Have Mercy

by Hart, Lane

  “Kidnappedbymyparents,” Aric slurs, running all four words together.

  “I hate you got hurt again,” I tell him. And since he’s so zonked, I look over at the other side of the bed to ask his parents, “How bad is it this time?”

  Before they can answer me, Aric mumbles, “I’m done. So. Fucking. Done.”

  At least his words are each punctuated and easier to understand with the slurring.

  Poor guy. I feel his pain. Getting suspended and then booted from the football team sucked. Not only was I a team captain, but I was a goddamn legend on the field as a middle linebacker, holding the record for the school’s most tackles ever.

  And in the blink of an eye, it was all gone.

  I notice Blake shifting on his feet beside me and know he’s about to go there, even though it’s not the time or place. The dude really is a dope sometimes.

  “You got anything else you want to tell us?” Blake asks with his jaw tightened, not even trying to hide his anger.

  “If I did, can’t remember it right now,” Aric responds eventually.

  “Maddie was at the homecoming dance tonight,” Blake tells him, and I can almost see the lightbulb going off behind Aric’s eyes.

  “Oh shit!” he exclaims and then tries to sit up in the hospital bed before he flops right back down. “I missed homecoming and didn’t call! She’s gonna be so mad at me.”

  “She was,” Blake agrees. “And she showed me some seriously fucked-up photos of you. Pardon my language, Mr. and Mrs. Prince.”

  Aric winces. “I’m so sorry, man. I swear it’s over with Collette. I’m done. So fucking done. It’s been over for weeks.”

  What the…?

  If there was a record playing in the room, it would’ve just scratched. Hard.

  With Aric’s slurring some words, hopefully I misheard.

  Then Aric adds, “Don’t tell your Kurt. Your dad. Kurt,” and I know I heard him right the first time.

  “Collette?” I repeat as I look over at Blake whose forehead creases in confusion. “Dude, why are you talking about Blake’s mom?” I ask even though I have another one of those fucked-up suspicions since Collette is a seriously determined cougar.

  “Maddie took those pictures before school started,” Aric explains. “Bad decision. Really, really fucking bad. Wish she had never touched me.”

  “Aric!” Blake yells, sounding furious when he starts to put all the pieces together. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Please don’t tell your dad,” Aric says in a whisper. “He’ll kill me and her.”

  I look from Aric’s stunned parents to Blake and then Aric again whose eyelids are closing as he drifts off to sleep.

  Still, that doesn’t seem to matter to Blake, who snaps out of his shock and goes right into full-blown rage when he lunges for the man in the hospital bed.

  Thankfully, my reflexes are quick, and I’m able to get my arms around Blake’s chest to hold him back.

  “Calm down, man,” Aric says when he blinks his heavy eyes open again and sees Blake’s red, infuriated face. “It’s all good now. Whew! I’m glad that’s finally off my chest.”

  “I’ll fucking kill you!” Blake roars before a few hospital aids and Aric’s dad come take him off my hands and drag him out of the room, leaving me standing there dumbstruck.

  “What’s the big damn deal?” Aric asks me as I scrub my palms over my face, knowing that everything has changed now and will never be the same. Us three, our friendship is ruined beyond repair because of Aric being a dumbass.

  “You just…” I start to explain. “I think you just told him you screwed his mom! He’s never gonna forgive you, asshole. And then there’s Maddie…”

  “Maaaaddddieee.” Aric stretches her name out like a prayer, an enormous grin on his face like he doesn’t even remember the shitstorm he just started with Blake. “She’s awesome. I think I love her.”

  Jesus Christ!

  “You’ve lost your goddamn mind, man,” I tell him with a shake of my head before I walk out of the room to go try and calm down my best friend, who just had his entire perfect world blown to smithereens.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Hannah

  “So you and Royal?” Maddie asks. She’s driving us home in my car from the dance since I drank the punch that was spiked. Both of us were silent for several long minutes after we got in the car following her catching me and Royal in a compromising position, but I guess her curiosity finally got the best of her. Not to mention, she probably needs a distraction from the disappointment of Aric standing her up tonight.

  “Me and Royal,” I agree on a sigh.

  “Since when?”

  “A long, long time ago.” Camp with Royal feels like a different lifetime or a different reality. “I used to have a huge crush on him that goes back to freshman year, but he didn’t know I existed until a few summers ago at camp when we…did things together.”

  “Seriously?” Maddie says.

  “Seriously.”

  “So, what? You two have been on again, off again for years?”

  “Something like that,” I tell her, even though it’s been entirely off. Neither of us even spoke to each other before the SAT blowup when Royal went ballistic on me, catching me so off-guard in the school parking lot the Monday morning after. I couldn’t even respond with a single word before I slid right back into the driver seat of my car and drove myself home. I told my parents I came home sick, which wasn’t a lie. After finding out Royal had been suspended for the rest of the year, I threw up because I felt so awful.

  “Until the spring when things went downhill?” Maddie correctly guesses.

  “The spring certainty didn’t help anything, that’s for sure.” I’ve never told anyone about the recording of Royal talking about using me. It’s too embarrassing and heartbreaking.

