“Wow,” I said.
“I can’t tell you how the thing between my mother and Forest started. I was a baby. My mother never told me the truth either. I can only assume it was something quick… or maybe not… because Deb is a crazy bitch too.”
“So you and Xavier are really close in age,” I said. “I mean, duh.”
“I’m a year older than everyone,” Gia said. “I had a lot of problems when I was really young. I didn’t advance like normal. That didn’t help much because soon after, everyone started calling me stupid.”
I lowered my head.
I knew that about Gia.
I knew she had a rough time in grade school. I didn’t know her personally but it was something that everyone grabbed at when they wanted to get to her. Calling her stupid. Making fun of her.
My heart ached.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy but I think I have memories of it,” Gia said.
“Memories of what?” I asked.
“My mother. Pregnant. Having a baby. I know, it’s… it’s probably not possible. But there were pictures.”
“You found those pictures?” I asked.
Gia nodded. “And I found a letter from Deb to my mother. She was a broken and depressed housewife who wanted a baby. Forest wanted a baby too. He wanted a son. Deb couldn’t have kids. There was some medical condition she had that prevented her from getting pregnant. That’s where it gets fucked up. Forest tried to buy Deb out of their marriage. He had found someone… fertile.”
“Well, he’s just an asshole then,” I said.
“My mother was fertile,” Gia said. She shook her head and her eyes welled up with tears. “My mother was completely devastated by my father leaving the way he did. She didn’t have time to get over it when Forest swooped in on her. I don’t have proof of anything, but from the pictures and the letter… this was all set up on purpose. I think Forest went after my mother, knowing she was heartbroken. He probably made her feel good or something and then… bam… she’s pregnant again. And it came with a paycheck.”
“They paid her to give up her son,” I whispered.
“That’s right. She had to sign documents or whatever. Nobody is ever allowed to talk about it. I think there were things signed for that too. Meaning if she ever says anything, she can get in trouble. I don’t know how it works, but it’s dirty. And they did it. And my mother went along with it.”
“Gia, I’m so sorry,” I said. “I can’t believe you had to live through that.”
“I was a baby,” she said. “What did I know? That’s what I said… I swear I can remember it all but probably can’t. I found the pictures when I was a kid. And my mother got so mad at me for it. But I refused to let it go. I was a little bit older… maybe twelve… I think… that’s when she told me what was going on. And that was only because I came home from school sick one day to find Forest in our house.”
“Were they… still…?”
“I don’t know,” Gia said. “I just remember seeing him and I remember him from the pictures. So I brought it up again. My mother was drunk that day. So whatever was going on between her and Forest, she drank and then she started talking. Telling me this crazy story about Xavier. I was never popular and never fit in with anyone, so it wasn’t like I had to deal with Xavier. But he was… he is… he’s my brother.”
“And your mother just doesn’t talk about it?” I asked.
“No.”
I rubbed my forehead. “And here I was so selfish, I thought you were going to tell Xavier.”
Gia laughed. “Thanks for trusting me.”
“Gia, come on,” I said. “Look at my life too. Maybe this is why we’re drawn to each other as best friends.”
“That’s warming,” she said. “Two fucked up people becoming friends.”
“At least it’s real,” I said.
Gia drank some more and then filled up the glass herself and took it outside.
I took a sip from the bottle left it on the counter and followed Gia out to the deck.
She was swaying left to right.
Almost like she was dancing.
“So what now?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Gia asked.
“We know each other’s secrets,” I said.
“Let me ask you something, Winter,” Gia said. “When it’s all done… what’s going to happen then?”
“With what?”
“Everything. You. Noah. Easton. Xavier. Talon. Me…”
“Gia, I really do consider you my best friend,” I said. “Okay? When I was near Evie and Darcy I was just as bad. I was a bad person. I didn’t lose that memory of myself. I know that’s who I was. And just hearing them talk in the hospital… they wanted to treat me like I was… I don’t know… broken… and to think that’s who I was. I almost died, Gia. I should have died. It was set up for me to die. Somehow I didn’t die though. Here I am. I’m sorry I sounded greedy about Xavier. What would you do?”
“The same,” Gia said. “I’m sorry I slipped away. I left you with the wrong impression. Just hearing you talk about him. What he and the others did. I started to wonder if maybe his father did the same to my mother. You know? What if Forest… or Deb… probably Deb. She’s the meanest. But I just wondered if they threatened my mother. Or if my mother was just that kind of person. Take the baby, give me the money, and it all goes away.”
There was nothing I would put past anyone in and around BFH.
Even what Gia was saying.
As shocking as it sounded.
She took a step and missed it, falling to her ass.
I jumped after her but she rolled down the deck steps to the sand.
“Gia!” I cried out as I hurried after her.
She rolled to her back and looked at me.
She started to laugh.
Then she started to cry.
