I stripped out of the dress as fast as I could and left it on the floor in a heap of expensive cloth.
My bra fell to the floor too.
I ran to the bathroom then shut and locked the door.
I needed a shower.
To wash it all away.
But if there was one thing I knew about myself…
I could never forget.
Chapter 16
paid to leave
With the help of Gia and my mother, I had a fourth dress in my hands by the next night. All I did was give them an idea of what I wanted and I trusted them to figure out the rest. My mind kept going back to Noah. Whatever that was between us, it was… I don’t know.
Then again, the same could be said for Easton and Xavier.
The way Easton kissed…
The way Xavier looked at me and was so protective…
It didn’t make sense.
Which meant they were messing with me as much as I was messing with them.
Only I had the upper hand because they didn’t know my memory was completely intact.
So nothing else mattered but that.
I actually had a bit of a productive day, and the day didn’t revolve around Noah, Easton, and Xavier.
It kind of went by fast too.
I hung out with Gia, went for a run with her. It was my best run yet.
Which was still a terrible run for her.
When I was done running, she kept going and I went home to shower.
I actually took time to do some work for BFH just because I knew that ultimately once this thing with Noah, Easton, and Xavier was done, I would need to get out of BFH and move on with my life.
What that actually looked like I had no idea, but when the time came, I would figure it out.
After I finished the BFH work, I crashed for a long nap.
I blamed thinking so much for the nap.
At the same time, when I felt tired, I just said screw it and went to sleep.
Why not, right?
I woke up and it was almost midnight.
That meant I was in store for a long night.
I checked my phone and everything was quiet.
Almost too quiet.
I sent Gia a quick text telling her I fell asleep and text me back if she was awake and wanted to hang out.
When no response came through, I wandered through the beach house just for the heck of it.
My mother was actually home for a change.
That explained why things felt so weird.
I laughed to myself and went back to my bedroom.
When I shut the door, I saw the dress hanging on the back of the door.
I had already seen it.
It was perfect.
A dark purple color, looking black in dim light. Shining hauntingly purple in bright light.
In a funny way, it reminded me of a witch’s dress.
That’s what I wanted to be then.
A witch.
I wanted to cast a spell on Noah, Easton, and Xavier’s hearts. And heads. And bodies.
I wanted to watch them cry, grovel, beg for me to stop hurting them.
Just so I could smile and know that everything that had happened was kind of worth it.
In a really bad, scary, sick and twisted way… it was all worth it.
I grabbed the dress off the hook and stripped down to nothing but my panties.
I slowly put the dress on and bit my lip as I wrestled with the zipper in the back.
I managed to get it zipped up a little. Then I reached behind me, over my shoulder. I wasn’t sure how I did it, but I got hold of the zipper and pulled it up.
“Ha!” I cried out.
I managed to get the dress on all by myself. Zipper and all.
The dress was perfect too.
I felt comfortable in it. I felt pretty in it.
It didn’t show off too much of anything, yet I still felt good in it.
The shoulder straps weren’t too thin or thick.
The top didn’t pull down and hang off my chest. The hip area wasn’t too tight.
Everything was perfect.
Because it was the dress I wanted.
I smiled as I stared at myself in the mirror.
I pictured Noah, Easton, and Xavier all debating on which dress I was going to wear. They were hoping for some kind of answer based on the dress. Like I was going to choose one of them.
This idea was better.
Much better.
It was absolutely fucking perfect.
I was so excited that I did a twirl.
I stopped halfway so I didn’t end up dizzy.
I let out a scream.
I didn’t realize Talon was in my bedroom.
He let out a long whistle, which made my cheeks turn bright red.
I stood in place, knowing there was nothing I could do about it now.
He had caught me twirling in a dress.
Oh well, right?
“You put that on for me?” Talon asked.
“Again… you can’t call or text?” I asked.
“I like the element of surprise, darling,” he said.
“Well, you’re going to be surprised one day when you break into my house and I call the cops.”
“Break in?” Talon asked. He laughed. “The window is unlocked and open.”
“I didn’t invite you in.”
“Oh, you know you did,” he said. “Stop playing games, Winter.” He pointed to the dress. “What’s that all about?”
“My plan,” I said. “I have my own plan in place too, Talon.”
“Good for you,” he said. “I mean… you look amazing.”
“I do?” I asked.
I touched my hips.
“Yeah, you do,” he said. “It fits you perfectly. You’re wearing that around those assholes?”
“I am. I going to a thing with them.”
“One girl, three guys,” Talon said. “That’s a hell of a date. How does that work?”
“I don’t know.”
“So if you’re wearing a dress, and it’s some fancy Bump party, what about the music?”
“What music?”
