by Ivy Knight
Past the soccer field, on the football field, I see a crowd of people cheering on a game. The lights that shine on the football field are strong and lighten the large field. The deeper I walk onto the field, the louder the cheering gets.
There's students lingering on the ends of the field in groups; some smoking and drinking while others carelessly gossip paying no attention to the game whatsoever. As I stand alone in the middle of the field, I take a seat and lie down on my back just like I used to do when Dean would make me go to one of his football games when we were younger.
The grass is cold and pokes my skin through the thin fabric of the flannel I'm wearing. Forgetting about that, I let my body carelessly drift in the thoughts of my mind as I stare at the night's empty sky.
Not going to lie, I was hoping I'd find a star tonight just so I could pretend that it's my mother watching from above. Since I don't, I watch the clouds move, revealing the crescent moon.
The last few days have been nothing but restless and the next few months will be nothing less.
My family is one of a kind. We stand up for each other no matter what. But we have limits and they'll surely bet tested.
However, I have full faith in my father. He's a man of his words and he'll do this right.
As far as everything else goes, I guess I'll get to live a little without constantly worrying about getting caught. Nick will always be around and when he comes knocking, I'll welcome him with open arms. No more hiding and no more being scared. I've lost so much of my life wanting to be someone else and wanting to fix everything that I've missed having fun.
My innocence is something I'll never get back, but that doesn't mean I've lost everything. I have people to do the hard stuff for me now. People who will fight to protect me like before, but this time it's not at the cost of my freedom. I have both security and freedom and I plan to use that to my advantage.
My part doesn't start until Nick comes and I hope that's not any time soon.
I want to live freely.
As I stare up at the clouds, Kai's figure blocks the view. His eyes examine my current position as if this is the first time he's seen me.
"We need to talk," he says holding up the papers my father handed him.
I turn my face to the side and sigh heavily as I rub my eyes before sitting up. I bring my knees up and stare at the football game past the wired fences. He takes a seat next to me, but I keep my attention forward as my mind implodes with questions.
Since he's been conscious, this is the first time he has willingly come to talk to me. I obviously tried talking to him while he was healing, but I was never successful. I eventually just left him to be.
For someone who has been forced into the deal, he's being quite cooperative and I have to keep him like that.
If he doesn't sign the papers, nothing will go the way we've planned.
"Did you sign them?" I question keeping my head forward.
After a while, when I don't get an answer, I finally build up the strength to turn my head and make eye contact with him. His eyes dark with curiosity, his tongue darts out licking his bottom lip.
"I'm doing this for Luciano," he says.
"Who are you trying to convince?" I question taking the papers out of his hands. I take the pen attached to the top of the papers and sign them. As I flip through the papers, I make sure his signature is everywhere it needs to be before I put mine down. "Congratulations, Kai Black. You are co-owner of The White Dragons."
He takes the papers from my hand and rolls them up so that they fit in his.
"What? No thank you?"
"We all know you didn't do this for me," he scoffs confidently as he gets up on his feet.
"You know, when you're actually ready to talk, I'll be here," I state getting up on my feet. "I'm not one to run away from my emotions, so when you realize what you've lost, don't hold back. But until then, we're business partners, so you might want to stop looking at me like I've killed your kid. He's still alive and no one knows about him. It'll stay that way as long as you don't fuck up. I got you this deal. I can take it away from you in a split second if I come to know that your siding with Nick just because I betrayed you."
His teeth grit, I see the sides of his jaw flex in anger. His thick eyebrows sink lower as his eyes bore into mine deepening in rage at my words.
He takes a challenging step forward.
"Summer White, the daughter of Xavier White, and sole daughter of the White house. That's who you are. The girl who was kidnapped and tortured by Nick Black and the daughter of the gang who lost everything for her, but could never get her back."
"Don't you ever forget that it's not you, who brought yourself up. It was me. I brought you up. You are here today because I made you realize your worth or else you'd still be cutting your wrists and hiding under the protection of a fake identity, suppressing your true potential under fear. The confidence you have today, is because of me. So don't you ever, tell me what or what not to do."
"You are my business partner. One mistake on your behalf and don't you dare think that I will back down because of your family. You put yourself in this position, so don't make it personal. What I have today, is not because of you, but what you have today, is because of me. Do you understand?"
The words don't sink in.
I listen only to reply, not to understand or comprehend. I know that if I do, it'll fucking hurt.
Once he's done, I reply very simple.
"Don't threaten me again, because I'm not afraid of killing your son, with my own bare hands, just to get my point across to you."
"I will kill you," he grits grabbing my arm and pulling me close. His chest on mine, his face is inches away taunting me. His lips, ripe, all I want is to taste them on mine.
I close my eyes and breathe, forgetting how much this proximity is actually bothering me.
Then, I open my eyes and look at him with no emotions.
"Get in line Kai, but until it's your turn, try to find a way to dethrone your brother," I correct. "The solely run the black market of this country alongside my father all because I'm keeping your son safe and alive. So before you make this any worse, let go of me."
