“Maybe you can move her in slowly,” Deke suggested. “You know, like you have her spend the night so many times, she just kind of never goes home.”
It wasn’t a bad idea even though it reeked of manipulation, but, fuck, I had limited choices here. I could always just ask Roselyn to move in with me, but if she said no, then I was fucked. “I’ll have to think about it,” I replied. “Maybe a last resort thing or something.”
Deke chuckled. “Man, I don’t envy you or Ram,” he joked. “The last thing I fucking need is girl problems, that’s for sure.”
I had to laugh at that because Deke was right. I wouldn’t say he was as bad as Ramsey, but if the day ever came where Deke fell in love, that girl was in for a hell of a ride. Where Ramsey had no problem telling someone what he was thinking, Deke’s poker face was damn near permanent. Communication between then would be a motherfucker.
“Agreed,” I laughed.
We finally turned back to face the front of the classroom and try to learn a thing or two, but I was pretty confident in saying that neither of us could concentrate worth a damn. It wasn’t that I thought Greene might actually do something to Roselyn anymore, but I couldn’t rid myself of that conversation the night of the party no matter how badly I wanted to.
Brandon condoned rape, and a sleeping rat is still a rat.
After the bell rang to dismiss us from class, Deke and I met Ramsey by our lockers like we always did. I didn’t see Emerson around, so that could only mean she was with Roselyn at her locker. Now that I thought about it, I was going to have to see about getting Roselyn’s locker switched near ours. I was also going to have to apologize to Ramsey for all the times I thought the dude was fucked in the head for not wanting Emerson out of his sight. Now that Roselyn and I were officially dating, I was beginning to understand his madness.
“Where are the girls?” I asked as I stopped in front of my locker to switch out books.
“At Roselyn’s locker,” Ramsey grunted.
“I had another talk with Greene,” I told him.
He arched a brow. “Really? What did he say?”
I gave him the quick rundown that I had given Deke because I didn’t want the girls walking in on the conversation. Roselyn was already in her feelings. She didn’t need to hear that I threatened Brandon again. “Deke thinks I should move her in all stealth-like,” I said, finishing off my story.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Ramsey replied.
“It’s a fan-fucking-tastic idea,” Deke chimed in.
“I’ll do it as a last resort, but I think I’m going to just ask her and hope for the best,” I said, confessing my plan.
Ramsey cocked his head in thought. “If you want her in your bed every night, I get that,” he said. “But, honestly, I don’t think Brandon Greene is suicidal. An idiot, sure. But stupid enough to piss you off Lee? I don’t think so.”
All conversation stopped when we heard female laughter coming from down the hallway. Ramsey immediately turned around because he would know that laugh dead in his coffin, six feet under.
We all turned to watch Emerson and Roselyn make their way towards us and it was a beautiful sight to be sure. My heart swelled and, suddenly, Deke’s idea didn’t seem so bad.
I’d kill Brandon Greene if he ever hurt Roselyn.
Chapter 19
Roselyn~
After a lot of arguing, I convinced Liam to let me go home for some alone time. I resorted to playing the guilt card and told him I just really needed to process what he had told me about Brandon, and I needed to get a grip on all that happened today.
And it wasn’t a complete lie.
Finding out about Brandon had been shocking and devastating. This was a huge secret I’d be keeping from my mother if I didn’t tell her, but how do I tell her? My mother wasn’t like the parents of Sands Cove. She really loved me and was my mother. If I told her what Brandon had done, she’d leave Joseph, I just knew it. And if she didn’t, Joseph would have to be put in the position of choosing his wife and stepdaughter over his own son. Is that how I repay him for making my mother happy?
I looked around my room and I wondered if I even wanted to live here anymore. This place never felt like home to me, but now it felt worse. It felt like one of those escape room games. I felt trapped. I felt like I needed to figure out what was going on so I could get out and catch my breath.
