Forsaken: A bully romance (An Academy Twin Rivalry Series Book 1)

by Taylor Blaine

  I wasn’t sure I knew what to talk about with him, to be honest. My quandary was just beginning. I nodded as I climbed from his car and followed him inside.

  He led me to a guest room a couple doors down from his room and waited until I went inside. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he watched my door to make sure I didn’t leave.

  I walked inside the elegantly furnished room and climbed onto the settee by the window and watched the night sky over the ocean.

  I’d been prepared to leave Braddox behind when we’d moved. A change was a good thing. Or was supposed to be. Then, meeting Jaxon and feeling the fire he stirred inside me, I’d been even more determined to figure things out on my own.

  But that night… the other night at the party? The chance that I was going to lose Braddox for good because of a rumor had left me reeling. And tonight, with the way I’d responded to him and he hadn’t taken advantage of me or the situation but had rather taken care of me, convinced me I’d been too rash breaking things off with him when everything else around me had fallen apart. Maybe I could have relied on Braddox when my dad died. Maybe I could have gotten closer to Braddox rather than separating myself from him.

  I waited about twenty minutes, determined not to be at Braddox’s place when he got up in the morning. My mom would be worried, for starters, but I also didn’t want to get into the relationship discussion with Braddox when I had no idea what I was feeling or what I wanted.

  I crept to the door of the room he’d left me in and slowly opened it, peeking into the dark hallway. No evidence of anyone waiting for me. I shut the door behind me, leaving the light on like someone was inside.

  Tiptoeing down the hall toward the stairs, I glanced repeatedly in the direction of his room. I probably should have been watching where I was going. I slammed into another body and we both fell backwards with an oomph.

  I clutched a hand to my chest, gasping sharply. Who was walking around in the O’Donnell house that late at night? Was it Braddox and he’d found me before I could get out? I didn’t need any more exposure to his sexual tension. I needed sleep and time to think about what everything meant.

  “Olivia?” My mom’s voice broke through the darkness.

  I blinked, dropping my hand and leaning forward as I braced myself with my arms. “Mom? What are you doing here?”

  “Um… ahem.” She rolled to all fours and then stood, brushing her clothes off – the same clothes I saw her wearing earlier. “No. The question is what are you doing here on a school night?”

  I stared up at my mom with her hair tousled and her lipstick smeared. The more my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, the more I could see what was out of place with her presence. I slowly stood, pushing the hem of my skirt back down my legs.

  After a minute of just staring at each other, I shook my head and brushed past her. If she wasn’t going to give me an answer as to what she was doing there that late at night, I wasn’t going to answer her query.

  I reached the stairs before she caught up to me. She grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I yanked from her grasp and spun to face her.

  “What are you doing here? You can’t just walk away from me. You owe me more respect than that.” She thrust her hands on her hips, her jaw jutted to the side and her eyes sparking.

  Any other night, any other time, I might be cowed somewhat by the fact that she was making demands and I was out past my curfew and all of that stuff. But right then, that night…

  I didn’t care.

  She was being a hypocrite and demanding respect when she was acting anything but respectable.

  “Interesting that you’re demanding that from me, Mother, when you’re creeping around your boss’s house like a whore in the night.” I folded my arms and narrowed my eyes. Yep, I’d just called her a whore. What was she going to do about it?

  Crack.

  My head whipped to the side. I could feel the imprint of my mother’s fingers in the side of my cheek. I reached up, gently cradling my face in my hand and turning back to stare at Mom.

  She lifted her chin, balling her hands into fists at her sides. “I’ve never done anything to deserve that kind of disrespect. You will apologize or you won’t be welcome in my house.”

  We stared at each other, both of us resolute. I could have said I was sorry.

  I should have said I was sorry, but with everything else going on, if Mom was doing more with O’Donnell than just working for him, then wasn’t she in a way selling out?

  Was I?

  I took a deep breath and before I could change my mind or put a stop to it, I replied with, “Then I guess I don’t live with you.” Where was I going to go? What was I going to do?

  More than mild panic flooded me. Those thoughts and more plagued me as I turned and descended the stairs, ignoring my mom’s tortured whisperings of my name behind me. No. She’d said it. She was going to have to stick to it.

  Unless I apologized, I wasn’t going to be living with her.

  How in the hell had my life gone from rich and easy with both parents alive and the hardest thing for me to worry about included what clothes I was wearing to the next party to… this?

  My dad was gone. I didn’t fit in with either academy. I was torn between twin brothers who both made me melt in different ways. And my mom had changed so much, that even our relationship was strained.

  How had all of that happened in a short three to four months?

  No matter what, I had to figure out what I was going to do.

  Because I couldn’t stay at Braddox’s. I couldn’t stay at my house. I had nowhere to go.

  Did I even dare call Stephanie? What if she hadn’t made it home? I reached down for my purse and then closed my eyes for a brief moment. I didn’t have my phone or my purse. I had no idea where they were or how I would get them back.

  My night had gone from exciting and new to dangerous and now regretful.

