Chaos at Prescott High

by Stunich, C. M.

  Britt.

  The sound of the familiar nickname rolling off Hael’s tongue annoys me.

  “Keep us updated,” Victor warns as Hael grabs the keys to his Camaro. He looks like … well, I was going to say death warmed over. But really, I could just say he looks like Danny Ensbrook. “And don’t lose your temper.”

  Hael licks the corner of his lip in an annoyed gesture.

  “I won’t, boss.” He opens the door, and I stand up from the couch, following him out. Aaron and Vic watch me go, Oscar doesn’t act like he gives a shit, and it’s damn near impossible to figure out what Cal’s up to when he hides inside his hood like that.

  “You called her Britt,” I say as I pause on the path that connects to the driveway, watching as Hael unlocks the driver’s side door and turns to look at me. He seems surprised somehow, like he didn’t figure I’d care.

  “You okay, Blackbird?” he asks, standing up and turning back to me.

  I move a little closer, so there’s only about a foot of space between us.

  “You know, I keep thinking that if this is your baby, that things are over between us,” I say, and Hael whistles, letting his body slump back against the Camaro. Seems a little weird, to talk about shit like this after what we did today, but then again, what wouldn’t seem weird right now? My whole existence is weird.

  “I didn’t think you thought we even had a thing,” he says, giving me a shit-eating little smirk that makes my blood boil. I narrow my eyes on him. Is this the point where I get another lesson in reality? The Havoc Boys have been like fairy-tale boys to me until now. But is Hael really just a cocky prick who likes to screw and run? Am I going to get a dose of his special breed of asshole? “What does Vic think?”

  “Not everything is about Victor,” I snap back, gritting my teeth. Hael smiles and then nods, closing his eyes for a moment.

  “Yeah, I know.” He opens those pretty honey-brown eyes of his back up. He had to shower three separate times when he got back, and then cover himself in body spray and cologne. When I lean in toward him, all I can smell is the coconut oil he rubbed into his hands. “But you saw how he acted the other day. I had two choices in there, Bernie: kick his ass or leave. And he’s a good leader, even if he is a dick sometimes. I’d follow him into the pits of Hell.” I nod, because I’ve always known it. You could see, looking at Hael and Vic at age eight, that they were destined to share their lives together in one fashion or another. “What does he think about Aaron?” he asks, nodding his chin slightly and then grinning when my eyes widen in surprise.

  “You know about that?” I ask, and Hael shrugs.

  “I see you two looking at each other differently now. I figured it’d happened.” Hael doesn’t stop smiling, reaching out a hand and running his knuckles down my bare arm. I shiver, but not because I don’t like it. Quite the opposite actually.

  “He hates it,” I admit, but our conversation didn’t exactly go any further than me fucking his possessive attitude into the bathroom wall. That’s all we’ve got, as far as a conversation on the matter. “But I guess I’m still marrying him, so he can’t be all that bothered.”

  “You guess?” Hael laughs, checking his phone for the time again. He sighs, like he’s already exhausted. I don’t blame him. After what we did today, I think a nap’s in order. “You’re definitely getting hitched, Bernie.” He leans in toward me, smirking slightly. “And on Vic’s birthday, no less.”

  “His birthday?” I ask, frowning. Vic has been insistent that we get married soon, but I didn’t realize he had an exact day in mind. His birthday … figures. The first possible day we could get married, we will. I’m sure his mother, Ophelia, will like that one.

  “Yep,” Hael says, putting his mouth near my ear. “He turns eighteen just one day after me. how does that get you? That Vic’s the younger one between us.” Hael bites my ear, hard enough to startle me, but then he grabs my hips in his hands and pulls me close. “Look, if this kid really is mine … I don’t know what I’ll do. But what I can tell you is this: there’s no hope for me and Brittany. There never was.”

  “Then fuck me before you go over there.” The words come out before I can question them. Hael looks surprised, but not as surprised as I am.

  “Well, shit, Blackbird, how am I supposed to say no to that?” he asks, grabbing me by the hips and guiding me around to the front of the Camaro.

