And then she was gone like the wind.
Strange.
But that word doesn’t cover what was happening at school this week.
For one, both Emmett and Ace haven’t showed up to school in a few days now. It’s Wednesday and Noah is growing restless but he is always mum about what’s happening with the boys.
“Noah, where are they?” I question, pointing my fork at him during lunch.
Noah has been different this week. He’s been quiet, doesn’t say much but he is also angry and just a bit volatile. Like earlier today when we were walking to Calc class, a kid bumped into him and Noah ripped the poor kid a new one. I felt sorry for the boy when Noah let out most of his anger on him, I actually had to pull him away, dragging him to class with me and as for the kid, well, let’s just say no one annoys one of the Blue Boys and gets away with it.
I heard that some juniors are bullying him, as well as the rest of the school. Does Noah give a fuck? No.
But Noah is broody as fuck today. I even feel like maybe he doesn’t want to be around me but every morning at seven on the dot, his car is parked front and center in my driveway, waiting to take me to school.
“Fuck, if you weren’t spoken for, I would fuck you right now in this car.” He had said on Monday when he saw me, whistling as he scans my face with my new hair-do.
To my surprise, I actually blushed.
“Look at that blush.” He says with a whistle. “I can just imagine where the fuck it ends.” His voice deepens as he looks down at my heaving chest.
“Noah!” I snap my fingers.
“I mean, we could get it on in the backseat. I know, you deserve silk sheets and all that bullshit but the backseat is the best I can do to eat you out. . .”
I punch his thick, muscular bicep and he begins laughing, but I’m not sure if that’s lust in his throaty laugh. . .
“Fuck, the way you blush can mess any red blooded male up. Alex got a good one.”
“Oh shut it. Take me to school.” I groan, clinking in my seatbelt as he starts the car.
“Okay, okay. But hot damn. . .” He whistles again and I look away to avoid him seeing my face.
I hope I see Ace at school. I want to know what he sees when he notices me.
“Fuck, somebody is going to wish they were here. Now I have to step up and flex my muscle at school because hot damn, Baby Blue, seeing you walking down the halls is going to be a sight for sore eyes.” He glances at me, whistles again and then turns away.
I look at him but before I can question what he means by that, we were already flying down the road towards the drive through to pick up coffee.
“I’m still fucking mad at you, though.” I whisper as we get to school. He glances at me again for a brief second, his hooded gaze low and dark, begging me to understand something.
“I know, Baby Blue. I know.”
And now, it’s Wednesday. We are in the cafeteria and that melancholy feeling, that sense that something bad is about to happen, is so hard to ignore, especially with Ace and Emmett not here.
“You’re looking at me like I know, Baby Blue.” He starts, looking over at Kim as he does but she ignores him, drinking her water instead. I guess they are also on rocky waters too.
“Truth is, I have no idea where those two disappear to. Because believe it or not, they actually do go away sometimes.”
“Together?” My eyebrow is raised. I’m worried as fuck. The pounding of my heart each day when I feel the absence of Ace, threatens to drown me at times. I tried peeking through his yard at home but I didn’t see his car.
I think I should track Emmett down. Could they be at the Brooke House?
“No, not together. I don’t think they would dare be in the same room together right now without killing each other.” Noah huffs, looking like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“So, where do they disappear off to?” I question, but Noah avoids my gaze, looking away and I know he is about to lie to me.
“I don’t know.”
“Noah. . .”
“I can’t tell you that, Raea. I can’t share secrets that are not mine, but that being said, I think I’m the least knowledgeable about their whereabouts. They both keep stuff to themselves.” He says the last part while looking at Kim, his voice hard.
“We all have our secrets, don’t we?” Kim says, staring right back at him.
I look between them as Noah stands up, presses a kiss to my temple then he leaves the cafeteria, obviously plagued and haunted by something that I think Kim is also struggling with.
But before I can question Kim about what’s going on between them, I feel it again. The same strange, odd feeling of being watched by someone. I turn around discreetly and notice that almost everyone is looking our way, or more specifically, they are looking at me.
This time around, it’s not the same look they gave me my first week of school. It’s not the curious ‘who is this new heifer look.’ This one is icy, angry and accusatory and I know immediately that there is gossip going on about me.
When I tried to ask Kim about it on Monday, she shrugged it off. Kim never shrugs anything off, especially juicy gossip. Instead, she faces it dead on. So whatever it is, it’s bad.
“Kim, you have to fucking tell me the truth right now.” I start, turning around to look at her dead in her gorgeous eyes. I watch as she looks around and over my shoulder, trying to avoid my gaze.
Oh God, it is bad.
Heartbeat.
Heartbeat.
Heartbeat.
“Why the fuck are they looking at me like that?” I question her, my heart beating so damn slowly. The rug is about to be pulled from under me and I’m going to fall so damn hard.
How many times can one fall?
I look at Kim who opens her mouth and closes it like a gasping fish but my answer comes from the most unlikely source.
“Oh, it’s just that we have never seen a whore like you up close before.”
Her nasal voice grates at my ears but there is a note of not just mischief in her voice, there is a certain knowledge there too.
