Thorn in the Dark (Grove High School Book Two)

by A. R. Breck

  “Rose.” Easton’s voice pleads to me. I know he has something to do, or else he wouldn’t be sitting in his car right now looking like he’s being split in two, literally.

  “It’s fine. I’ll talk to you later.” I don’t wait for a reply before walking up the steps to my house. It only takes the second before the muffler of Easton’s truck blares down the street, announcing their departure.

  “Jackasses,” I mumble.

  When I unlock my door, my mom sits on the couch inside, talking on her phone. “Okay, yep. She just walked in. I’ll talk to you later. Yeah, you too. Bye.” When she hangs up, she sets her phone down on the coffee table before standing up and walking over to me. “Where have you been?”

  “Out with some friends.” Shit, I kind of forgot that I was supposed to be in bed this week not feeling well.

  “So, you’re feeling better then?” She assesses me, looking for any new injuries.

  “A little bit, not totally.” Will I ever totally be okay? Unlikely.

  “If you’re going out with friends, then you’re going to school tomorrow, right?”

  “Umm, I don’t think so.”

  “Why not? What’s still not feeling well? You sure look better than yesterday.” She knows something happened. She’s fishing.

  “I’m still sore.” Between my legs. My mood immediately dampens. After my day, I’ve been feeling a little bit more like my old self. Then here comes mother dearest to remind me of everything I’ve been through lately. Talk about a major buzz kill.

  “If you can’t go to school, then you can’t leave this house to hang out with friends.”

  “Fine.” There is absolutely no way that I can go to school this week. I can’t deal with the crowds of people closing in on me. If anything, going out with Cara to get a smoothie is proof of that.

  “On another note, I was just talking to Jeff, and we’re planning to do dinner tomorrow night. I would like it if you could join us.” I can hear in her tone that she wants to order me to be there, but ordering right now will have the opposite effect on me.

  Dinner, though? With Jeff? The awkward silence of two hours with the both of them will no doubt be painful.

  “Can I bring a friend?”

  “Oh, sure. I guess. You know I like Cara.” She shrugs her shoulders, too excited to be doing something like a family to care.

  I wasn’t talking about Cara, but I guess she will figure that out tomorrow. “Okay.” I give her a smile and start walking towards my room. It doesn’t even click in my head that I just agreed to going out in public, most likely to a restaurant surrounded by a bunch of people with Jeff and my mom. Shit, what the hell have I just agreed to?

  “Rose, are you sure you’re okay?” She sounds so concerned. I wish I could talk to her, but I still can’t even utter the words out loud. That makes it real. And if it’s real...

  What then?

  “Mhmm.” I try to give her a reassuring smile, but the exhaustion hits hard. It takes effort to even stand at this point.

  Turning back towards my room, the final thing I hear before I shut my door is her whispering to herself, “What happened to you?”

  Chapter Nine

  I know I’m the bad guy. I’m the son of Satan.

  Easton

  “She’s pissed, bro.” Jackson chuckles.

  “She’s always pissed at me.”

  “Yeah, because you’re an asshole to her.”

  “Shut the fuck up. What did I even do?” I grip the steering wheel so tight I’m surprised the shit doesn’t crumble underneath my palms.

  “You made some progress with her today. When she walked out to the car, she looked like a battered lamb on the way to slaughter. Shooting that gun made her light up. Don’t lie, you saw it. She seemed happy until you basically ignored her the entire ride back.”

  “What? No, I didn’t.” I shake my head.

  “Yes, you fucking did.” He rolls his eyes. “I swear, you are a dipshit sometimes.”

  I think back. Was I really ignoring her? If I was, it wasn’t intentional by any means. But, shit, I guess I was being cold towards her. She doesn’t realize that I get like that when I need to meet with Rich. It has nothing to do with her at all. She needs to understand that boyfriend me is a completely different person than Richard Malone’s heir.

  “Shit.” I groan.

  Jackson laughs. “Told you. Good luck with that one.”

