“You can’t call a two-bedroom with an office a studio,” I say
“It’s like two thousand square feet. What would you call it?”
I gawk at him and then say, “A house, Silex. I’d call it a house.”
“Really?” He looks around. “I don’t see it. There’s no dining room or formal living room. Does it remind you of someone’s house?”
“No, Silex. None of my friends lived in homes this nice.” I want to kick him. Rich people are crazy. The living room is so large that there are three full-size leather couches. The couches form a square with a heavy wooden entertainment center, and a coffee table sits in the middle of the square. Floor-to-ceiling windows take up an entire wall, and there’s a fish tank built into the kitchen bar.
“What?” I ask Silex, who’s looking at me curiously.
He shakes his head. “Nothing.” Letting out a breath, he plops down on one of the couches. “You’ll have to fight over the bed; there’s only one extra.”
“We can get a blow-up mattress for the study,” Sully says.
“That will make two beds and four of us,” Brent says.
“We double up,” Ryan says, dropping down next to Silex.
“My bed’s big. I can fit Emma in with me,” Silex says, winking at me.
“Emma can take the blow-up mattress in the study, Ryan and Brent can take the bed in the guest room, and I’ll take the couch.” Sully sets his bags down. “I’ll be back.” He turns to Silex. “You got food here or should I pick something up while I’m out?”
“Might want to grab some,” Silex says. “I usually eat in the main house or order out.”
“Shit, I need to get my truck,” Sully says, running his hand through his hair. “Silex, drop me off back at my house. You wanna come, Emma?”
I shake my head, too tired to use my voice.
“Ryan, you want to get your car?” Sully asks.
“I’m not going back there tonight. Maybe tomorrow when Dad’s at work.”
Sully nods, giving me one last look before he walks out the door with Silex.
I fall back on the couch as Ryan and Brent carry their bags to the guest room. The crushing weight of everything has me exhausted. Several minutes pass without Ryan and Brent coming back, so I assume they’re calling it a night.
I can still see the hurt in Arden’s eyes as he watched us drive away. His kids are his whole world. When I look at everything that’s happened, it’s clear that this is my fault. Remove me from the equation and they’d still be a happy family. I’ve ruined their family. I pull my phone from my back pocket and dial Jessa’s number. She answers on the third ring.
“Hey, Jessa. It’s Emma.” I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for her to yell at me.
“Girl, is this your number? What the hell have you been up to? You could’ve called me sooner. How’s Ohio?”
I frown, not understanding why Jeff hasn’t told her I ran. “Ohio’s... It kinda sucks, and sorry, I couldn’t call before. How’s it going there?”
I listen to her ramble on about our mutual friends and several parties she’s been to before I say, “How’s Jeff?” I hold my breath.
“You don’t know? He’s in jail. He was arrested a day or two after you called me from your aunt’s house.”
Clutching the phone tighter, I sit up. “Why? What happened?”
“I don’t know much. My parents didn’t even tell me. I overheard them talking.”
I press the phone closer to my ear. “Woah. You don’t know why or how long?”
“I think a while. The landlord rented out the trailer to some old lady who has a thousand fucking cats. I got some of your stuff out first. You probably don’t need your clothes, though, huh?”
“I don’t need them. You can have them.”
“Awesome. I’m doing the whole keto thing. I can fit your clothes now, and there’s a party next weekend. I want to wear your purple sweater. Are you not coming back? Tony’s car is out of commission. He’s been using your bike. We figured you wouldn’t mind.”
“I don’t mind. And I don’t know if I’m coming back. I thought about calling my dad to see if I could stay with him for a bit.”
“He’s living with Jimmy again.”
“Oh, I don’t know, then,” I say, because Jimmy is a violent crackhead. My dad must be desperate if he’s staying there.
“After graduation, Eddy, Jade, and I are getting an apartment. You’ve gotta meet Jade. She is awesome. She moved into the blue-and-white trailer last week. You can move in too. It’ll help keep our rent portions low.”
