24
I went to the street dance alone.
I never told Mark about it and when he dropped me off at home, I reassured him that everything was fine. Everything was fine. I was going to make sure of it. Getting ready for the street dance was painful in the literal sense, but I chose a white camisole underneath a black sweater and black pants with little black ballet flats. All of it was easy to get into and that had been my main objective. My next goal was make-up. More was applied than I normally wore, and I was proud of myself; almost all of the bruises were hidden by the time I was finished. Then I swept my hair up into a high pony-tail. My hair had grown longer, so it was past my shoulders now. If Heather had been there, she would’ve told me it looked sleek. I didn’t care. I just needed to blend in. I was going into Roussou territory.
I wanted to find Heather first, but as I parked my car and got out, my heart sank. Brandon said one street was blocked off. That was true, but he never said it was the entire main street blocked off. She could be anywhere.
I sighed and started off on my mission.
Going through the first block was easy. It was during the second that people started to look at me. A group of girls jerked together and started whispering. A few pointed at me. My heart sank again. It was already starting, so I veered into the first bathroom I could find. Checking my make-up in the mirror, I didn’t see anything wrong. I looked fine. Normal even. The evening had grown dark so my face looked flawless with none of my bruises showing, but when I went back out, they were still there. There were more behind them and they were watching me now.
Frowning at them, I turned to slip away, but came to an abrupt stop.
Budd Broudou was in front of me, a leer on his face as he looked me up and down. I hardened inside. The longer his gaze lingered on me, the dirtier I felt. As they were transfixed below my waist, I shifted on my feet and snapped, “What do you want?”
He grinned and lifted his hand. A forty ounce bottle touched his lips, and he took a long pull from it before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Then he licked his lips and tugged at his jeans. They hung low on his waist, already baggy, but the top button was loose so they sagged even more.
I narrowed my eyes.
He chuckled as he caught my reaction. Lifting a hand to his chest, he rubbed it through his white wife-beater. His flannel shirt hung open, the ends of it were frayed and ripped with holes in them. As his hand fell back down to his pants, his finger caught on the end and tore it some more. He seemed unaware that he ripped his shirt, or he just didn’t care.
My guess was both. I was getting tired of his silent leering. “What do you want?”
Another deep chuckle came from him, and he pointed his beer at me. “You already said that.”
“Then answer the question.”
There was a collective gasp behind me, but I couldn’t take my words back. I said it. It was done. Now I waited for the consequences.
He started laughing. It was slight at first, but grew. As he kept going, he bent over and slapped at his knee. His beer jostled from the movement and he cursed, but shook his head as more laughter escaped. It took another moment before his chuckles ceased enough so his hand had stopped shaking. As soon as he could, he finished the rest of his beer. When it was empty, he tossed it to the ground. His hand went back out and someone put a new one there. When he went to open it, he kept shaking his head, watching me at the same time. His shoulders jerked up as he started laughing again.
I looked for a quick escape route, but there wasn’t one. Everyone around us was watching. They had taken a step towards us and closed ranks. I had to wait.
After another sip from his new beer, he burped. “You got a spine to you. I can see why he likes you.”
I stiffened.
His gaze travelled over me again, stopping on my breasts. “You got a nice rack, too. Not too much. You’re damn skinny, but you got enough for a good bounce.” His tongue darted out and ran over his bottom lip before moving to the top one.
It was in slow motion. I began to feel sick.
“Hmm mmm.” He nodded, then took another long swallow. “You’re tight.” His eyes went to below my waist. “I bet you’re real tight there, too. He’s a lucky guy.”
I frowned. Feeling disgusted aside, he thought Mason was a lucky guy?
“Too bad my brother caught you first.”
His brother?
“Budd.”
I turned around. Brett Broudou was behind me. He wore the same baggy jeans and ripped flannel shirt, but there was no leering. He was glowering, but not at me. He said again, “Budd. Back off.”
Budd snorted. He lifted his beer again, but he stumbled to the side. The beer fell from his hand to the ground, and it sprayed everywhere, most of it on me. I jumped out of the way and slammed into Brett, but I didn’t care at that moment. My ribs protested, and a searing pain sliced through me. “Shit,” I whispered to myself, but then I bounced off of Brett and began to fall to the side.
