SEVENTEEN
SCARLETT
Monday morning comes around signaling another meaningless day of class. Drake asked to walk me to class today and although I am reluctant to accept, I’m afraid I avoided him for too long. I ignored his calls and texts all day yesterday not wanting to face him after what happened with Ace on Saturday. I was physically and mentally drained from my meeting with Agent Servite, his threats still ringing fresh in my mind. I still don’t understand why he wants to find Lilith since he wouldn’t share that vital piece of information with me. Maybe he’s just some detective who went crazy and won’t give up until he solves the case, but I have a feeling it’s something much bigger than that. I could ask Ace, but it seems he didn’t even know his uncle knew my mother to begin with.
And of course, how could I forget what happened with Ace. The fact that he kissed me so passionately, so fiercely, and so angrily all together. The words he spoke to me were like nothing I ever thought he’d say. They were raw, real, and full of emotion. It all only adds to the confusion. To the feelings I’m fighting every time I see him. The rapid beating of my heart, the increased speed of my breathing, and the rush of heat to my core. How can someone I just met, who instills so much anger and frustration in me, be the only thing I can think about. How can I explain that to Drake?
But even after our heart to heart, I still get this eerie feeling that Ace knows more than he’s letting on. He hides something dark within those glistening blue eyes. Behind his gaze, lies a reluctance to open up to me. But for my own reasons, for my sanity, I have to get to the bottom of this. And I’m going to use him just for that.
I walk out of my room after getting ready and find the girls waiting for me in the living room, Stella and Jade sitting lazily on the couch while Ruby paces around anxiously.
“There she is,” says Stella, grabbing her bag from beside her.
“Finally, can we leave now?” asks Ruby, heading to the door, Stella quickly moving behind her. Jade comes up next to me smiling before following them out. Jade and I spent all day yesterday talking about everything that happened at the beach house, and everything that’s happened with Ace since we arrived. We agreed we wouldn’t tell anyone, for our safety and theirs, and she’d help me with Drake. I can’t let him find out about Agent Servite or Ace. He would flip out and I can’t risk him doing something out of retaliation. I can’t take lightly the threats Agent Servite made. Drake doesn’t deserve being punished because of me. But the more I think about it, just being close to me is dangerous. I should have never suggested we get together, because now he’ll become their target.
As we’re about to walk into the dining hall to grab some breakfast before class, we’re almost knocked down by the doors being roughly pushed open. Suddenly I crash into a rock-hard chest, a hand reaching out to stop my fall. The hand squeezes as it grabs me at my waist. I look up and find oceanic blues gazing into mine. Ace. I hear a grunt and look to the right where I see Bass, Alek, and Beck. At the abrupt stop, Stella drops the books she was carrying as she crashes into Jade, the books falling right at Jade’s feet, but nobody moves to pick them up.
After a moment that feels like an eternity, Bass bends down to pick them up, his eyes slowly coming up Jade’s legs before landing on her face. I turn to their interaction and see Bass’s eyes are intently gazing into Jade’s. Without speaking or even looking to Stella he reaches his hand out and Stella quickly grabs the books mumbling a quick thanks. My eyes turn back to the body in front of me, whose hand is still wrapped around my waist. Ace’s eyes burn into mine as he licks his lips slowly. At his movements, my body starts to heat, and memories of the other night come crashing back. My brows crease, a deep scowl now on my face. I can tell he sees it as he releases my body and steps back. Without so much as a word he turns to his boys and walks away with them on his tail. I exhale a deep breath, I didn’t know I was holding in, while I turn to Jade who looks just as flustered as me. Stella peeks her head from behind Jade and looks to me, a look of utter shock on her face.
“What the fuck was that about?” asks Ruby, raising a brow at me.