“Sounds fun,” I say, knowing it’s probably never going to happen, and I need a place now. Graduation is eight months away.
“You said things weren’t good where you’re at?”
“Yeah,” I mumble.
“That sucks, but I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Jessa says. “But hey, I gotta go. I’ll text you later. K?”
“Talk to you later.” I end the call, feeling worse than before I talked to her. Was the close friendship I had with Jessa even real? Maybe I exaggerated our closeness because I was so lonely. She has a huge family and tons of friends. She was doing fine when I came along and clung to her. Everyone has a place in life except for me. I don’t fit in anywhere.
Silex walks in through the front door with a bottle of whiskey. “Want a shot?” he asks, waving the bottle side to side.
“No thanks. Want a roommate?”
He pauses and then smiles. “You want to share my bed?”
I roll my eyes. “I want to rent your spare room when Ryan and Brent go back home.”
He shrugs. “Okay.”
“That was easy. How much do you want?”
“Nothing. Just clean up and maybe cook occasionally.”
“I can do that. Thanks.” I lean back against the couch as Silex drops down on the one across from me.
Silex laughs. “Good luck convincing Sully to let you live here.”
I scoff. “I don’t need Sully’s permission.”
Silex pops a brow. “Sweet Emma, you don’t know Sully at all.”
Chapter 25.5
RYAN
Walking into the dimly lit kitchen to grab water, I see Silex on the couch with a glass of whiskey. He puts his finger up to his mouth in a shh gesture. I follow his gaze to see Emma on the couch across from him.
I sink down next to him. “Are you watching her sleep?”
He shrugs, not taking his eyes off her. “Just thinking.” He swirls the liquid in his cup before taking a drink. “She asked me to let her move in.”
“What’d you say?”
“I told her she could. I think it’s a good idea. There’s too much going on at your house. Poor girl needs a place where she can relax.” Silex looks away from Emma to look at me. “You don’t still think she’s who you thought she was, do you?”
I shake my head. “No. I mean, obviously she isn’t a whore. I think her past is causing problems, but so did mine, Sully’s, and Brent’s.”
“Do you feel guilty?”
“Maybe.”
Silex laughs quietly. “But you’re still treating her like shit.”
I chuckle. “I brought her with us, didn’t I?”
He scoffs, throwing back the remainder of his drink. “Because she would have cracked under pressure and told Rachel and Arden how you all treated her. You’re covering your ass.”
“That’s not the only reason,” I say. “And she’s not living with you. She’ll come back with us.”
“And I thought Sully was going to be the one she needed to convince. Interesting.” Silex smirks.
I glare at him. “It’s not like that.”
“How is it, then?”
“I made her life miserable. I put my hands on her,” I admit because Silex and I have no secrets. As far as I’m concerned, he’s my brother. “I drove her to her breaking point.”
“She seems to have mostly forgiven you. You made a mistake.”
> I look away from him. “It’s not just that. You saw the video.”
“And you think that was your fault?” Silex asks.
“I’m the reason it was made. Doesn’t that make it my fault?”
“How are you the reason?”
“Because of the summer thing with Miranda,” I say, not understanding why he’s asking.
“Why does he care about what we did with Miranda?”
“Silex.” I laugh. “Miranda is Jones’s sister.”
His eyebrows rise. “No shit?”
I roll my eyes.
“Things are making a lot more sense. Now you feel indebted to her? You want to protect her?”
“No. I don’t know. Did you send the video to your contact?”
Silex smiles. “Yep. There’s a warrant out for his arrest.”
Chapter 26
I roll to the side, and the surface I’m on feels unsteady, like I’m lying on a fragile bubble. Peeking through my latches, I don’t recognize the room. To my right is a bookcase with packing boxes next to it. The one window in the room is bare and letting in more light than I’d like.
