Deep (Heavy Hearts Book 2)

by Sarah Jane Duncan

  “Wanna explain where you’ve been?” Marcus demands under his breath, and I shake my head. “Let me rephrase that. Where have you been?”

  My brows reach my hairline at his tone. He’s speaking to me like I’m a fucking child!

  “Wanna tell me why you think you have the right to speak to me like that?” I hiss under my breath, hoping Miss Dice doesn’t hear.

  “I’ve been worried, Lexi. For all I knew, Mike or your dad had taken you again.” His words cause instant guilt at my stubbornness. Yeah, I probably should have messaged Marcus back instead of dodging him. Does it give him the right to speak to me like that, though? Hell no!

  “As you can see, I’m fine. I needed some space, if you must know. Don’t forget, I’m hormonal right now. I’m not opposed to eye-gouging you if you keep speaking to me like that!”

  Jared chuckles, and Marcus sighs.

  “Sorry, Lex. I was worried, that’s all.”

  “Well, worry in a nicer tone!” I hiss, and Jared chuckles again, so I shoot him a warning glare.

  Marcus just nods and turns to his work, giving me a brief reprieve.

  Phone's start chiming throughout the room, and when Bianca Tact pulls hers out, Miss Dice practically pounces on her snatching up her phone.

  “If I see any of you take out your phones to see whatever it is you all just received, I will confiscate every phone in this room and have them held in the school safe for the rest of the week!”

  Grumpy mumbles filter through the air, but no one moves to get their phone out.

  “Shit Lex,” Jared leans forward, brushing my hair back off the left side of my head, obviously eyeing the damage Tasha did. I flinch away from his touch. “What happened?” He whispers in my ear.

  When I don’t answer him, I feel his hand slide into mine under the table, and he gives it a gentle squeeze. “Lexi?” He pleads, and I can’t help but turn to him. I want to tell him to bugger off and mind his own business, but the concern in his blue eyes breaks me, and I cave.

  “Tasha happened,” I whisper.

  “Shit.” Jared says too loud, and Marcus mouths a “What?” in question over the top of my head.

  “What did she do Lex?” Jared asks in a whisper, and I just shrug, not wanting to talk about it, because holy shit. Did that really just happen? Did Tasha really just hit me?

  “I’ll tell you later,” I whisper before snatching up his English novel and opening it to chapter nine. Jared takes the hint.

  I can’t believe what happened in the girl's toilets. I’ve never been in a fight with anyone before. Well, that is, anyone other than fighting to free myself from Mike or my dad. I can’t believe that Tasha is behaving the way she is. More than anything, though, I can’t believe the way Abbey is acting. What in the hell have I done to her to make her turn against me so brutally?

  I completely zone out for most of the lesson until Mr Matthews, my new counsellor, comes into the classroom and asks me to go with him to the Principal’s office.

  For fuck's sake! What now?

  I continue to ignore Marcus and Jared as I stand and leave their sides. Miss Dice, my fierce protector, joins me just outside the classroom with Mr Matthews.

  “Stephen, what’s going on?” For a small petite lady, she sure as shit can be scary when she directs her wrath on you.

  “Yeah, Stephen, what’s going on? The last time I was asked to leave class and go to the Principal’s office was when my dad kidnapped me.” It’s a low blow to the school, but I can’t seem to find it in me to care.

  “That won’t happen again, Lexi.” Mr Matthews responds sternly and then directs his attention to Miss Dice, “It seems that Lexi has been in a bit of a scuffle with another student.”

  Miss Dice doesn’t look surprised. She chews on her bottom lip, looking very much like she wants to say something in response, but instead, she turns to me.

  “Would you like me to come with you, Lexi? Or perhaps one of your friends?”

  I shake my head, “No need. It’s all good.” I lie.

  “Principal Rogan just wants to have a discussion with Lexi. Nothing more.” Mr Matthews sounds convincing.

  Miss Dice looks between the both of us before choosing him to address this time, “Lexi is not to leave this campus with anyone but her current Guardian. Not her mother, not her father, and absolutely not her brother!”

