“Hil,” I managed to say without lips, while we were still kissing.
“Beauty,” he said back.
“Not here,” I said.
He stopped kissing me almost instantly. “Not here, huh? But there is a there?”
I kissed him one last time.
I looked around the SUV and swallowed hard.
What a story, huh?
Me. Hil. The backseat of Pres’s SUV.
“So let me guess the story, Belle,” Hil whispered, his lips touching my ear. “The first time was special. Right? It was everything you wanted and then it wasn’t. So then you did the opposite. Right? That wasn’t what you wanted though. Pretty little innocent thing… trying to keep an image that never existed. And now you’re worried about being with me. Dirty, rich, stealing vehicles, riding too fast, not giving a fuck… and you know it’ll end in heartache.”
Hil was spot on.
But fuck him.
I turned my head and looked at Hil. “Right. And I don’t want you to have your heart broken.”
I gently kissed him again and then opened the door and got out of the SUV.
Hil shut the door and trampled to the front seat and got behind the wheel.
“Oh, this is going to end bad, beauty,” he said. “I can’t wait.”
“Goodnight, Hil,” I said.
He lit a fresh cigarette. He looked at me and grinned. “You know, Belle, just kissing you is almost enough. I might still make that mess in here.”
“That’s disgusting,” I said.
“Is it though?”
Hil winked and started to drive away.
I bit my lip and shook my head.
They were all fucking sexy, dirty, crazy, and amazing in their own way.
Them.
As much sense as I could make of it all there was just the same amount that didn’t make sense.
I started to walk again.
I smoked another cigarette.
I thought about way too much at once.
And I was overcome with the feeling that I wasn’t alone.
There wasn’t anyone in front of me.
No SUVs.
But behind me…
I turned my head just enough to see a vehicle.
Following me.
Headlights off.
Going slow.
I stopped walking, waiting for the vehicle to pass.
It didn’t pass.
My heart jumped up into my throat.
Maybe it was Them.
But something told me it wasn’t.
Look at what had happened with Hil.
He had no problem coming up to me.
And if it was Ash or Uly… and they wanted to scare me…
I looked to my right and waited until I found the perfect rock.
I picked it up and squeezed it tight in my hand.
Now I needed to turn around and get back to Jo’s.
That would mean walking by the vehicle that was following me.
Unless I…
I started to run.
I was going to go around one of the bends and then cross the road.
Come down the other side, rock in hand, and get to Jo’s.
I reminded myself I had a phone and could call the police.
That would have been smarter than a rock.
But I was already running.
My plan was already in place.
When I looked back, the vehicle without its headlights on was following me again.
Now they weren’t even trying to be sneaky.
They were gaining speed.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
I darted across the road without even looking.
The headlights on the vehicle turned on.
It was another SUV.
It started to turn too, wanting to turn around to follow me.
Or hit me.
I reached for my cellphone and then stopped so I could throw the rock at one of the windows.
As the SUV turned, I threw the rock as hard as I could, letting out a scream when I did so.
The rock hit the front passenger window and the glass exploded.
The SUV came to a screeching stop.
As did I.
I brought my right hand back like I had another rock to throw.
My left hand shook as I tried to do something with my phone.
“Who the fuck are you?” I screamed.
The lights turned on in the SUV.
And I saw who it was.
Principal Werthwood.
* * *
I thought I was going to throw up.
Principal Werthwood stared at me.
Then he looked down at the mess on his seat.
Shattered pieces of glass everywhere.
I gasped for a breath. “What are you doing here? Why were you following me?”
“You broke my window, Belle,” he said.
“You deserved it. This is outside of Bay Falls High. I can’t get in trouble with you.”
“But you can with the police,” he said.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked.
Principal Werthwood opened his door and stepped out of the SUV.
As he walked around the front of it, I stepped back.
I still didn’t know what to do. Or what was happening. Or why it was happening.
“You threw a rock through my window,” he said.
“You were following me with your headlights off,” I said. “You were…”
A car came around the bend.
I thought about running toward the car, but it made its move toward us.
I waved my hands and then realized it was one of Jo’s cars.
I swore she got out of the car before it stopped moving.
And when I saw her, all I felt was relief.
I ran to her and almost jumped into her arms.
She put an arm around me and looked around. “What the hell is happening?”
“He was following me without his headlights on,” I said. “So I threw a rock through his window.”
“You did what?” Jo asked me.
Principal Werthwood folded his arms. “I told you to hurry, Dr. Thornburn. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Jo said.
“He told you…?” I asked Jo.
Jo sighed. “Belle, why were you out here alone? On this road? I have one of the biggest properties in this area and you’re out walking the main roads?”
“I was just…” I looked at Principal Werthwood. “You called her?”