I vaguely remember someone carrying me to bed in the middle of the night. I’m lying on an air mattress, wrapped up in a stiff purple blanket that smells like plastic. My phone’s sitting on the duffle bag next to me.
It’s almost noon, and I have several texts and a couple missed calls. I scroll through the messages, seeing that Robbie stopped by Arden’s this morning to find out I wasn’t there. He’s called twice and so has Lucy. I send them both a quick text, telling them I’m fine and I’ll see them Monday.
I ignore Arden’s texts completely and open one from Sully that says he had to work and Ryan and Brent went to school.
Feeling aggravated that nobody woke me up for school, I throw on clean clothes, hurry to the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth, and then make my way to the living room. If I leave now, I can get the required five hours. The living room and kitchen are both empty, so I creep down the hall.
Silex’s bedroom door is wide open. Filtered light comes in through one window, but it’s not enough to see well, so I flip on the light switch. Silex’s king-size bed is in the center of the room, and he’s lying on his back, completely naked. I avert my eyes even though I saw everything. “Silex,” I growl, keeping my gaze on the black dresser next to me. “Can you give me a ride to school?” No answer. “Silex!”
“Go away,” he groans.
“I need to go to school.”
“Go back to bed.”
I’m not about to look at him, but I can’t hear movement. He should be getting the hell up. “Fine, I’ll walk,” I say, leaving the room and slamming the door behind me.
Two seconds later, a naked Silex is cutting me off before I can step into the office to grab my phone. I gasp, squeezing my eyes shut. “What the hell? Put some clothes on.”
“You’re to stay here,” Silex says.
“Just move, Silex. I don’t have time for this.”
Silex groans. “You can’t go to school today.”
“I can and I will.” With my eyes closed, I push past, only to have his arms wrap around my waist. “What are you doing?”
He pulls my back against his chest. “If you leave here, I’ll never hear the end of it. Be a good girl and go back to bed.”
I feel something very hard pressing against my ass. “Silex,” I gasp.
“I can’t fucking help it. I’m a man, Emma.” He shifts, but I can still feel him against me. “I’ll let you go, but no school.” There’s a knock at the door, and Silex curses. “Don’t answer that.”
“Emma,” Arden says from the other side of the door.
I twist to look up at Silex. I’m unsure of what to do, but when a deep voice says, “Police, open up.” I slap my hand over my mouth. “Arden called the cops on me?”
“Shit,” Silex says, rushing back to his room. He runs back out wearing sweats and carrying a black hoodie. “Don’t open the door.” He slips the hoodie on.
“Emma Sutton, this is Officer Daniels,” a feminine voice says. “We’d just like to speak with you.
“Si,” I whisper. “What’s going on?”
He frowns. “They thought they’d have time to talk to you first. We don’t have to open the door, but eventually, you’ll have to talk to the cops. This was why they didn’t want you to go to school.”
“Why?”
“They’ll leave in a minute.”
“Silex!” I shout. “Why am I going to have to talk to the cops?”
Letting out a long breath, he pulls his phone from his pocket. He taps at the screen and then holds it up to me. It’s a video. There’s a naked girl, her lower half covered by a white sheet. The room is dark, making it hard to see details, but her hair is blonde and her skin pale. Jones comes into view, and I clench my fists.
He removes his clothes and then slips under the sheet, settling between her thighs. The sleeping girl doesn’t move as Jones begins to thrust inside her. The sheet slips down past his legs as he moves faster. He reaches between their joined bodies and then holds his hand up to the camera to show something dark coating his fingers: blood.
The girl whimpers, and the video ends.
I feel like throwing up or passing out. The video was only two minutes long, but it feels like it was playing for longer. My chest rises and falls quicker than it should. “Why would you show me that?” I back away from him. “Why do you have that?”
Silex frowns. “That’s why the cops want to talk to you. Jones was arrested.”
I continue backing away. He’s right; this house is too small. “Why would they want to talk to me about that?”
“Because of what Jones did to you, Emma. He raped you.”