  “Fuck you. Just wait, you’ll get your turn and you’ll be all turned upside down too. I'm going to laugh at your ass.”

  “Nope. I’d rather fly solo forever than deal with the emotions that go into a relationship. Pussy on the side, but they should keep their feelings at home.”

  Jackson is no doubt more fucked up than I am. I might be the one that executes the crime, but I know it’s Jackson that wishes it was him spilling the blood. He almost thirsts for it, like a parasite. Give his ass a cup, and he’ll fill it up and gulp that shit down like its liquid gold.

  “Have you talked to Logan today?” I’m hoping Jackson let Logan know he’s needed at the warehouse.

  “Texted him on the way to Rose’s.”

  I say nothing else as we drive into the cities. That’s the nice thing about being around Jackson. He doesn’t like to talk. So, if I’m in the mood for silence, I am with the best of company. Logan doesn’t know when to shut his mouth. I guess I’m the in between of the both of them.

  When we pull up to the warehouse, Logan is already outside of his car, smoking a joint, and texting on his phone.

  “What’s up? How was the shooting lesson?” His eyes are full of laughter. “I was expecting one of you to come back with a fucking gunshot wound.” He cackles.

  I’m about a second from socking that smug ass grin off of his face. I would, actually, but we have more important things to do right now.

  “Come on, man. No time for this shit.” I walk towards the door and hear both of them follow. The seriousness of this situation hits home with all of us, real quick.

  Us being here so soon after just meeting with Rich is a bad sign. We all are thinking the same thing, we just don't want to admit it.

  It has to do with Corey. There’s no other solution as to why we’re all here when we just left this place yesterday. We usually only meet with Rich once a week, if that. Coming here multiple times a week always spells trouble.

  Walking in, silence ascends upon us as we walk towards Rich’s office, unlike the last time we were here when it was a madhouse. Now this place is almost eerily silent. Everyone must have gotten prepared for Friday and is either at home or already left for Wisconsin.

  Rich’s door is shut, so I knock on it, only to have it open instantly to a very stone-faced Hugo. He opens up the door, revealing a calm looking Rich and a murderous looking Frank Aronole. Shit, I knew it.

  Corey’s dad is here.

  “Boys, come in.” Rich says with a poker face.

  The air is so thick with tension, so heavy, it almost feels humid. The three of us walk in and stand over on one side of the room while Frank stands on the other.

  “Frank here stopped by looking for his son. Said last he heard he’s been hanging out around these parts. He knows your girlfriend, Rose Strauss. Apparently, they used to be very close. I thought you guys might know something about his whereabouts.” Shit, he didn’t let Frank know we killed his son, did he?

  What the fuck do I say?

  “Sorry. Don’t know him.” I shrug my shoulders and glance at Rich to look for any sort of guidance. Unfortunately, Rich using all of his effort to stare at Frank.

  Frank points his finger at me, and I need to shove my hands in my pockets so I don’t reach out and snap it in half.

  “Don’t lie to me, boy. I know you have something to do with his disappearance. I know he’s been struggling with drugs for quite some time. Do you know where he gets them? From all of you. You low life, drug dealing thugs. All of you!” He points at Jackson and Logan, and they both step
forward, ready to fight if I give the go-ahead.

  “If you don’t tell me where my son is right now, I’m going to personally go to the FBI and inform them about the huge drug operation going on, not even twenty miles from their office!” Frank’s sweaty face is nearly purple from his screams and spit flies out of his mouth with each syllable. It’s absolutely disgusting, but also pleasing. Any person who is involved with Corey deserves to feel a little pain.

  The door clicks, and we all focus on Hugo as he locks the office door.

  “Now, Frank. You can’t honestly be so stupid as to threaten me in my own office, can you?” Rich’s chair creaks as he leans back, getting comfortable and looking almost amused.

  He blanches. “No, no. Rich, you know I would never do that. I just know that those kids know what happened to my son!”