  I slipped out the front door. I didn’t have any other option. I needed to get to Stephanie’s house. I hoped she was home. As I walked, I wrapped my arms around my chest and looked around at the eerily quiet road bordered in trees and well-maintained bushes.

  A car’s engine revved behind me and I jumped, spinning to find headlights slowing beside me and then speeding off toward Braddox’s house. The dark sedan disappeared around the corner.

  I took a deep breath, turning back the way I was headed. I didn’t need to over-think anything, but the sensation along my spine was similar to the way I’d felt when that guy had almost raped me in the pool house. I could feel eyes on me, I just couldn’t see them. I couldn’t place them.

  When I couldn’t see my surroundings clearly, it left me wondering just how much I was actually missing.

  I straightened my shoulders. It didn’t matter. It couldn’t. I had to get to Stephanie’s. I wasn’t sure what the hell was wrong with my mom but she wasn’t the only one faced with difficulties. I tamped down my inner voice declaring that I wasn’t the only one having problems either.

  Mom needed money. I knew this. How many times had I walked in on her crying in the bathroom as she’d sat on the edge of the bathtub staring at a bill in her hand? How many times had I eaten something – anything even as simple as ramen – and watched her drink water? In the three months since we’d had our lives turned upside down, how many times had we been faced with the abject loss of our livelihood and an important person in our lives?

  Too many to count.

  I’m not sure how long I walked. Placing one foot in front of the other and I found myself in familiar territory. I’d never walked from Braddox’s home to mine, but there was my old house. The windows were dark like the occupants slept without problems while I looked on longingly.

  I slowed my pace as I walked past the gated front, trailing my fingers along the wrought iron fencing. I stopped by the mailbox and sighed. They hadn’t taken our last name down from the side of the mailbox. Stabler was emblazoned in gold lettering on the box. Well, that had
been my dad’s last name. He’d wanted his name on the house and the mailboxes and some other things that he could claim as his since he said he lost a huge part of his masculinity to the Ramirez tradition of passing along the family name from the Ramirez line. It was a heritage thing.

  He had always laughed when he’d said it, but I think secretly he was hurt that I had the Ramirez last name and didn’t have his.

  Not like it was my choice. I used the name that was on my birth certificate. It had nothing to do with me or what I wanted.

  Right then, as I was filled with inconsolable anger toward my mother, I wished I’d taken his name. I had nothing else to tie me to him.

  No other evidence that I’d been loved by a father. All I had was the last name of my mother. I appeared and felt like I was the product of a single parent household when I wasn’t. I’d had a dad who loved me. My mom had been loved by her husband.

  I furrowed my brow as my fingers slid over the raised lettering of the box. My dad had used stickers, preferring to emblazon his name on the box the old-fashioned way.

  This mailbox was professionally marked with the last name. Which meant the people who currently lived there were using the Stabler name themselves. But for what?

  Why would they use my dad’s name when we didn’t own the house anymore?

  The late night, the alcohol and the emotional crap I was putting myself through all combined and brought tears to my eyes. I blinked again, rubbing my knuckles under my eyes to remove the moisture gathering there.

  If I’d reached my old house, then Stephanie’s wasn’t much further. We’d been neighbors, often running to each other’s homes when we were bored – her more often than me.

  I could make it. I just had to do it before anyone else drove by and gave me a mild heart attack.

  I ignored the creepy sound of the rocks on the road scratching the blacktop under my feet.

  Where could my purse have been? Did I leave it at the strip club? Maybe in Steph’s car? Or what if Braddox had grabbed it for me? I’d have to face him eventually, but he wouldn’t be able to get ahold of me, since I didn’t have my phone.

  Maybe he’d come and find me. Maybe he’d search for me to give it back, using that excuse to finish the conversation that we needed to have. There were so many maybes it made my head spin.

  I passed the end of the thick brushy fence, moving to the gate and the external phone you could use to get ahold of the household.

  Stephanie’s room number was thirteen. She’d always laughed when telling people, saying it was either good luck or bad.

  I picked up the phone and dialed thirteen.

  Stephanie answered, not sounding groggy or awake, but more in between.

  “Girl, buzz me in. I’m freezing.” I laughed so she’d know it was me and that everything was okay.

  “Oh! Liv!” The gate buzzed and I hung up the phone, striding through the opening that appeared.

  While the gate opened wide enough to let a delivery truck through, I’d already made it hallway up her drive by the time it closed. I didn’t need to monitor their security. Her family had that covered.

  I rushed in her house, comfortable enough not to knock and to know my way around.

  We’d never defined ourselves as best -friends – we weren’t those type of girls, but if I had a close friend, I would say Stephanie filled the role.

  The warmth of the home was in the temperature, not in the way it was decorated or furnished. Stephanie’s mother decorated when she was drunk and most of the time we couldn’t decide if something was a table, a chair, or a piece of art. Her purchases were that confusing.

  I climbed the stairs to Stephanie’s room and pushed it open. Shutting it behind me, I walked inside the large suite that had to be the same size as my mom’s entire apartment.

  Stephanie came out of the closet, a silky robe covering her nakedness. “Hey, wench, uh, oh. What’s wrong? How’d you get here?” She narrowed her eyes as she studied me closely.