  “Of course, Amy. That won’t happen on my watch, nor Cynthia’s.” Mr Matthews declares, his blue eyes looking fiercely at Miss Dice, and then her face goes red.

  Oh, what do we have here? Do I sense something more between Miss Dice and Mr Matthews? When their eyes meet, I can tell they are very familiar with each other. I try to hide my smirk, which is in no way appropriate for the current conversation.

  Miss Dice nods, her brown bob bouncing as she does so, apparently satisfied with his response, before giving me a small smile and returning to the classroom.

  Mr Matthews and I start walking down the hall, and he grins, “I know what you’re thinking, and you need to stop.”

  “What?” I ask innocently.

  He shakes his head, chuckling under his breath but doesn’t answer my question.

  “Oh, come on. Is she your girlfriend? Are you two lovers?” I wag my eyebrows at him, and he just smirks and shakes his head.

  “Lexi, you should stop being concerned about my life and start showing concern for your own. You haven’t even been back a whole day, and you’ve already gotten into a fight.”

  “I plead the fifth.”

  “We live in Australia, not the US. The Amendments don’t apply here.” Mr Matthews offers, even while trying not to laugh at me.

  When we reach Principal Rogan’s office, I get the same nervous sick feeling like I had this morning, so I gesture for Mr Matthews to lead the way and let him walk in before I do, hoping this isn’t another trap.

  Sitting in one of the chairs is Tasha Pritchard. Did that cow lag?

  Principal Rogan approaches, looking down at me from her height, concern etched over her face.

  “Lexi, do you give me permission to look at your head?”

  Well, I guess I’m not hiding this from her. I shrug, and she gently lifts my blonde waves up off the side of my face. I hear the moment she sees the cut or whatever it is, by her sharp intake of air. She steps back, dropping my hair and gestures to a seat.

  “Please sit.”

  I do as I’m told, and I don’t at all feel unsafe like I did a couple of weeks ago when my dad was in this office with me.

  The smell of vomit wafts over, and I turn in the direction it’s coming from. Ha! Tasha, the bitch, vomited on herself. Serves her right. I wrinkle my nose at the stench and make sure she sees.

  “I could ask you both what happened, but I’ll save you the trouble of lying to me. We have a video of the incident in the toilets that occurred at the end of lunch today.” Principal Rogan turns to me, “Lexi, I understand that you have been through an extremely traumatic ordeal of late, but we do not condone violence.”

  “But…” I try to defend myself.

  “No,” Principal Rogan holds her hand up, “We will have further discussions about that later. For now, you will attend after school detention for the rest of the week.” She moves her attention to Tasha shaking her head, “I may be new to this school, Natasha, but make no mistake, I am not new to this sort of bullying behaviour. The words you spoke and the way you have treated Lexi and also contributed to the physical violence of the situation is absolutely disturbing.” Principal Rogan takes a deep breath before speaking more calmly. “You too will attend after school detention for the rest of the week. I want you both to understand that this is not over. I will be making further consultations on this matter, and we will readdress the punishment.”

  “Just suspend us already. That’s what usually happens.” Tasha apparently has balls I didn’t know about, and her comment gets a glare off Principal Rogan.

  “I know that’s what normally happens, but
I’m in charge now, and I do things differently. So, for now, your punishment is in limbo.”

  I like this principal. I don’t like the fact that I have to go to detention, but let’s be honest, what the hell else do I have to do?

  “Lexi, here is a pass to the school nurse,” Principal Rogan hands me a slip of paper, “Please go and get your head cleaned up before you do anything else.”

  I accept the slip of paper with a nod and stand, turning my back on Tasha. As I leave the Principal’s office and the stench of Tasha behind, I get a message on my phone.

  Marcus Grady

  Lex! WTF is this about you getting in a fight with Tasha?

  And then my inbox blows up with messages from the rest of the guys.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Detention is a bitch! Mainly because I’d rather be anywhere else than in a room with Tasha Pritchard. The good thing about it, though, is that Rhys is also in detention, and she entertains the shit out of me as she sits next to me, across the room from Tasha, taunting her by pulling faces and blowing her kisses. This chick is hilarious. I don’t know why I haven’t paid more attention to her before. Probably because it would have raised red flags on my prim and proper status. I can’t believe how superficial I used to be!