I shake my head, but that causes the dizziness to become worse. I hold on to the wall for support and then stumble into the living room. “No, he didn’t. I don’t know what happened to the girl in the video, but he didn’t do that to me.”
“Emma, that’s you in the video.” He reaches out like he’s going to grab me.
I dart to the side. “That’s not me! Why would you show me that?” I shout. “Is this one of Ryan’s pranks?”
Somebody pounds on the door again. I need to get out of here. I look around the room. “Where’s the back door?”
“There isn’t one,” Silex says. “I think you should sit down.”
With weak legs, I stagger to the front door and throw it open. There’s a blur of blue and white as I push past people blocking the way to the stairs. I feel like I’m suffocating. I can’t catch my breath. “Don’t touch me!” I shout as hands grab my arms. “Let me—” I sink to the ground and everything goes black.
***
Repetitive beeping wakes me up from sleep. I move to roll over, but wires get in the way. I open my eyes, thinking I’m wrapped up in my charger cord, but see the familiar sight of an IV in my arm. I’m in a hospital. It’s not the first time I’ve woken up in one, but I don’t remember getting hurt.
I find and press the nurse call button. Sully’s asleep in the chair against the wall. Not wanting to wake him, I put my finger to my lips, telling the nurse to be quiet as she walks in. She pushes up her thin-framed glasses as she glances at Sully and nods.
“Why am I here?” I whisper.
She checks the monitor and IV. “I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake, and he’ll be in shortly.” She pats my arms with a wrinkled hand.
I shake my head, knowing that’s not how it works. She’ll tell the doctor, and then he’ll do a hundred other things before coming to see me. I sit up, the hospital gown sleeve falling off my shoulder. “I want to be released right away. Could you please tell him that?”
Her thin lips lift into a small smile. “Do you want me to get your dad?”
“My dad?”
“No,” Sully answers, getting up from the chair. “If you see my brothers, you can send them, but my dad stays out there. If you could get the docto
r, please.”
She straightens. “Yes, sir.” She stumbles to the door. “I’ll get the doctor right away.”
“How you feeling?” Sully asks, looking at the monitor.
“Did you yell at her earlier or something?”
He cocks his head to the side. “What?”
“The nurse. She was terrified of you.”
“She knows who I am.”
I arch a brow. “And who are you?”
“Sullivan Black.” He shrugs. “My grandfather was well known. I have his name.”
“So, she’s scared because she knew your grandfather?”
“She wasn’t scared. Do you need some water?” he asks, not answering my question.
“Are the cops here?”
“No, and they aren’t coming.”
I nod, grateful that I don’t have to talk to them. “How long have I been asleep?” I glance at the wall clock and see it’s almost four. “What happened?”
“Silex said you passed out, and when you woke up, you started swinging at everyone. The paramedics were there and injected you with a seda—”
“Hello, Emma. How are you feeling?” a large man wearing a white coat and black slacks asks as he steps into the room, looking at the chart in his hand.
“I’m fine, ready to go.”
He tucks a pen into his coat. “I’m Dr. Monroe. It’s nice to meet you.” He nods to Sully. “Sully, I need to go over a few things with Emma. Mind stepping out for a few minutes?”
Sully doesn’t look happy, but he leaves the room, shutting the door behind him.
“We took blood samples when you arrived, and they showed that you’re anemic, vitamin deficient, and dehydrated. Have you been eating regularly?”
“Sometimes I forget or get too busy,” I say, thinking back to all the meals I skipped to avoid seeing Ryan and Arden.
“Do you have access to food and water?”
“Yes.” I nod. “I’ll make sure to eat more. I’ve just been busy. Can I go now?”
“I’ll have the nurse remove the IV.” He sets a slip of paper on top of the blanket that covers my legs. “Discharge papers, and I’ve called in an iron supplement to the pharmacy Sully said you use. Take care of yourself, Emma.”
Bullies Love and Lies Page 19
