As each new day passes, I become more certain that I was.
“I don’t know anymore,” I say finally, looking to the ground.
“How long were you seeing Parker before you got with Bree?” he asks. I see his jaw tighten and I’m quickly becoming aware that he keeps trying to bring this conversation back to Parker.
We turn into an alleyway I use frequently as a shortcut to get to my street. “I told you, that’s all really complicated. Parker and I were with each other way before we were intimate. Our connection went deeper than just being together. We’re soul mates, he and I.”
Tris frowns. “You don’t really believe that,” he says with a slight laugh.
I shoot him a dirty look. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I demand. I don’t like where this Parker conversation is going. Tris is suddenly on edge for some reason, and I don’t understand it at all.
“It means you have a reputation and Parker likes to fuck. Trust me, I know. That’s all he ever wanted from you, a chance with The Goddess.”
The words sting and feel like he’s slapped me across the face. Hard. I’m so shocked that I don’t even know what to say as a response. What the hell did I do between now and two minutes ago that would have made him want to be so hateful to me?
When I eventually gather my bearings, I take his jacket off and throw it in his face. “He would never! And you’re a dick!”
He catches the jacket and laughs. “And I mean, a girl with the amount of practice that you have, must be the ultimate fuck package, am I right?”
Why is he acting like this? I didn’t do anything to him to make him hate me, and yet it’s undeniably clear that he can’t stand me all of a sudden.
And that’s when it hits me.
Parker’s not just a friend to him, is he? They have a sexual history, and just because it meant nothing to Parker, doesn’t mean that it meant nothing to Tris.
“Yeah, that’s right,” I say, refusing to let him torment me like this. He wants to be a dick, well I can be a bitch right back. “I am the ultimate fuck package, aren’t I? And yet he tells me that he loves me. He kisses me. He didn’t just fuck me!”
I see the anger escaping passed his condescending smile as it distorts into a snarl and I freeze in place. He clenches his fists together and stares at me with empty eyes. Then, before I have a chance to react, he grabs me by either side of my shirt and slams my entire body up against the wall. Hard.
I gasp.
“Fuck you,” he hisses. “You’re a fucking liar. You’re The Goddess, you whore yourself for drugs, and he’s a drug dealer! Don’t try to tell me that he didn’t fuck you!”
“Sorry to disappoint your perverted need to know about our sex life,” I say, pushing him off of me angrily, “but the first time Parker and I ever had sex was last night, and it was more than a fuck. Way more than anything you’ve ever had with him, I promise you that.”
I shouldn’t have said it. I know the minute it comes out of my mouth that I shouldn’t have said it.
He tries his best to shrug off the accusation, but it’s obvious that I’ve hit a nerve. He snarls at me. “I’m not a fag! I don’t give a fuck what kind of sex you have with him!”
“I don’t believe you,” I say before I have a chance to contain my words. Why am I still talking? Why do I insist on taunting him so? I know better, and yet I can’t seem to shut up. “That’s why you’re here asking me twenty questions about my relationship with him. You’re jealous that he chose me.”
I’m feeling pretty proud of myself for figuring him out, and I relish in it for a moment. But before I have a chance to think or say anything more, he whips my face with the back of his hand so hard that my jaw cracks, and I lose my balance, nearly falling to the ground.
I groan in pain, bringing my hand to my face. My jaw is throbbing and it feels like I can’t open it. He pushes me up against the wall once again, but this time he’s pressing his body to mine so firmly that I can’t push him off. I panic. He’s too strong for me to push him off! My heart begins to race. This is bad, this is very bad!
He presses his face to mine, our foreheads touching; his mouth is so close to mine that I cringe in disgust. I have no doubt in my mind that he’s going to hurt me.
“You’re nothing but a dirty slut!” he growls with so much rage in his voice that I begin to cry instinctively. He’s decided he’s going to hurt me and he’s going to take pleasure in it. I feel the need to vomit.
I franticly try to fight him off, but he’s too strong and I can’t get his body to budge. Noticing my struggle, he takes my wrists with both of his hands and presses them against the rough brick wall over my head, pushing them so hard into the wall that I can feel it scraping my skin off when I struggle to free them.
I’m in a state of panic now. I’ve fucked up. I should have never trusted him. I should have never angered him. I should have listened to everyone at The Loft. I shouldn’t have run away from Spencer!
I realize that my legs are able to move slightly, and so I kick in every way imaginable trying to get his body off of mine. I scream the deepest, most bloodcurdling scream I can bring up from my lungs, which are currently being suffocated by the weight of his chest on mine. But the instant the scream escapes my mouth, he jams his lips onto mine so hard that my teeth bust through my top lip and the taste of metal fills my mouth.
My stomach is churning and I know that I will be sick at any moment. I can’t stop this assault from happening. It’s happening, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m terrified.
Grasping at straws, I take his bottom lip between my teeth and before he has a chance to realize what’s going on, I chomp down on his lip so hard that he pushes away from my body, finally freeing me.
He brings his hands to his mouth, which is now gushing a crazy amount of blood. He looks to me with so much rage in his eyes that all I can do is stare and tremble. He’s going to hit me again and I can’t fucking move! Why can’t I move?