I put my head to the sand.
“This is fine,” I said.
“You’re a good friend,” Gia said. “I’m a messed up girl.”
“No you’re not. You’re just honest with yourself. You’re not afraid to feel. I respect that.”
We looked at each other.
“You sure you’re not fucking Talon?” Gia asked.
“Positive,” I said. “No Trocs.”
“No Trocs,” Gia said and smiled.
“I don’t even want any Bumps either. This is bad.”
“I know the feeling,” Gia said.
“To answer your question from before, I don’t know what happens at the end of this. I have this vision of me getting them so scared or whatever and then confessing I know the truth. And then telling all three that I’m not going to say a word to anyone else. Then they know I own their asses. That they do whatever I say to do. Like I have the fucking power for once in my life.”
“Hell yeah,” Gia said. She sat up. “Winter… hell yeah…”
I slowly sat up. “I don’t know what will happen,” I said. “Sometimes I think about talking to the police. Just to see what they say. I haven’t heard anything about the accident yet. I’m surprised nobody found something wrong with the SUV. It just feels…”
“Wait a second,” Gia said. “Sorry… but just…”
“Are you going to throw up?” I asked.
“No,” Gia said. “I kind of feel sober right now. I’m kind of… yeah…”
“What is going on?”
Gia got to her feet and reached for my hand.
She pulled me up and started to charge down the beach.
I ran to catch up to her. “What are you doing?”
“Just watch.”
We raced toward Gia’s beach house.
“Stay here,” she said.
She disappeared under the steps of her deck.
When she emerged a minute or so later she was holding a can of paint.
“What’s that for?” I asked.
“We’re going to paint something. Okay?”
“Sure,” I said. “I
think. What are we painting?”
“Follow me,” Gia said. “Oh, and when we walk by your place, run inside and grab that bottle of vodka.”
I listened to Gia, which was risky because she was drunk.
At my mother’s beach house, I ran inside and grabbed the vodka bottle.
Then we hurried down the beach, bumping shoulders, sipping vodka, Gia giggling so much that I started to giggle too.
For no reason though.
The walk lasted all of ten minutes before she stopped and pointed to another beach house.
She took the bottle of vodka from me and handed me the can of paint.
“Pop that top and paint that deck,” Gia said.
“What?” I asked. “Why?”
Gia smiled. “I want to help too.”
“With the paint?” I asked.
“Xavier is my brother, Winter,” Gia said. “I know more than most do. Maybe it’s time I don’t keep my mouth shut anymore. You know? What they did to you… what Xavier’s parents did to my mother… I want in on this.”
“Gia…”
“Shhh,” she said. “Turn around and go paint that deck.”
“Why?”
Gia smiled with a devious smile.
She pushed at my shoulder.
“That’s one of Easton’s beach houses…”
It took me a few minutes to get the stupid lid off the paint can.
By then I was nervous, sweating, and just wanted to be out of there.
Gia was drunk and upset. She was going from being super happy to super sad and everywhere in between.
I didn’t want her to end up getting hurt in all of this…
“Do it!” Gia yelled.
I cringed.
Her screaming outside Easton’s beach house wasn’t going to help things.
The proof in that was when a light on the second floor turned on.
“Shit,” I said.
I got the lid off the can and froze up.
Easton was home. He was going to find me.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I whispered.
I backed away and then froze again.
The accident, Winter. What did they do to you? And then he had the balls to try and convince you that you two slept together…
I wanted to scream but couldn’t.
Finally, I jumped forward and grabbed the paint can.
I tipped it over and threw paint in every direction I could.
My heart raced so fast I was dizzy.
But as the thick, pink paint clung to the deck… to the siding… to the windows… I started to smile.
It was fun. Freeing.
It was going to be a mess for Easton.
I ran to the steps and threw the paint can somewhere on the beach.
I ran to Gia and locked arms with her as we ran off into the night together.
A part of me waited to hear Easton yell. Or see us and chase us down.
But the beach was super quiet.
There was no sound other than the sound of myself trying keep my breathing steady as I ran with Gia. Of course, for Gia this was merely a jog. Or walking fast.
At the deck steps to my mother’s beach house, we stopped.
I took a deep breath and shook my head.
Gia was breathing just fine. Like nothing happened.
“That was fun,” Gia said.
“For you.”
“Come on… that was fun for you too,” she said.
“Yeah. I guess.”
“Not quite as dangerous as blowing up a car, right?”
I let out a quick laugh and then looked to my left.
I swallowed hard.
Was that guilt trying to go through me?
“Hey, Gia,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“You think they’re happy?”
“Who?”
“Noah. Easton. Xavier. Do you think they’re happy?”
“Why does that matter?”
I shrugged my shoulders and looked at her. “I’m starting to see things… I mean, they can’t be happy. Their lives are shit.”
