Chapter Eight
My stomach churned with nerves on my way to school the next morning. Not only because of Sully, but because I had made plans with Base, too. Before, when I used to like him, we had spent months flirting together, but I hadn’t really spent much time alone with him, which was why it was so easy to believe Shauna when she told me about his bet.
I sat on the floor at my locker, putting the finishing touches to some homework, when Sully arrived. I felt him rather than heard him. Some kind of chill alerted me to his presence. He stood two feet away, a disturbing sneer on his face.
“All alone, are we?” he said in a threateningly low voice. “Maybe I should have some fun with you, Devlin O’Mara. Maybe I should teach you what happens to mouthy little girls who try to get the better of me.”
I jumped to my feet, feeling vulnerable on the floor. All I had was an act. “Why don’t you fuck right off? Psycho.”
He took a step toward me, and I backed away, unable to stop myself.
“Do you think anyone would care if I hurt you, Devlin? Do you think they would even notice? Your mother doesn’t love you enough to take care of you, or even stop her drinking. Your own boyfriend couldn’t stay faithful to you. Your best friend has deserted you. Even sweet little Aoife can’t stand you. You have nothing. You have no one.”
I retreated until my back was against the row of lockers, his words filling me with a cold dread and terror that crept all over my skin.
He planted his hands on the locker behind my head, his arms surrounding me as he leaned in closer. He knew everything about me. Everything. It was the sound of his voice that horrified me; it made me feel as though millions of little insects were crawling up my legs, eating away at my skin.
He took off his sunglasses, and as much as I tried to avoid his strange eyes, I couldn’t help myself. I had to look, had to see what was in there.
Darkness. Only darkness.
A memory wrenched itself from the place in my brain I hid them. My mother’s ex and his pet tarantula. Me screaming as he held me down and let it crawl across my neck. I could feel it move there, and I longed to brush it away, but my hands were trapped. I couldn’t help myself. Again.
Gasping, I was forced back into the present, back into Sully’s obsidian gaze.
“You’re so worthless that even I don’t want you anymore. You’re the most pathetic girl I have ever come across, Devlin O’Mara, and I have known many a wretch. You act like a bitch so nobody will see how scared and hurt you are, but I see it. I see everything in you. You’re so weak, so full of fear and self-loathing. How do you even get up in the mornings? Why haven’t you freed yourself from your own misery?”
I shook my head, my entire body shuddering at the effort.
“I might take pity on you, Devlin. I might let you come with me. After all, you have nobody else.”
Dazed, I nodded with an eagerness I didn’t know I was capable of, desperate for some love and affection, desperate for something other than the heart-wrenching pain I lived with. Tears rolled down my cheeks. Nobody wanted me. My friends feared me. I was nothing. He was right. He could make it better.
“She has me,” said a voice behind me, and the spell was broken. Whatever was holding my gaze to Sully’s snapped free, and everything came rushing back. How he had made me feel, how easily I had believed him, and how I had automatically become everything I had ever detested.
Gaping at Sully, I brushed the tears from my face, feeling safer knowing Base was there. Knowing I wasn’t alone. But the memory of what had just happened was a sucker punch in the stomach, and I struggled to catch my breath.
Sully’s glare turned to Base, his eyes still mocking. “A challenge, is it? Two birds with one stone. She’s poison, but you already know that. Don’t you, Brian?” Sully hissed before turning away.
Base moved closer to me, and I heard a sharp intake of breath.
“You’re crying? What else did he say to you?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. It was nothing important. I just… felt sick for a second there.” I hiccuped, mortally embarrassed by my lack of composure. Base took me in his arms, and I let him, let the last of the sorrow run free as I clung to his shirt.
“He’s totally fucked in the head,” Base said after a few minutes, his voice shaky, and he drew back to take a good look at me. “If you end up alone with him again, just keep walking away, okay?”
He used his thumbs to wipe away a few tears I missed, and I quivered beneath his touch. Both the look in his eyes and the way I reacted to him confused me, so I shrugged him off to gain some control. “I’m not scared of him, Base.”
He held up his hands, not bothering to hide the frustrated rolling of his eyes. “Whatever you say, Queenie.” He walked away, still shaking his head.
“Base!”
He stopped and turned to look at me, his expression unexpectedly serious.
