Heart of Stone ~ Book 1

by Karmen Madison

  “Yeah it was good.”

  Until stone came along and ruined it!

  “That’s good. I’m glad you’re making friends sweetheart. I hate the thought of you being on your own. Aren’t you going out tonight?”

  “No. I’ve been out with Beth today. I’m going to have an early night.”

  “I think I’m going to head up too” she agrees through a yawn.

  “Do you want me to make you something to eat first?” I offer.

  “Thanks sweety but I’ll just grab something when I wake up. I’m exhausted.”

  “Okay” I nod and watch as she trudges to her room as if each step is a chore. I’m not far behind her, deciding to turn in early for the night and sleeping off the remainder of my hangover.

  ∞∞∞

  “Hey beautiful” Caleb says just as I bite into my sandwich at lunch the next day.

  “Um…hi” I reply slowly, holding my hand over my mouth. He sits and I look at him in deranged bewilderment. “Did you want something?”

  And why are you calling me beautiful?

  “Actually, I was wondering if you-” Before he finishes, he’s yanked from his seat by Stone, who drags him to their usual seat. I can’t hear what’s being said but Stone looks furious and Caleb’s holding his hands up defensively. Caleb says something and Stone drops his head into his hands leaving Caleb looking pretty damn smug.

  “Fine” Stone shouts as he stands up abruptly. “You’re right okay. Just drop it.”

  “I knew it!” Caleb punches the air triumphantly as Stone storms off, briefly glancing my way as he passes.

  “I wonder what that was about” Beth whispers.

  “I don’t know. They were both acting weird at the party as well.”

  “Weird how?”

  “Well, I think Caleb was flirting with me-”

  “Caleb flirts with everyone” Aaron points out.

  “Gee thanks for the confidence boost Aaron” I say, and he laughs. Not that I care if Caleb was or wasn’t flirting with me. I have zero interest in Caleb so his level of attraction to me is insignificant. “Anyway,” I continue, “Stone was way more obnoxious than usual. In fact he was so rude to me, I slapped him.”

  “You slapped Stone?” Beth gawks.

  “Yep” I say, popping the last letter.

  “Why am I only hearing about this now?”

  “I guess there wasn’t any reason to bring it up, but I think maybe you were right about staying away from him.”

  “I know.” She gives me an I-told-you-so look.

  “So, that’s the plan from now on.”

  “Come again?” Her expression has changed from I-told- you- so to are-you-fucking-kidding-me?

  “I won’t be going near him again or engaging in any sort of conversing or conflict.” She just looks at me like I told her I ate kittens for breakfast. “Beth?” I lower my voice feeling a little vulnerable.

  “Yeah?” I can tell by the change in her tone that she knows something is bothering me.

  “Am I ugly?” Aaron squirms in his seat and I know he thinks I’m asking because of his comment about Caleb but I’m not.

  “Ohmigod. Of course not” she says grabbing my hands. “You’re beautiful.” She looks at Aaron. “Isn’t she beautiful Aaron?” Aaron looks between us as if he’s not sure how to answer. He’s clearly trying to decide if it’s a trap. If he says yes will his girlfriend be mad at him for admitting another girl is attractive?

  Making a decision he looks at me and nods. “Yeah she’s hot” he says but I can hear he’s a little nervous about saying it.

  “See, and clearly Aaron has good taste because…well” she indicates to herself and Aaron and I laugh. “Is that what this is all about Dahlia? Did Stone say that?”

  “Well, not in those words no, but he did make a comment about ‘no one ever wanting to be with me because I don’t belong’.” It was impossible to hide the hurt from my voice and I could see Aaron was struggling to hide his feelings on the matter to because he was frowning and the muscle in his jaw was contracting.

  “Did he now? That’s it!” Beth jumps up and runs out of the cafeteria shouting his name. Aaron and I trail along, and several others follow.

  “Stone!” she yells when she sees him on the bleachers. “I want a word with you.”

