“Shit,” he groans before reaching the back of his shirt and shrugging out of it. Rivers turns to the side, lifting his arm to give me a better look. I can’t help but press my fingers across the harsh bruising that’s already appearing.
“Fuck,” Noah grunts. “Sorry man. I’ll get the tape.”
Noah disappears into the kitchen as I feel across Rivers ribs making sure nothing’s broken. “Did this happen when you went through the wall?” I ask.
“Yeah, I think so,” he murmurs. “Didn’t help that the fucker nailed me there right after.”
“You brought it on yourself,” I remind him. “If you left your bad attitude at the door and didn’t come here searching for a fight then you’d probably be kicking back right now, staring and drooling over Tully while pretending she doesn’t exist.”
“I don’t need a lecture from you right now.”
I press a little harder and get a disgusting amount of satisfaction out of the hiss that sails out of him. “Well, you’re going to fucking hear one,” I tell him a little more firmly. “You hurt my boyfriend and now you’ve hurt my best friend, again. This shit has to stop.”
I can practically hear his eyes roll.
I grab the discarded ice pack and slap it against his skin, grinning at the way he tries to pull away from it. After all, I didn’t bother wrapping it in a paper towel the way Tully had. Screw that shit. Rivers needs tough love right now, not the bullshit tending to his every need that Tully would have given him had he allowed her the chance.
Nope. Fuck that. It kind of makes me glad that Noah did a little damage.
Noah comes striding back in the room with the tape in his hands and he tosses it across to me while he stops to inspect the hole in the wall. I remove the ice pack and start taping Rivers up as Noah whistles. “We’re going to have to fix this before dad gets home.”
“Yep,” Rivers agrees as I finish off with the tape and shove his shirt back into his hands.
“Do you need a number for a carpenter?” I ask, pulling out my phone.
“Nah,” Noah grumbles as Rivers pulls his shirt back on and wraps the ice pack with the discarded paper towel. “We’ve put so many fucking holes in walls that we had to learn how to patch it ourselves. It was getting too expensive,” he laughs. “Besides, it’s not too hard.”
“So, what now then?” I ask as Rivers presses the ice pack back to his sore ribs.
“Now, we go down to the hardware store.”
Chapter 2
A weight crushes down on my chest and I gasp for breath as my eyes flick open in panic. “Fuck,” I grunt out as I find Aria staring down at me while busily trying to squish my boobs back into my body. I mean, that’s not how it works. “Get off me, Squirt.”
She giggles as though watching me struggle to breathe is the funniest thing she’s ever seen, but thankfully, slides off me and crashes down onto the pillow beside me. “I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry,” I grumble, wishing the sun would disappear for a while longer. Noah only dropped me home a few hours ago which is probably a bit stupid on our part, seeing as though it’s a Monday morning. “What’s the time?”
She shrugs her shoulders and I curse myself out. She’s only five. What was I thinking asking her the time? She can’t read the clock yet.
I reach over her and grab my phone off my bedside table to check the time. “Damn it,” I moan under my breath, realizing it’s not even six yet. "Can’t I sleep a little while longer?”
“But I’m hungry now,” she whines. “I tried to make my breakfast but it was too hard.”
Oh no. “What did you try to make?”
“Cereal.”
“Ok…and which part was too hard?”
Her eyes cut away from mine with nothing but guilt shining back through them. “The milk was too heavy and when I poured…”
“Go on.”
She holds up her hands to demonstrate what happened and from what I can tell as she poured, she couldn’t stop it fast enough, telling me there’s a pool of milk in the kitchen to clean up. I let out a sigh as I curse dad for having a job today. “Fine,” I groan. “Just let me pee first and then we’ll clean it all up.”
She beams back at me before bouncing off my bed with unbelievable amounts of energy. I mean, thank God it’s a school day. I couldn’t handle that all day considering I’ve hardly had any sleep.
