Heart of Stone ~ Book 1

by Karmen Madison

  It wasn’t. I have no idea why I kissed her, but I do know it definitely wasn’t for show.

  “Oh, right” she says, and I swear I’ve hurt her, but she quickly schools her expression. “Well that’s good. I’m glad we cleared that up. Don’t be trying for a repeat performance because I damn near had to bleach my mouth out after that.”

  Ouch!

  I deserve that. I can’t let her know it bothers me though since I told her it meant nothing to me first.

  She marches off without another word and I let out a breath I didn’t realized I’d been holding. I have no idea where we go from here or if we’re okay, but I do know I hate myself for making her worry.

  “What the hell was that?” Caleb asks just as Darrius joins us.

  “What’d I miss?” Darrius asks looking at us curiously.

  “Nothing.” I start walking hoping they’ll drop the conversation, but they don’t.

  “Apparently he kissed D and-”

  “Don’t call her that” I snap. He looks at me like I’m crazy, which I get since I call her hellhound and he just used the first letter of her name.

  “Okay” he says slowly “He kissed Dahlia” he continues, putting emphasis on her name. “Then he disappeared on her and she just blew up with him.”

  “That’s not what happened. Well not entirely” I point out.

  “So what did happen then?” Darrius asks coming up beside me.

  “Deano turned up at her house-”

  “Hold up, hold up. You were at her house? This is was way more than just a random kiss if you were at her place.”

  “Are you going to let me speak?” I bite.

  “Sorry. Carry on” Caleb says in a snooty accent before chuckling to himself.

  This guy is my friend, I’m not even kidding.

  “Deano threatened to take her if I didn’t agree to fight for him” I explain.

  “She doesn’t know that bit, does she?” Darrius asks with a serious look on his face.

  “No. I didn’t know how to tell her, so I just took off.”

  “And the kiss?” Caleb asks. I swear he has a one-track mind.

  “I have no idea. It doesn’t matter anyway because it won’t be happening again.”

  “So you’re going to be fighting again then?” Lacy interjects.

  Where the held did she pop up from?

  “Looks that way. Deano said he’ll be in touch with a time and place.”

  “Shit man” Caleb drones.

  “You need to tell Dahlia” Lacy says as if she’s scolding me.

  “How the hell do I tell her that she’s as good as dead if I don’t fight? I’ll deal with this my way okay?” I don’t mean to snap at Lacy but I’m so angry right now.

  “Do you think he meant it?” Darrius asks.

  “I have no idea, but I’m not about to risk finding out.”

  Deano doesn’t bluff so I doubt last night was an exception. Dahlia’s safety is all that matters to me right now and if that means me going a few rounds with a bunch of dead beats then that’s what I’ll do. I care too fucking much to let him get to her.

  Chapter Twenty-Three — Dahlia

  Devlin Stone is an asshole! I honestly thought things were changing between us. He’s been kind and supportive the past few days. He protected me and he even kissed me. And me? Well, I’m the idiot who believed the lie. I was worried about him and he didn’t care that I was sitting at home driving myself crazy thinking he was dead.

  I can’t believe I thought he actually wanted to kiss me, that it was real. More importantly I can’t believe he stole my first kiss and it was all for show. Why would he even need to kiss me for their benefit? What would that even achieve?

  I touch my fingers to my lips, the memory causing them to tingle. It felt so real.

  How the hell would I know what a real kiss feels like?

  “Are you okay?” Beth asks as she lies on the grass beside me. We’re outside because I can’t face going in the cafeteria and having to see Stone.

  “Yeah why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Well for starters you want to eat lunch out here. Plus you look seriously pissed off.” She’s watching me intently and it just makes me angrier.

  “That’s because I have to live and breathe the same are as asshole Stone” I kick at the floor with my heel hoping it will release even a little of my frustration.

  “What did he do now?” Beth sighs sounding almost as frustrated as me.

