“When?” Hil asked.
“Today,” Jasmine said. “He said he can’t take it.”
“Put this hoodie on, angel,” Ash said.
“We’ll deal with Aaron,” I said.
“Or you could just deal with me,” she said.
I smiled at her. “You’re pretty, doll, but not pretty for me.”
“Come on,” Hil said.
He helped Jasmine put the hoodie on.
“I told him what you told me to say,” she said. “He’s excited to meet you.”
“He doesn’t work for anyone?” I asked. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah,” Jasmine said. “He’s just a loser. Scumbag. He’s not some drug dealer dude.”
“Okay,” Hil said.
I looked at both Hil and Ash.
This was a huge risk.
Charger could have easily lied to Jasmine, sensing something was up. Or Jasmine could have been lying. This could have been a setup by her to us.
I never thought I would think it, but right about then would have been a good time to have BC on our sides. Brooks Crest would know how to handle this. Fuck, if anything, Mac probably already knew about Charger.
I shook the thoughts away and Ash walked Jasmine to his truck.
He got her into the passenger seat and then we waited for the door to open again.
When it did, it was three guys.
“Fuck,” Hil whispered to me.
There was nothing we could do now.
Charger was in the middle.
The other two guys were big.
Muscle guys.
Guys meant for fighting.
“I’ve seen you before,” Charger said.
“Fuck yeah,” I said. “On the beach. You’re the guy. You’re the man. Jas gave me a snack…”
“You took off though,” Ash said.
“I don’t wait around for drama,” Charger said. “Especially over chicks.”
“Right on,” Hil said. “Use and lose, baby… right?”
“What the fuck do you really want here?” Charger asked.
I reached into my pocket and took out some cash. “You know what we want.”
“Nice,” he said with a grin. “Let’s go inside and talk.”
“Let’s stay out here,” Hil said. “I’m in a rush. Have a little thing waiting for me at home.”
“Out in the open is… what the fuck is she doing?”
I heard the sound of Ash’s horn a split second later.
“Ah, shit,” I said.
“You’re with her?” Charger asked.
The other two guys moved toward us.
“Billy, Jeff, fucking kill them for me,” Charger ordered.
Ash’s headlights turned on. Then came the high beams.
Bright enough to make Charger, Billy, and Jeff freeze to cover their eyes.
“Well, at least she helped,” Hil said.
We ran right into the fight.
Just like Them would also do.
I grabbed Charger’s shirt and drove him back into the metal door.
He hit with a thud and threw his head forward, smashing my nose open.
I let him go and stepped back, but not before throwing a right hook.
I caught him on the jaw as he started to turn.
That dropped him to his knees.
I kicked him in the ribs and he was on the ground.
I turned and Billy was tied up with Hil.
Exchanging rib shots.
Ash had Jeff pinned against the building.
Jeff got a punch to Ash’s face, but it did bother him for a second.
I set my sights back on Charger.
I dropped my knee to his ribs and he cried out in pain.
I grabbed his shirt and sat him up.
When I crouched down, he looked up at me, his lip bleeding.
“Not done yet, man,” I said.
I used just my right hand to send the rest of the message.
It had to be very fucking clear.
It had to be in a way so that when he looked in the mirror for a few weeks he would remember me. Remember us. Remember Them.
“Stay the fuck away from BFH,” I growled. “Got it?”
Charger nodded.
That wasn’t good enough.
I hit him again.
Blood sprayed from somewhere on his face.
“Say it fucking loud, Charger,” I ordered.
“I got it,” he said.
I picked him up and walked him away from the door.
He was limp in my arms.
“Hil, put those other two inside,” I said.
Ash and Hil pushed Billy and Jeff into the door and told them to go inside.
They had no problem listening, turning their backs on Charger easily.
When the door shut, I threw Charger against it.
He fell to the ground.
“Please,” he said. “I didn’t know… it was all for fun…”
I looked back and Jasmine turned the headlights off in the truck.
She stared out the windshield at us.
She looked scared, tired, and sad.
I heard Charger groan right before Hil took his turn with him.
Punch after punch after punch.
He would have kept going if Ash didn’t stop him.
Ash reached down and picked Charger up.
He took Charger off the ground, his feet dangling.
“Next time we will kill you,” Ash said. “Do you get that?”
“Yeah,” Charger said.
“And if someone comes near us… or Jasmine…,” Hil said.
“Yeah,” Charger said.
Ash threw Charger to the ground.
“Go inside,” I said. “Don’t say a word.”
Charger reached for the handle and crawled back into the building.
After the door was shut, I noticed a pill bottle on the ground.
Hil was already smoking a cigarette.
Ash went to check on Jasmine.
I swiped the pill bottle off the ground.
It was a normal looking prescription bottle.
Even with the sticker on it with the patient’s name and address.
I shook my head, wondering how Charger got these pills.
I turned the bottle around to see the name and address.
It was my mother’s name on the pill bottle.
Chapter 18
We drove Jasmine to Aaron’s place.
He was at the end of his driveway, waiting for us.
Jasmine cried the entire time, sick and sad that she had messed up her life a little and that she wouldn’t get any more of the pills.
I stared at the pill bottle the entire time.
The pills were for my mother. For the pain in her leg.
That’s what they were supposed to be for.