Aria practically pulls me from my bed and drags me down the hallway. She stops at the bathroom door and no doubt listens to me pee but has patience on her side today as she doesn’t come right on in with me. You know, apart from the whole dragging me out of bed before six in the morning thing.
I deal with business and before I know it, Aria’s dragging me the rest of the way down the hallway towards the kitchen. “How bad is it?” I ask, trying to prepare myself.
“It’s bad,” she chuckles to herself.
“Is there any milk left?” Aria shakes her head. “I guess I won’t be making cereal then,” I murmur. “What should I make?”
Her little eyes brighten up at the thought of having options and I’m struck for the millionth time at how the little things in life that I so easily take for granted are such a big deal for her. She’s probably never been offered options before and it breaks me every time I’m reminded of it.
“Ummmmmmmmm,” she draws out. “Can I have pancakes and cupcakes?”
I laugh out. “You can have pancakes. There’s no way I’m baking cupcakes at this time of the morning.” As her face falls, I find myself desperate to make it right. “How about this?” I tell her. “If you’re a good girl for me this morning, we can stop by the bakery on the way to school and get you something special for your lunch.”
“Really?” she questions, jumping up and down as we turn into the kitchen.
“Of cour-”
Oh, dear lord. This mess!
There’s milk dripping off the bench, on to the old floors and making a little pool that has her cheerios floating on top. The box of cereal was knocked over in the process and cheerios spread from one end of the kitchen to the other. I don’t understand how it’s physically possible for one little girl to make such a mess while trying to make a bowl of cereal.
This is the reason I don’t want a teen pregnancy. I couldn’t handle being in charge of this kind of destruction every day. I mean, God knows I love my little sister, but she’s the best tool to convince teens to use contraception.
I stand on the spot, still as a statue as I try to make a game plan. “Right,” I tell her. “You go get the broom and sort out the cheerios while I work on the milk. As soon as that’s done, we make pancakes, but it’s going to have to be a packet mix because unfortunately, we’re now out of milk.”
She grins up at me as innocently as possible.
Damn it. How could I be cranky at that face?
As my eyes rake over the kitchen, I take in the familiar note sitting on the bench with a fifty dollar note on top. Instincts have me moving towards it.
I scoop the note up off the table and hold it up, letting the milk drip off the edge and hope I can still read the blurry, milk destroyed words.
Squish & Squirt,
I’ll be gone for the night and hopefully back before school drop off on tomorrow morning.
There’s enough food in the fridge to feed an army.
Be safe and call me if you need anything.
Squish - Don’t be an asshole to your sister. Read her as many bedtime stories as she wants!
Squirt – I know you can’t read but I’m trusting your big sister to let you know that you’ll be safe with her and to be a good girl in class. I don’t want any more calls from your teacher!
Be good.
Love you both.
Dad.
Dad left early this morning, probably shortly after I got home actually, so let’s hope he didn’t realize how late I’d gotten in. Since he didn’t call me out in his note, I’d say I’m in the clear.
This has become our new normal. As hard as it is, dad still needs to work and now that I’m apparently old enough to be responsible, that means I need to be a little more helpful. Dad needs to work more now than ever as our bills just suddenly doubled. He does as many jobs as he can while trying to remain as close to home as possible.
I keep thinking about getting myself a job to help out where I can, but the only times I’ll be able to work are after school and weekends which is usually when I have Aria with me. It’s a lose/lose situation, but dad assures me it’s better if I’m home with her.
I move the cash away from the spilled milk and stick it to the fridge, under a magnet. There’s no more hiding cash away in my old jewelry box, not anymore. Every cent counts now, and here on the fridge, it won’t get lost. I can cook us something for dinner to avoid spending it, besides, the gas bill is due soon and we need to keep on top of it as dad has a habit of forgetting due dates. What the hell would he do without me?