“Still on for later?” I asked, still trembling, both from my reaction to Sully and the fear of what making peace with Base meant to me.
His eyes twinkled. “Of course.” Then he walked away.
I handed my homework in during the next class, but the teacher barely looked at me as she accepted it. Sully was probably right. Who would notice if anything happened to me?
I glanced around the room as I took my seat, and the only person who looked in my direction was Base. He nodded at me before gazing at his books, but I watched him for the rest of the class, and he never turned a page. I didn’t either.
Aoife trailed after Sully throughout the rest of the day, and he gave me these self-satisfied grins every now and then. Every time he looked in my direction, my skin crawled. He was beginning to terrify me, and I couldn’t even express why. It was as if he were trying to be vaguely intimidating. Not just trying; I was intimidated. And exceptionally pissed off.
The power he had over me came out of nowhere, and I couldn’t understand it. Maybe he was trying to make me crazy, trying to make me say stupid things. After all, how could he have bitten my mother? Or climbed up to my bedroom window and vanished in the middle of the night? How could he really do a thing to me unless I consented?
There lay the problem. Every now and then, I seemed fully capable of allowing him to do whatever he liked, and that made no logical sense. I wasn’t even sure if I was annoyed because of my own actions, or the fact I’d had to rely on Base, of all people, to rescue me.
I was running out of people to talk to, but I still had some friends, so when I saw Base alone in the lunchroom, I hesitated at my usual table.
“Save me an extra seat,” I said to Maisy.
“Okay,” she said, staring up at me with concern evident in her eyes. I heard her sharp inhalation as I walked toward Aoife and Sully, but I passed them by and headed straight over to Base.
“Base.”
No answer. I yanked the earbuds out of his ears. He jumped with fright, almost as edgy as me.
“Relax,” I said, holding up my hands. “Sit with us today.”
“Why?” He frowned, glancing in Aoife’s direction.
“Because there’s no point in you sitting alone when there’s a seat at our table.”
He regarded me with narrowed eyes.
“I’m not… I’m not trying to trick you, Base. Jesus.” I glanced at Sully who was watching us carefully. “But a show of solidarity might be in order, you know?”
Base nodded slowly. “Okay, thanks.”
I made a scornful sound. “I’m not doing you a favour.” I grabbed his bag and strode past Aoife who didn’t bat an eyelid, but I sensed Sully’s eyes on me.
Maisy raised a brow when Base took a seat next to me, as did everyone else at the table, but nobody said a word. After a couple of minutes, everyone was acting as though Base always sat with us.
“Deco and Shauna don’t look impressed,” Maisy whispered in my ear after I laughed at something Base said.
I refused to look in their direction. “Not my problem.”
“Yo
u aren’t trying to make him jealous, are you?”
“Who, Deco? With Base?” I hissed under my breath.
“No. Sully. And yes, with Base.”
I frowned. “I wouldn’t do that, Maisy. I wouldn’t use someone like that.”
She shrugged, her face brightening. “Just checking. ‘Cause it’s kind of weird.”
“Let’s just say he did me a favour, and leave it at that.”
I rubbed my temples, trying to stave off the massive headache that was threatening to invade. I glanced at Base who was trading banter with the boy to his right. Base was still cute, but in a much more grown up way than before. He was eighteen, but he looked older. He was definitely attractive, but all I could think about was how humiliated I had been when Shauna warned me he was about to make a fool out of me. It didn’t matter if she had been right or wrong; the feeling still remained, and I doubted I could ever shake it.
Base glanced at me, grinned, and went back to his conversation. I sat there, stunned, as a tremor of… something ran through me. Shaking myself, I turned to Maisy and pretended to be interested in the conversation she was having. What the hell was wrong with me lately?
“Mind if I sit with you?” Base asked in our next class together. I shrugged, aiming for nonchalant, but every nerve in my body seemed to come to life. Deco was different in that I knew I had nothing to worry about. Although, I had been fonder of him than I realised, due to the amount of hurt I had experienced from his betrayal.
With Base, I remained on edge the entire time around him, and my body kept responding to him in ways that I really did not want. Sometimes I felt exactly as I had when we were younger, when I felt certain he was trying to make a fool of me. I still waited on the edge of my seat, half-expecting him to laugh in my face. It was hard to relax around someone you didn’t quite trust.