  “I still can’t believe you would let him screw you after he screwed you over so badly!” she exclaims. “In case you forgot, he ruined your life so that I’m the only person in the school who talks to you! What were you thinking, Han?”

  “I wasn’t thinking. That’s the problem,” I tell her. “And that is definitely not going to happen again.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I do,” I reply adamantly. The regret I feel tonight is almost as severe as it was from camp when I found out how Royal truly felt about me. He may be an extremely talented liar, but he also makes me feel so damn good that I couldn’t resist his touch. Never again will I submit to him or his advances, no matter what.

  “So, why do you think Aric didn’t show?” I ask Maddie to change the subject.

  “Maybe he changed his mind about us,” she says with a sniff and shrug of her shoulders as if that decision wouldn’t bother her when it clearly would. “Should’ve known better than to trust him in the first place.”

  “He could have a good reason,” I say.

  “He could,” Maddie agrees but doesn’t sound convinced. “But why didn’t he just call or send me a quick text to let me know before I embarrassed myself by showing up?”

  “I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Yeah, I will,” she agrees with a sigh. “And if he just gives me some bullshit because he chickened out, then I am done with his arrogant ass!”

  “That’s fair,” I agree as she pulls up in the driveway of my house and puts my car in park. “You’ll have to let me know how it goes,” I tell her.

  “I will,” she says.

  We both climb out and shut the car doors. “Are you sure you don’t want to drive my car home instead of taking the bus?” I ask her again when she walks around to the passenger side and drops the keys into my palm.

  “I’ll be fine. But thank you for the ride to school and the outfit. Oh, and for going with me tonight even if it was only to get stood up!”

  “You’re welcome,” I say. “Good night and good luck.”

  “Night,” Maddie responds before she starts for the road,
walking the five blocks to the closest bus stop because she’s so darn stubborn.

  Inside my house, I say a quick goodnight to my parents, who are watching television in the living room, and then jog up the stairs to my room before they can grill me and notice I’ve been drinking or screwing around with a certain jackass.

  My first stop is to my en suite bathroom where I run warm water in my garden tub to sit and soak away all traces of Royal Fitzpatrick from my skin. I still smell his rich boy cologne everywhere, and I swear that scent is like some sort of aphrodisiac I can’t resist but know I should.

  I get undressed and am lowering myself into the foaming bubbles when an important thought finally hits me.

  I don’t think Royal used a condom tonight!

  Why didn’t he use a freaking condom?

  I’m not on birth control, which means it’s a huge problem.

  And even though he didn’t finish, does that mean not even a single drop of his cum leaked inside of me?

  I’m not willing to take that chance, so first thing tomorrow, I’ll go to the pharmacy and get a Plan B to be safe rather than incredibly sorry.

  * * *

  Royal

  I’m still wide ass awake in bed when Blake texts me asking if he can come crash here, which of course I tell him he can.

  At least there’s not a chance in hell that my dad would be stupid enough to lay a finger on me with witnesses around.

  So, why am I still awake at three a.m.?

  Because my gut is churning with hot, bubbly guilt. Not to mention that my dick is still hard even after jerking off in the shower when I got home because I didn’t get to finish what I started with Hannah. And not just physically.

  The guilt is partially because of Hannah and partially because there’s something I’ve never told Blake but feel like I should have after the shit came out about Aric. But I don’t know if I can be honest without him hating me.

  Blake and Aric are all I’ve got at the moment. And yeah, I’m angry at Aric for Blake’s sake, because I get the idea that what he did with Collette went on for a long damn time. Their illicit affair would explain why I never saw Aric hooking up with any girls from school after the summer he was with Sophie a long time ago.

  In fact, I was starting to think maybe he was gay, because he didn’t let any chicks touch him, not even for a blowie.

  I would’ve preferred that he was gay, because then he wouldn’t have ruined his friendship with Blake.

  * * *

  “So how bad is shit at your house?” I ask Blake Saturday afternoon when he finally wakes up after crashing on my floor. Me, on the other hand? I barely got a wink of sleep. And it’s a good thing Blake is here; because if he wasn’t, I would probably do something stupid, like go see Hannah to hold her down and make her talk to me, and then probably try to fuck her again.

  We should definitely fuck again, no matter what, because it’s that damn good. I’m guessing that’s a long shot, though…

  “Bad,” Blake informs me when he sits up and rests his back against the side of my bed frame. “Like really fucking bad.”

  “No kidding.” I grab a baseball and pace around my room, tossing it in the air over and over again because my ADD is in full effect, wanting me to go to Hannah. And I can’t. I won’t. At least not while Blake is here.

  “I’m gonna kill Aric,” Blake says, making me wince. “Did you know about any of this?”

  “Fuck no,” I say honestly. “You know I would’ve told you if I did. Aric kept this fucked-up train wreck a secret from everyone.”

  “Do you think…maybe it just happened once?” Blake mumbles, and I can’t immediately answer that without lying just to tell him what he wants to hear.

  “You could ask Aric,” I suggest.

  “Fuck that. I don’t want to hear a single word out of his disgusting mouth!” Blake grumbles.

