Braddox’s jaw ticked and he blinked at me. Nodding toward the car, he moved my way. “You know… you were warned.”
I dropped my hands and laughed. “I was here for three minutes, Brax. That’s all.”
“You think it’s funny? If I let three minutes go, what stops you from pushing for three hours? I told you to stay out of West Shores. You were warned. I can’t let this slide.” He pointed at the car. “Go ahead, Donnie.”
I didn’t flinch. I didn’t react. I knew what he was going to do before he actually did it and I couldn’t let myself do anything. Not only was it a pride thing, but it was a matter of sanity.
Donnie reached out, his arm extension long. He scraped something metal down the side of my car, the screeching of metal on metal. I inhaled sharply, but didn’t look away from Braddox. “Interesting. You scratched my car for three minutes of trespassing? You don’t know what I could do in retaliation.” He had no idea what I was capable of.
Braddox’s eyes flashed and he stepped toward me, lowering his voice as he studied me. “You screwed Olivia?”
Shit. My rumor had made it all the way to that side of town? Someone at East Shores was mixing with the West. Olivia was off the hook for that one. She wouldn’t have shared that kind of information since it was about her.
I narrowed my eyes. I’d have to figure that out later. My lack of reply only seemed to piss him off more. I wasn’t going to lie to him. No one would force me to lie for anything.
That was one thing I prided myself on. My honesty. To a brutal point of almost cruelty. I had to ignore the fact that I’d lied about screwing Olivia.
Even Braddox wasn’t going to take that away.
I kept my mouth shut and Braddox stared at me, as if all the secrets that had ever come between us would suddenly be resolved by the lines on my face.
“Damn it, Jaxon, did you sleep with her?” His question thundered around me, echoing off the other cars on the drive. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t own what he’d accused me of. All I wanted to do was get out of there, but I had to wait until he was ready to let me leave.
Braddox lowered his voice and finally reached me, the distance between us inches as I stared at him like he was on the other side of a mirror. “Did you sleep with Olivia, Jax? Just tell me. I need to know. I can’t…” And I saw the crack in his demeanor and it had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with pain.
The part of me that had suffered for so long, welcomed the evidence of pain on his face. I needed him to hurt. I needed to justify the torture I’d lived with.
His vulnerability dissipated and he lifted his chin. “Fine. You don’t have to answer me. She’s a whore and she won’t be welcomed back here. The last thing we need is a piece of East Shores trash darkening the doorway. You can keep her. Do whatever you want. I’ll even give the go-ahead on my side of town that she’s fair game. I don’t care.”
But he did. I could tell by the tiny nuances in his facial expression that anyone else wouldn’t recognize. I saw them, because I recognized them in myself.
I smiled, my grin gritty and fully of ass. “Yeah, I bet you don’t care. I bet you wouldn’t care to know the details of what happened between us, right? None of them?” I nodded and chuckled, moving around Braddox to my car. “Yeah, I believe you, Brax. Let me know how that works for you.”
Braddox reached out and grabbed my arm, spinning me back to face him.
I scuffled with him, the rocks under our feet scratching and grinding on the blacktop drive. I reached out, grabbing Braddox’s shoulder with my free arm and pushing him back.
“You don’t know me, little brother. You have no idea what I’m willing to do.” Mild insanity made itself known in the shadows of his eyes.
I yanked him close and then shoved him back from me, more than satisfied in the unsteady way he was on his feet. “Don’t underestimate me, Braddox. I might be from the trashy side of town, but that doesn’t mean you’re better than me. Got it?” I could feel his muscles under his shirt, but I had no doubt he got his from a gym while I earned every line and curve by turning wrenches, lifting wheels and tires, and walking my ass all over town. Not to mention the many times I’d had to prove what the last name O’Donnell really meant and usually I had to do that with my fists.
But I wasn’t going to hit my brother. Not yet anyway. And certainly not over some scratched paint or a girl he had more interest in than he wanted to admit to.