The ground was coming at me. My eyes went wide. The pain was going to be paralyzing, so I readied myself for the impact.
It never came.
I had stopped halfway there and looked up. Brett caught me. His one hand held a twin forty ounce beer, but his other hand was wrapped around my arm. Our eyes caught and an apology flashed in his as he lifted me back to my feet.
“Thanks.” I had no idea what else to say.
He nodded, his gaze was lidded, but he looked over at his brother. “You remember our talk?”
Budd rolled his eyes and waved him away. “Yeah, yeah.”
Brett frowned. “Tink?”
Another goliath-sized guy spoke from behind the counter. “Yeah?”
“Give Budd another beer. He dropped his.”
“Already?”
Budd growled. “F*ck you both. I’m fine. I can get my own damn beer.” He swung around, but almost clipped a girl in the head as he did. Taking a few extra steps, he regained his balance and shoved through the crowd.
My heart was racing. It wasn’t until he left that I gasped for breath.
Brett touched my hand, stopping it from trembling. “Come on.”
I followed him through the crowd and concentrated on slowing my heart. It was nearing combustion; it wanted to explode out of my chest. It wasn’t until it had slowed a little when I realized that Brett was taking me somewhere away from the street dance. We turned down an alley and ducked into a side door where there was another party. There were people everywhere and most clapped him on the shoulder as he went past. Girls called out hellos, but it was different than when I walked with Mason or Logan. The attention they got from girls was sexual. This was genuine. These people actually liked Brett Broudou.
He went to a back hallway. Only a few others were there, and he moved around them.
“Hey, man.”
Another said, “Buddy.”
Brett gave each a nod, but pressed forward until he got to the last door.
Where the hell was he taking me?
Then I found out. The last door opened to a back room. Couches were pushed against the walls, lining the whole room. A bar was set-up against the side and a couple small tables were in the middle. A few people were around them, playing a card game. A large pile of money was in the middle, and everyone looked up as we entered.
Brett jerked his hand to the door. “Move the game somewhere else.”
I expected protests, but there were none. The room was silent as everyone got up and collected their cards. The dealer took the money and the rest of the chips. They filed past us, taking their chairs with them.
“They literally moved their game somewhere else,” I noted. Holy hell. Was I supposed to be scared? Was he going to hurt me?
“Yeah.”
“Yeah …?”
There were green couches. There was a blue one. The bar had mosaic tiles on the bottom. The stools were encased in metal—
“You’re scared of me, aren’t you?”
Oh, dear god. I tore my gaze from the stools to him and gulped. I wasn’t expecting that from him. It sounded like raw honesty. “Um …” I stopped beating around the bush. “Can you blame me?”
“I’m not going to hurt you.” He went behind the bar and reached for two glasses. “I asked you out, remember?”
As he began filling the two shot glasses with rum, I moved closer. “Do you know who I am?”
He finished pouring and put the bottle to the side, then lifted his hooded eyes back to me. “I know you were dating Mason Kade. That was a nice surprise when I put it together.” He paused, frowning at me. “Are you still dating him?”
“I—” had no idea what to say.
He added, “Because he’s been having another girl all over him. Did you know about that?”
The air left me, and I sagged forward. My heart dropped to the bottom of my feet and new pain sliced through me. Hearing Mason’s plan and knowing Kate would think she was his girlfriend was different from hearing it was happening, and hearing it from Mason’s enemy. I couldn’t answer him. I felt rubbed raw from the inside out.
His tone didn’t soften. It hardened. “I asked around. It’s that same bitch that beat you up.”
“Yeah.”
“And he’s letting her crawl all over him? He tossed you aside? For her?” The threat of violence was swimming in his depths. He tossed the shot down his throat and refilled it again. Nudging mine towards me, he waited for me this time.
I took it. I didn’t feel a thing.
“More?” He lifted the rum again.
I nodded. I needed all I could get.
We took two more shots before I moved my glass to the side. No more for me, but he still downed two more. Then he leaned against the far wall behind the bar, and I slid onto a stool. The alcohol was beginning to work. I was beginning to feel warm again.
“You never answered my question. Are you still with the guy?”
“I don’t know.”
Disappointment flared over him, followed by pity. “That’s too bad.”
“You’re not going to tell your brother?”