There was also coming to terms with everything Liam and Deke dished out earlier today. All this time, I had been behaving as if they placed a slut nametag on my shirt, and have just been having a field day with me, but talk about a different point of view.
Thinking back on the past year, I couldn’t come up with one single time where they hadn’t been anything but generous with my needs and desires. Even when they would talk dirty to me, it was all part of the turn on; the atmosphere. Now that I thought about it, I was pretty sure they never even spoke to one another when we were all together. It was always asking me what I wanted. Asking me if I liked what they were doing to me. All the talk revolved around what got me off, not what got them off. They talked to me as if the other person wasn’t in bed with us. It’s always been about me just like they said.
Liam’s words kept reverberating in my head. He had been with me because he liked me and Deke had been with me because he was attracted to me, and there was a difference. Could it really be that simple?
I didn’t have time to dwell on it longer because, as soon as I heard the footstep on the second story landing, I ran out of my room to confront Brandon.
I’d always known I was going to say something to him even if I wasn’t sure if I was going to say anything to my mom. I wanted Brandon to know that I knew. I wanted to look into his face as I told him so I could see what lurked behind those brown eyes of his.
I came flying around the corner and stopped short of his room door, and the second he saw me, he stopped walking.
He knew.
And he knew I knew.
Brandon didn’t say anything as I stepped forward, closing the gap between us in the hallway. When I finally stopped in front of him, I could see him draw in a deep breath.
There were so many words fighting in my mind to get out, but I didn’t know where to start. I wanted to cuss him out for the rage. I wanted to cry at him for the hurt, because, yeah, my feelings were hurt. I knew he didn’t like me, but how could he live with me for two years and still not see me as a person who was trying to adjust to a life beyond her control just like he was? I wanted to kick the shit out of him for the violation I felt at knowing what he allowed to almost happen. If it hadn’t been for Liam and Deke, who knows what would have happened that night.
“I know it’s true,” I told him, settling on the plain truth of the matter. “I know…I know it’s true, but I just want to hear it from your mouth.”
Brandon’s brown eyes stared straight into my blue ones as he said, “It’s true. Jack Carl told me he was into you and wanted me to do him a favor and set you guys up. Instead, I told him to just go up to your room and help himself.”
I stood there as his words ping-ponged around in my chest.
It hurt.
It hurt to hear him confirm it and that was odd because I had already known the truth of the situation, Brandon confirming it should not have hurt at all. I didn’t even like the asshole, so why did it hurt?
“Then what?” I asked. “You would have just stayed downstairs enjoying your party while your friends were upstairs raping me?”
Brandon callously shrugged a shoulder and the bottom of my stomach dropped at his casualness. “You’re not my problem. You weren’t then and you’re not now,” he replied cruelly.
“Jesus Christ,” I breathed out. “Are you serious? Rape, Brandon? Rape?”
His lip curled, and he looked every bit the monster who would plan such a thing. “I guess the joke’s on me though, huh?” he snarled. “You’re fucking Liam McCellan and now you’re untouchable.” I reared back at the hate lining e
very word. Brandon really did hate me. “Not only are you best friends with Emerson Andrews, but now you’re Liam McCellan’s girlfriend, turning you into one of them.”
“One of them?”
“Yeah,” he scoffed, “one of them. Even if I wanted to make you pay for what you did, I couldn’t, could I? Not without feeling the wrath of Liam McCellan, never mind, Emerson.”
His words were registering, but they weren’t making any sense. “Make me pay for what I did? What did I do, Brandon?” I yelled. “What did I ever do to you?”
“If it wasn’t for you and your whore of a mother, my parents might be together right now,” he yelled back. “And now that’s over because my father married your mother!”
Holy Christ.
This boy was out of his mind.
“Exactly, Brandon,” I snapped. “Your father married my mother. It was your father who asked my mother to marry him, not the other way around. If you want to lay blame for your misery, this is your father’s fault for pursuing my mother. He’s the one who courted her. He’s the one who proposed. If you want to set someone up to be raped, it should be him, don’t you think?”