I look up and there she stands, in all her bitchy vibes, bitchy attitude and malice all over her Prada, Gucci, bought and fake features.
“You know Brittney, your idiosyncratic behavior knows no bounds. You are in a running all on your own.” I speak, before Kim can say anything.
I’m just about done with this girl. As I look at her, she actually smiles a genuine, ‘I know your secrets and I’m going to fuck you up’, kind of smile.
A shiver races up and down my spine as our gazes clash and hold.
What does she know?
“Oh no, Astraea dear. I’m not the one who sleeps around with two boys at the same time. I mean, I knew you were a slut all along but now, it’s all over the school.” She shrugs.
“Go away Brittney, you reek of desperation.” Kim’s voice is hard, angry as she stares up at Brittney, but today, Brittney’s game is strong and on point.
“Desperation is you in the mirror dear. Tell me again, how is your mother?” Brittney questions, with a giggle, looking at Kim as if she knows something about her.
“What did you just say?” Kim’s entire body stills as tension takes over her body, even I can feel it from where I’m seated.
“Oh, I was just asking about your cum pot of a mother. How is she? Still high and strung up, sleeping around with anything that will feed a gold digger like you?” Brittney starts laughing then.
The entire cafeteria is dead silent and they all gasp, making Brittney’s smile widen. She has the limelight on her and she’s going to enjoy the hell out of it today.
“I guess that’s why you two are perfect friends. I mean, one of you is the Blue Boys’ bicycle, hell maybe a Westbrook Blues communal bicycle.” She smiles as she looks at me. “You also got that from your Mama, I assume.”
Oh God, tell me this is not happening right now. To my face.
I think a gasp lea
ves me as my jaw drops to the floor. Does this bitch know about what happened on Friday night after the game? As I watch her, I don’t have to question that for long because she starts making gagging sound effects of someone vomiting.
She does know.
Something in me just. . .dies.
“Couldn’t stomach reality, huh, Astraea.” She mocks and I just hopelessly look at her, hoping that the earth might open up and snatch her up, swallow her and keep her there. The world will be a much better place without the likes of her.
“Walk away.” I grit out, watching her. I swear to God, if she says anything else., I’m going to light her ass up.
I can feel that we are the entertainment for the day, with everyone’s greedy gaze on us. Brittney knows how to choose her audience well after all. She knows how to reel you in, like spiking your drink at a party. . .
“You know what I’m wondering now. If your slut of a mother slept with both Syrus Easton and Philip King, for money, that means you have the same genes in you. I mean, an apple doesn’t fall far from the whorish tree. . .”
As she speaks, something in me, starts shifting and morphing. Something in the recesses of my dark, twisted mind starts shifting as I stare up at her malicious smile. My spine becomes like steel as my shoulders straighten. My neck stretches and I know, something is growing in me and I’m not sure if I’ll like it but I know its chaos. And it tastes a lot like red hot, branding anger.
I watch as Brittney starts tapping her chin with her perfectly manicured fingertip, as if she is thinking hard about something, completely unaware of the hate that’s growing in me or the violent urgency to destroy her that I can barely contain.
As she starts to speak, her voice grows louder, knowing damn well that the entire cafeteria is dead silent, watching the spectacle at the back of the cafeteria. Even the damn kitchen is silent today.
“No wait, you obviously proved to the rest of us that you are an identical copy of your mother on Friday. Almost forgot that one. I guess incest is not your concern.”
Incest. . .
I stand up so quickly that I knock my knee on the table but I hardly feel the blistering pain.
“Aaw, what are you going to do now, Astraea?” She mocks, looking down at my fisted palms that are gripping and scratching the edge of the table. She leans in then, as if she is about to whisper a secret but her voice gets even louder.
“You don’t want to show everyone that you are, in fact, crazy.” She shouts. I can hear snickers in the background as people begin whispering. “I think you need to get back to that mental institution for the unstable that your slut of a mother stashed you in. Damn, how does that feel?” She questions, looking up to the high cafeteria ceiling with a haughty look on her face.
“What?” I question, knowing that I’m biting the bait but I can’t seem to be able to stop myself.
“Oh you know, how does it feel to know that even your own mother is embarrassed by you. I bet she doesn’t want anything to do with you. Just a means to a paycheck.”
The entire cafeteria gasps. And I think my heart does too as I feel the dreadful stutters.
“Which then begs the questions, ladies and gentleman of the elite.” Brittney says as she turns around to look at the rest of the students of Westbrook Blues High, knowing that she has their attention. “Who on earth is sponsoring Astraea’s mother to be. . . well, a mother?” She says the last part while looking at me as her minions and everyone else starts laughing.
The malicious smile on her face is the cherry on top.
Oh God.
“If I were you, I would shut my mouth right this instant.” I say but even my own voice is hoarse, and slightly shaky. Where the fuck is that back bone?
“I mean, then we also have another question, that everyone is dying to know.” She continues, not sparing a second for me to breathe or process everything, she just keeps going.
“Who is your father, Astraea?” She questions, getting into my face as if to intimidate me but I don’t back down or look away. I stare her dead in the eyes, waiting for her to go on. I want to see where this is going. Call it morbid curiosity.