  Hael sets me on the hood of the car, placing a hand on either side of me as he leans in, pressing his lips to the side of my neck. My entire body lights up like it’s on fire, and I suck in a sharp breath.

  “Where should we go?” I ask, because this is not a good spot to have sex, on Aaron’s driveway in the middle of suburbia. Likely, we’d end up getting the cops called on us, and we all know how that’d turn out.

  “Go?” Hael echoes, cocking a red brow. “We ain’t goin’ nowhere, Blackbird. I’m short on time, Vic is probably seething inside the house, and the neighbors around here always look at me like they need to protect their sisters and daughters.”

  “Well, do they?” I quip back, and he just grins at me. “I’m serious, Hael. Have you been …?” The words get stuck in my throat because I know I’ll sound stupid as shit saying them. Have you been sleeping with other girls? I mean, I know I’ve been fucking Vic, and I just screwed Aaron, but hey, I’m jealous as shit at the thought of you with someone else.

  “Um, you mean between the burying of bodies and the gang war on our hands, have I been dating?” Hael pauses, the edge of his lip quirking up in a cocky smirk. “Or … fucking? Have I been dipping my dick into the sweet waters of a pussy that isn’t yours?”

  I grab him by the face, my fingers brushing against all of that red stubble as I dig my nails into his skin. His body feels hot between my thighs, scalding really. It’s dark out here now, the only light cast from the sconces on either side of the garage. Maybe, if we were really careful, we could screw on the hood of the Camaro?

  “Answer me.” The words are an order and Hael knows it. He lets out a small whistle of surprise.

  “Cher,” he murmurs, pronouncing the word like sha. I looked it up on my phone after the encounter with his mother. Apparently, it means like sweetheart in Cajun French or something. “No, I haven’t slept with anyone since we defiled my ride.” He taps his palm against the hood of the car for emphasis. “Why? You want me all to yourself or something?”

  I give him a look.

  “Hael Harbin, would I be out here if I didn’t?” I ask, gasping as he slides his hand up my leg and into my shorts. His fingers tease the wetness between my thighs, stroking my ember into an inferno with a casual smirk plastered to his face.

  “That’s not an answer at all,” he remarks, reaching down with his other hand to undo his own pants. “I mean, you’re screwing Vic and Aaron now, so what use could you possibly have for me?” I grab a fistful of his hair and force his mouth to mine, tasting that finely honed practice of his. It’s both simultaneously a turn-on and a serious goddamn thorn in my ass.

  I don’t like thinking about Hael with other girls.

  He pushes his fingers into me, making me groan. The car creaks underneath us as he leans forward and runs his hot tongue up the side of my throat.

  “Promise me you won’t touch another girl without telling me first,” I whisper huskily, but only because I’m too much of a coward to say what I really want. Promise me you won’t touch another girl—ever. But we’re young and this is new, and I just can’t bring myself to ask him that.

  “Mm-hmm,” Hael murmurs, breathing me in as he pumps his fingers in and out of me. “I’ll make that promise. You gotta do something for me though first.”

  “Yeah?” I ask, beyond the point where I could actually find the strength in myself to resist him. If Hael asked right now, I’d give him everything. Everything. He keeps the energy of this group up, keeps us from letting things get stale, perfumes the air with his laughter. We need that. Not just me, but all of us.


  “Play a little game with me,” he murmurs, kissing across my throat, teasing my clavicle, and then biting my nipple through my shirt. I hiss and grab his head to me. “Whoever comes last wins an oral sex session of their choice, to be redeemed whenever, wherever. How does that sound?”

  “Sounds like a game I could easily win,” I growl back, using my grip on Hael’s hair to bring our faces together. We share breath for a moment before he removes his fingers from my cunt and grabs his dick instead. “Oh, by the way …” I pat the car with the palm of my left hand. “I’m touching your car. Victor told me to never, ever touch your car.”

  Hael grins and laughs at me, shoving the shorts aside and then putting his lips right up against mine, so I can feel his words just as much as I can hear them.