“If all of this is some kind of joke to make a fool out of me, you’ll so regret it,” I hissed under my breath, making him jump.
“What?” He looked so confused that I almost laughed.
“I mean it,” I said urgently, trying to contain my anxiety. “If you and Sully cooked up this entire thing together, I won’t hold back.”
“You’re actually a crazy person,” he said with a groan.
I gazed at him, feeling the colour drain from my cheeks. “It’s not funny to scare people,” I insisted, but there was a panic in my voice that I couldn’t control, and even he heard it.
The tips of his ears reddened under my stare, and he spoke in a steady voice. “I have nothing to do with Sully. I wouldn’t scare anyone like this. Okay, Devlin?”
Looking at the sincerity in his eyes, I couldn’t resist taking his word. I let out a whoosh of air, more relieved than I could say.
“Why would you even think that?” he asked curiously.
I gazed at my book, embarrassed by my outburst. “Track record, Base.”
We said nothing for the remainder of the class, but the air permeated with embarrassment and tension. I was relieved to get it off my chest, but everything was so awkward that I regretted speaking my mind. We had planned to meet up after school, so why did I have to put something out there that we couldn’t ignore?
I expected Base to pretend he had forgotten about meeting up, but he found me before I left school grounds.
“Wanna come to my house to do some, um, homework?” he asked in front of a startled Maisy. She giggled uncontrollably, looking from Base to me and back to Base again.
“Homework,” she said with a snort. “Fine, I’ll disappear. See you tomorrow,” she said to me, giving me a look that said an explanation would definitely be necessary.
“Did you really have to say it like that?”
He frowned. “Embarrassed to be seen with me now?”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean then?” he asked as he followed me outside.
“She’s going to ask me a million and one questions until she finds out the truth. Which she can’t because she wouldn’t understand.”
“So lie,” he said. “Do you actually want to go to my house? Or would yours be better?”
The idea of facing Base’s family or him seeing my mother was too much. “Maybe we should go to the library instead,” I said. “And actually get some homework done while we’re there. I have to work later, so I don’t have much time.” My lack of time was more due to the fact I would have to cook and convince my mother to eat, but he didn’t need to know all of that.
“That’s fine,” he said, to my relief. “I have an essay to finish anyway.”
We walked on in silence, but when a car revved next to us, I clutched at his arm. He glanced at me and, likely seeing the expression on my face, he followed my gaze to see Sully grinning at us, Aoife by his side. Aoife who didn’t even look in our direction.
“Need a lift, Devlin O’Mara?” Sully called out. “I’d love to catch up with your mother again.”
I shuddered as he drove off.
“What did he mean?” Base asked, his hand closing into a fist.
“I came home one day, and he was sitting with Mam, and she was acting all weird. She said… Never mind. He’s just being a creep. Let’s hurry, okay?”
“Maybe we should go to your house,” Base said slowly. “Make sure he isn’t hassling your mam or anything like that.”
I hesitated, but I was desperate to run back home. “Yes, please,” I said in a small voice.
Without discussing it, we both hurried to my house. Some kind of urgency drove both of us, but I couldn’t think what we imagined might be happening. As we reached my street, I gripped Base’s arm again, apologising but unable to let go. I stopped walking and released him, breathing deeply.
“That’s his car,” I whispered. “Outside my house.”
“Come on.” Base grabbed my hand and strode straight toward my house with little hesitation. He probably thought Sully wasn’t a match for him, being about half his width, but there was something dangerous in Sully’s eyes, and I didn’t want to test the theory.
I unlocked the door with shaking hands, but as I pushed it open, I heard a cheery voice calling hello.
“Mam?”
“Just in the kitchen!”
I glanced at Base, ridiculously confused.
“Oh, we’ve company,” she said, beaming, coming into the living room with a bowl in her hands.
“Uh, yeah,” I said. Then I stared at her appearance. “Is that… an apron?”
She twirled around with a girlish giggle. “I found it at the end of my bed this morning. I thought you left it there. Isn’t it cute?”
I shook my head. This was getting more bizarre by the minute. “Yeah, adorable. This is, uh, Brian. He’s helping me with some homework.”
“How lovely. Won’t you stay for dinner, love?” she asked Base. He looked at me warily, and I couldn’t help shrugging.
“Food poisoning,” I muttered under my breath.
Base grinned. “I’d love to,” he said, to my surprise.