I know what she’s thinking. Why the fuck was Ace’s arm wrapped around me, gazing into my eyes like he was about to kiss me? Why did I allow him to put his hands on me when I’m dating her fucking brother? Not wanting to deal with the 20-question inquisition, I ignore her and step inside the dining hall, instantly spotting the guys sitting at one of the tables, an array of breakfast pastries already in front of them. Before heading over to them, I grab a chocolate croissant and a bottled iced coffee from the bakery. We walk over to the table and I sit in between Drake and Kai while Stella sits on the other side of Kai. Jade and Ruby walk over to sit beside Jax as Drake turns his attention to me.
“You feeling better now?” he asks, and I sit confused for a moment. He raises a brow, his deep green eyes looking for answers in mine.
“What?” I ask, not understanding what he’s asking.
“You said you weren’t feeling good after the party and yesterday.”
I turn when Jade clears her throat. She raises her brows at me, pointing toward Drake. Oh fuck, I forgot Ace told Drake that I wasn’t feeling well when he cancelled on him, and Jade confirmed I was.
“Oh yeah, it was just a crazy headache but I’m good now.”
“So, are we just gonna pretend that stand-off didn’t just happen?” blurts Stella, thankfully interrupting my conversation with Drake. But fuck little Silver, did you have to say something?
“What stand-off are you talking about?” asks Kai, glaring toward Stella.
“Outside, before we walked in here, Scar and Jade ran into the Horsemen. Like literally.”
“Yeah, and Ace had his arms wrapped around your little girlfriend, Drake,” adds Ruby as I turn and scowl at her.
“What the fuck, he touched you again?” he shouts, standing up angrily, causing heads to turn our way. I stand with him placing my hand onto his shoulder.
“Sit the fuck down, Dragon Man,” I say, and he does, clearly still pouting like a five-year old who just got told he needed to share. “He just caught me before I fell. Like Stella said, I crashed into him and almost fell backward.”
“And then they didn’t say anything. They just walked away. Like does that mean they’re backing off?” asks Stella.
“I don’t give a fuck what it means, Silver. They ignored us, that’s been the whole point we’ve been trying to make. Seems they’ve finally gotten it.” I look back to Ruby and she eyes me suspiciously, but before she can say anything else, I grab my coffee and croissant and stand up.
“Walk me to class, Dragon?” I ask, and Drake quickly stands to follow. “See you guys at lunch,” I say before we walk off toward Westerly Hall.
We are walking not even for a whole minute when Drake starts questioning, once again, about what happened this morning with Ace.
“What’s up with you and that fucker Servite, Scar?”
“Not this again, Drake, I already told you what happened,” I say. I’m starting to get irritated by his daily interrogations.
“Yeah, but Ruby said…”
“Ruby, really. You mean your sister who still pretty much hates me, told you she saw something more? The same sister who’s fucking your best friend and hates that we’re together?”
He frowns, clearly upset.
“I can see it too, Scar. When he’s around he can’t keep his eyes off you.” He says as we’re walking into Westerly Hall. We stop at the front of my class and he turns to face me placing his hands on my shoulders. “Off what’s mine, he can’t keep putting his hands on you. I won’t allow him to.”
I shrug out of his hold, pushing away from him, and I can’t help but let out a small chuckle.
“You have some nerve, Dragon. We may be together, but you need to understand that I’m not yours. I will never fully belong to someone. I won’t allow that. I’ve seen what giving yourself completely to someone did
for my mother. When Chaz got locked up, she lost it, lost herself. She didn’t know how to function without him. I can’t let that ever happen to me. My mind, my body, my soul will always be my own.”
He growls, clearly pissed off as he runs his fingers through his hair.
“Scar, that’s not…”
“Look, I think we moved into this too quickly,” I say, and his demeanor turns cold. I shouldn’t have strayed from my initial belief. Drake and I are best friends, twin souls lost in this cruel world. But somehow, we’re lost together. I knew a romantic relationship between us would tarnish that, but I let my pride get in the way. I let my feelings toward Ace lead me into making the biggest mistake. And I might lose my best friend over it.
“Scarlett, don’t. Don’t try and make excuses on why this won’t work. You just need to talk to me, help me understand. Ever since we got here you just seem like a different person. Always on edge, hiding things.”