  “Not now Beth” he says leaning back with his eyes closed like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

  “Yes now! What the hell did you say to dahlia?”

  “What are you talking about?” he asks sitting up to look at her.

  “You have seen her right?”

  “Unfortunately” he says, his eyes flicking to me.

  “Don’t give me that. Does it make you feel good to put girls down?” Beth is not backing down. This is the first time I’ve seen her like this and judging by Aarons expression it’s new to him too.

  “I repeat. What are you talking about?”

  “You remember her slapping you on Saturday, right?” His face changes as if he’s suddenly remembering what went down.

  Did he really forget?

  “Oh. Yeah, I remember.” He winces slightly but quickly schools his expression.

  “Do you remember why?” Beth asks through gritted teeth. He looks at me and I swear I see guilt flash in his eyes. He nods.

  “She gives as good as she gets though” he shrugs.

  “You’re lucky I don’t swing for you Stone. You know what I went through because of stuff like that. Why would you say that to her?”

  What she went through? What was that about? What ever it was it definitely made something shift in him.

  “You’re right. I shouldn’t have said that.” He climbs down from the bleachers and walks towards me. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. just stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Caleb chimes in. “You two are driving me crazy.” He scrubs his face with his hands in frustration before he flounces off as we watch.

  Stone looks back at me. “Deal?”

  “I can think of nothing better” I hiss back, and he walks away.

  I can actually think of nothing worse. As much as he irritates me and as much as his words hurt me on Saturday, I do kind of enjoy our back and forth each day.

  Something sinks in me and I don’t like it. Not one bit.

  “I saw that” Beth says as we stand alone on the bleachers.

  “Saw what?”

  “You don’t want to stay away from him, do you?” I look at her contemplating whether I should admit that she’s right. Instead, I give her a tight smile and hook my arm through hers.

  “Let’s just go.”

  Chapter Twelve — Devlin

  “Mixing with people is important in the big bad world. That’s why today I would like for you all to work with someone you don’t know. Someone outside of your usual circle of friends. I want you to spend some time getting to know one another. I will let you choose who to work with but it has to be someone you don’t really know.”

  I know exactly who I’m working with, but I don’t move. I just look at her and she knows I want her.

  “Absolutely not” she says, and I smirk back. I have some making up to do if I want to keep her in my life. Even if it is just as a sparring partner.

  I was out of line for what I said to her at the party and I didn’t mean a word of it. Bella already went down my throat for at it and now Beth. Beth shocked the hell out of me calling me out like that in front of everyone. Maybe the hellhound is rubbing off on her.

  As people start moving around to choose their partners Dahlia does too. She deliberately avoids looking at me as if that’s going to change the outcome. She thinks she has a choice. Everyone here knows that I’m working with her so they all pivot around and even when she approaches some of them, they quickly grab someone else before she reaches them. I smile triumphantly when she defeatedly drops into the seat beside me.

  “You could’ve saved yourself all that troubl
e and just came over here in the first place” I point out, but she’s not impressed.

  “I don’t want to work with you Stone.” She’s pouting and damn does she look hot as hell doing it.

  “This can be as painless as we want it to be” I say pointedly.

  “I’m already in pain from your close proximity.”

  “Aw, is resisting me really that bad?”

  “Urgh.” She fakes a gag and a few people turn to look in our direction but I’m just smiling in amusement. “Lets just get this over with. Why are you such an ass?”

  “Come on, be serious.”

  “I am. As a heart attack.”

  “Ask me something real.” I hate being asked personal questions but for some reason I have no problems with sharing who I really am with her.

  “Uh. Fine. What are your parents like?” she asks with very little enthusiasm.

  “My mom’s dead” I start, and her eyes soften as she straightens up slightly. “She was murdered when I was eight. My dad’s in prison.”

  “Ohmigod Stone that’s awful. I’m sorry.