Pushing away from the wall, he reached for the rum again. He spoke with a savage tone, “Are you kidding me? You know what my brother does? He hurts people.”
I frowned. Didn’t he?
“I know what you’re thinking.” He held his glass towards me, the shot ready to go. “I hurt people, too, but I don’t hurt girls, and I don’t hurt people weaker than me. I don’t stop my brother either. I can’t. I tried but people only get hurt worse.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because my brother really wants to hurt you.” He downed his shot and filled it again. “No, he wants to hurt whoever Mason Kade cares about. Good thing that bitch has been all over him this weekend. Budd thinks it’s her that he cares about, but it’s not. Is it? It’s you. He almost drove over my brother when he found out you were hurt. I was too stunned. I almost let it happen. Shit.”
Mason almost drove over Budd? I couldn’t think about that. Grabbing my shot glass, I pushed it to him. “One more.”
He grinned, but his eyes were hungry. They were angry.
I didn’t care. I was starting to relax. He wasn’t going to hurt me. He said it and I was beginning to trust him. “You’re not going to tell your brother?”
“No.” He set the bottle down. It landed with a thud and he held onto it for a second. His head hung down.
I waited.
The moment grew tense suddenly.
Then he lifted his head again; his eyes were so haunted. “I’m going to let my brother do what he wants to. I know what Kade’s doing with that whore that hurt you. It’s f*cking genius. It’s cold, too.”
He pinned me down with his gaze. I glanced away. For some reason, I didn’t want to see what he was thinking.
“You don’t know, do you?” He tone softened. “Or you don’t want to know.”
I swallowed over a knot. It felt like glue, and it wouldn’t go away.
“That’s it. You don’t want to know.”
“Why do you care?” I snapped at him. I was stretched too thin. My need to keep control was beginning to unravel. “Why do you even give a damn?”
“Because of you.”
I stopped. There was that raw honesty again, and I felt ashamed. “Why?”
“Because you don’t deserve what Budd’s going to do to that girl. That’s why.”
“You’re lying to your brother. You’re lying about Mason. I’m supposed to believe you’re doing it for me? You asked me out once. You don’t know me.”
He let out a deep breath. His hand gripped the bottle tighter, and he shrugged, but he wouldn’t look me in the eyes anymore. His went back down. “I know two things. I can’t stop my brother. He’s obsessed with hurting Kade’s girlfriend, and he won’t stop until he does. The other thing I know is that it can’t be you. You’re a good person. There aren’t many around anymore.”
Then I damned us both. “Thanks.”
He looked up now and our gazes locked.
“But you’re wrong,” I said. “I’m starting to figure it out.”
“Don’t,” he rushed out. “Stop thinking and go back home. You’ll be safer, and the regret won’t eat at you then.”
I shook my head. “You’re too late.” It was rising in me, and it was going to eat at my soul. I felt the darkness closing in.
“Brett!” someone called from the hallway. “They’re here.”
“Yeah.”
The door opened. I expected more of his friends, and I waited. They’d come in, or he would tell them to leave. I wasn’t expecting to hear my name in a gasp. “Sam!”
I whipped around. Heather was frozen in place. Her mouth hung open, and her eyes were wide, but they darted past my shoulder and grew in size. Channing came around her. He was less surprised and waved at me. Then he nodded to Brett. “Thanks, man.”
“Sam,” Heather choked out again. She jerked out of her frozen state. “You’re okay?”
Brett was behind me so I couldn’t see him, but I heard a small growl come from him.
Channing laughed and urged Heather back out the door. “Thanks for letting us know. We’ll take it from here.”
“Don’t let her back here.”
“No problem. We won’t.” Channing pushed Heather the rest of the way into the hallway and came back inside. He held a hand to me. “Sam?”
Glancing at Brett again, I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to see Mason. It was why I came.
“Sam?”
Brett jerked his head towards the door. “Go.”
I took a deep breath. I was going. There it was. I surrendered to a battle inside of me that I didn’t know was going on. There were things at play that I didn’t understand. He insinuated the same thing.
Go back home … The regret won’t eat at you then. His statement haunted me, even as I took two steps backwards, and Channing grabbed my arm. I was pulled into the hallway and hurried out of there. Heather wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Her hand went to the top of my head and she applied enough pressure to force my head down. I was swept out of there, down a back alley, and away.