Talon laughed again. “Fuck, Winter, are you sure you didn’t hit your head for real? And forget shit? You Bumps love your music. Any time you have a party, big or small, there’s always music playing. So when it comes to dancing… who are you going to dance with?”
“That’s your worry?” I asked.
“What about the slow songs,” Talon said. He moved closer to me. “There’s three of them. One of you. Eyes all over the four of you. It can get touchy real fast, Winter.”
I swallowed hard. “That’s not my problem. They invited me.”
“But who would you choose?” Talon asked.
His hands touched my hips.
He started to sway like he wanted to slow dance with me.
I almost caught myself putting may hands to his shoulders.
Instead, I smacked his hands away and backed off.
“That just proves my point,” I said.
“What point?” he asked.
“The dress works,” I said. “I have you ready to dance with me to no music. You’re thinking about taking the dress off me. Right?”
Talon smiled. He put his hand out. “Time to pay up, darling. So we can talk.”
“You can never just come here as a friend, can you?”
“No,” he said. “We aren’t friends, Winter. We never will be either.”
“You know, I can’t wait until I pay you for the last time. Or they find out you were part of this and beat the living shit out of you.”
Talon touched his chest. “Love you too.”
Talon stuffed his money into his back pocket.
He walked to my dresser and leaned against it.
“So you’re going to drive them wild with that dress, huh?” Talon asked. “You’re going to break their hearts too. What about your heart?”
“I don�
��t have a heart,” I said.
“Yes you do. I’ve felt your heart racing before, remember?”
My cheeks blushed for a few seconds. “Well done, Talon. You basically dry humped a Bump. Good for you.”
He smiled. “That’s a lot more than most Trocs ever get from a Bump.”
“You came here to talk about that?”
“No,” he said. “Just wanted to throw some more info at you.”
“I’m listening,” I said.
I sat on the edge of my bed, still wearing the dress.
“They’re all shady investors, darling,” Talon said. “No money made is really green. It’s black. Or red. It’s dirty as anything. They just have the power to keep it clean. You know?”
“No. I don’t know.”
Talon studied me. He pushed from the dresser and approached me. “Look, this all comes down to how far you want to go. You want to take down Noah, Easton, and Xavier? That’s fine. But you can take down their families too. It may not ruin their families, but knocking them down a few inches is better than nothing.”
“How would I do that?” I asked.
Talon shook his head. He touched under my chin and made me look up at him. “You just look into where they’re getting their money and deals from. Watch who they talk to. Why do you think there’s this event that you’re going to? It’s all for show. It’s all to look a certain way.” Talon moved back. “Now, we know some secrets on these guys. We’ve attacked them. They’re obviously horny for you. So this is all coming together, Winter.”
“Why are you talking about their parents then?” I asked.
“Like I said, it depends on how far you want to go,” he said. “Take them all down or just a few. Whatever you want. After all, you’re paying me.” He winked. “Now, how do I know what I know? That doesn’t matter. What I can say is this… two years ago there was a big deal made down in the Troc area. An investor was going to build up some housing. Some shopping. Entertainment. It was a big deal. It was a chance for the Trocs to maybe have a chance to live like a Bump. It never happened. The deal, the land, all of it was a front for something else. There were a lot of companies involved, just to cover up the trail. At the end of the trail, there were two names. I’ll save you the game of guessing… Easton’s old man. Noah’s old man.”
“Meaning, what?” I asked. “They bought land to just mess with the Trocs?”
“Think bigger, darling,” Talon said. “They did that to move money around. Dirty. Dirty. Dirty. Now I can keep going. I can keep digging and putting this together. I can also blow up some more vehicles. Smash some windows. I can do anything, Winter. See how lucky you are to have me?”
With that, Talon started to move toward the window.
I jumped up and went after him.
I grabbed his hand. “Where are you going?”
“Leaving.”
“Why?”
“I came to tell you that.”
“What… keep talking?”
“That’ll cost more,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“Hey, it’s how you Bumps make money. Brains are worth more than muscle.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, blowing shit up is one price. Info on how dirty those families are… that’s a different price.”
“Talon…”
He waved a finger at me. “We’re not friends, Winter. No favors. Well… unless you feel like stripping out of that dress in front of me. Let me see what’s hiding under there. You do that and I’ll tell you about a few more people involved in that shady deal.”
I didn’t consider it for a second.
Instead, I turned around.
“Unzip me,” I said.
Talon pulled the zipper down.
Chills fluttered through me.
I walked forward and looked over my shoulder. “You can leave now.”
“Yeah?” Talon asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “You got paid. Leave.”
Talon reached into his pocket and took out the money. “How much for me to stay?”