“If your mother hadn’t opened her legs up to him, maybe-”
I could put up with a lot but talking shit about my mother wasn’t one of them. “If your mother hadn’t opened up her legs to a fatter bank account-”
Brandon had his hands wrapped around my arms with my back slammed up against the wall before I could finish my sentence. “Say one more thing about my mother and I won’t care who your fucking boyfriend is,” he warned.
I glared up at him, outrage making me brave. “Say one more thing about my mother and I won’t rest until Liam, Emerson, Deke, and Ramsey Reed have all had a piece of you, Brandon,” I threatened. I knew for a fact that Liam, Deke, and Emerson would come out all guns a’blazing. And, while Ramsey and I weren’t close, there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for Emerson, so he’d back her play no matter what. “My mother is not the villain here.”
Brandon let go of my arms and stepped back. He looked like he wanted to hit me, but life would cease to exist as he knew it if he did. Hell, he’s lucky if Liam lets him live after slamming me up against the wall. That was another thing I was going to have to contemplate confessing. If I told Liam Brandon put his hands on me, Liam would end him.
Brandon looked me up and down in disgust and said, “We only have a few more months left before we never have to see each other again. Just…just stay the fuck out of my way, Roselyn, and I’ll stay out of yours.”
“And how do you propose we do that when we’re supposed to fly out on Friday for a wonderful, love-filled, family weekend together?” I snarled.
“After this weekend,” he amended. “After this weekend we stay the fuck away from each other.”
I stared at this boy who was my relative on paper and wondered how he could have turned out this way when Joseph didn’t seem that bad. Maybe this was all his mother’s influence, I didn’t know. But I knew I needed to stay away from him, and not because he was a danger to me. I needed to stay away from him because Liam was a danger to him.
“Maybe you just stay at Tiffany’s and I’ll start staying at Liam’s,” I quietly agreed.
He gave me a small nod. “Maybe,” he said reluctantly. He didn’t like being told what to do. At least, not by me.
I turned from him and headed back towards my room. Halfway down the hallway, he said, “You’ll never fit in with them, Roselyn. You know that, right?” I straightened my back and kept on walking.
Of course, I knew that.
There was no one like them. They were only 18-years-old and held the power of men twice their ages. And it wasn’t the money and power that made them commanding, it was them. They carried the souls of ancient rulers and warriors. There was nothing Millennial about Ramsey, Emerson, Deke, or Liam.
I didn’t possess that kind of confidence. I could be strong. I could be brave. I could even be aggressive. But I didn’t possess their…control, their fearlessness.
What they had within them, they were born with.
Chapter 20
Liam~
I was going to fucking kill her.
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve wanted to strangle the life out of Roselyn in the past two weeks, but this time was some serious shit.
Roselyn convinced me to let her go home alone yesterday to ‘decompress’, whatever the fuck that meant, and I did. I did it because I was trying to be a good goddamn boyfriend.
But then what does she do?
She fucking flies out this morning to go see her mother!
When she hadn’t shown up to our parking lot spot this morning, I had texted her only to have her text me back saying she forgot to tell me her mother had booked her an earlier flight. She claimed her mother called her late last night saying she couldn’t wait until Friday to see her, so she changed Roselyn’s flight to this morning.
And I was fucking pissed.
When I had hit up Emerson, she said Roselyn hadn’t told her anything either. That made it seem like a legit last-minute thing, but I was still pissed. Even the text she sent me that Brandon was still scheduled to fly out tomorrow hadn’t been enough to cool the edges of my anger. She was still going to be out of town with the fucker. I didn’t care that they were with their parents. I didn’t care about anything other than the lack of control I felt because Roselyn wasn’t near me. She wasn’t close enough to me to control her safety.
No wonder Ramsey was fucking crazy.
“I’m going to fucking kill her,” I spewed while we were all sitting down for lunch.
“Come on, Liam,” Emerson said softly. “She just misses her mother.”
