by Bella King
All I could do was my best, which was my intention. I wasn’t lazy, I was smart, and I always planned far ahead for everything, maybe even too much so, but I always thought it was better to be safe than sorry. The one thing that I struggled with was relationships, because I seemed to intimidate people with my lifestyle. That had left me single despite being a perfectly desirable woman.
You can’t win them all, I suppose, but one day I hoped to win this one. I felt it was important if I was to have a nice life. I didn’t want to be lonely. No, that terrified me more than the deepest of darkness. For me, that was the worst way you could end up – all alone.
I shrugged off the thought as I let the house, finally able to breathe normally and move my body in a way that could make as much noise as I needed to be comfortable. I wasn’t a loud person but trying to be quiet wasn’t my natural state and I didn’t enjoy it.
I unlocked my car, slipped into the cool leather interior, and placed my drink down in the adjustable cup holder. My phone automatically connected with my car when I turned it on, pumping out bright tunes through the large speakers that surrounded me. It was time to get loud.
I squealed out of the driveway, leaving black marks on the pale pavement. My parents hated it when I did that, but I found it too enjoyable to quit. I turned up the sound system until I was certain everyone within a mile radius could hear it, rolled my windows down, and peeled out of the front gate onto the main road.
My braids flopped in the warm morning air as I raced down the thin black road toward the main city. That was the gathering place for everyone in the area – rich, poor, and everywhere in between. Our town had a surprisingly diverse demographic for how many rich people also lived there. I supposed a town couldn’t thrive on the rich alone. They didn’t work regular jobs.
I took a turn down a beaten street as a shortcut, racing through a poor neighborhood with my engine roaring. I may have been scared of the dark, but I sure as hell wasn’t scared of speed. I was a local nuisance in my shiny black muscle car, but the police never pulled me over. They didn’t like to mess with the rich kids because they would undoubtedly have to deal with their parents. It was one of the perks that I actively enjoyed.
Dirt flew in the air behind me as I crossed over into the trailer park neighborhood, a place where only the poorest in the city lived. I watched the little trailers breeze by to my left as I quickly made way to the other side of the dirt road where it connected back to the regular road. There would be a bump on the connect, so I had to slow the car down a little or my shock absorbers would have hell to pay.
I wasn’t there quite yet, so I kept my foot on the gas, making the pine trees to my right look like nothing more than a green blur.
Suddenly, the glint of metal in front of me told me I was about to be in trouble. An old beater car pulled out of the trailer park in front of me, too close for me to slow down all the way in time. I slammed a foot on the break, my car sliding through the dirt toward it at a relentless speed. I gripped the wheel with white knuckles as I slid into the side of the car, crumpling metal against metal in an orchestra of destruction.
Chapter 5
Dylan
I knew who it was, but I still couldn’t believe it was her.
It was just my luck that the woman whose family had succeeded in destroying my life was the one attempting to destroy it again. Was she trying to kill someone out here, racing around in her expensive car like she owned the streets? This wasn’t even her neighborhood. Scarlet Verity Porter had totaled my car and could have killed me in the process.
I hopped out of the steaming wreckage, looking more at the damage to her car than to mine. This was clearly her fault, but who would the insurance people find at fault, the innocent rich girl or the trailer park trash? I didn’t like those odds.
Scarlet stepped out of her car, an energy drink in her hand like she hadn’t just been in an accident. She took a sip, squinting at the damage, then looked up at me. “Well, fuck,” she said. “I hope you’re okay.”
I shook my head. She was beautiful, but there wasn’t much going on in that rich head of hers. “You totaled my car,” I exclaimed, waving a hand at the wreck.
“Both of ours,” she said casually, not a hint of sorrow in her words. “I guess we better trade insurance information, right?”
There they were. The words that I never wanted to hear. I sighed, looking back at the wreckage as I spoke. “I don’t have any, actually.”
She frowned, walking closer toward me. “Aren’t you supposed to?” She took another sip of her drink.
I shrugged. “Maybe, if I could afford it.”
“What do we do now then?” She asked, cocking her head to the side curiously.
Just then, an idea settled into my head. Scarlet clearly didn’t know the first thing about the law. It might be advantageous for me to lie and make her pay for all this instead of admitting that I was the one in trouble for not having insurance. Maybe we could circumvent the whole catastrophe altogether!
I cleared my throat. “You’re just going to have to pay for it,” I stated, watching her reaction.
She recoiled, just as I hoped she wouldn’t. “Well, my father said that I was supposed to go through the insurance for this kind of thing.”
I shook my head. “Your father is wrong then. I know how this works. You need to pay me for a new car and take yours to the shop to have it fixed.” I was praying this would work, but it didn’t look like she was buying it.
Scarlet laid a dainty hand on the hot metal, touching it in a dreamy way, as though she hadn’t just ruined her car. I guess it didn’t matter that much to her because of how much money her family had. She was your typical rich girl. All money and no brains.
She smiled, looking up at me. “You’re a bad liar. You’d get in trouble for this, wouldn’t you, because you don’t have insurance?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Then I should call the police,” she replied, her smile widening as though she were playing a game with me, not threatening to ruin my life.