  Made me care. Made me think he cared. Let me think he’d been murdered. Kissed me.

  “Isn’t breathing enough?” I growl.

  “Not when you’re this angry, no.”

  “Urgh.” I drop my head back on the grass with a thud. “He kissed me Beth.”

  “And that makes you want to kill him?” I was expecting her to be more shocked but apparently the idea of Stone and I kissing doesn’t surprise her at all.

  “No. Disappearing and ignoring me right after does” I sigh feeling a sudden pang of rejection sinking into my chest.

  “He didn’t?” She shoots upright and stares down at me and I feel myself growing anxious.

  “Any way, how’s things going with you and Aaron?” I say flipping the conversation.

  “You’re really changing the subject?” she responds looking disappointed and I shrug. “Fine, whatever. Aaron asked me to prom. Speaking of which, we need to go get dresses.” There is no chance in hell of me going dress shopping or even going to prom. I frown at her and she gives me a pleading look. “You are going to prom, aren’t you? You can’t miss it.”

  “I won’t miss it. You can’t miss something that means nothing to you!”

  “Are we still talking about prom?” she asks puzzled.

  “Yeah, what else would we be talking about?”

  “Dahlia, please come. For me” she begs, flashing me her puppy dog eyes and making me feel bad.

  “I’ll consider it” I say.

  Why am I so weak?

  “I’ll take it” she grins.

  ∞∞∞

  I somehow manage to avoid Stone for the rest of the day and after school I head to the burger joint my mom works at. I don’t want to be alone at home, so I figure that’s the best choice.

  “Hey sweety. How was school?” my mom asks as I slide into one of the booths.

  “It sucked” I huff out.

  “You want the bad boy?”

  “What? No. of course not. I hate him” I snort. Why does everyone think that I want Stone. The only way I want him is on one of those medieval torture devices.

  My mom is looking at me bewildered and a smile spreads across her face.

  “I meant the burger sweety, but I take it your fowl mood is to do with Devlin?

  “Oh. Right.” My cheeks burn and the desire to hide under the table is strong. “I’ll have the burger. Thank you.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” she asks tapping her pen against her notepad.

  “No. I’d rather forget he even exists.” Talking about it is the last thing I want.

  “I think he’s a nice boy.”

  “Nice? Nice? Are you high?”

  “Dahlia!”

  “Sorry. Devlin Stone is not nice!”

  “Really? I think he’s pretty awesome” Stone says slipping in the seat opposite me.

  “Go away Stone, I am really not in the mood for looking at your insufferable face.”

  “Can I get my usual please Cathy?” he asks my mom, completely ignoring my objection to him sitting with me.

  “Yes, of course Devlin. I’ll be right back.”

  Woah, back up a second. How often does he come here that he and my mom know each other on a first name basis, and she knows his order without him having to say it?

  “I come here every day” he says answering my internal question.

  I glare at him across the table imaging his brain exploding under the pressure.

  “Can I have one day when you don’t bug the living hell ou
t of me?”

  “Probably not” he smiles in attempt to break the tension between us, but I don’t return the gesture. I don’t feel much like smiling right now. “Can we talk about what happened? I know I didn’t handle it very well this morning.”

  “If you want to talk, knock yourself out. It doesn’t mean I’ll listen though.”

  “I just want to explain.” I just look at him coldly.

  Didn’t I already give him multiple chances to explain?

  “I should’ve called you back” he says rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

  “No shit” I grind out.

  “I didn’t know what to say to you.” He’s still rubbing the back of his neck and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so uncomfortable.

  “How about, I’m alive and still an asshole?” I offer.

  “How about I need you to be safe?” he adds, looking up and meeting my eyes.

  “What? How is you ignoring me keeping me safe?”

  “Deano threatened to take you” he whispers. I assume he’s trying to keep his voice down so my mom doesn’t hear him.

  “To take me?” I ask in disbelief.