  I shook my head. I would be okay there. The relief left me emotionally unguarded and I pressed my lips together and looked toward the ceiling as I gathered my control.

  To no avail. Large tears escaped my eyes and rolled down my cheeks as if they too couldn’t handle the turmoil raging inside my body.

  Stephanie moved across the short distance between us. She reached out, wrapping her arms around my back for a tight hug. “Sh. It’s okay. I’m not sure what it is, but we can deal with it in the morning.”

  For the first time I had to admit, Stephanie would probably make a really good mom one day. No matter how shitfaced her own mother was.

  I sniffed and nodded, pulling away. “Thanks. Too much to really go into right now. Did I wake you?”

  “Nope. I was just heading down for ice cream. I’m obviously not going to school tomorrow. I don’t feel like dealing with life outside of treats and reality TV.” She winked at me and motioned toward her closet. “I’ll give you two minutes to grab some jammies and change. We have Rocky Road and Cookies’n’Cream. Ice cream waits for no whores.” She laughed and spun, arching her eyebrow in a challenge.

  I didn’t need another nudge. Ice cream was exactly what I needed and Stephanie had the best flavors calling my name.

  “Deal.” I didn’t even wait to get in the closet to start taking off my clothes. I wanted ice cream. Maybe the thoughts of Jaxon, Braddox, and my mother would get out of my head.

  Why were the O’Donnell men causing so many problems for the Ramirez women?

  I’d have to deal with that after ice cream and sleep helped me get my head on straight.

  Chapter 15

  Jaxon

  Mom and Norman left for the local dive bar over two hours ago and they wouldn’t be back probably for a week.

  I didn’t dare leave the complex. Olivia was gone and I made what had to be my fiftieth trip down to her apartment to see if she’d gotten home. One in the morning and she still wasn’t back and neither was her mother.

  I should have followed her. I should have approached her instead of just watching her, craving her. Our little session in the mechanical room stuck with me. I couldn’t help feeling like some kind of truce had been reached between us without any words.

  She’d stood there in that dress that covered more skin than it didn’t and left my mouth dry. Her modesty left my mind to imagine and that only made things harder – double meaning definitely intended – than I was comfortable with.

  Had she gone to another party at WSA? I sent a text out to some friends for more information, but they came back with no parties and no word on anything West Shores might be up to. Nothing was going on. Nothing.

  Not within Shores’ borders.

  Had she gone outside of town? Maybe she was just hanging out with her friend. Maybe she was meeting Braddox. The more time that passed, the more paranoid and worried I became.

  I’d hoped she’d taken my nod for what it was – an invitation for more, a welcome desire for time together without the animosity and fury.

  I had to accept the fact that I wanted her. I wanted her more than I didn’t. The fact that Braddox wanted her, only left me feeling like I had a higher chance of losing her. Braddox was everything I wasn’t and I had no doubt he’d use everything in his arsenal to get her to choose him.

  She didn’t even know I was a contender. She had no idea that I was willing to chase the heat between us. I was willing. I wanted more with her. At least to see where it could go.

  The next morning, I couldn’t help rushing to school. Even after checking her still empty apartment.

  Sitting at my desk, I maintained my nonchalance, jerking my chin up toward Thomas when he walked in. Shifting my gaze repeatedly at the door when someone new walked in, I gritted my teeth at the arrival of the teacher and the bell ringing.

  She wasn’t there. She didn’t show up for any of her classes. At the end of the day, I drove back to the apartments, checking in her windows and finding nothing had changed.


  She wasn’t home.

  Maybe I should text her. Maybe I needed to take that step.

  I made some calls and got her number from a kid who owed me a favor in my biology class. Sitting on the steps outside my apartment, I took a deep breath and texted her.

  We need to talk. Call me when you get a chance.

  I didn’t need to say it was me. She’d know. She had to know. It wasn’t like she was the type of girl to run around creating complicated relationships with multiple guys.

  No. As far as I was aware, she only had a complicated relationship with me… and my brother.

  All I had to do was wait for her reply. That might prove to be harder than waiting for her to get back home.

  ~~~

  Braddox

  I turned Olivia’s phone over and over in my hands. A girl’s phone was vital. Even more important than her purse. Both of which I had. I must have subconsciously grabbed it on our way out of the strip club. I forgot I’d thrown it in the back.

  Now I had it. She had no idea where it was which I guess was fair considering she’d snuck out of my place before we could talk.

  I had no idea where she’d gone.

  She could be with Jaxon for all I knew. That possibility sat in my gut like a lump of coal. I couldn’t picture them together and yet, every time I pictured her with me, I couldn’t help seeing Jaxson with her at the same time.

  Being a twin had definite drawbacks.

  I’d already been through her texts. I never claimed to be a saint, so searching through her conversations was not a big deal to me.

  A thread marked with Stephanie – probably Stephanie Vassar from WSA – made me raise my eyebrows. So, Stephanie was pregnant and the douchebag not taking care of her was Ryan Beetham. I’d have to take care of him and make sure he stepped up to his mistakes. Dropping the ball in my neck of Shores wasn’t acceptable.