I pulled him closer to me, his shoulder straining against my hold. “I’m not going to tell you a damn thing. If you want information, you’re going to have to figure shit out for yourself. I’m not your damn gofer. And if I want to sleep with Olivia, I’ll sleep with her wherever and whenever I want.”
He didn’t even try to cover his flinch and then he closed his eyes. “Got it.”
I released him with a slight shove and turned toward my car. Donnie stood with his arms akimbo, ready to take me on at the slightest signal from Braddox. Something in my face must have told him to move or he’d have a helluva fight on his hands.
He stepped out of my way, moving to stand beside Braddox who watched me with his arms across his chest and his chin up.
I ignored the long scrape down the side of my ride. I could fix a paint scratch. That was nothing. If he did something else to the Chevy, it might be a lot harder to fix.
I climbed into the driver’s seat. Starting the car, I stared into Braddox’s eyes as I revved the supped-up engine. I don’t care how much money he had. He’d never be able to make his car sound like that.
He didn’t look away as I shifted into first and then second, peeling the rear-wheels out and spinning in a controlled donut on the wide drive. I narrowly missed a BMW and a shiny Escalade with the rear of my Chevy, but I whipped the wheel and straightened out as I tore away from the house.
My brother stared after me and I accepted his challenge to not look away as I watched him get smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror.
No matter what I did next, I had to make sure Braddox found out about it and it pissed him off. I needed to know who the mole was in my school and I had to get that taken care of.
I wasn’t completely convinced Olivia was innocent, but I had no idea why anyone would spread a rumor about themselves that would be as detrimental to her reputation as the one I’d started.
I drove toward Crenshaw’s and decided to keep low over the weekend. I didn’t need to do anything else to make Olivia’s stay at East Shores worse. Things were about to get intolerable for her. I didn’t envy how her days were going to start going as of Monday. Nothing I’d done to her so far was going to hold up like the rest was going to.
Chapter 9
Olivia
I couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t I breathe? Everyone looked at me like they found out I’d killed their best friend. I backed out of the room, walking quickly through the halls toward the stairs that led up – up – up. Donnie’s place was at least four stories, maybe six. I wasn’t sure.
I stumbled up the stairs, clutching at the railing. Shifting my gaze, I continued catching a new person’s eyes and it was like they had labeled me a traitorous whore. Who had started that rumor?
Of course, it all came back to Jaxon. Why wouldn’t it? The way he treated me was a sure-fire way not to get laid and yet there he’d claimed it?
To be fair, I couldn’t know for sure he’d been the one to start the rumor. My gut told me I wasn’t wrong.
“Whore.” A group of girls I’d once shared a lab table with pushed past me on the landing to the stairs.
I fell to the side, disoriented. What the hell was happening? Most of them would have killed for a chance to bang Braddox. Why would they hate a rumor about Jaxon? Could it be because Jaxon was East Shores?
But was he?
Was Jaxon truly East Shores when his brother was there at West? I needed to sit down and think things through, away from anyone who might be biased and try to alter my mindset.
I t
urned from the stairs. Where had Braddox disappeared to? He wouldn’t talk to me again now; I had no doubt. How could he believe that I’d slept with his brother?
Although, hadn’t I been pretty adamant that Braddox and I were broken up?
Goosebumps covered my scantily clad skin. I ducked into the nearest doorway, snapping the door shut behind me and gasping. How was it possible I’d gone from making plans with Brax to being ostracized by the entire party in less than twenty minutes?
A soft rose scent soothed me as my panting slowed and I breathed deeper. Looking around the bathroom, I furrowed my brow. The lights were on when I’d come in. There was an external powder area with a long marble counter with two sinks and a wall-length mirror. Another door opposite where I leaned against the panel behind me was shut and light glowed from beneath the bottom of the door.
Someone else was in there and I couldn’t get caught blocking the door like I was scared or something. I wasn’t scared. I just needed a break.
