, we want her gone. She doesn’t belong here, and you know it. We have to make her see that. Dad thinks she’s a perfect fit. It’s a fucking joke,” Onyx spits, his anger taking over.
“Can we not talk about anything heavy right now? My brain cells are throwing a pity party for the ones I lost last night.” I use all my strength to pull myself off the floor, and Slate throws my uniform at me, Onyx picks up a can of Lynx and starts spraying it in my direction. Asshole.
Within two minutes we’re set to leave, them with their pissed attitudes and me still tipsy. I make sure to snatch my sunglasses off my desk and pull up my tie.
The twins take me to get coffee then ditch me; my form room is in a different building than theirs. When I enter, I see Amelie is already in class, her head resting against the desk.
“I got you a present,” I say holding out a cup of coffee.
“Thanks. I might need ten of these before the day is out.”
“Was worth it. Wanna ditch and find somewhere to sleep?” I whisper.
“I can’t. I have to face your dad to get my punishment for skipping detention straight after this class.”
“I forgot about that,” I laugh. He’ll go hard on her to show her he is serious about the rules. “I’m sorry.”
“Good morning class!” The form teacher beams. Oh God my ear drums have been smashed against my skull. Why does everyone feel the need to be so loud?
“Kalen, please remove the sunglasses, or I will have to give you a warning.”
“Start writing them out, if I take them off, my eyeballs will bleed.” The class laughs, and I cover my ears. Dad is going to lose his shit, and I will lose my privileges. Although, given that I only use them to talk to girls, it’s probably best if I have them taken away. Amelie’s the only girl I want to talk to now anyway.
A knock at the door distracts the teacher and gives my ears a much needed chance to recover. Amelie elbows me and nods to the door. Sawyer is standing there.
“Kalen, Mr Knox needs to see you outside. You too, Amelie.”
We both stand slowly and make our way outside. I don’t miss the way Sawyer looks at Amelie, I just can’t quite interpret it. I‘ll ask him about that later.
“Amelie, my father would like to see you in his office. I will see you tonight, at six PM sharp in the gym. Wear appropriate clothing this time.” Sawyer has a no nonsense tone. Amelie shocks me by pulling me into a hug.
“Thanks for last night,” she says. “I really enjoyed myself.”
“Me too, going all night is my specialty,” I say back, and she heads off to see my dad.
“Get a move on, Kalen,” Sawyer snaps. Wow, someone really pisse
d in his cornflakes today. Whoever he fucked over the weekend must have done a real number on him for him to be this grouchy.
We walk the rest of the way to his office in silence, and when we get there the twins are already waiting. Each of us takes a seat, all three of them look at me.
“What?” I ask.
“Did you fuck her?” Onyx demands. Why do they care?
“What does it matter?” I add, crossing my arms over my chest. “Someone needs to fill me in, because I’m lost.”
“It matters because she’s up to something. I have to show you all something, but you have to promise not to tell Dad.” Sawyer is never this serious, and he doesn’t keep much from Dad.
He slides his phone across his desk and the twins and I lean in. Slate taps the phone and an image of Amelie and Sawyer lights up the screen. They’re in his bed, I recognise the pillows Mum insisted he needed. She’s clearly topless, at least. Him too.
“I hate to break it to you bro, but that looks an awful lot like our new sister, in your bed.” Fuck. What else can I say?
“Now I’ll ask again, Kalen, did you fuck her?” I’m surprised the twins have said nothing.
“Did you?” I counter. Sawyer just glares at me until I cave. I sigh. “Nope, maybe some groping but that’s about all...that I can remember. I actually like her, so if this is some kind of ploy to turn me against her, it won’t work.”
“Not even if she tried to seduce me, and use it to blackmail me?” Sawyer asks.