I shot a look at Ramsey and the look on his face said it all.
He’s never told her.
I looked back at Emerson and debated telling her what the heart of the problem was. If Roselyn hasn’t told her, would I be betraying her trust? “Have you talked to her at all since yesterday?”
Emerson shook her head. “Uh, no,” she murmured. “Ramsey and I were…busy all day yesterday.” Deke snorted, and I laughed.
Enough said.
Emerson didn’t know, not because Roselyn didn’t want her to know, but because Ramsey takes as much of Emerson as he can get when he can get her. “I don’t trust her around Brandon,” I told her.
Emerson scoffed. “Of course, you don’t. Who does?” she snickered. “He’s an asshole.”
I glanced over at Ramsey again, and he gave me a tiny nod, letting me know it was okay to tell Emerson. Now, while this was Roselyn’s business, Ramsey was letting me know that he’ll control Emerson’s reaction.
I looked back at Emerson and asked, “What all do you know about…uh, our relationship with Roselyn?”
Emerson arched a brow at the delicate way I was phrasing it. “Everything, I think,” she replied. “We had a girls’ night awhile back after Ramsey quit being a dick and she told me everything.” I saw Ramsey reach out and circle his hand around the back of Emerson’s neck. But, instead, of choking her to death, I saw his thumb rub up and down the column of her neck. I knew it was his way of quietly apologizing to her again. “She also told me about your fight yesterday and that you guys are officially dating now.”
“There are a few layers to the story that we peeled back yesterday,” I told her. I watched her silver eyes narrow and I could tell she was ready to fly across the table and murder me if she needed to. “Calm your rage, crazy girl,” I joked. “Or…at least, direct it accordingly after I tell you.”
Emerson’s body shifted so she was sitting closer to Ramsey and the action was telling. These two knew they were unstable as fuck, and I didn’t know if they gravitated towards each other to find peace or if they gravitated towards each other to fuel their fanatic fire.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Well, it goes like this…” Deke chimed in, and so, we told her. We told her about that first nigh
t. We told her about Brandon and the conversation he had with his friends. We told her everything.
Everyone was quiet for a few seconds before Emerson said, “She told me everything except for the part about Brandon.”
“I’m sure there’s a reason-”
Emerson rolled her eyes. “Of course, there’s a reason she didn’t tell me,” she said interrupting me. “Roselyn’s my best friend, Liam. If she didn’t tell me, it’s probably because she needed to process everything and figure out what she wants to do about him.” Emerson smirked. “She has to know there’s no way she could tell me something like that without me losing my shit.”
“So, why aren’t you losing your shit now?” Deke asked.
She looked over at him. “How do you know I’m not?” she questioned.
Deke laughed. “Because you’re not ordering Ramsey to kill him.”
Emerson narrowed her eyes at him. “The only reason Brandon Greene isn’t dead right now is because it’s not my place until Roselyn makes it my place,” she explained. “I know Roselyn well enough to know that she doesn’t give a shit about Brandon. Right now, she’s thinking of her mother and her mother’s marriage to Brandon’s father. Roselyn’s weighing what she knows against what it will affect if the truth comes out.” She leaned farther in eyeing both me and Deke. “But make no mistake, gentlemen. If Roselyn ever wants to do something about that asshole, I won’t need any of you to make that sonofabitch pay.” And, instead of talking her down, Ramsey leaned over and place a kiss on the side of her head.
What a fucking couple.
I glanced over at Deke and he looked like a goddamn proud papa. “Down girl,” he chuckled. “We can’t have you going to prison.”
She dropped back and leaned into Ramsey. “Then make sure that motherfucker never messes with her again,” she retorted.
I winked at her. “I’m on it, Em,” I assured her.
All at once, our phones chimed, and as I looked down, I saw it was a group text from Roselyn. I swiped my phone open, and the text was letting us all know that she got to Florida fine and she would text again when she got to her mother’s.
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