His grip tightens to the extent where I have to hide my pain under anger, but within seconds, he lets go and takes a step back. His head thrown down, I watch his fists clench.
"Get a drink, shower or have sex if you have to, but do whatever that needs to be done so that you can gather yourself. You're gaining everything you've always wanted, but all you can think about is going back. How pathetic is that? You're a leader, so start acting like one," I advise.
Kai still standing there with a stiff figure and showing no signs of reacting, I turn around to walk away, but accidentally bum into one of the football players.
"I'm so sorry," I apologize as the player drops his helmet and turns around. At first, I don't recognize the familiar blue eyes, but when I dig deeper into my mind, I connect the darker complexion and the tattooed neck to the same man I saw at the party.
"It's you," he tilts his head.
My eyes work their way past him to the group of football players and cheerleaders.
"It is," I smile bringing my attention back to him. "Hey, I never caught your name last time."
"Donte," he smiles displaying his white teeth.
"Donte Jackson?" my eyebrows furrow as I word the name of my childhood friend.
"Yeah," he smiles. "How... how'd you know?"
My eyes lighten in astonishment and a smile grows on my face. The same Donte that used to be chubby and could hardly get a girl other than me to talk to him is now mother fucking eye candy.
"I'm Summer White," I smile hoping that he realizes who I am. His lips seal and the ends dip down as he thinks about my response.
"Kai Black," his eyes zone past me to Kai. The change in his aura is instant. His shoulders broaden and his eyes become a dominant shade blue. The moon creates a dark shadow under his jaw defining his feature.
Before he can walk past me, I step in front with my hand held in between us.
"What are you doing?"
Without answering, his eyes drop down to me and switch between us until realization hits him.
"You're April Salvatore," he accuses. "You're working with Kai Black."
"Donte-"
"Don't you dare make excuses, what are you doing here?" His voice is deep with warning riling me up.
God, why does my presence just seem to aggravate everyone? I haven't even done anything wrong!
"Calm the fuck down, Donte Jackson. I'm Summer White and that is Kai Black, but we're not here to cause a scene. This is my hometown and this is my school. I don't need your permission to be here and so I warn you to not start anything, because I will not hold Kai back if you are to initiate it. Do you understand?" I speak with warning written all over my eyes.
He takes his gaze off of Kai and takes a step away from me.
"How is this your hometown?"
"I'm Summer White, my father Is Xavier White. I'm sure you can connect the dots."
"Summer's dead," he scoffs causing me to roll my eyes.
"Yeah, yeah like I haven't heard that one, but hey, how's Caroline? Did she ever forgive you for giving her herpes?" I smirk. A chain of 'Oohs' is echoes from his friends behind him and all of them try to suppress their laugh when he gives them a deadly glare.
Silently, he takes my arm and pulls me to the side where our backs face everyone else.
"Summer promised that she'd never tell anyone," he harshly whispers in my ear.
I smile.
"But like you said, I'm not Summer, so I didn't promise you anything."
"This still doesn't make any sense," he growls.
"It doesn't have to," I laugh. "But I'll see you at school tomorrow."
I turn around and start to walk to the parking. When I glance back, I notice that Kai is no longer there, so I continue walking on.
"Summer?"
"Yeah?" I stop.
"There's a party tonight at my lake house. Come if you want, Jane would love to catch up with you."
"Some other time, but Don, her name's Jackie," I correct him catching his trick. With that, I walk to the parking lot and step into my car heading home.
Tomorrow is the first day back in the life of Summer Regina White.
Chapter 50
"Oh, my fucking goodness!" I yell waking up to a loud blaring throughout the entire room.
I never missed training in this house.
Without wasting a second, I throw the blanket to the side and walk into the bathroom where I press the button to turn off the alarm.
Immediately after, my phone rings and I pick it up.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOUR FAMILY?!" Amelia yells through the phone and I wince bringing the phone away from my ear until she's done.
When she is, I try to reply, but the phone beeps showing that Dakota is calling.
"Wait, Dakota's calling. Let me make it a three way."
"Who, in their right fucking mind, blares the sound of an alarm at four in the morning?!" Dakota starts off calm, but loses her composure by yelling at the end.
"I-" before I can say anything, the phone beeps again. This time it's Alec calling.
"Cole won't get up," he groans.
"Are you even up?" Amelia retorts.
"Amelia? Fuck, I must've called the wrong person," Alec huffs.
"No, you didn't. I was on a three-way call, so I just connected your call too. If Cole isn't getting up, leave it. Anthony can deal with him; though, all of you better have your asses down in the kitchen by four thirty for breakfast," I warn.
"Why did we agree to this again?" Dakota asks.
"We didn't," I yawn. "Look, I need to freshen up before the run, so Imma go get ready."
I cut the phone before anyone can argue and throw it on my bed as I hunt through the closet full of clothes. They were all hand-picked by a designer my brothers hired.
Picking out a pair of black Under Armour leggings, a grey jacket and a black sports bra, I head to the washroom and freshen up.
About fifteen minutes later, I head downstairs to the kitchen where I find Anthony and Kai already munching on their food.