“Can you blame her? But what would she gain from blackmailing you, really? If you figure that out, then you might change my mind. But if you ask me, she probably wanted to fuck with one of us to piss off her mother, because if you haven’t noticed, they really do not get along. And after what the twins did to her, it really doesn’t surprise me that she would be out for blood.”
“What did you actually do to her?” Sawyer says, turning to my brothers.
“Who cares what we did? She needs to go, and by the looks of it, you two are trying to shack up with her and shag her, which leaves Slate and I to do the dirty work.”
“Don’t try and justify what you did, you found a picture of her being gang raped and spread it around the school, making out like she was a whore. Maybe someone normal would have broken down and run away, but Amelie doesn’t strike me as the type to run at the first sign of trouble.
“If you three want her gone, get to know her. That will be the only way to find her weakness and exploit it…but I do not want any part of it. I kinda like having a ‘sister’. So you can all sod off and tell dad I’m leaving to sleep off this dreadful hangover, and if you don’t, I’ll tell him what you’ve done. All of you.” I stand and leave the room. My anger has boiled over. Those three always stand together, and poor old Kalen is just supposed to follow along. Maybe when I was a kid I wanted to follow in my brothers’ footsteps, but not now.
If I’m being honest with myself, I may be a little jealous. Seeing her in his arms burned. I thought we had a connection, and that look I saw him give her earlier when he took us out of class, that was a look of longing. Now I know why. He slept with her. How fucked is it; my parents helped the twins and Sawyer, by adopting them and I’m still sorting through the mess in my head about that. I know I should be happy that my brothers have a loving family, yet my father shows me less love, always taking their side on everything. At least I have my mum. I know I’m her favourite. After her and my dad split, my brothers only really visit her once a week for dinner. I see her every day.
Screw them all, I’m going to make sure Amelie realises I’m the better choice. If she thinks I laid it on thick before, she has no idea what she’s in for tomorrow.
Chapter Twelve
When I found out that I had a two-week suspension, I was happy. Then I was disappointed when I discovered that being suspended in a boarding school meant that I’d still have isolated classes, but things looked up when I got assigned to spend all of my school hours in Sawyer’s company. Plus self-defence classes in the evenings.
Only, for the last two weeks, it’s pretty much sucked. Sawyer has either been riding my ass hard – figuratively, unfortunately, not literally – or he’s been cold and distant, ignoring anything I ask or say unless it’s about schoolwork. It hasn’t stopped me from trying though. I’ve been working out in my tightest outfits, undoing extra buttons on my shirt, texting him at night. He might have blocked my number though. He’s definitely not rising to the bait.
I even broke the number one rule: I asked him what he did to get sent to Knox Academy. I expected him to go mental at that, but he remained annoyingly calm. I don’t know how to provoke a reaction out of him; I’d even settle for anger, like in the kitchen on my birthday. Instead he said that if I could knock him on his ass or kick his ass before the suspension was up, he’d tell me.
Suspension is up. Tonight is our last in isolation self-defence class. I’m going to get him. I have to. I need to know why he ended up here. Just how bad do you have to be to get a Knox sentence?
The only positive of the last two weeks has been Kalen. I’ve been surprised by how much I like him hanging around. He has a crazy energy that’s almost manic at times, but it’s stopped me from losing it. I haven’t even minded the isolation because he’s been there during every spare moment. He’s had me doing all sorts of crazy pranks and stunts, and although he’s been there for a good time, we really have gotten close. I don’t know if it’s a friendship, a brother-sister thing, or something more. He calls me sis at every available opportunity, but flirts relentlessly too. Whatever it is, I like it. I’m starting to like him. Which is crazy, for so many reasons: I want to leave, and I’m going to try to get out of here; Smalls has my heart; I have to destroy this family to punish my mother; and I can’t fight the connection between Sawyer and I, even if he is.
Speaking of Sawyer, it’s time for our self-defence class. I tried being late a couple of times to make him mad, but he just worked me extra hard to make up for it. And not in a good way. So I’ve been nice and compliant for the last couple of days at least.