Aria and I get to work scrubbing the kitchen and within ten minutes, it’s squeaky clean. Actually, that’s probably too much of an exaggeration. It’s…clean enough to be able to cook in so naturally, that’s exactly what we do.
Pancake mix goes everywhere and I’m glad we have so much time before having to head out for school because the kitchen is going to need a second scrub once we’re done with it, and then Aria will probably need a scrub too.
Aria sits up at the table and devours her breakfast in the blink of an eye before reaching across and stealing half of mine.
I roll my eyes as I watch her. She’s such a terror.
After breakfast, I force her to go and have a shower despite her endless whining that ‘SpongeBob Square Pants’ is starting soon. I seriously don’t understand her obsession with that show. It drives me insane.
Somehow, she gets through a shower and even lets me wash her hair. Half an hour later, I sit down on the couch with Aria sitting in front of me on the floor. I brush through her long blonde hair as she cheers when another episode comes on.
Kill me now.
It’s not long before I doze off on the couch for a well needed sleep with Aria zoned out in the land of all things ‘SpongeBob’.
The sound of her giggles wakes me and my eyes instantly fly up to the clock on the wall. "Crap, it's nearly time to go,” I shriek, flying up to my feet. “Why didn't you wake me?"
Aria doesn’t even blink and it's like she's zombified by the TV. I swear, she probably doesn't even realize I'm still here. I roll my eyes. I doubt I'm going to be blessed with a response from her.
With her hair, breakfast, and shower already done, I can mostly concentrate on getting myself ready for the day. At least I was able to get a bit more sleep before having to spend the day at school.
I hurry down to my room and throw on a pair of ripped jeans and a black shirt before pulling on my combat boots. Looking in the mirror, I gasp at the sight before me. This simply won’t do. I run my fingers through my hair and mess it around a little to give me that 'I don’t give a shit about it' vibe which seems to be my motto for life, before tracing a little eyeliner around my eyes and adding some mascara just because I can.
I hardly ever wear makeup anymore and the look on Noah's face is fucking priceless when I do. He loves when I wear mascara. I think it has something to do with the way it makes my blue eyes stand out. I don't know, but he always seems to kiss me a little longer when I'm wearing it, and the way he seems to always be hard when he's pushing up against me makes it so damn worth it. Knowing something so simple turns him on is like a power every woman should possess. Besides, why shouldn’t I wear it if he likes it so much? Especially if it means a little extra special attention from a guy who could make me cum just from a simple wink.
Hell to the yes, please.
How did I get so damn lucky?
I hurry out of my room, making sure to grab my phone and bag on the way before heading for the front door. "Right, Squirt. TV off. We have to go."
I stand at the door waiting as she slowly gets up and turns off the TV. She grabs her school bag off the floor, slips her shoes on, and finally walks towards me.
Only she stops. "I need to poop."
I let out a sigh. "Of course you do."
I take her bag from her and head outside to warm up the truck while she goes to the bathroom. Don't ask me why she didn’t go before. It completely baffles me, but it's my fault. If I was on the ball, I would have remembered to tell her to go earlier, but silly me, I fell asleep instead.
Oh well, I’d take being a few minutes late a million times over if it meant a few hours of extra sleep.
I make my way out to the truck and jam the key in the side to unlock it because well, asking for an automatic lock on this old girl is like seeing a caveman walking around with an iPhone. It’s just never going to happen, not on this old truck.
I throw Aria’s school bag in the back seat before noticing my neighbor, Rocko, staring at me. A shudder runs through me and we find ourselves in some kind of staring competition. Surely, he must notice the set of balls I’ve been growing over the past few weeks because there’s no way in hell I’m about to back down.
Rocko quirks a brow, presses his lips into a thin line as though he’s deep in thought, and nods his head before dropping down into his car and peeling out of his drive.