Pushing off the door, I moved over to lean on the counter with my hip. Turning on the water, I washed my hands over and over and over. The cool water soothed my mounting panic and I shook off the stress of what I’d escaped.
The door to the toilet room opened fast, revealing a thin blonde girl who wiped at her nose. She spied me and slowed down as she joined me at the double sinks. Her mesh sheath dress had material strategically placed to cover just the barest parts so she could wear the outfit outside legally, but barely.
I turned off the water and smiled tightly. I didn’t recognize her. Maybe she was the one Stephanie had mentioned. The one after Braddox. She would probably be the only one at the party who would thank me for sleeping with his brother.
My smile turned to a grimace and I wiped my hands on the plush towels hanging from the bar beside the door. I just wanted out of there.
Getting home without getting mauled by the West Shores crowd became my highest priority. Without talking to the strikingly beautiful girl, I darted from the bathroom.
I had to find Stephanie. She was my only way home unless I wanted to try to hitchhike – not impossible in the clothes I was wearing, but I would be expected to pay for the ride with my body.
Not ideal in Shores.
I was on the fifth level. Stephanie had mentioned something about being upstairs, but I couldn’t remember which floor or what room. There was too much going on for me to focus easily. And my heels were distracting more than anything.
I stopped, bracing my hand on the wall. Slipping my shoes from my feet, I sighed as my toes sank into the soft carpet. Hooking the straps with my fingers, I swung the shoes at my side.
My search began and I poked my head into each door I came to, checking the beds for Stephanie’s memorable hair and the shape of her shoulders. Each room was full with couples doing things I wouldn’t be able to get from my mind for a while. In a few of the rooms, there weren’t just two people. Maybe they hadn’t heard about the orgy in the basement.
Each time I opened the door, someone would yell or snap their eyes my way and glare. They all knew they were interrupted. Hopefully, though, they were too occupied to care who had bugged them. I muttered my apologies as I ducked back out of each room.
At the end of the hallway, I climbed the rear staircase to the next level, determined to find my friend before I attempted to go back downstairs.
Six more doors and more disgruntled pairings left me feeling discouraged. Maybe I wouldn’t find her. Maybe I’d have to walk home, hiding along the perimeter of the forest as I just tried to get back to the safety of the walls of my apartment.
How was it possible that I’d made it to the party in West Shores territory and yet an East Shores rumor had met me there?
I took a deep breath and gripped the handle of the seventh door. I closed my eyes and silently hoped that Stephanie was in that room. I wasn’t sure how many more I could handle.
When I pushed the door open, though, the bed was empty, sheets tossed here and there and a torn pillow lay on the ground. Bright red blood stained the bare bottom sheet on the mattress in a slight circle shape but not bigger than the size of my palm.
I stared at the bed; my hand frozen on the handle. What had I walked in on?
Sounds of water running from the in-suite bathroom broke through my fixation with the sheet. Had someone been hurt there? Usually blood meant pain. If someone had been raped, what were the chances that the rapist would still be there?
I held my breath, moving slowly across the room and peeking in through the crack beneath the door hinge.
A girl’s slim leg came into view from the shower. There was no guy there in that room. The soft sounds of sobbing carried quietly below the crash of water on tile.
I turned back to the door and closed it, locking the handle so no one else would walk in. The last thing this girl needed was another man coming into the room.
Knocking on the bathroom door, I stood beside the doorway to give whoever it was some privacy.
A soft gasp reached me and a timid, “Who is it?” gave away Stephanie’s identity.
I whipped around the side of the door; my eyes wide. “Steph, oh my word, what happened? Are you okay? What can I do?” I ignored her nakedness. Some things just didn’t matter in the whole scheme of things.
She sighed in relief and motioned toward the tray on the counter. “Can you get me some ice from the holder there, please?” She wrapped a towel around her body, securing the corner under her armpits. She leaned forward, over the counter, and angled her head this way and that. I grabbed the ice bucket and held it out for her, unsure why she needed ice or what exactly she was doing after the scene I’d just witnessed on the bed.