I smooth my hands over my yoga pants and matching jacket. Monty got them for me when I told him I had no workout gear. I’ve teamed the new clothes with a sports bra and my trainers. I’m not actually trying to seduce Sawyer tonight; my hair’s tied back in a messy bun and I don’t have any makeup on. This is just the comfiest outfit I have for grappling in. Form fitting clothes give the advantage of preventing your opponent from getting a grip on you. Apparently. It seems that no matter what I wear, Sawyer puts me on my ass every single time. Not tonight though. I lift my chin defiantly and stare at myself. I’m going to get what I want tonight; and tonight, the only thing I want from Sawyer, is answers.
I race to the gym knowing that, like always, Sawyer will be there first and we will have the place to ourselves. I run over so that I’m not late and arrive panting hard.
“Oh good, you’ve already warmed up. Let's get started.”
“I suck at running,” I complain. “You’d think I’d be better at it, given my upbringing.”
“You’ve improved significantly in the last two weeks, and although your suspension is ending, our sessions are not. You’ll continue to make progress.”
Wow. For a moment I’m speechless; that’s the closest thing to a compliment I’ve gotten off Sawyer since he took our picture together and called me beautiful.
“Th-thanks,” I stammer, wrong footed by him being nice to me. I decide to make the most of this moment of harmony. “Can I ask you a question?”
“If it’s not against the rules.”
“How’s Slate?”
Sawyer hesitates and I can tell I’ve surprised him. He wasn’t expecting that.
“Why do you care?” he snaps warily.
“You said he drinks. That he wasn’t coping well…you know when.” I don’t want to push too hard and make him clam up on me again.
“He’s fine,” Sawyer replies through gritted
teeth.
“Do me a favour, okay?”
“I don’t have to do you anything.”
“Just check on him. I don’t think he’s doing as okay as you think he is.”
Sawyer stares at me for a moment, assessing me like he’s trying to work out what I’m up to. Eventually though he gives in, nods once and points to the mats. Time to start work.
We start with a simple warm up and an easy defensive round of blocks. I’m definitely getting better; Sawyer is rarely able to get past my defences now in a routine like this. When it comes to actual moves though, I’m pretty useless.
“Good. Remember to keep your guard up. Let’s move on to attacks from behind.”
I think it’s pretty pointless – self-defence, I mean – as Sawyer always insists that my stance is just so, and he comes at me just right. How unrealistic is that? When is an attacker ever going to come at me slowly, with intent, and plant his hands in just the right place for me to be able to disarm him? Stupid.
“Focus, Amelie!” Sawyer chastises me as I fail to flip him over my shoulder as expected when he ‘attacks’ me from behind.
“I can’t do it! I’m too small.”
“You can. Focus.”
He attacks again and no matter how hard I try, I just can’t flip him. I do manage to grapple with him a little this time. I try to elbow him in the solar plexus, which works, but his reaction has him cuffing my cheekbone.
“Shit! I’m sorry!” He panics, grabbing my face and turning it to check the damage. My skin burns where his fingertips touch my face. It’s like five small fires have been lit.
“You’re okay,” he tells me softly, remorse and something else in his eyes. “Let’s try something else. Let’s just grapple for a bit.”
I work up a sweat tangling with Sawyer. I’m too focused on my task of bringing him down to be turned on by the close bodily contact. Okay, so that’s a lie, but I’m mostly focused on beating Sawyer and not the heat of his shirtless, tattooed body pressing against my exposed skin. Only, the way he moves against me has me thinking about what would have happened all those weeks ago if Kalen’s stupid bloody call hadn’t interrupted us. Heat pools between my thighs, making movement uncomfortable. Probably should have worn underwear, but it’s too late for that now. Fuck, I want him. I’ve missed his touch so much. Kalen’s flirting is great and all, but I don’t want the promise of what might happen; I want what I already know will be explosive.