“So?”
I opened my mouth but knew what I was going to say was going to make me look bad.
Fuck.
“You should crash here,” I said to Gia.
“As long as I can have more to drink,” she said.
“Duh,” I said.
We ran up the steps together and went into the beach house. After a quick stop at the kitchen, we hurried up to my bedroom.
I crashed to my bed and was wide awake, yet still tired.
Gia sat up in the bed next to me, staring forward, drinking.
I kept a close eye on her, and when the time came, I swiped the bottle from her hand.
She looked down at me and frowned.
I shook my head. “We’re good, Gia. No need to get sick.”
“I am sick, Winter,” she said. “Right?”
“No. Not sick. And even if you are, you’re taking care of yourself. Tonight wasn’t a good night for you. What you had to talk about. I feel the same things you feel. Hate. Anger. Being let down. I don’t think there’s anything you can do to really stop those feelings. I think we need to just live through them. At least that’s what I’m feeling right now.”
Gia slumped down and put her head to a pillow.
“Does it make you feel good when you get back at them?” she whispered.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I guess a part of me does, but I don’t know. It’s dangerous. When I was in the hospital… then when I got out and I was just… it made sense to do.”
“You can stop,” Gia said. She turned her head. My eyes met hers. “You can stop. You can talk to someone. There’s ways…”
“Talon already said he’d rat me out,” I said. “Fucking Trocs.”
Gia frowned.
Her eyes slowly began to shut.
She was out a few seconds later.
I was still awake.
I knew I would be for a while.
That was okay.
I was on my back, staring at the ceiling.
I had only one thought.
What’s going to happen next?
Chapter 5
writing your name
Gia was like a rock star.
She popped up the next morning like nothing had happened the night before.
I was the one who was groggy.
I felt like I had a hangover, but it was just from the strange sleep schedule.
She ran downstairs for coffee.
I had to drag my ass down the steps.
My mother was in the kitchen. The sound of her voice made me cringe.
I wanted to blame her for everything happening, but I knew that was wrong.
Me wanting revenge and acting like a bitch was the only time she’d ever shown me love.
“There she is,” Gia said as I entered the kitchen.
“You look like hell,” my mother said.
“Good morning to you too,” I said.
“She was up late,” Gia said. “Painting.”
I looked at Gia and shook my head.
“Painting?” my mother asked. “What does… you know what? Never mind. I don’t want to know what that is. It has to be something with drugs, sex or whatever.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?” I asked.
“I’m not your caretaker, Winter,” my mother said. “Do you not know how time and age works? Those days are bye-bye.”
Those days you weren’t there for. Did you know the first time I got my period, I had to have one of the maids at the castle help me? I didn’t know what was happening or what to do. That poor woman was so calm and sweet to me as I freaked out, thinking I was going to die…
“Right,” I said. “We’re all adults here. I forgot.”
“Do good,” my mother said. “Or else you’ll end up in jail!”
She cackled and walked out of the kitchen.
“Where are you off to?” I asked.
“Yes,” Gia said.
“No!” I yelled. “Please. No.”
My mother kissed the air and disappeared for good.
Gia looked at me with a devilish grin.
“Don’t egg her on,” I said. “Or I’ll do the same with your mother.”
“Go ahead,” Gia said. “Let my mother talk to you for five minutes and you’ll be so red faced, you won’t know what to do.”
“What does that mean?”
“Do you really want to know what my mother is into?”
“You know what she’s into?”
“I found out by mistake,” Gia said. “I accidentally opened her overnight bag one time. Leather. Chains. Restraints…”
“Stop,” I said.
“See? Your face is turning red already.”
I hurried to the island where Gia sat. “What is this place, Gia? Our mothers act like that. They have these dirty secrets about men and money. You’re running to literally save your life. I’m thinking I can take on Noah, Easton, and Xavier and win. I have that stupid fucking Troc up my ass for money all the time. I should…”
I lowered my head.
“Should, what?” Gia asked.
I took a breath. “My father called and offered me to fly out to be with him. He said he talked to some doctors about my condition.”
“Your fake condition,” Gia said.
“I know. But maybe I can… I don’t know. I can say that on the flight I fell asleep and woke up and remembered everything.”
“Looks like you’ve got it figured out,” Gia said. She pushed from the counter. “Let me get out of your hair then, Winter. Last thing you need is my craziness holding you back.”
“Gia…”
She lunged for the door and went outside.
The coffee needed my attention. And my body needed the coffee.
I skipped the coffee and went after Gia.
I made it down two steps on the deck and then stopped.
She was down near the water, running.
I cupped my hand to my mouth. “I’m not chasing you!”
Gia stopped and spun around.
She planted her feet and stood in place.
She stayed there as I walked toward her.
Damaged Love (Bay Falls High NEXT Book 2) Page 4