  “If you were anybody else, I’d break your hand for touching my baby.” Hael kisses me, spiking my blood with adrenaline, making me feel sexy and naughty and free. Oh, and young. He most definitely makes me feel young, like we could both truly be seventeen for one, precious moment. “Not you though, Blackbird. Not you.”

  Hael puts his cock to my opening and thrusts into me. The car groans again, like it’s truly part of this interaction, the third person in our little threesome. Where’s the condom, Bernie?! I remember too late. I try to make myself say something, but then Hael starts to move and my mind is destroyed by the rush of pleasure.

  A truck rumbles by on the street and Hael pauses, like just because he’s not moving it won’t be obvious that his ass is hanging out, that my legs are wrapped around him, that we’re joined together in sin.

  He waits until the truck turns the corner before he starts to move again, fast and hard and frenzied. In just a short while, he’ll be at Brittany’s house, sitting on a couch and looking across at her father who just so happens to be a cop, telling him that he got his baby girl pregnant. The thought makes me grit my teeth as I dig my nails into Hael’s upper arms, marking him as my own.

  “Come over sometime and visit me at my house,” Hael murmurs, kissing the edge of my mouth as he cups my ass with soft hands, fingers digging beneath the loose fabric of the shorts. “We can make love all over your Eldorado, so long as you don’t mind being covered in grease.”

  A moan escapes my lips at the idea as Hael slides one hand up my side, shoving my borrowed t-shirt up to grab my bare breast. He kneads the heavy flesh with his fingers, thumb stroking over the pert point of my nipple.

  “Check this, Bernie,” he purrs, licking me again, like he just can’t get enough of the taste. Hael seems eager to show off for me, and I have to say, I don’t mind one goddamn bit. He drops his hand between us to find my clit, squeezing it between two fingers and making my heart thunder. When he starts to rub it in slow, lazy circles, I feel my body breaking down.

  “Tell me I’m tighter than Brittany,” I moan, even though I hate to hear her name pass his lips.

  “So much tighter,” he agrees, thrusting hard and deep. “So much wetter.” Another thrust, another flick of my clit. My breasts bounce as the car rocks underneath us, taking the motion of its master’s thrusting hips without complaint. “So much prettier, too. I imagined you when I was fucking her, you know that?”

  “Oh god, shut up,” I groan as he works up the fire between my legs, stoking it with carefully crafted expertise. The orgasm takes over me from the inside, instantly relieving all of my stress, making me forget where I am and why I should be quiet.

  A scream of ecstasy escapes my throat, making Hael chuckle as he rides out the tender squeezing of my body around his. He lets me finish before he works on his own climax, holding my panting body and thrusting until he’s shuddering in my arms, his body now as soaked with sweat as my own.

  We sit there for a second, hearts pounding, just trying to catch our breath.

  “I wish you didn’t have to go,” I say, even though I know that I’m essentially admitting that I want him here, that I’ll … like, miss him or something. Gross.

  “Same,” he says, standing up and fixing his pants. There’s not much to do about me; I just have to clean myself up after he leaves. Hael looks down at me, eyes sparkling, face contemplative. I’m sure he’s about to say something profound and extraordinary when he proves to me that he’s just as much of a cocky slut as I always expected. “By the way, I just won that bet.” He taps me on the nose and leans in close, putting his hands on his lower back as he cops a wicked smile. “And I will be collecting on that blow job.”

  I slap him in the chest, but he just catches my wrist and yanks me up and off the hood of the car, planting one, last kiss to my lips before he climbs into the Camaro.

  “I’ll call you later?” he says, and I nod, crossing my arms under my breasts as Hael pulls out of the driveway and disappears down the street.

  “Feel better now?” Vic asks me when I come out of the bathroom after cleaning up. I’m breathless and pink-cheeked, with that freshly-fucked look, I’m sure. He’s the only one in the living room now, sitting on the long couch in front of the coffee table, tattooed arms stretched out on either side of him and resting on the tops of the pillows. “Now that you’ve punished me thoroughly, I mean.”

  “Punished you?” I ask, taking a step toward him. Fury is rolling off of him in waves, making it quite plain to see that Victor Channing is not about sharing. “You think I screwed Aaron and Hael to punish you? You’re a narcissistic asshole sometimes, you know that?”