Move! I scream at myself, but it does no good. He punches me in the left side of my face, knocking me to the ground and, in turn, knocking the air out of my lungs.
“You stupid bitch!” he growls, still trying to stop the blood from gushing from his broken lip. “Fucking, fucking bitch!”
My head is spinning and I can’t get up off of the ground, something about the punch makes my body unable to function. I roll over on my side and vomit the entire contents of my stomach.
He’s going to keep hurting me. I know this, but there isn’t an ounce of fight left in me at this point.
I watch in slow motion as he comes at me, his foot kicking me directly under the ribcage, and launching me away from where I’m lying. I cry out in agony or at least I think I do. Everything is a blur now.
The entire world fades around me. I look up at the night sky, and then look at the walls of the buildings that are towering over me. We are in a secluded alley, no one is passing by, and no one lives close by. There’s no reason for me to scream, and I know it.
The panic in me dissipates, and my breathing begins to steady itself through the pains in my ribs. I close my eyes and bring myself to a place where I can’t feel any pain, where I’m happy and safe, where I’m loved. A place where Parker is.
Everything around me seems to fade into a gush of memories…
“You blue eyes, are my New Misfit friend.”
“My name’s Parker.”
“I’m Skylar.”
~
“I never asked for you to take care of me.”
“All I want to do is take care of you.”
~
“If I asked you into a private room with me tonight, would you?”
“If we do this, would you be mad at me if I asked you to not have sex with me while we are high? I want our first time to be completely drug-free and not here at The Misfit Mansion…”
“You know I would never make you do anything you didn’t want to do. Ever.”
~
/> “Is she your girlfriend now?”
“Yes.”
~
“She doesn’t have a clue what she wants… But I do. I want you! I love you!”
~
“If I end this with her there’s no staying friends. I will lose everything.”
“You won’t lose me.”
~
“Hey you...”
“Hey you.”
~
“How do you tell someone who’s petrified of everything you are, that you think she’s your only reason for living?”
~
“Did you love her?”
“Not like I love you.”
I’m torn out of my reverie the instant I actually hear his voice. It’s far away, but I know I’m not imagining it, not this time. He’s here!
“Tris!” he screams at my attacker, running toward us, panic and shock consuming his entire being.
Tris moves away from me, and the instant that he does, I instinctively roll onto my side and curl up into a tiny ball. I begin to whimper like a wounded animal, but I’m barely able to get any sound out at all.
I see Parker approach Tris, he’s not wearing a shirt and I can’t help but wonder why. Was he fighting tonight? He didn’t say he was supposed to. It doesn’t even matter, but my thoughts are confused and all over the place, and it’s the only solid thought that I can pull together at the moment.
He slams Tris against the wall across from where I’m lying, and punches him so hard that Tris’ head smashes the wall and he tumbles to the ground in agony. I want to smile, but I hurt too much, so I just keep lying there watching Tris moan in pain.
Parker runs over to me and falls to his knees as soon as he reaches my body. He takes me into his arms. I want to cry out in pain, but I can’t make sounds come out. I look up at him and tears well up in his eyes. “This is my fault,” he says with a tremble in his voice. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
I slowly bring my hand up to his face, wiping the tears from his eyes. “I knew you’d come,” I say and he instantly crumbles into silent sobs, holding me to his body as he agonizes over what’s just happened to me.
“It hurts,” I manage to say and he abruptly stops hugging me, carefully moving my body away from his in order to inspect it.
He wipes the tears from his eyes, steadies his breath, and then pushes my mid-drift shirt up slightly to reveal my ribcage. The bruises from where Tris kicked me must already be visible because his eyes narrow angrily. He lets out a shaky breath and then franticly searches the rest of my body for other marks. He’s devastated to find so much more. He gently runs his hands up my left thigh till he reaches the elastic of my underwear. I see a small amount of relief show behind his shadowed eyes the minute his fingers discover that those underwear are still where they should be.
“Wait here, I’ll be right back. I promise,” he whispers to me, setting me gently back down on the ground. He then very calmly gets up and walks over to Tris once again, who’s still rolling around in pain.
“I’m going to kill you,” Parker says with an eerie calmness to his voice. A chill runs down my spine. He grabs Tris’ by the shirt and yanks him up from the ground. “Stand the fuck up. I’m not done, not even close.”
He punches him again. Tris’ body stumbles, but he catches himself and manages to stay standing. Parker punches again, and then again, and finally after the third punch, Tris collapses to the ground. “How does it feel?” Parker asks, somehow still keeping calm. I don’t understand the calmness, and it worries me. I’ve never seen him like this before.
Tris gasps for breath. His face is a swollen mess and already barely unrecognizable. Parker packs an unbelievable punch.
He takes a step toward Tris. “What about this?” he says, still eerily calm, kicking him in the ribs like Tris had done with me. This time Tris screams out in agony. A very similar sound to what I had made. “Doesn’t feel too good, does it?”
“No,” Tris whimpers, “please stop.”
Parker hesitates, he looks down into Tris’ pleading eyes instead. “Why?” he demands. “Is this because I pushed you away today? Because I fucking rejected you?”