  “Thank you. It was a long time ago.”

  “Why is your dad in prison?” she asks but it feels like there’s something deep making her ask.

  “Ah ah. My turn. Where did you com from?”

  “Well, my parents got married and had se-” I fix her with a glare. “Spring Acres.”

  “Really? So why move somewhere like this?”

  “I thought we were taking turns.”

  “You’re right. Go ahead.”

  “What did your dad do?”

  “Illegal shit” I deadpan.

  “Wow. I would never have figured that one out. Thanks for clearing that up. Why did you ask me who sent me? Is someone after you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who?”

  Okay so I guess were not doing the question for question thing now.

  “People my dad knew. They deal in drugs and weapons but they also run illegal underground fighting. They made a lot of money from me. They’re not exactly happy that I walked away.” She’s looking at me as if she’s trying to figure out if I’m serious. “What about your parents?” I ask trying to draw the attention away from me.

  “I live with my mom” she says but she doesn’t elaborate further.

  “Okay, and your dad, is he still around?”

  “He’s…in prison” she mumbles. She says it like she’s ashamed even though I just told her the same thing.

  “What did he do?” I ask, lifting my arm to run my fingers through my hair and she flinches. I look between her and my hand and I see it. “Ohmigod, he hurt you?” I hiss. I don’t even try to hide my anger. She’s looking everywhere but at me. “I’m right aren’t I?” She just twiddles her thumbs in her lap. “I’m so sorry dahlia” I whisper reaching for her hand, but she pulls it away.

  “I don’t need your pity Stone and I don’t want to talk about this” she mumbles and jumps up running out of the class.

  “Shit” I whisper “Shit!” I say again. Louder. I slam my hand on the desk and run after her. “Dahlia wait!” I don’t even care that everyone sees me chasing after a girl. Devlin Stone doesn’t chase girls. Usually. Today is different.

  “Stop Dahlia” I say gently, turning her to face me. “Listen to me.” I keep my voice low. I don’t want her thinking I’m a threat. I hold her chin between my thumb and forefinger, lifting her head so I can look in her eyes. I hadn’t realized before how green and vibrant they were. Only today they’re filled with pain. “He won’t hurt you again. I won’t let him.”

  She moves her face from my hand and looks at the ground. “What do you care Stone? You don’t even like me.”

  “Because no one deserves to be hurt like that Dahlia. Especially not by someone who’s supposed to take care of them” I explain.

  She bites down on her lip trying to stop it quivering but it doesn’t help, and I do something that has me questioning my own sanity. I hug her. Really hug her. She hugs me back and I can feel her tears soaking through onto my chest as she cries.

  “How long did he get?” I whisper as I hold her close. She smells like summer and I don’t think I want to let go. Ever.

  “Three years” she sniffs.

  “That’s it?”

  What sort of justice is that?

  “I know. It sucks.”

  She pulls away suddenly and she looks uncomfortable. Showing her vulnerability in front of me has clearly caught her off guard.

  “Listen. If anything happens you come find me okay but for now if it’ll make you feel more comfortable, you can walk away like this didn’t happen.” She swipes at her eyes and nods.

  “Go on then. I won’t tell anyone you cried.” I give a playful smile hoping to brighten her mood a little.

  “Thanks. I won’t tell anyone you have a heart. Or that you hugged me” she smiles back. I push her shoulder gently with my fist and she walks away.

  Chapter Thirteen — Dahlia

  He knows. Of all the people to tell and I tell him. But he wasn’t an ass about it. He was actually

  nice to me. He hugged me in fact. It was nice. I can still smell him on me and instead of annoying me like it should it’s actually helping.

  Jesus Dahlia get a grip. It’s Devlin Stone. You hate him.

  We agreed to pretend that our human moment in the hall didn’t happen. No one needs to be hearing about that. People did question why we left the class, but Stone told everyone we were arguing and that he followed me because he doesn’t like to lose. No one questioned him because they all know how we are with each other.