  “So, you’re threatening these kids then?” Rich cocks his head to the side, deathly calm as the air turns from heavy and humid to cold. Ice, ice cold. I swear, if I puffed out a breath of air, you would be able to see it.

  “I’m not threatening them. I just know that they know something!” He points his finger at my face. “You date that slut, Rose. My son has been after her since middle school, and she has been stringing him along ever since. I know that little whore—”

  I rush from my side of the room and get so close to his face our chests bump. My tampered down rage fuels up again, making me sweat even in this cold room. “I would stop that sentence before those last words spill out of your mouth. Even better, you should swallow them right back down with the rest of your disgusting words about to spew out of your mouth. You want to know what happened to your son? I fucking killed him. I threw his rapist ass into the Mississippi River, where he can bloat up like a pufferfish.” His eyes grow wide at the word rapist. “Yeah, I’m sure you were unaware of that little bit, huh? Your perfect fucking son buried himself balls deep into my fucking girlfriend without consent. Raped her. Brutalized her. I put so many bullets in his brain and shoved his dick so far down his throat he could win an award before tossing him like the trash he is into that dirty-ass water.”

  Frank’s face turns from red to white to purple. I’m not sure he’s breathing, but I don’t give a fuck. “That person he raped? Yeah, that’s my fucking girlfriend. Someone I care about a lot.” I pull my gun out of the back of my jeans and cock it, placing it right in his face. “Call her a whore one more time. I. Fucking. Dare you.”

  Silence. Silence. Silence. All I hear is silence and the sound of Frank swallowing down his tongue along with his non-existence spit.

  “You… you will fucking pay for this!” He booms, turning around and rushing past Hugo. A few seconds later, we all hear the slam of the outside door.

  Silence goes on for many seconds until Rich breaks the silence. “He's going to come back for you, you know.”

  “I know.” I’ll be ready. Looks like the entire Aronole clan is going down.

  “You better be ready for Friday. Sanders deal is much bigger than your high school drama.”

  If this man weren’t my father, I would jab my gun into his eye socket.

  Actually, I don’t give a shit that he’s my father. If I wasn’t so certain that he would murder me for hitting him, then I’d definitely jab my gun into his eye socket.

  “I’ll deal with it.” Half of me wants to run after Frank and shove his own dick down his throat while he's alive. No one and I mean no one is going to talk about Rose like that. I’m sick and tired of the shit that she’s had to go through lately.

  Next person who fucks up is going to be following Corey’s path down the river.

  “I’ll see you on Friday then.” He says, waving us off as he runs his free hand down his face. He is obviously stressed, which is very unlike him.

  “You’re coming out to Wisconsin with us?” I’m shocked, to put it mildly. This man does not get his hands dirty, and he hasn’t since he was a little older than I am now.

  “Of course, I am. I will not let Sanders get away with this. All of our best men will accompany us out there. At this point, it’s not even a negotiation deal. We’re taking him down.”

  My eyes go wide at his comment. I didn’t realize that they were planning to kill Sanders. This makes it a much bigger deal than I initially thought. There will be bloodshed this weekend. And it’s not going to be ours.

  “We’ll see you on Friday then.” I say, and the three of us silently walk out of the warehouse and back to our cars.

  The three of us walk out in silence. Once we get to my truck, it’s Logan who breaks the unbearable quiet.

  “Did you guys know we’re taking down Sanders?” Jackson and I shake our heads. “That means that we have to take down not one man, but an entire cartel.”

  “Shit,” Jackson mumbles.

  “Whatever. I can’t deal with this shit anymore. Let’s go.” Logan heads to his car and Jackson, and I climb into my truck. Driving home, I can’t help but contemplate the million different things that are happening in my life right now.

  What the fuck is going to happen with Sanders?

  Is Rose going to forgive me for being a dick earlier?

  I know I'm going to end up killing Frank. Am I going to have to kill that entire damn family?

  Am I ever going to be able to touch Rose again without her freezing up on me?