“Could it be Philip King? Or maybe, it’s Syrus Easton?” She taps her chin, watching me with something more than jealousy, more than hate or malice.
It’s pure, unfiltered, unmistakable evil.
Much like the look in Denise King’s eyes when she looked at my mother that night.
It feels like the weight of death just crashed into me, into my soul and I stumble as I take a step back, saved only by grabbing onto the ledge of the table.
It feels like the room is closing in on me. I feel faint and dizzy. The ground beneath me feels like it’s shaking so damn violently that I think I’m going to fall.
My chest starts heaving fast, twisting in pain. My vision becomes blurry but I can still see Brittney’ smile of pure bliss as she tortures me in the worst way possible.
There is no way that my mother would have slept with either of those men before I was born. But then again, why would Denise be so damn angry with Amanda enough to want to hurt her? Could it all have something to do with Ace’s father, Philip King? Did my mother actually sleep with him and then got pregnant with triplets?
Oh God. . .
Philip King is not just a random man, he is Ace’s father. . .
I feel bile rise up my throat.
“You are a nobody, Astraea.” She finishes in a whisper, and then she starts laughing.
“Your stinking ass better start walking away this instant before I send you back to get that blotched face fixed. Again.” Kim says to Brittney as she stands up as well.
Brittney sighs as if she is offended but no, she is toying with us today. She is winning and she knows it.
“You’re one to talk, Kimmy. I wonder if your mother had surgery done to keep that overused, cheap and smelly cunt. . .”
I gasp but before Brittney can finish that insult, Kim is up and out of her seat, rounding the table and soon she is in Brittney’s face, literally towering over her as if she is about to breathe fire down at her.
But Brittney is unfazed, she actually smiles.
“Ah, there is that hood rat slum, violent bitch like your mother. What are you going to do now huh?” Brittney challenges.
Kim’s entire body is vibrating, I can see that she is about to do something that she will never get back from. I quickly push away my chair and walk over to her and quickly grab her fist, that was already in mid motion.
“Please Brittney, everyone in here knows that you are cheaper.” I say smoothly, pushing Kim away from Brittney as I take her place. Yeah, I’ve heard enough from this one, have to get it going before I really destroy her for what did to me four years ago.
“Even your friends don’t tell you who they are in love with, afraid that you’ll ‘work’ the halls.” I say as I turn to her, doing the best I can to hide just how much she just shook me up inside, mentally and emotionally. “Or wait, was it the boys’ disgusting locker room?” I question her friends then look at Kim who is still tense.
“That’s what I heard. Right on the floor.” Kim grits out watching Brittney gasp.
Her friends step closer, with a gasp, as if about to deny what I just said but I’m not done.
“Could it be that it’s because your little friends know you will snatch their boos because you want all the attention on you and they are not really your friends, not true friends really, if we are all being honest.” I say, a sweet smile now on my face.
Said friends gasp but they have guilty looks on their faces, and they start looking at each other. Hmm, interesting.
“Or could it be that you are just a tiny bit—the fuck am I saying—a whole lot insecure, lacking daddy’s love and all that bullshit, so you take matters into your own hands like the rich bitch you are, falling into the arms of anyone that can give you the attention you desperately crave.” I know her type, I know her type well it’s just that I can be meaner.
<
br /> “Tell me boo, does that make you cry yourself to sleep at night?” I mock, circling her now, bumping into her shoulder as I go. “Does your disgusting, black heart break at night when you finally take off that ugly mask because you’re actually insecure?”
Yeah, I can sense that bitchy side of me rising. She had her turn, now it’s mine. This time, I have no problem being a big bitch.
“You feel so damn alone, shallow, pitiful and I’m kinda sorry for that but chasing around my boys hoping that they give you what you can’t even give yourself?” I question, slowly leaning into her ear, channeling all the anger that I always seem to suppress and never really let out. And all the anger I have towards this girl that was once my best friend.
“That’s a new level of whorish behavior, don’t you agree?” I say just as loud as she did before, making sure everyone hears me, speaking directly in her ear from behind her.
“How dare you?” She seethes but I raise a finger to her face when I turn around again, and she goes mum. I step closer to her, making sure that what I’m about to say is for her ears only.
“Oh no, sweetheart, how dare you?” I growl. Her eyes grow wide, just as her friends step back.
“You came in here thinking you know every dirty thing about me, about my mother and my life from what you probably crouched around the football field to listen in on after the game Friday night, am I right?” I question, watching her bit I don’t wait for a response.
“You came in here, thinking that since my boys aren’t here, it’s your chance to strike, huh?” Her nose flares, and she blinks but she doesn’t back away.
“You have some guts, Brittney, I’ll give you that. Coming in here, provoking Kim and I like a hyena in heat. For Pete’s sake, go fuck yourself in the ass, Brittney.” I seethe.
The cafeteria bursts out in laughter, people rolling in their seats, gasping for breath. Even her friends are looking mighty uncomfortable right about now.
I start feeling tingles in my belly. A shiver races up and down my spine but I don’t turn around. I want him to watch.
Vicious Hate (Westbrook Blues Book 2) Page 20