  I’m back home now and my mom’s been called in to work to cover a shift. I tried to talk her out of it because she’s exhausted, but she said we need all the extra money we can get. I’ve offered to get a part time job to help out, but she said I need to focus on school so that I can get out of this place.

  It’s difficult when you’re so used to living one way and it all changes. I suppose it’s difficult for anyone living below the breadline, but adapting is pretty tough too. I don’t miss my old life, I hated it. I do miss the financial security sometimes though and the fact that my mom barley gets to sleep now is one of the downsides to our new life. We didn’t have to worry about any of that before.

  My dad was a lawyer and he made pretty decent money. We lived in his family home so there was no mortgage. Mom didn’t work then but that was basically because my dad was controlling and didn’t want her around other men.

  When he went to prison, we lost his income. We lived on our savings for a while but eventually we had to sell the house. My mom had to go to visit my dad in prison to convince him to sign the papers for the sale. He wasn’t happy about it but what else could we do.

  My dad was in a lot of debt too, so the sale paid that off leaving us with just enough to buy this crappy apartment and still I prefer it to where we were before. It’s dingy and it smells a little funky but there are no bad memories here. These walls represent freedom and new beginnings.

  I’ve decided to try and take some of the pressure off my mom so I’ve spent the evening finishing unpacking the rest of the things around the house, rearranging furniture and making this place feel as close to home as it can get. It needs a fresh coat of paint, but I’ve done my best. It’s one less thing for my mom to worry about.

  I’ve also made dinner because I’m worried, she’s not eating right and I’m going to make sure I prepare her at least one decent meal a day from now on. She works too damn hard to do it on an empty stomach. She deserves to be taken care of.

  I wait up until my mom’s home and I bring her a plate of lasagna. She cries. She actually cries over a pasta dish.

  “Hey, why are you crying?” I ask rubbing circles on her back.

  “I’m so sorry Dahlia” she sobs.

  “What for?” I ask confused.

  “For letting him hurt you” she sniffs.

  “Mom stop that right now. I won’t play the
blame game. There’s only one person responsible for what he did, and he’s gone now.” She nods and wipes the tears from her eyes then looks down at the plate in her hand.

  “You cooked for me?”

  “You do everything for me mom. The least I can do is make you dinner.”

  “Thank you sweety. Aren’t you eating?”

  “I already ate” I say shaking my head. “I’m going to head to bed.”

  “Hey, you unpacked too” she says in surprise as she looks around at the filled units and shelves.

  “Oh. Yeah. That’s partly why I’m so tired.”

  “Thank you sweety. Go get some sleep.”

  “Goodnight mom” I say kissing her cheek.

  “Goodnight Dahlia.”

  ∞∞∞

  “Hello D” my dad says with a vicious grin. “Did you miss me princess?”

  “What the hell are you doing in my room?” I ask, unable to control the shake in my voice.

  “Is that anyway to greet your dear old dad?”

  “How did you get in here?” He takes a step towards me and I try to back away but my back hits the wall behind me. I look around in panic trying to look for an escape.

  “You know that place you had me sent to wasn’t very welcoming” he snarls as if I give a damn about his welfare.

  “Good” I grit out.

  He reaches for the buckle of his belt and I swallow hard, the scars on my back itching. He sneers at me as he pulls the leather free of the belt loops and folds the belt in two the way he always used to do, and he lunges at me.

  I jump up gasping for air, my sheets soaked with sweat and my hair clinging to my forehead. I look around the room panting, checking that there’s no one hiding in the darkness.

  I wish I didn’t go to bed. My home may not be filled with memories, but my head is. My dreams are.

  I jump out of bed and head to the bathroom. I strip away my damp pajamas and switch on the shower. I scan my reflection as I wait for the water to heat up, the scars on my back look red and angry as if my dream has irritated them. Tears roll down my cheeks and my stomach lurches.