  “To him that means prostitution or death” he explains.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I shout and everyone turns to look, including my mom. Stone looks even more on edge with all eyes on him and he waits until people turn away before he continues speaking.

  “I didn’t want to tell you because you were already scared enough after what happened with your dad. I won’t let that happen though Dahlia, I promise you.”

  “How can you stop him? He doesn’t sound like the type of guy who takes orders, especially from a high school kid.”

  “By giving him what he wants.” He gives me a pointed look and my eyes widen. I slam my hands down on the table.

  “Fighting? You’re going to fight?”

  “Would you rather the alternative?” I look at him but don’t answer. We both know I don’t want that. “Yeah me neither. I know we’re at war with each other most of the time, but I would never let something like that happen to you. I’m a good fighter Dahlia, it won’t be that bad.”

  “But you’ll get hurt.”

  “I probably will, but you won’t and that’s all that matters.”

  “No Stone. It’s not. You matter too.”

  “I can do this.” He reaches over the table and takes my hand in his. “I can take a few blows; I’m not made of glass. I’m made of stone apparently” he winks.

  Yeah, I’m not so sure anymore!

  Chapter Twenty-Four — Devlin

  It’s been a couple weeks since I kissed Dahlia and we haven’t talked about it since. In fact it’s as if it never happened. We just slipped back into our rolls as friends slash enemies. She claims to hate me, and I claim to hate her, but we hang out and I can’t stop thinking about her. I swear I’m obsessed with the girl. Not that I’ll admit that to her, or anyone else for that matter.

  I’ve been cramming in hours at the gym getting myself ready for Deano’s call. I never know when the call will come but I have to be ready. I’ll know nothing until the day. I just have to show up. That’s just the way Deano runs things.

  I know Dahlia’s worried, and I can see that it’s getting to her that I’m doing it to protect her. She doesn’t want to see me hurt any more than I want to see her hurt. Our love hate relationship just won’t let us accept the idea of the other being in trouble. I think that just makes me want her more.

  I’ve been walking around town for the past hour trying to work up the courage to go see her. I’m done pretending. I’m done denying myself the one thing that I want. I just don’t know how to tell her. I’m not sure I can handle if she rejects me either.

  What if she really does hate me?

  Before I try to talk myself out of it, I pull out my phone and hit call. When she answers my throat goes dry and my mouth refuses to cooperate.

  Fuck why is this so difficult?

  “Stone are you there?” she asks when I don’t speak. I clear my throat and force myself to say something.

  “Burgers? Now?”

  The fuck Stone?

  Apparently, I’ve forgotten how to English.

  “Are you asking me to meet you for burgers or is that code for something?” she teases.

  “I’m asking you to meet me for burgers” I say with a voice that sounds like it’s been deprived of liquids for a century.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m good. I’m already in town, meet you there?”

  “Um sure. Are you sure you’re okay Stone?”

  “Positive.”

  I’m not. In fact I’m pretty sure a part of my brain wandered off at the sound of her voice.

  “Okay. Well, I’ll see you soon then.”

  Great. She’s meeting me. Hopefully when I see her in person it will go a lot more smoothly. I take my time knowing she will take at least ten minutes to get here. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to say to her. I do know I need to try to be myself though, so I hang back, and as Stone always does, I stroll in late.

  She’s sitting by the window and she’s closely examining something in her hand. She’s frowning at it what ever it is. I walk up to her, taking a deep breath and I’m hoping I don’t make that frown worse.

  Chapter Twenty-Five — Dahlia

  “You going?” Stone asks dropping down beside me eyeing the flyer in my hand.

  “To prom?” I snort a laugh. “Absolutely not!”

  “Why not?”

  Because I have no date. Because I can’t dress for prom without people seeing the marks. Because I can’t dance.

  “Because it’s not really my scene.”

  “That’s a shame. It would’ve been nice to see at least one interesting person there” he says sitting down in the booth beside me.