“And you’ve been nothing but jealous. You were always possessive, Drake, I get it. You need to be in control, and I totally understand that. But when it comes to me, I won’t be controlled. You’ve known since the moment you met me that I’m not one to open up and tell the world my shit. There are some things that you don’t need to know. It’s my life and I choose what I share and with whom I share it with. Don’t come at me like I owe you everything. Because I will never be able to give myself over completely. I thought you understood that.”
“Yeah, I thought I did too.” He runs his fingers through his hair once again and I can see the frustration in his eyes. He’s hurting and I’ve caused that. Just when he’s about to turn to leave, the devil himself shows up to dig the knife I’ve stuck in him even deeper.
“Hmmm, trouble in paradise?” Ace asks, and fuck if only I could freeze time and stop what I know is coming next.
I turn and see that look in Drake’s eyes. The wrath, the darkness like a shadow clouding his green eyes, turning them dark, almost black in color. And without a doubt, Drake turns and slams his fist right into the perfect jaw of the very deserving Ace. Ace runs his thumb across his busted bottom lip, cleaning off the blood and sticking it in his mouth to lick it off, a wicked grin now on his face.
“I’ll take that as a yes. I assume you heard about Saturday night.”
Fuck. A look of shock and anger muddled together appear on Drake’s face as he turns from Ace to me. And just as he’s about to swing at Ace once more, Professor Macallan rushes out of the lecture room. He looks from Ace’s bloody lip down to Drake’s bloodied knuckles.
“Mr. Drake, escort yourself to the headmaster’s office immediately before I have security come down and do it for you.”
A small smirk appears on Drake’s face and he chuckles slightly. He turns to walk away as I turn to face Professor Macallan.
“But he didn’t,” I say as he interrupts me.
“Miss Steele, I suggest you make your way to your seat before I send you to accompany Mr. Drake.”
“But Ace…”
“Now, Miss Steele!” he shouts, and I walk inside with Ace on my tail.
“Looks like you need to tame your dragon boy, Red. It can be dangerous for him to be so wild.”
“Fuck off, Ace,” I say, and I hear him laugh as I walk away.
I ignore Ace’s broody attitude as Macallan goes on about the monologue we have to write for our first assignment. His class is run a bit unorthodox with two quarterly assignments, instead of weekly. Since we are focusing on Romanticism and are analyzing the awareness of emotions in the literature of that time, the first assignment will be a soliloquy, a type of monologue which reveals our inner thoughts, dedicated to someone we have either lost, loved, or hate. So many different emotions rush through my mind at the mention of those three simple words. I glance up to look at Ace and find his eyes glued to mine. I quickly turn away and get back to typing out the details of our assignment.
After about an hour, Macallan comes over to stand by Ace’s desk, his arms crossed, a deep scowl upon his face. He lowers down until he’s at level with Ace, and I turn away pretending I’m not eavesdropping on their conversation. The class is talking amongst each other so it’s a bit difficult for me to catch everything. But I can faintly hear their words.
“He won’t like it if you get distracted,” whispers Macallan.
“There is no distraction,” answers Ace, and I can sense them look up at me, but I continue to act as if I haven’t a clue. I start talking to the kid seated in front of me asking him what he is going to write about. He goes on about how he lost a pet ferret when he was five and hasn’t been able to own another pet since. Suddenly my fucked-up commitment issues seem minuscule.
“The girl,” says Macallan.
“She’s nobody, nothing. Just a parentless bitch with a chip on her shoulder and an attitude problem.”
At his words, the bell rings and I pack my stuff and head out of the room.
The rest of the morning zooms by and I manage to ignore Ace for the remainder of our classes before lunch. As soon as the bell rings signaling it’s lunch time, I storm out of the room making it almost down to the end of the hall before two hands grip my waist and carry me into an adjacent, now empty Chem Lab. He closes the door, locking it before putting me down and pinning me against the wall with his body.