“You don’t need to,” I said, sweating more than I should have been in the morning heat.
“I bet you’d get in trouble if I did,” she said.
“I bet I’d wring your fucking neck if you did,” I threatened, letting the anger burst out of me. I was terrible at controlling that sort of thing after what I had been through. The way that she was teasing me had brought me to the edge and I was ready to snap on her if she didn’t stop.
She looked scared at my words for a second, but the smile returned to her face, a little weaker this time. “You’d go to jail if you did that.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m going to go to jail for this too. I can’t pay for all this,” I admitted.
She nodded. “I figured, since you live in the trailer park.”
I felt more heat rising to my face. “Is that a diss?” I challenged.
She frowned and shook her head. “No, it’s the truth.”
She was too much for me to handle, but I needed to calm down if I was going to get out of this without bringing down my entire plans for the future. We both knew that I wouldn’t be able to afford this and driving without insurance didn’t help my case.
I looked at her, studying her casual facial expressions. She seemed far calmer and more collected than I could ever be. Was that what it was like to live a life of luxury? I drummed my fingers against the side of my jeans. “Alright, so what are we going to do about this?” I asked.
She pouted her lips, thinking about it for a second before responding, “I think I can get my dad to pay for it if we keep this whole thing hush-hush. I don’t want to get in trouble for reckless endangerment.”
She knew more than I thought she did. At least she was sensible enough to know that she was the one that caused this disaster. I wiped the sweat off my hairline with the back of my hands and nodded. “That would be great, but what about my car?”
She giggled. “That thing
? I’m pretty sure I could get you another one if you wanted.”
Fuck, she was a lot nicer than I thought she would be, and all the while I had thought she was the devil reincarnate. I needed to be careful though, I still planned on enacting my revenge, but now that we had officially crossed paths, I would have no choice but to dig deeper on a personal level. I couldn’t study her from a distance anymore.
I clasped my hands together, humbled by her offer to buy me a new car. “You don’t know how much that would mean to me,” I said. “I’m really on my last dollar as is.”
She nodded. “I can do it. Just don’t tell anyone at school about this.”
I eagerly agreed. “No way. I don’t have friends there anyway,” I joked, but it was more truth than fiction.
She smiled, her perfect white teeth shining brightly in the sun. She was stunning, alright, but I like everything lovely in this world, there were always people who wished to destroy it. In this case, that person was me.
“So, I guess we’re going to exchange phone numbers or something,” I said, wondering how the hell I was going to get to school now that I didn’t have a car.
“Trying to pick me up?” She said, laughing.
I didn’t laugh back. I was a bit irritated at how little she seemed to care about this. She didn’t take it seriously at all, and I didn’t like that. I was a much more serious person after my father died, and I would probably remain that way forever. I didn’t like people who had their heads in the clouds. The world was a harsh place and didn’t treat people well if they didn’t work hard.
“Okay,” Scarlet said, seeing the unamused expression on my face. “I’ll give you my number if you lighten up a bit. I’m sorry I totally your car, but I promise I’ll get you a new one. It’ll be better than the junker you have now.”
“Good,” I replied coldly as she took a sip of her drink.
Scarlet went back to her car, opening the crooked door and fishing around inside for a pen and a napkin. She placed the napkin on a flat part of the hood of the car and wrote her number down with robotic precision. The numbers looked like they were printed.
“Here,” she said, holding it out to me. “Text me and we can get you a car tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” I said, taking the napkin. “I need to get to school though. I was just heading to the store to pick up some food, but I guess that can wait.”
She shrugged. “I’ll call us a taxi. No problem. I have to call a tow truck for all this anyway,” she said, motioning to the wreckage.
“Sounds like a plan,” I replied as she crinkled her nose at me cutely and took another sip of her drink.
Chapter 6
Scarlet
He was way cuter up close than he was when he lurked around the school halls staring at me. I couldn’t stop smiling at him, but he seemed to be annoyed with me. There wasn’t even a hint of the nicety in his eyes as he looked over the wreck that I had caused.
I felt guilty about it, but it shouldn’t have been that big of a deal. I could pay for it, and he would walk away with a new car. There was no reason to be so bothered by that. His car was a piece of junk, so I’m sure he would appreciate getting a new one.
I wondered what his deal was. He was such a mystery, but ridiculously handsome in his mannerism. His body was built like a working man, so rugged and tanned. I could tell that he was hard-working, and I liked that. I had this impression of trailer park people that they were only poor because they were lazy, but this clearly didn’t apply to him.
I didn’t have much to base my assumptions off, other than what my parents had told me. They always said that I should marry someone on the same level as us or greater, so that I could continue to enjoy living the lifestyle that we had, but I didn’t see the point in that. Shouldn’t you marry for love and not money?
I decided not to assume anything more about this man and the way that he lived because I didn’t know enough about him yet to draw conclusions. In fact, I didn’t even know his name. I had gotten so caught up in the crash, that I had forgotten to ask him.
As I pulled out my phone to dial the tow truck and taxi, I glanced up at him. “I didn’t catch your name, by the way.”