I snorted. “I’m a Bump. I have more money than you’ll ever see in your lifetime. In other words, you couldn’t afford me if you tried.”
Talon’s lip curled.
He took the money and climbed through the window to leave.
He could have used the steps and the deck. But he always chose the window.
Because he was a Troc.
He was the dirty and shady one.
I was the beautiful one.
I stood at my dresser and looked at myself in the mirror.
I told myself whatever Talon had to say, or whatever he knew, didn’t matter.
But I knew that was a lie.
It was going to drive me crazy.
Just the same as Noah, Easton, and Xavier were.
“Let’s go for a run!”
I jumped up and off the second step of the deck.
Gia looked up at me. “What?”
“I’ll race you.”
“Winter…”
“Come on,” I said. “A drunk run! It’ll be fun!”
I started to jog and felt the world swaying around me.
I had no idea what had gotten into me.
Except… you know, drinking…
I looked back and Gia was standing.
“I’m not following you!” she called out.
I waved my middle fingers at her and kept jogging.
I thought I was going to stop after a minute or so, but I didn’t.
My feet kept moving so I kept jogging.
And Gia didn’t try to catch up either.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was approaching Easton’s beach house.
Maybe that’s what I had wanted to do all along.
To go see him.
Or maybe not.
As I got closer to the house, I realized he was standing out on the deck.
I saw the glow of his cigarette.
He wasn’t alone either.
There were two other figures with him.
Noah. Xavier.
I quickly dug my heels into the sand and stopped myself.
I knew they could see me.
Because I could see them.
I didn’t say a word.
They didn’t say a word.
Yet we were all staring at each other.
I started to take a step when I heard voices.
They weren’t coming from in front of or behind me.
They were coming from the deck. From Easton’s beach house.
The sliding door opened and then shut.
Who emerged?
Three girls.
I couldn’t see who they were, but their bouncy voices instantly pissed me off.
They hurried up to the guys and were all over them.
Some girl threw her arms around Noah’s neck. He turned his head and she kissed his cheek.
Another girl turned and leaned into Easton.
He looked at her, smiled and smoked his cigarette.
The third girl wrapped her arms around Xavier’s body but he didn’t look back at her.
He kept looking at me.
This was all part of their game.
Or maybe this was me catching them in the truth.
The truth that they wanted nothing to do with me. That they were faking it near me just to keep me close, to make sure I still had no memory of the accident.
I wasn’t going to stand there and watch this bullshit happen.
In a way, it just confirmed that my decision to tease and hold back was smart.
They wanted to go fuck other girls, that was their thing to do.
We weren’t together.
Everything was a complete lie.
So be it.
I turned and started to run.
I was kind of drunk. The sand was uneven. It was hard to run.
My feet and legs hurt.
I just kept running though.
All the way back to my mo
ther’s beach house.
Gia was still sitting on the steps.
Smiling at me.
I wasn’t smiling though.
I felt like crying.
Which I didn’t like at all.
What the hell was I going to cry about?
Because Noah, Easton, and Xavier had other girls in their lives?
Why did it matter?
It was so stupid.
None of this was real to begin with…
“How was your run?” Gia asked.
“You couldn’t catch me, huh?” I asked.
She laughed. “Yeah, okay. You can think that all you want. Hey, are you okay? You look upset.”
“Just a little… I don’t know. I shouldn’t have went for a run while drunk.”
“Dizzy and sick?”
“A little,” I said.
I slowly plopped down to the sand and let out a sigh.
“You’re nervous, aren’t you?” Gia asked.
“About?”
“You’re taking off tomorrow,” she said. “For the ball…”
“I know,” I said. “No big deal.”
“Yes, it is a big deal. A really big deal.”
“It’s really not, Gia. Seriously. They’re not who I think they are. I’m not who they think I am. It’ll all come crashing down eventually. That’s how this is supposed to go. I’m going to get hurt. But as long as they get hurt too, I’m good with it.”
“That’s kind of dark, Winter.”
“No… it’s something I’ve been avoiding for a while now.”
“Which is what?”
“The truth.”
Chapter 17
desires in a bag
There were a lot of things I should and shouldn’t have been doing.
The list could go on and on for each side.
I put myself in that position, and I was able to sleep comfortably knowing that.
The real reason I tossed and turned all night was what I had seen.
Noah, Easton, and Xavier with those other girls.
What did I actually think was going to happen? That they were going to be honest and good guys? It was getting old to have to keep mentally slapping myself as a reminder of what they had done to me.
I tried to take comfort that they had shown their true colors at a perfect time. Let them have their beach house party. Let them have fun. Let them have their other girls. Let them do whatever they wanted.
Damaged Love (Bay Falls High NEXT Book 2) Page 14