“Was anyone here before I came home?” I asked her after she invited Base to sit down.
“Here? No, love. Why?”
“Just asking,” I murmured, moving to the window to peer outside. “Base, the car’s gone.”
He joined me, and we exchanged worried glances.
“Yeah, I definitely think he’s trying to scare you,” he said after a minute. “He’s probably too much of a wimp to actually do anything, but maybe be careful who you answer the door to late at night.”
“I come home from work late at night,” I reminded him.
“Would you like a drink, Brian?” my Stepford Wife of a mother asked, interrupting us.
He shook his head. “No, thanks.”
“We’re going into my room to do some homework,” I said.
“Leave the door open,” she said, smiling merrily. “Dinner’s ready in about thirty minutes.”
“You need any help with that?” I
asked her warily. I didn’t trust her cooking, although she seemed sober. Undeniably strange, but still sober.
“No, no. You run along and get some work done before we eat.”
I led Base into my bedroom, realising too late how great the potential for embarrassment would be. He gazed around the room, not at the mess, but at the dodgy teddy bears and silly trinkets that I had kept for years.
“This is girlier than I expected,” he said, grinning.
“Shut up. Get out some homework and pretend you’re helping.”
“You seemed a bit surprised back there.” He wandered around the room, picking up things. My nerves were shot to hell by the way he touched my stuff.
“That’s an understatement. I do the cooking around here, and I don’t know where the hell that apron popped out of.” I moved to the window, watching out for Sully’s vehicle. “Maybe it wasn’t his car before.”
“I checked the reg,” he said, dashing my hopes. “My question is why he’s still trying to mess with you when he has Aoife.”
“Payback,” I said. “Boys don’t like to be embarrassed.”
“No, we don’t,” he said drily, and my cheeks burned with heat.
“Base,” I began, but when he held my gaze, I couldn’t finish the sentence. “I, uh, have you tried talking to Aoife?” I said instead.
“I’ve called her a few times. Her Dad asked me to stop calling last night. He sounded more embarrassed than I felt. I mean, he knows me. And now…”
“Yeah,” I said. “If Aoife wasn’t so quiet, maybe more people would have noticed.”
“Everyone noticed you. Maybe that’s the point.”
I stared at him, fully aware of how much sense that made to me.
“Maybe she just likes him,” he said, swallowing hard. “Maybe she wants to spend all of her time with him.”
“Haven’t you heard the way he speaks to her?”
He stared at me, waiting, and I forgot what I was going to say. “Stop looking at me like that.”
He shook his head, obviously startled, but he grinned. “How am I looking at you?”
“In a way that makes me feel uncomfortable. Obviously.” But I was smiling now, too.
“Do you think you could talk to Aoife at school?” he asked, kicking me out of the mood I was in.
“I’ll try,” I promised. “But if she won’t listen to you…”
“I can’t get her alone though,” he said.
“So did she dump you? Or just ignore you until you got the idea?”
His eyes widened slightly. “We’re just friends. She’s like a little sister to me. That’s what worries me. She had never even talked about him before, except for maybe once saying how terrible it was that he had upset you. So it was bang out of the blue what happened. She woke up one day all obsessed with him or something. That’s bizarre, right? Even for a girl.”
I smacked his arm. “Even for a girl? No wonder she ditched you for Sully,” I teased.
“Harsh. What were you saying before? About the way he speaks to her? What did you mean?”
I thought about it before attempting to express what I meant. I pulled my knees close to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs as if to protect myself. “It’s like… he puts her down so that when he’s nice to her, she’s so grateful that she’ll put up with anything… just to get him to be nice again.”
His forehead creased, but he didn’t say a word, so I carried on.
“He snipes away at her all of the time, and she acts like he’s doing her a favour. But she’s fallen for it so quickly. That’s what I don’t get.”
He cocked his head to the side. “You see this before or something?”
I opened and closed my mouth. Mam saved the day by calling us for dinner, but I realised how close I was coming to revealing way too much of my life, and that wasn’t like me at all. I was giving out about Aoife changing abruptly, and yet there I was, doing the exact same thing. I got rid of Base as soon as I could under pretence of having to get ready for work. He offered to go with me, in case Sully was hanging around, but I refused because, in a way, I was more afraid of Base than Sully.
Stake You (Stake You #1) Page 12