  It surprises me that they allow us to use our phones in detention, but I’m thankful to use it as a distraction from Tasha’s daggers. I read over the messages from the boys, who aren’t happy. Well, most of them anyway. Simon seems pretty pleased he got to watch my catfight on video.

  “Wanna explain how the video of that cow and me fighting got out?” I whisper to Rhys.

  “What video? I know nothing about a video.” Rhys flutters her dark lashes innocently before poking out her tongue.

  “Did you really need to send it out to everyone?” I complain, but Rhys just smirks.

  “By everyone, do you really mean why did I send it to your pack of hot saucy guys?” She shoots me a cheeky grin and wags her dark brows, her voice too loud to be classed as a whisper.

  I roll my eyes, “Sure. Whatever.”

  “You can thank me later.” She winks, “The lighting in the toilets really brought out the blue in your eyes, don’t you think?” She doesn’t even try to be quiet as she speaks. I shake my head and try to hide my smirk.

  “How did you edit it so quickly?” I ask, genuinely interested. Apparently, the video got sent out about fifteen minutes after Rhys and I parted ways outside my English class. It had been edited to cut out some of the words I had with Tasha and her bunch of bitches. Like when I asked Abbey if she’d shown Tasha the pictures I sent her. For some reason, Rhys had cut that out. She had cut out anything too personal to my situation, and for that, I am thankful.

  “It’s my jam. It’s what I do. Easy peasy.” Rhys skites, shrugging her shoulders, “I sent the full version to Cynthia, though.”

  I almost choke. “What!”

  “Quiet please, Miss West.” Mr Ellis, the sub teacher, glares at me from his desk.

  Rhys giggles, “I know you got in trouble for fighting too, but that cow over there will be dealt a bigger punishment for it, and for that, it’s well worth spending every day after school in detention with me. Don’t you think?” She smiles wide, extremely proud of herself.

  Shaking my head in disbelief, I stay quiet for a few minutes taking in everything that’s happened today. I’m exhausted, and it isn’t even 4pm yet. As if I’ve willed it, Mr Ellis announces that detention is over, and I watch as Tasha practically runs out of the room, nearly tripping over twice on her way out. Does she think I’m going to do something, like chase her and grab a fistful of her hair before slamming her head into a concrete pole?

  Okay, so maybe I really do need professional help!

  Strolling out of the room behind Rhys, my tummy drops, knowing that I have to go back to an empty house. What if it isn’t empty? What if Mike is back? Maybe I can ask Rhys to come home with me?

  “Oooh, look at your fellas all lined up in a row.” Rhys smiles wide, and I glance up to see Marcus, Jared, Simon, Garrett and Shaun waiting for me, leaning against the walkway railing. Rhys walks up to each of the guys and checks them out from head to toe, raking her dark eyes over them like they are a smorgasbord. She doesn’t even try to hide what she’s doing, and they just watch her curiously.

  Have they been waiting out here the whole time I was in detention?

  “Tell me, Lexi, which one makes you scream the loudest?” Rhys asks, raising a black painted nail to her lips in thought.

  I would have gasped in shock if it weren’t for the looks on the boy’s faces. Jared frowns and then directs his blue gaze down the line as if wondering which one of his mates is the one that makes me scream. Garrett’s blue-grey eyes widen, and then I swear I see a pink blush heat his cheeks. Of course, Shaun looks like his usual smug Casanova self and nods his head like he’s imagining making me scream. Poor Simon looks flustered, and Marcus eyes Rhys with heat in his dark gaze.

  Well, well, well. I think Marcus likes what he sees.

  “Rhys stop. They’re only friends. Stop conjuring up bullshit that isn’t real.” I try to scold her, but in true Rhys style, it doesn’t faze her one bit, and she shoots me another cheeky grin. Rhys George is a little troublemaker who likes to stir up trouble. I think I like her even more.

  “The guy who makes her scream isn’t here.”