  “I don’t blame you,” I agree. “But if you want answers, only two people can give them to you.”

  “Whatever. I just want to forget everything including my own name for the rest of the weekend.”

  “That can be arranged,” I say with a grin. “You worried about the team’s drug tests?”

  “Couldn’t care less,” Blake says. “With that asshole injured, our season will be done in about three more weeks anyway.”

  “In that case, let the wasted weekend begin!” I declare, because forgetting everything is exactly what I need this weekend too.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hannah

  In just a matter of days, all sorts of things have changed.

  Maddie went from being ridiculous happy to on the outs with Aric.

  Blake and Royal sat with me and Maddie at the loser’s table at lunch today, which had everyone whispering because it’s unheard of for those guys to have anything to do with us, especially Royal.

  Then, to top it all off, Blake told us that Aric slept with his mom!

  And finally, it’s only been three short days since Royal and I got stupid together.

  I don’t like to use the f-word to describe Friday night, and we sure as heck didn’t “make love”, so the only way to define it was being stupid. I still can’t believe he was dumb enough to not use protection. Saturday, I had to take a Plan B, which has made me completely crazy and hormonal.

  So, if being with Royal was such a disaster, why can’t I stop thinking about Friday night, about him and how good it felt to kiss him again? Somehow, when I’m around him, he makes me feel things, things that only he can invoke, like some sort of magician who knows how to manipulate my body and bend it to his will.

  As if I summoned him using a spell, there’s a sharp knock on the glass doors that lead out to my balcony. Yes, one that’s sort of like Juliet’s, except that’s no Romeo glaring at me through the curtains and wiggling the handle to see if it’s open so he can just barge in. I don’t know why Royal is showing up here; but if he doesn’t stop pounding his knuckles on the glass, my parents will hear him!

  Getting up from my bed where I had been doing homework, I march over and unlock the door, simply to open it so I can tell him, “Go away.”

  But when I try to close the door, he sticks his big foot in the way to block it and then pushes it open, overpowering my grip on it until he’s waltzing right past me and into my room.

  “Seriously, Royal, I don’t know why you’re here, but you shouldn’t be! You need to leave,” I whisper-yell at him, pointing the way back to the door.

  “We need to talk,” he says as he stares me down, not bothering to be quiet and looking even bigger and angrier than I remember, especially his amber eyes. He never looked at me like this when we were together at camp, like he hates every tiny molecular cell that makes up my body.

  Did I mention he’s also taller and more filled out than he was at sixteen? He takes up way too much space in my room, in my head and, unfortunately, in my heart.

  “I don’t have anything to say to you, except why the heck didn’t you put on a condom Friday night? Are you insane?”

  “Because I had no clue that was going to go down like that! You haven’t spoken to me in over a year, much less let me touch you.”

  “Great, so thanks to that spontaneous event, you could’ve impregnated me or given me god only knows what kind of diseases from all your past skanks!”

  “I wasn’t going to knock you up, and I didn’t finish, so it’s a non-issue,” he grits out. “And I haven’t technically fucked any skanks lately, but all of their mouths looked exceptionally clean.”

  “You are so gross,” I tell him after putting that image in my head. “And you’re a jerk!”

  “I’m the jerk? You’re the one who ruined my life, remember? You didn’t even think for one second about what your self-righteousness would cost me! I’ve lost everything now. Every-fucking-thing! College, football, my entire fucking future!” he hisses.

  “How about you take a little responsibility for your own problems?” I suggest since I don’t n
eed him throwing all of that in my face, trying to make me feel guilty for his own bad decisions.

  “It wasn’t my fault,” he grits out through clenched teeth.

  “Sure it wasn’t. Nothing ever is.”

  “This wasn’t!” he exclaims before I move closer to him to slap my palm over his mouth, quieting him down. His whiskey-colored eyes flare, but he doesn’t move my hand away.

  “Hannah?” my mom calls out from downstairs.

  “Yeah?” I yell back through my closed bedroom door.

  “What’s going on up there? I heard yelling!”

  “It’s just the television. I’ll turn it down!” I promise, scowling and staring into Royal’s eyes to warn him to keep it down. Not that I’m going to let him stay.

  Finally grabbing my wrist to remove my hand from his mouth, he thankfully says softly, “Forget the stupid test. That’s not why I’m here.”

  “So why are you here?” I whisper.

  “Because…because I can’t stop thinking about you and the other night, even though I still hate you.”

  When he tries to take a step closer to me, I back away just as I start to understand why he’s here, why all those times at camp he snuck into my room…

  “Oh. My. God,” I mutter. “You’re here because you think I’m going to let you screw me again!”

  He licks his lips and smirks, eyes softening with humor as he asks, “So, I take it that’s a no?”

  “You know what, Royal?” I tell him as I poke his chest, his hard, broad and sculpted chest. “You are so clueless. Screw. You. Keep calling me any names you want, continue to make me a social pariah at school, I don’t care anymore! But I will never make the mistake of letting you inside of me again.”

  The enraged version of his golden gaze returns in the blink of an eye and, boy, does he look pissed. “If fucking me was such a big mistake and you hated it, then why the hell have you done it three times now?” he asks.