Principal Werthwood cleared his throat. “If we want to get into this, so be it. There have been rumors of potential issues between the two buildings that make up Bay Falls High. Someone suspected of being involved was near your driveway, Dr. Thornburn…”
Hil. He’s talking about Hil. About Hil in Pres’s SUV.
“… when I saw Belle walking, it concerned me. I obviously didn’t intend to scare anyone. And I apologize for doing so. Now, Dr. Thornburn, I made sure to call you right away, as I feared something was going to happen to Belle. Again, maybe not the best showing of my own judgment… but quite frankly, if Miss Bablebit is involved in this situation, I need to know.”
“Situation?” I asked. “There is no situation. A vehicle was following me with no lights on. And when I started to run, you sped up…”
“Christ, Hagan,” Jo snapped. “What were you thinking?”
“I just wanted her to be safe,” Principal Werthwood said.
“Safe?” I called out.
“Belle,” Jo said to me. “Go sit in my car. This is done.”
I looked at Principal Werthwood one more time. He looked like he had more to say but he was certainly afraid of Jo.
I got into her car and sat there.
Jo and Principal Werthwood talked for a couple minutes and then Principal Werthwood got into his SUV and drove by Jo’s car.
When Jo got into her car, she looked right at me.
<
br /> “I’ll pay for the window,” I said. “I’ll get a job or something. I didn’t know what to do.”
“There was a different reason you threw that rock,” she said. “Maybe this was a bad idea, Belle. I’m not a babysitter. I’m not a mother. I’m not a friend either.”
I swallowed hard and looked down.
I played with my hands.
Jo drove back to her house in silence.
I walked through the house to my room in silence.
I crashed to my bed in silence.
I had no idea what waited for me tomorrow.
What Jo was going to do.
What Principal Werthwood was going to do.
I was on my belly, my phone in hand, tears in my eyes.
All I wanted was Them.
They could protect me.
From what… I wasn’t sure of that part yet…
My eyes started to shut.
My phone buzzed with a text message.
Then another.
Then another.
I thought for a second somehow everyone knew what I had done to Principal Werthwood’s SUV.
But that was impossible.
It was three text messages.
Three different names.
The same message.
From Them.
To me.
GET HERE NOW
nineteen
I wasn’t sure if it was considered sneaking out when I walked down the stairs and out the front door without even so much as looking around. Jo was either in her part of the house or she had already gone to work.
Driving to Ash and Hil’s house gave me time to really think.
Principal Werthwood had been following me because of Them. He knew something was happening with East vs. West. How, I wasn’t sure. But he knew something was going on. And maybe he even knew that Hil took Pres’s SUV. He thought I was in trouble.
But following me like that?
I shivered and checked my mirrors.
Waiting for another SUV to show up and start following me.
I never thought coming to some rich beach town would somehow end up being more dangerous than where I lived.
There were mornings we’d walk to class and have to cross the street because there was police tape on a corner from something that happened the night before. There were plenty of days when we’d all get evacuated from the building to stand in the overgrown field as the building was swept because of a bomb threat.
It was all common back there.
But here?
The assumption of BFH being a rich town that was quiet…
Ha.
I pulled onto the property and saw the faint lights of all the little houses scattered through the trees. Ash and Hil’s property was definitely bigger than Jo’s.
Not that it mattered.
I couldn’t get very far because Ash was blocking the way with his truck.
He climbed out and jumped down.
He leaned against the front of his truck and waited for me.
I slowly got out of the car.
My body was still shaking from what had happened before.
“This better be good,” I said to Ash. “You can’t imagine the night I’m having.”
“They were going to do something to you,” Ash said.
“What?”
“They were going to paint a V everywhere, angel,” Ash said. “They were going to make it so you left. That was the plan. To break you down so fucking fast that you’d storm out of BFH and never come back.”
“Who?” I shook my head. “What… are you talking about Hil? Uly?”
Ash stared with his amber eyes.
They were just burning… and burning…
And I was too.
“Max and Lila,” Ash said.
“Max and Lila?”
“I got word of something happening,” Ash said. “Max wanted to get something for himself. Because of what happened with Ryan. And he wanted to get a run at Lila. Made sense too. Since you went after her. But I had already made my move on her. Remember?”
“Yeah, I remember, Ash.”
He stepped toward me. “That was to get her to spill her guts to me. Didn’t take all that much either. I flirted with her. Touched her hips. Brushed my lips to her cheap, perfume stained neck. Let her think what she always wanted was going to happen.”
“Why are you telling me this now?” I asked.
“Because everything I do has a purpose,” Ash said.