“SALUTE!”
I jumped as Budd’s voice ripped through the air.
Heather cursed under her breath, and our pace quickened.
He yelled out another cheer, and as we kept going, his voice got quieter. It wasn’t until we had covered three more blocks that we slowed down. I knew the second we passed into friendly territory. Heather dropped her hand from my head, and she let out a deep, “Thank God.”
My head went up and I saw a lot of Fallen Crest people, but it was the same reaction as before. All eyes rested on me. As Channing led us further down the street, the word had spread. They knew we were coming. One by one, they turned to watch us. I felt their gazes before we went past them, and I continued to feel their gaze on our backs.
“Where are we going?”
Heather’s hand tightened on the top of my arm. She pressed into me, and I knew I was supposed to shut up. When we got to a back parking lot, her arm dropped from me and she moved away.
Channing cut across the lot. A group of trucks were in the back. The tailgates had been lowered so people sat on top of them. Lounge chairs were set up in a circle and coolers were spread all over. A guy reached down into one and pulled out a beer.
“What are you doing here?” Heather asked me now in a quiet voice. She moved closer, but her arm didn’t reach around me again.
I shrugged. My mind was racing. I didn’t have that answer anymore.
She sighed. “We’re mostly around Fallen Crest people now, but there’s still a few Roussou people here. All of Channing’s friends are close by, but you shouldn’t have come here.”
“Why?” That was the answer. That was why I came. I wanted to know why Mason hadn’t called. Why Logan remained silent. Why Heather was with Channing for the weekend. Why I felt like my insides were being ripped out. I wasn’t leaving until I found out.
“Holy shit.”
Finally.
Logan stood behind me, a beer in hand. I turned all the way around, and when he saw my face, the beer slipped from his hand. It splattered on the ground, spraying everywhere. He didn’t move. His eyes never left mine. Then his eyes bulged out before he lunged for me.
His hand grabbed my arm, and he hissed at Heather, “What the hell were you thinking?!”
“We didn’t. I didn’t. She came by herself.”
“What?!” His eyes were fierce. “What are you thinking, Sam? It’s dangerous here.”
I waited for Heather to tell him the rest. She didn’t. As my gaze darted to hers, her head shook from side to side. It was the slightest of movements. She didn’t want Logan to know about Brett. I nodded to her, the same slightest of movements. The corners of her mouth lifted up in a faint grin. It vanished as quick as it appeared and then she started to move away.
“Wait.” I held her phone out. “Your brother gave it to me. Wanted me to give it to you if I saw you.”
“Oh.” She ran her thumb across the screen and typed in the password. As she saw the missed calls and text alerts from me, she looked up. An apology was there.
I lifted a shoulder. I was here. It didn’t matter anymore.
“Let’s go,” Logan growled in my ear.
“Be nice to her.”
He swung back around to Heather. “Are you kidding me?”
“Be nice to her,” she repeated. A different message was sent between them, and she added, “You’re not seeing it from her eyes.”
He stopped. Whatever she meant, it hit him. More curses slipped out before his hand gentled on my arm. “Come on, Sam. I’ll take you home.”
“Can you drive?”
“Yes.” He looked as if he’d seen his own ghost. “I’m suddenly very sober.” Then he turned and I started to go with him. It was then that I saw them.
Everything stopped.
My heart froze.
My lungs shrunk.
Everything shattered.
Knowing about it hadn’t prepared me. Hearing about it hadn’t prepared me, but seeing it was the worst way for it to become real.
Mason was sitting on the back of a truck. It had been pulled so it was hidden behind the others, but it wasn’t the sight of him that had a dagger slicing through my insides. Kate was straddling him. Her breasts were pushed against his chest, and she had both arms around him. She grabbed a fistful of his hair as she gyrated on top of him, rubbing against him. A smirk came over him as he took hold of the back of her neck and tilted her head to the side. Then his mouth opened over hers, demanding entrance, and she shuddered in his arms.
She shuddered for him and so did I, but for different reasons.
Logan pulled me backwards. “Come on, Sam.” His tone softened, and he led me away. He was trying to be gentle with me, all the way to his car and as he took me home, but it didn’t matter.
I was numb again.