“Fuck,” I yelp, biting down on my bottom lip to muffle my scream as my back is slammed against the hard metal wall.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re rushing off to, Red?” he sneers, his deep raspy voice sending an electrifying shiver through me. His breath is hot and thick as he relentlessly breathes across my neck. Instead of pushing him off like I always have, I stand motionless. I don’t have the energy to fight him on this today. Not after the argument I had with Drake over him, not after the incident that is probably going to cost Drake a whole lot of trouble. I’ve seen the power he holds against me, the power he has over all of us lowly beings. His right hand grips my waist, his fingers digging into my skin as his left hand pins my two arms above my head. It’s infuriating and slightly painful, but I bite my tongue and stand motionless nonetheless.
“Fuck off,” I whisper, slightly out of breath. He bites down on his lip clearly turned on by the sound of my breathy voice, and the fact that his cock is pushing against my heated center. I look straight into his eyes, they’re hooded, and dark gray with just a small speckle of blue in the left corner.
“Fight me,” he says, but it sounds more like a plea.
“I’m tired of fighting. What’s the point? You do with me as you please. Your uncle has made it crystal clear that I have no power here. Just a parentless bitch with a chip on her shoulder and an attitude problem.” I throw his words back at him. “So why fight it. Why fight him, why fight you.” I close my eyes before I do something stupid like kiss him in the heat of the moment, and I feel his forehead land against mine, his grip on me tightening.
“What are you doing to me?” he whispers, his lips almost touching mine and it’s as genuine as anything I’ve ever heard him say.
I open my eyes, slowly looking up into his once more. They’ve softened since earlier, a glimmer of lust, confusion, and worst of all sorrow.
“I’m not doing anything,” I reply only because I have nothing else to say.
“Since the moment you stepped foot on these grounds you’ve become a problem. An obsession to those around you. To me.”
His honesty shocks me, and I stand there motionless and speechless.
“I haven’t done anything,” I answer back softly.
“You exist, that’s enough.” He licks his lips running his tongue against my bare neck, his hand making its way up and around my back. “An angel with the mouth of a devil. A devil with the eyes of an angel. A dream come to life, a nightmare I don’t want to wake up from.”
His tongue continues its path along my collarbones and through the small opening of my blouse. I speak causing him to bring his
attention back to my lips.
“You’re a king, a cruel Horseman. You shouldn’t be troubled with the likes of me.”
“Red, I’m no angel,” he whispers softly against them.
“Didn’t say you were. You’re the devil in disguise. A cool, beautiful exterior casting a shadow on your ruthless interior. A fool’s blind spot. But you can’t fool me. All those phony words, and useless feelings you mentioned having, I don’t buy it, not for a second. I know you better than you think. You act as if you were corrupted by the world you were forced to live in. As if you unknowingly follow orders, but you’re one in the same with him. Two men cut from the same flaming cloth. Two sinners who disguise themselves as saints to avoid damnation. But I see it. Maybe it takes one to see one.”
“You’re no devil,” he says, bringing a hand up to caress my cheek. I lean into his palm, tilting my head up to look into his eyes. “On the contrary, you’re the worst kind, a mortal. You wear your sins on the outside, a dress made of your scars, your deepest and darkest desires. But, baby, let me remind you of one thing,” he adds, licking his lips, bringing them gently against mine, and grazing them lightly with his tongue. “You’re in my house now, and here I’ll be your only salvation. Welcome to hell on earth, my darling.”
EIGHTEEN
ACE
She’s become my new obsession. My first thought in the morning, a constant reminder throughout the day, and a recurring dream I don’t want to wake up from. An angel with the mouth of a devil. A devil with the eyes of an angel. A figment of my imagination. A fixation of my psyche. Everything about her taunts me, haunts me, and makes me crave her.
The plea in her eyes makes me pull back as I drop my hands to my side setting her free from the fortified cage I’ve created around her. She closes her eyes, exhaling a breath I don’t think she even knew she was holding in. I pull back further giving her the space she’s so desperately asking for to walk away. And she does. Without turning back to me, she walks out of the room and disappears within the crowd.
The Four Horsemen : A Servite Academy For Troubled Teens Novel Page 17