I took a slow breath. “So you’re telling me… Max and Lila were going to paint V’s all over my stuff. And you found out about it. And instead of telling me or whatever, you decided to do what you did. Which was lead me on… leave me feeling like I had been cheated on or something. Leaving me picturing you and Lila together. The images of you pushing her up against the side of that beach house…” I looked away for a second. “And then I was dumb enough to go for a ride with you. Thinking I could figure something out. But what did you do, Ash? You took me to a spot where I thought it was going to be serious. But it wasn’t. And then you beat the hell out of Max. Which meant that was already planned. You wanted me to watch it.”
Ash nodded. “Keep going, angel.”
“You wanted me to see you beat him up. Without the reason why.”
“If you had the reason why, would it have changed your mind about me?”
I opened my mouth and didn’t respond.
Ash put his head back and laughed. “And there it is, Belle. If I just beat some asshole up, I’m a bad guy. But if I have a reason, it’s okay. Just like taking you for that drive. You want this deep, sad story about my life, so the pieces come together so you could justify the way you feel about me.”
“Feel about you?” I asked. “You… Them… you’re all fucking crazy. Feelings? I don’t…”
I swallowed my other words down.
I ran it all through my head again.
“You found out they were going to hurt me,” I said. “They were going to chase me away. And you fucked with Lila. Knowing I’d punch her. And you beat the hell out of Max to make sure he knew that I was part of Them.”
My eyes moved back to Ash’s.
The word fuck echoed in my head.
I jumped at Ash.
I needed to kiss him.
* * *
My head and heart began their battle of where this was going to go.
Right on the front seat of the truck?
Or in the bed of the truck so I could look at the stars while Ash…
Ash put his hands to my hips and drove me away from him though.
I stumbled back, my lips not ready to be done with his yet.
I saw movement and gasped when Hil and Uly popped up from the bed of the truck.
Uly jumped from the truck first.
Hil just leaned across the top of the truck, staring me down.
“What the fuck is this now?” I asked.
“This is where everything changes, doll,” Uly said.
Hil jumped from the truck next. “Time to figure it out.”
“Figure what out?” I asked. “Where’s Pres’s SUV?”
“Don’t worry about that, beauty,” Hil said.
“Worry about this,” Ash said.
“What?” I asked.
“Since we’re the worst guys ever,” Uly said, “maybe you should get away from us. That would be smart, Belle.”
“To just run,” Hil said.
“To get out of here for good,” Ash said.
“After you three begged me to stay?” I asked. “After you said we were going to give each other…”
“Oh, you’ve been giving me something, beauty,” Hil said. “That’s the problem.”
“Not my fault,” I said.
“That little innocent act isn’t going to work anymore,” Ash said.
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “Says who?”
“Tick, tock, Belle,” Hil said.
“Fuck your watch,” I said.
> “She’s crazy, Ash,” Uly said.
“She knows what she has to do now,” Ash said. His eyes never moved from mine. “That it’s time to make a decision on what she wants. Not just with staying at BFH. But for something more.”
I looked at all of Them.
It was about Them.
“Fuck all of you,” I said. “You wanted me. You came after me. And now what? You want me to choose? Pick one of you? For what? For more of your games? And you think that’s going to work right now?”
“I guess we’ll find out,” Hil said. “You should have taken the chance in Pres’s SUV, beauty. You had your chance.”
Ash’s lip curled high into the air.
I had Them pulsing with jealousy over… me.
Ash stepped back and leaned against the front of his truck.
Hil coolly lit a cigarette and put his head back, smoking into the night.
Uly was the only one who came toward me.
He got within an inch and stopped.
He leaned down and I felt his breath tickle my ear.
“Penelope fucked it all up the first time, doll,” he whispered. “And now you’re doing the same. Only worse.”
I opened my mouth to ask who the hell Penelope was.
Uly then ripped one of his necklaces off his neck and gave it to me.
The one with the ring. With the missing diamond.
I was breathless.
Hil blew me a kiss and walked away just as Uly walked away too.
I clutched the necklace in my hand and stared at Ash.
“This is what you want?” I asked him.
“No, angel, it’s all about what you want. And we never worry about what someone wants.”
“I broke you, Ash. I broke Uly. I broke Hil. I broke Them.”
Ash curled his lip again. “No you didn’t, Belle. You just pissed us all off.”
Ash got into his truck, started it, and backed away.
All of Them were gone.
And I was left with a necklace in one hand.
And my heart in the other.
* * *
It took me until I was driving up Jo’s driveway to finally cry.
And I wasn’t even completely sure why I was crying. I just wanted to cry. My memory raced back to the day I saw the red V on the locker. And the way Gray walked by the locker with a grin on his face, almost as though he knew what was going to happen to me.
NOT SO Beautiful: a bay falls high novel Page 20