"Your plate's set at the end," Anthony tells me and I take a seat at that spot. I lift the cover hiding my food and start to eat. Sluggishly eating, I start to feel my eyes closing on me.
"Morning," Amelia walks in yawning. Dakota; next to her, looks like she didn't sleep all night with her red eyes.
"Food is over there," I point at the table and they look at me as if I'm stupid to point out the obvious.
"You okay?" Amelia asks as she takes a seat.
"Yeah," I speak lowly. "I just don't sleep well."
"Oh," Amelia says knowing the reason as to why. Back in Chicago, I always slept with Kai.
"Dakota, you though are you okay?"
"Huh?" Her head pops up from resting on the table and she fills with panic.
"I didn't do anything!" she claims.
Amelia and I look at her worriedly, but don't get the chance to question her state as Alec walks in, catching all our attentions. His eyes just as red as Dakota's, he strolls in bumping into Dakota's seat before he's able to find the seat next to hers.
"Uh... did you guys?"
"Right in the middle of it, actually," Alec responds as he takes some ham and toast.
"Bad timing," I comment.
"Bad timing? Please, if this gonna go on every morning, then I'll show you bad timing," Alec becomes defensive.
"Uh- no, I'm good," I smile awkwardly.
"I'm over it!" Cole groans as he descends from the stairs. "In what country, is four am a holy time to wake up? None. Absolutely none. Zero! Unless someone is attacking and it is a life or death situation, whoever is responsible for setting this as the wake-up time, is just plain old cruel. I hope this person dies old, frail and lonely."
"Cole, calm the fuck down and just eat. We have fifteen minutes left before we leave," I add looking at the time on my phone.
"Ugh," he groans taking a seat on the table.
...♛...
"How... can... you do this?" Dakota speaks breathing deeply as she jogs next to me.
"I don't know, family genes?" I reply as I follow all the boys ahead of us. "Amelia, how are you hanging on?"
"I'm okay," she replies with a faint smile.
"You should've let me talk to Anthony, he would've understood."
"It's fine, the wound is nearly healed."
"Nearly, but not yet. You don't want it opening again."
"Can we just forget about my GSW and talk about how well Cole, Alec and Kai are getting along with your brother? I mean look at them, they're laughing while running!"
"It's good, there's less drama to deal with," I comment.
"So the fact that Kai would rather talk to your brother than you, doesn't bother you at all?" Dakota questions. Her eyebrow rises in accusation.
I look at the back of Kai's head dripping with sweat that the fabric of his shirt soaks making it sticks to his skin.
His pace is steady, bouncing up and down striding forward as he jogs through the six miles.
I think about the last time we talked and all I wanna do is run up to him and force him to talk to me properly. I wish we had something to talk about, but we don't. Not after what I said to him.
"No," I lie, "it doesn't bother me."
"Oh, really?"
"Really. Kai and I are just business partner. That's all we've ever been and all we'll ever be."
"Oh, shut up about your 'all we've ever been' bullshit. You told us that you had sex with Kai in Italy and ever since then, there's been some tension between the two of you. Not sexual, but something better."
"If we're talking about tension, why don't we talk about the tension between you and Graham, huh? You wanna explain that to me," I turn the tables on Amelia.
"I was at a bar, saw him, we fucked and appare
ntly, he was just on mission trying to figure out what I did for Kai," she words without a care.
"So it was only a one night thing?"
"Two months and three days kind of thing," Dakota beats Amelia to it. Amelia sends Dakota a glare.
"So why'd you guys breakup if you didn't know Graham was working for my father?"
"Well, he said that he was a university student learning how to be an engineer so I dug up everything I could on him and everything seemed to add up. We dated for two months and I broke up with him because I caught him cheating on me."
"But he wasn't actually cheating on you, because he was never actually with you, which hurts more since you're only finding out the truth now."
"Exactly," Amelia replies.
"Well, I still think my situation tops you." I slow down making sure that there's a good distance between us and the boys. "My guy is the brother of the guy who kidnapped and tortured me, he turned out to be a father, the mother of his child died, he runs a gang with my father, everyone in my family hates him and he hates me."
"That does sound bad," Dakota comments as she thinks my words through.
"Bad? Please. My life is a disaster, but I'll be turning that over starting today," I smile. "You know I've grown up here, right?"
"Yeah," Amelia and Dakota both reply.
"Well yesterday, when I was at the school, I met an old friend of mine. Let me tell you, he is not the person I remember. He used to be so chubby, shy and such a geek, now he's so motherfucking hot."
"Shit, you should introduce me to him," Amelia suggests. "My life has been too dry lately."
"I'm not hooking anyone up, but if you want some, no one's stopping you," I grin.
"Yes!" Amelia cheers.
"Hey girls! Last one home, gets to wake up extra early tomorrow morning and cook breakfast for everyone before the run!" Anthony yells.
All of us exchange looks of worry and increase our speed.
...♛...
"I can't believe I'm cooking breakfast tomorrow," Alec exasperates shaking his head.