  “Interesting?”

  “Kind of” he says with a teasing smile. “In an annoying kind of way.”

  “Well” I shrug. “I’m sorry you’ll miss out on awesomeness.”

  “Has anyone asked you to go?”

  “Who would ask me?” I snort loudly and his eyebrows knit. “What?” I ask.

  “What makes you think no one wants to ask you?”

  “Well, for starters it’s next week and no one has. I’m sure if someone wanted to, they would have by now.”

  “Maybe they were warned not to by a certain stone hearted guy.” He’s smiling but I’m not amused. In fact I feel more anger towards him than I ever have before.

  “You told people not to ask me out” I snap angrily. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because I-”

  “Seriously Stone, what is your problem? I know we don’t get on a lot of the time, but I didn’t realize you hated me enough to turn people against me.”

  “What. I don’t-”

  “I can’t believe you. If I weren’t wearing my new shoes, I’d rip out that Stone heart of yours and wear it as a damn trophy pendant. I don’t think I have ever disliked anyone so much in my entire life.”

  “Wow. Brutal. Nice chat.” He gets up and leaves and I ball up the flyer and throw it down on the table.

  I hate Devlin Stone!

  ∞∞∞

  “Can you believe him?” I’m pacing back and forth across Beth’s room with my fists clenched at my sides. “I don’t want to go anyway but who the hell does he think he is? I thought I hadn’t been asked because I’m ugly or something, but it was him.”

  “Dahlia-”

  “I mean I’m not the prom kind of girl. I’m not even a boyfriend kind of girl but it’s the principle.”

  “Dahlia-”

  “And then to be all smug about it as well. Urgh. I hate that guy.”

  “DAHLIA!” Beth shouts.

  “What?”

  “He wanted to ask you dummy” she says in frustration.

  “What? No he didn’t.”

  Did he?

  “Yes he did. He overheard
Jonnie Rickman saying he was going to ask you and he shut it down. He told him he was taking you so to stay away and word spread pretty quick. How did you not hear about it? And the other day when he dragged Caleb from the table, he was stopping Caleb from asking you and Caleb forced him to admit the truth.”

  “Why the hell would he want to ask me?” I ask confused.

  He’s horrible to me. Mostly.

  “You two drive me crazy” she sighs. “He likes you. You like him.”

  “I do not like Stone!” I pull a face of disgust but it’s ingenuine. I may fight with him but the idea of him isn’t exactly repulsive.

  “Yes you do. You seek each other out daily. You’re both miserable as hell if you don’t see each other. He looks out for you, protects you. Kisses you.”

  “Kisses me? That wasn’t a real kiss and when does he look out for me?”

  “Okay so were going to ignore the fact that he has agreed to fight for Deano again to protect you? Let me ask you something. How do you feel when he’s around?”

  “Like I’m going to vomit!”

  Lies!

  “Come on, be serious” she gives me a stern look.

  “Fine.” I think for a moment and my hands start to sweat and my tummy gets all fluttery. “I guess I feel safe. Like I’m not alone. Like I’m cold but on fire all at once. Like I’m free but suffocating. Like I’m falling but flying.” When I finish speaking, I notice I’m smiling.

  “Wow. You don’t just like him Dahlia. You love him.”

  “I absolutely do not.” I go silent for a moment as I take in her words. “No” I laugh. “I don’t. I can’t. He’s obnoxious. He’s mean. He’s…he’s…ohmigod.” I put my head in my hands.

  “You. Love. Him” she sing songs with a grin.

  I look at her with round eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I thought you knew. It’s pretty obvious.”

  “Does this look like the face of some one in the know. Oh god, I think the oxygen just disappeared” I say fanning myself with my hand. “I told him this would happen with all that cologne; now I’m suffocating.”

  “Don’t be a drama queen” Beth says rolling her eyes. “You need to talk to him.”