He slid the napkin with my phone number on it into the pocket of his tight blue jeans. “Dylan,” he replied.
“I’m Scarlet,” I said.
“I know,” he replied.
I laughed. I suppose a man who had been staring at me all the time would know who I was. I wanted to dig deeper into whether he was single or not, but I didn’t want to come off as weird. He was very standoffish as it was.
I dialed the tow truck and told them our location. I would wait for them to get here before I attempted to call a taxi. In the meantime, I would like to know more about Dylan. I knew that he went to Blackstone Academy, which surprised me a bit because of how poor he obviously was. I was curious to know how he ended up there, but I was too polite to ask such a question.
I tucked my phone back into the small pocket of my workout pants and leaned against my car. “You say you don’t have any friends, but I see you with that Maddie girl a lot.”
He smirked, like I had said something funny, and shook his head of messy blonde hair. “She’s not my friend, more like an acquaintance.”
“I thought she was your girlfriend, to be honest,” I said.
He took a breath in. “She used to be. Not anymore.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling a little embarrassed about asking. I guess that meant he was single, and he couldn’t have been that bad of a guy if he was still on good terms with his ex.
I threw one of my braids over my shoulder. “I see Maddie on the weekends a lot. Why aren’t you ever at any of the student get-togethers?”
He didn’t look happy that I asked. “I’m busy, that’s why.”
“Busy with what?”
“Working,” he snapped. “Which rich girls like you don’t know anything about.”
Woah, he was getting heated again, and even making personal attacks. What was up with Dylan, and why was he so annoyed with me. I didn’t think totaling his car would be that bad, especially when I already offered to get him a new one. If anything, he should be thanking me.
I swirled the remnants of my energy drink in the bottom of the can, peering in through the drinking hole at the yellow liquid. It was already warm from the heat of the outdoors, and I didn’t feel like finishing it after being jarred from the crash. I titled the can down and sprinkled the last drops onto the dry dirt. They were quickly absorbed into the dust, turning it a much darker brown.
I looked up at Dylan, who was a bit red in the face. “I work hard, by the way. I was heading to self-defense practice this morning.”
He scoffed at me. “That’s not work, sweetheart.”
I didn’t like his condescending tone. I crossed my arms and pursed my lips at him. “Well, if you’re such a hard worker, then why are you living in a trailer park?”
His frown deepened. “None of your business, rich girl.”
I didn’t accept his answer. “You’re the one making accusations about how hard I work. What’s the problem, can’t take what you dish out?” I asked, testing him.
A bitter chuckle escaped his lips. “I know for a fact that people as rich as you don’t work as hard as people like me. You’re just born rich. I have to work for what I have.”
That may have been true, but he was attacking my family with those words, not just me. My father worked very hard, and I didn’t appreciate the nonsense that was leaving his mouth. I wouldn’t stand to be talked down to like that.
I uncrossed my arms and held up a finger. “I’ll have you know that my father works very hard. I doubt yours does though, since you don’t even have insurance for your car.”
At the mention of his father, his face turned cherry red. I didn’t think a man with such tanned skin could have a face that red, but there it was. He was fuming with rage, and I knew then that I had somehow crossed a line. The problem wa
s, I didn’t know what line I had crossed.
Dylan lurched toward me, and in a second, I forgot all of my self-defense training that I had been working on for the past few months. It was so easy to go through the motions of kicking someone in the balls in class, but in reality, when you weren’t expecting to be attacked, the practice meant next to nothing.
He grabbed the front of my shirt, pushing me back while balling it in his fist until my back slammed against the side of my car. His eyes danced with pure hatred as he pinned me against the hot metal. “Take that back, you vapid bitch,” he shouted, little bits of saliva flying into my face as he rattled me against the car.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I blurted out, realizing how weak and pathetic I sounded saying it. I shouldn’t have to apologize to him after all this, but I feared for my safety, and that overruled the rest of my senses.
His grip didn’t loosen on my shirt. His eyes widened, looking into mine. “Don’t you ever say a word about my father again. Do you understand?” He said through gritted teeth.
I nodded my head. Anything to get away from this lunatic. I didn’t want him to hurt me out here when there was nobody to stop him or save me. I knew nothing about him or how dangerous he was. He could be a killer for all I knew.
Dylan finally loosened his grip on me, but I suspect it wasn’t due to anything I said. It was most likely because of the slow roll of a tow truck coming down the dirt road toward us. He looked over at it and stepped back, letting me smooth out the wrinkles in my shirt before they pulled up. He acted like nothing had happened.
Chapter 7
Scarlet
I had a sense that Dylan didn’t like me much after this crash, but it wasn’t entirely my fault. I felt like he was overreacting and taking things way too personally. At first, I had thought that he had a crush on me, and that’s why he had been staring me down in the hallway every day at school, but now I wasn’t so sure of that. I didn’t think he liked me at all, which confused me.
We rode together in silence in a colorful taxi with swirly mints in a pocket in the back seat. I took a handful and began sucking on one, while Dylan sat with his large arms crossed, staring out the window solemnly. He was a hard guy to figure out. That much was certain.