  I feel like a little bitch for internally complaining about all of my problems, but at least I can give myself some props for not unloading on my boys like a lovesick fool.

  When I arrive at my house, I give Jackson a nod and walk into my house. I’m sure the silent ride home spoke loud and clear that I’m not in the mood for company.

  I grab a beer from the fridge and walk back into my room, ignoring the text message from Duke about meeting up this weekend for some training. I'm going to have to send him a text later, letting him know I can’t come until Monday. He’s going to be fucking pissed, but there’s no way I can get out of this one.

  Exhaustion hits me like a freight train, so I take off my shoes and hop into bed. I’m about to send an apology text to Rose when I get an incoming call from her. Ignoring the flipping sensation going on in my chest, I swipe to connect and start groveling.

  “I was just going to text you.”

  “You’re back then? From where ever it was you needed to be?” She snarks. Great, she’s still fucking pissed.

  “Yes. I’m home.” I let out a sigh and try to rub my eyes right out of their sockets. “Rose, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t even realize I was being a fuckhead until Jackson told me. We had to go meet with Rich.”

  “That doesn’t give you an excuse to treat me like shit.”

  “No, it doesn’t. But it’s just how I’m wired. You have to realize that this shit with Rich is a different life. I’m not a nice guy. I fuck people up and kill them for a living and dealing with my father is never a good time. It puts me in a mood.”

  “I know.” She sounds sad, and I want to reach through the phone and pluck that sadness right out of her voice.

  “I’ll try not to be such a dick. But try to understand, I’m not the good guy.”

  “You are good, though. You saved me...” She trails off as if she can’t even bear to speak any words about that night.

  “I saved you because I care about you, and I’ve wanted to see Corey’s blood smeared on the pavement for a while now.”

  “You’re trying to scare me away.” She whispers, her gravely voice turning me on, even when it shouldn’t.

  “You should run away. You deserve better than the life I could give you.” Where is this shit coming from? I picked up the phone, intending on apologizing, and I end up feeling like I need to scare her off. This shit about taking down Sanders’ entire crew has thrown me through a loop.

  Are we even going to make it out alive?

  “Why are you talking like this?” She cries. Fuck, I hate it when she cries.

  “I just want you to understand what being with me
is like. I’m an asshole one hundred percent of the time.”

  “I know you’re not perfect. No one is. I like you for you, Easton. Now shut up about it. We are not having this conversation. I called you to ask you for a favor.”

  I ball up my emotions like a paper ball and toss that shit into the trash can. “What is it?”

  “Come to dinner tomorrow with me, my mom and her boyfriend.”

  “Absolutely not.” I laugh.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t do family dinners. Not ever.” She has got to be fucking kidding me.

  “You owe me for being a complete jackass earlier. Please come and save me from this terrible dinner. We will be even afterward.”

  “No.”

  “Easton! Please! If I don’t start showing some effort, I swear my mom is going to ship me back to Woodbury.” She coughs to clear her throat.

  Seriously? Fuck, she knows how to get me. “Fine. God damn you, Rose.” I bark at her.

  Yes! You’re the best! Thank you! Goodnight!” She hangs up before I have a chance to say what a shit she is.

  Rose totally suckered me into this. Completely.

  I stare at my phone in disbelief. “Bitch.”

  Chapter Ten

  In the dark we will survive, together.

  Rose

  Getting ready has become a chore. What used to be one of my favorite things has turned into something I wish I never had to do again.

  Doing my hair, painting my nails, dressing up fancy—none of that appeals to me anymore.

  I’d rather sit inside in my most unflattering clothes where I know I won’t be looked at with lust-filled eyes. I’d prefer to show off the least amount of skin possible.

  So, this dress I’m wearing? I wish this shit were longer. I pull down the hem of my form-fitting black dress and wish for a few inches to grow on the hem. Sadly, my wishes aren’t granted. If anything, as I move, I feel it gets shorter with each step. The possibility of someone reaching under my dress makes me want to slide about five pairs of shorts on underneath.