  He stands up suddenly, but I don’t move, staying right where I am.

  “And what about Cal? You want to screw him, too?” Vic challenges, coming around the couch to stand in front of me. I let my head fall back as I laugh. Today should’ve ranked up there in the worst of my life. I mean, we dug up a dead Prescott High student. And yet, compared to how I felt the day Pen died, this is nothing. I feel lighter than I ever have, like I’ve finally shed the gossamer strands of society, this glittering web of who I should’ve been, who I could still be, if only I’d run and let my monsters walk.

  But oh no, I am much more vindictive than that.

  “Maybe I do, Victor? So what. Sex is all about expression. You know how I feel about Havoc.”

  He takes a step toward me. It’s dark in here, with just the two lamps on, casting a dull orange glow across the worn hardwood floors and old rugs that decorate them.

  “How do you feel, Bernadette?” Vic asks, tilting his head slightly. “Why don’t you say it aloud?”

  I close my eyes and Vic skims his palms down my bare arms, taking my heated skin and cooling it down, like a pleasant breeze, like the sweet kiss of AC on a summer night. My head clears; my numbness flees.

  Sometimes, when you meet someone, you just know they’re going to change your fate. For better or worse. I think about saying those words as part of my vows to Vic, and they feel right. They don’t feel fake or forced, like a charlatan wedding for a sea of thespians.

  “This is where I belong, Vic,” I say, opening my eyes back up. He stares down at me from ebon irises, his big body shaking with jealous rage. I should chastise him more for it, but I don’t. I can’t help myself; I want him like this. Aching for me. Pining. Snarling. Growling. Pissing. He can go all alpha on me if he wants, and I won’t stop him. “I’ve always belonged with the five of you.”

  His mouth twitches, and he reaches up a big hand, using inked fingers to tuck pink-tinged hair behind my ear.

  “My beautiful nightmare,” he confirms, running his thumb over my lower lip. “After we get married, I’m not sharing you. Get your fucking out of the way before then.” Vic drops his hand by his side, and I frown. I’m not sure I agree with that statement, but I also feel like I can’t possibly say anything, not right now. He’ll throw a man-trum and break the magic of the evening.

  “Do you want to take these pregnancy tests with me?” I ask, choking on the courage needed to say those words. “I mean, while we wait for Hael to call us and say he’s still alive.”

  Vic’s face darkens up, but it’s not
without kindness.

  “Pregnancy tests?” he asks, almost too mildly. My skin erupts in goose bumps. Those syllables spilling from those poison-tinged lips of his, they’re loaded. “I didn’t know you’d bought any.”

  “Well,” I start, giving him a look. “You keep fucking me without using one. What did you expect to happen?” Victor smiles slightly as I move over to the brown paper bag on the small sofa table that’s pressed up against the wall. I take the boxes from it and pop into the downstairs bathroom, reading the instructions as Victor watches me from the doorway.

  There’s a nightlight in the little downstairs half-bath, shaped like a full moon with little grayed out spots that are supposed to be craters. It’s cute, and it casts enough light for me to take a piss and set the stupid white sticks out on the counter.

  I fix my pants, wash my hands, and then cross my arms over my chest to wait.

  “They only take a few minutes, Bern,” Vic says after a while, watching me with heavy lidded eyes. He’d probably love it if I were pregnant. He doesn’t say as much, but it’d be impossible to miss, with the expression on his face.

  “You check them,” I tell him, but when he reaches out a hand to grab one, I snatch his wrist, fingers curling around him and squeezing tight. I wonder if Brittany felt like this when she was taking the test, if she wished Hael were there.

  Shit.

  I feel like an asshole and yet, the world has only ever treated me like shit. I’ve tried to do things the right way, I really have. And how have I been rewarded for it? With molestation, suicide, and pain. That’s how.

  So … fuck Brittany. And fuck Kali.

  I snatch one of the tests off the counter and close my eyes tight. I can feel Victor watching me carefully, waiting with that intense and unending patience of his.