When Tris doesn’t reply Parker kicks him again, this time right in the stomach. “You know where I was tonight, asshole?” He asks with a growl, finally unable to keep his cool. “I was fighting for Dimitri to save your ass! To protect you, you piece of shit!” He kicks him again. “And this is the thanks I get?”
Dimitri. Parker’s never said the name before, but I assume it must be their boss, the one who owns Parker for life and forces him to fight at the mansion.
Tris inhales, gasps, and then coughs up some blood. He looks up at Parker. “I just wanted… show you…she’s a whore.”
Parker shakes his head in what appears to be disappointment and then instead of kicking Tris another time, he spits in his face. “We’re done,” he says with no amount of remorse. “Dimitri can do whatever the fuck he wants to do to you. I’m done protecting you. The next time I see you, I hope it’s in a body bag.”
He makes his way over to me once again and very gently lifts me up into his arms. As he is walking to his car he looks down at me with pain in his eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it here sooner,” he tells me with so much pain in his voice that I want to cry at the sound of it.
I close my eyes. “I know.”
Bree
We leave the loft shortly after finishing our meals, not really wanting to continue on with the evening after everything that happened earlier. I keep looking at my phone as if I’m expecting to hear from Skylar. I want to know if she’s ok. I need to know. I’m so worked up and worried that my stomach is actually aching, churning with anxiety.
“Colton’s going to walk me home, ok?” Ellie asks Evan, breaking into my thoughts.
Evan seems distracted by something else and doesn’t fight it. He nods to Ellie, then climbs into the driver’s seat of their mother’s car. Spencer grabs my wrist and turns me around to face him. “I’m going to Skylar’s to see if she got home ok. I keep texting her and she’s not responding.”
My heart jumps into my throat. I want to go too.
“Ok,” I say with a small nod. “Will you text me and tell me how she is?”
“Of course,” Spencer replies, leaning in and kissing me softly on the cheek. I force a sad smile before climbing into the passenger seat of Evan’s car.
She’s my friend, and she’s been my friend for a very long time. I’m worried about her. I don’t think I should feel ashamed of that, but I do.
We drive to my place in silence, neither of us wanting to say what it is that’s bothering us because the minute that it’s out in the open, everything between us will change.
But I want to go see her. I need to go see her.
Once he pulls into the driveway, I turn to look at him. “I’m going to go to Skylar’s. I need to know if she’s ok, and I don’t want to be dishonest with you about it.”
He closes his eyes, seeming to have already known this was coming. I know he doesn’t want this, I know it makes him nervous, but I don’t want to let my friendship with her go. I care about her too much.
We sit there in silence for a long time and I eventually decide that he isn’t going to reply. I turn to leave, but just as I put my hand on the door handle, he whispers to me without turning his head in my direction. “Do you want me to bring you?”
I know how hard it must have been for him to ask that. He’s trying so much to be supportive. “Ok,” I reply just as quietly.
He doesn’t know where Skylar lives so he follows my directions until we are at her apartment building a few minutes later. I see what I think to be Parker’s car parked in Cecelia’s parking spot and, oddly enough, let out a small sigh of relief. I hope this means that he found her.
I jump out of the car and slam the door behind me.
When I reach the top floor of Skylar’s building, I rush over to her door and, without knocking, walk inside.
“Sky?” I call out as I ease the door shut behind me. I look around the kitchen and notice a first aid kit opened up on the table. Right next to it is a large Ziplock freezer bag filled with vials and packets of powders, liquids, and pills; all of which are not legal, I’m sure. A syringe and tourniquet lay on the table beside the bag. My heart sinks into the pit of my stomach.
Parker emerges from Skylar’s room, shirtless and with his jeans hanging low off of his hips. At first I’m startled by his appearance, and I think that I’ve walking into something private between the two of them. But the minute I see his blotchy face and bloodshot eyes, I know that isn’t the case. He’s been crying. When he sees that I’m standing in the kitchen before him, he wipes his eyes and turns his gaze away from mine.
I stare at him, not knowing what to say. What did Tris do?
“Is she ok?” I finally manage, cautiously moving toward her room.
“She’s sleeping. I gave her morphine,” he says, picking up everything lying on the table except for the syringe, tourniquet, and the bottle of morphine. “You didn’t see this,” he tells me, shoving the freezer bag into a backpack and tossing it in the corner of the room.
I nod absentmindedly, continuing toward her door. Once I reach it, Parker grabs my wrist and stops me abruptly. “It’s bad. Just… prepare yourself.”
I yank my hand away, feeling even more panicked than I did a moment before. I stumble to the bed, my head feeling dizzy, and my mind full of guilt. I should have stopped her from leaving with him. I should have been there to keep her safe!
I look down at her in the bed and I see her face, cut in three different places, her eyebrow, the side of her lip, and her chin. Her left cheek is swollen and a dark shade of blue. Her arms are covered in bruises, her wrists have a distinct bruising around them telling me that he held her hands down on something very rough because the tops of them are all scratched and bloody.
Keep From Falling (Markson Grove Series Book 1) Page 35