  I swing my attention to Marcus, not missing the bitterness in his deep voice.

  “What the fuck, Marcus!” I yell, not able to hold back.

  Rhys turns to me, blocking Marcus from my view, “Oh, do tell. Who is the guy that makes the one and only, Lexi West, scream?”

  “You know what, I thought I liked you, but I was wrong,” I say through gritted teeth to Rhys before storming off.

  “Oh, you still like me, girl! I’ll see you tomorrow.” I ignore Rhys when she calls out as I head straight for the school exit.

  The boy’s voices and footsteps sound behind me, so I know they are following, but I continue to ignore them. My emotions are all over the place, and Rhys has successfully made me think about Ayden. Or maybe it was Marcus who did that since he referred to him. Either way, Ayden is on my mind, and as much as it hurts, I don’t want the thoughts to go away. I want to drown deep in the memories I’ll forever cherish.

  Stuffing my earphones in my ears, I hit my Heavy playlist on my phone and let the music flow through my chaotic mind. I haven’t listened to it for a while. Most of the time, when I’m alone now, I’m too scared to have too much sound going on around me in case I don’t hear the moment that Mike or my dad try to pounce. I know the boys are behind me right now, so I allow myself this moment while we walk to listen to the music that speaks to my soul.

  In my peripheral, I notice Jared step up beside me before he pulls me to his side while we walk. Although his scent isn’t the same, I try to pretend that for a moment, it’s Ayden who is walking with me. I miss him so much.

  I kind of expect the boys to veer off to head to their own houses, but they don’t. When I walk through the door of my house ten minutes later, so do the five of them. I don’t tell them, but I’m so grateful they are here. I don’t want to be alone, especially in this house.

  Knowing that they’ll be hungry, I go to the kitchen and start cooking up some meaty party pies and sausage rolls before heading up to my room to change. As I pass the living room, I continue ignoring them because I’m still pissed about their overkill smothering earlier. I’m also trying to avoid talking about my run-in with Tasha.

  When I reach my bedroom, I hesitate outside the door like I always do since returning from Melbourne. My mind flashes with a memory of flying over my bed when Mike threw me across my room. As the images engulf my mind, I sway on my feet a little. Will I ever stop seeing the night Mike attacked me when I walk into this room? Probably not.

  Taking a deep breath, I push forward and step over my threshold that remains door-less. Since I have no privacy with an open doorway,
I hide in the corner of my room and change into my black leggings, a crop top and throw my black zip-up hoodie over the top. Since I have 20 minutes to kill while the food cooks, I slip on my sneakers and make my way back downstairs to the garage.

  I ignore Marcus when he asks where I’m going because he’s still on my shit list from his comment to Rhys earlier. Shutting myself in the garage, I slide the gloves on and start pounding away at the bag hanging from a ceiling beam. Every time I throw punches at it, I picture Mike's face, followed by my dad’s, and then finish with the scary face of Muz. I beat the crap out of them in my mind, giving in to the anger that has been trying to break free all day. It’s only when my alarm goes off on my phone to alert me about the food cooking that I’m reminded I’m not alone in my house.

  “If you ever want a sparring partner, let me know. I’d be happy to let you beat the shit out of me.”

  I turn to Garrett’s voice and see him sitting on the floor just inside the access door that leads back into the house.

  “You been here long?” I tug the gloves off and use a towel to wipe the sweat from the back of my neck.

  “About fifteen minutes. I hope you don’t mind?” Garrett’s large hands are linked together, hanging lazily from his knees. It looks kind of funny with his hand bandaged up around a metal rod.

  I shrug, not really caring, even though I probably should. Throwing the towel down by the treadmill, a strange noise floats through the walls, followed by arguing.

  “What’s going on in there?”

  Garrett grins, “They’re trying to put the doors back on upstairs. Marcus reckons he knows what he’s doing. It turns out he doesn’t.”

  We both laugh.

  “I’m going to need a repairman to fix their mistakes, aren’t I?”

  “Probably.” Garrett stands from the concrete floor. “For the record, I’m glad you were able to hold your own against Tasha.”