I spoke into the silence. “Are you okay? I mean… there’s blood. I thought you weren’t a virgin.” Was that insensitive to ask? I was a virgin. If there was that much blood, then, maybe I needed to stay a virgin for life. I could become a nun or something. Do something different with my life than bleed on some random white bed sheets.
Stephanie avoided my gaze, setting her jaw to the side as she took a washcloth in her hands and filled the center of the square with ice cubes. After she had a fistful of ice chunks, she twisted the corners of the cloth together and pressed the ice against her neck. “Don’t worry about it, Liv.”
I stepped closer, painfully aware I wasn’t welcome anywhere else in Shores. If she sent me away… I would have no one left. “You can’t tell me not to worry. Everything in there screams something to worry about. I can’t just let this go. Tell me what happened.” I swallowed and gripped the counter. “Were you… did someone rape you?”
Steph’s lips parted as she dragged a breath in and she lifted her chin, slowly lowering the ice on her neck.
Her long hair must have hid the marks on the side of her neck. She caught my gaze in the mirror, her eyes somber. “Don’t freak out. Ryan is… He’s being kind of a…” Her gaze flew past me toward the door and she pressed her swollen lips tight together.
I shook my head, waving my hand over my shoulder. “I locked the door. No one’s there.” No one but me. Nothing but the evidence that something had happened. I waited, outwardly patient while inside my stomach roiled with what I knew she was going to tell me.
She blinked and looked back at herself in the mirror. “He… He’s mad at me. I’m not sure what I did this time, but…” She shrugged and tossed me a sad smile. “I do a lot of wrong things.”
Where was the confident young woman I’d ridden to the party with?
My nostrils flared and stepped closer, setting my right hand on the counter, trying to control the shaking in my arms and legs.
She took a deep breath, pressing the cloth of ice to finger shaped bruises on her neck. “He choked me when I asked him to slow down. I mean, I walked in the room and the first thing he did was drop his pants and push me to my knees, you know? If I wanted dick for dinner, I would have ordered it.” Her attempt at levity fell like a block of ice between us.
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I nodded for her to go on, holding my face expressionless. I couldn’t let my horror come through. There I’d been worried about a stupid rumor when Stephanie had been assaulted.
She winced, moving the ice around her neck. “He didn’t like that I said no so he threw me on the bed, choking me from behind while he… well, I’ve done it with a lot of guys, but I’ve never had it in the ass.” She grimaced and I flinched.
No wonder she’d taken a shower. She pushed her hair behind her shoulder and I inhaled sharply at the sight of scrapes down her back. I reached out, grazing my fingers down her upper bicep until she allowed her gaze to meet mine. “Stephanie… You’re so much better than that.”
She shook her head, blinking back tears. “Nah, once you go that way, you can’t go back, you know? I’m just a girl. I don’t have any other value than the box between my legs.” Her smile reeked of bitterness and she dropped her towel to reach down. Pulling her clothes on, she winked at me as if she hadn’t just said that her vagina gave her value.
“Did you drink?” I folded my arms, turning with my hip still on the counter.
“No. I should have, but… nothing has changed at home, right?” She plastered a fake smile on her lips and shook her hair at the roots to give it more body.
“Stephanie, this isn’t okay. You’re so much more than just sex. Ryan… he’s a dick. You deserve more. Why are you still with him?” I couldn’t understand why someone as amazing as Stephanie allowed the types of things I glimpsed there in that room.
She tilted her head as she faced me. “Denise had an abortion last week. She’s the fifteenth in our class… this month.” She chewed on her lower lip. “I… I don’t want to do this by myself. I can’t… I don’t believe in abortion, so… I need to keep Ryan around, you know?”
She had to keep Ryan around because she was pregnant and she didn’t want to lose the baby or lose the dad? She was trying to tell me she was pregnant and feeling out what I thought.
Forsaken: A bully romance (An Academy Twin Rivalry Series Book 1) Page 8