Well, that was fucking weird. Usually, I have to shoo him away and say some kind of awful thing to get rid of him, but today…I don’t know, it was almost like he just pulled a bit of respect out of his ass and thrust it upon me. I don’t really know how I feel about that, but it’s better than having his scowl hitting me every time I walk out of the house.
He’s such a freaking weirdo. There’re plenty of rumors going around about him. Some girls say he likes to get a little handsy and forceful at parties while other rumors say that he’s the guy responsible for burning down the bleachers at the old football field at school. I don’t know if any of it is true as I’ve never bothered to get to know the guy, not even when Jackson was friends with him, but from the ever-present scowl on his face, I’d dare say that most of it is true.
He’s not a good guy and I don’t have the need within me to figure out why. He’s a book that I’ll happily keep closed, now and forever.
I try to forget about it and climb up into the truck. I leave the door wide open in case Aria needs me inside and turn the key with a deep twinge in my gut. There’s usually about a fifty/fifty chance that the truck won’t start. It never bothered me too much before as it’s only a short ten minute walk to school, but with Aria at the elementary school, it turns into a massive forty minute hike that I’m simply not in the mood for today. I can’t count how many lunchtime detentions I’ve been getting for being late, but one call from dad to the principal and we got that shit straightened right out.
Noah always tells me to call him when shit like that happens and as much as I love him for the offer, it’s too much effort. We’d have to wait around for him to get here and then switch the carseat over to his car which isn’t exactly easy, and then get Ari to school. We almost always end up late anyway.
But today, the truck is as happy as a pig in mud.
I leave the truck running and go back to the door.
Aria is only a few more moments and I lock the door behind her before we trudge up to the truck and climb in. She gets buckled and before I know it, I’m dropping her off at the door and beaming back at her as she gives me a huge smile.
She absolutely adores going to big girl school. She wasn’t enrolled before and it’s been a bit of work catching her up to the other kids her age. In fact, there’s still a bit of work to go. She never went to daycare and hasn’t had someone sitting by her side teaching her how to count or doing the alphabet. After all, mom was too busy getting high or stoned. Everything Aria knows, she’s learned from watching TV. It’s heartbreaking, but me and dad are convinced that with the help from the school and community activities, we can get her the education
that she deserves.
I climb back up into the truck and haul ass to Haven Falls Private with just moments to spare before the bell sounds. I pull up next to Noah’s Camaro and grin as I realize he’s waited for me with Rivers, though naturally, where Rivers is, Tully isn’t.
Noah walks around to my side as I cut the engine and opens the door for me. As I jump down, he steadies me with his hands on my waist before pressing a kiss to my lips. “You look stressed out,” he murmurs, pushing a golden lock of hair back behind my ear.
“You could say that,” I laugh. “Ari kept me on my toes this morning.”
He grins back at me. “I should have known,” he says, reaching around me to grab my bag from the truck. “You ready for this?”
I ignore his questions, reaching up to stroke my fingers across his brow. “You know, I think you were right,” I tell him. “I’m really digging this scar.”
A grin brightens his face. “I fucking knew it, Spitfire.”
I turn to Rivers and narrow my eyes. “As for you, Fucker. Lay your hands on my man again and I’ll be forced to take you out.”
“Yeah right,” Rivers scoffs. “I’d like to see you try.”
I turn to look up at the school and just like every day since I took Monica down two weeks ago, the students of Haven Falls Private are already heading my way.
I pull my game face on, straighten my back and raise my shoulders.
Your Queen is here, Haven Falls.
Chapter 3
A coffee is thrust into my hand by some junior I’ve never met as some random cheerleader steps up beside me, not talking but just walking as though she belongs there. I stop in the middle of the hallway, students all around me staring on.
The cheerleader’s face falls as fear flashes behind her eyes.
I’m the new queen here. I never intended to be, it just kind of fell in my lap after I took out Monica. I already had Candice in my back pocket and without Monica leading all the sheep astray, they needed someone else to worship.
Untameable: Haven Falls (Book 3) Page 2