So how the fuck did Charger end up with them?
“One thing at a time,” Ash had said to me.
I showed him my middle finger, which was the only warning he’d get.
If he said anything else that cliché, I’d punch him in the mouth.
As Ash and Hil helped Jasmine out of the truck and to Aaron, I just sat in my car, the pill bottle still in my hand.
I watched Aaron.
Fucking loser…
I threw the pill bottle across the seat and got out of my car.
I walked right up on Aaron and gently moved Jasmine out of the way.
She was swaying, in need of water and some food.
Maybe a bucket first to puke up whatever she could, but it was probably too late for that. The pills were in her bloodstream and she had to ride it out.
I didn’t even bother to say a word to Aaron.
I just swung.
My fist hit him so hard he went down hard.
Ash shoved my shoulder. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
I turned to punch Ash and Hil grabbed me and threw me back.
“Get out of here, Uly,” Hil sa
id. “They have nothing to do with your family.”
“Fuck you too,” I said.
I walked back to my car and took off.
Fuck Them.
Ash. Hil.
Fuck Belle too… for fucking with my heart.
Fuck Aaron for not having the balls to take care of his girl.
Fuck Jasmine for not being strong enough to face her own shit.
Fuck…
I curled my lip.
I drove fast.
Fucking fast.
Faster than normal.
And in the dark the roads had a whole different appearance to them.
I didn’t crash.
I didn’t get pulled over.
I dared a cop to try and pull me over.
I dared my car to give out and have me crash.
But it didn’t happen.
So you know what?
Fuck fate.
I got back home and grabbed the pill bottle off the passenger seat.
I studied the label again.
My mother’s name. The address to the beach house. Pills for pain.
It didn’t make sense.
My mother wouldn’t do something like this.
She had more money than she could ever spend.
This wasn’t about money.
And she wasn’t faking an injury either.
Her leg had been fractured. She needed surgery on it.
She…
My hand wrapped tight around the pill bottle and I snuck back into the house.
I had to push down all the anger.
I had to be quiet.
This wasn’t Mara’s thing to worry about.
I slipped into the bedroom and shut the door.
It gently clicked and the light turned on.
I turned and gritted my teeth.
Mara sat on the edge of the bed, fully dressed.
“Hey, doll,” I whispered. “Why aren’t you sleeping?”
Mara wiped the corners of her eyes and shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Uly, but this whole thing is a big mistake.”
* * *
She stood up and grabbed her bag off the floor.
She walked toward me and I blocked the door.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Leaving,” she said.
“Why?”
“Your face,” she said. “What happened to your face, Uly?”
“Mara…”
“I fell asleep in your bed,” she said. “And you left. For what? What was so important?”
I had the pill bottle in my hand.
I slowly slipped it into my back pocket and reached for Mara’s waist.
She slapped my hands away. “No. It’s all a mistake. It can never work the way we want it to.”
“Why not?”
“Because… it just can’t. Okay? Move, Uly. Move right now.”
I gritted my teeth and stepped to the side.
Mara opened the door and paused. She stared forward and exhaled a shaky breath. “You’re going to hate me, Uly. That’s why. No matter what I do… I never asked for any of this. I never wanted it. I never needed it. All I ever did was try to help my mother. That was it. And then… all of this…”
“Give me a chance to talk to you, doll,” I said. “I had to do something… believe me, I didn’t want to do it. And when I got there…”
“Uly,” Mara said. “Just stop. I get it. This is what you have to do. You have a different life than I do. I’m not part of BFH. I never will be. I kind of… I think I lied to you… when those bitches were tearing me apart? It really wasn’t about my father. We weren’t that well off when he was around. We were comfortable. That was about it. But hearing them say what they said about me and you, it just made sense. They were right. This is never going to work. We can say we love each other all we want…”
I reached for the pill bottle. “You want to see what my night was, doll? I’ll show you what I found. What I have to deal with next.”
“I have to go,” Mara said.
She wiped her eyes and started to run.
She was running away from me.
And I stood in the doorway to the bedroom and watched her go.
I still had the pill bottle in my right hand.
She was pissed at me because I left while she was sleeping. Because I had to go take care of Charger. I had to make sure his bullshit pill stuff didn’t end up hurting anyone in BFH.
Mara didn’t understand that.
But now… it was even bigger.
My mother’s pill bottle was with Charger.
And in my heart I knew who was involved.
And it wasn’t my mother.
I shut the bedroom door and walked to the fireplace.
The fire was long gone.
But I stared as though it still burned.
And I made a mental list of hell I needed to raise.
* * *
I stood outside of BFH with a lit cigarette.
I was actually just outside the baseball stadium, waiting for Aaron to show up.
And my eyes kept a close watch on the parking lot too.
There were a whole lot of moving parts here at once.
Hil and Ash spotted me and started to walk toward me.
Ash kept a firm grip around Belle’s shoulder.
Guiding her toward me but she would never be mine. Because she never was mine. And there really never was a chance for it, right?
I made up my mind for sure that Belle had been the rebound.
But now… with Mara…
She’d understand soon enough.
Then everyone could move forward.
“Are you good, Uly?” Hil asked me.
“No,” I said.
“Ash told me,” Belle said.
“Of course he did,” I said.
“No secrets here,” Ash said. “How do we handle this?”
“We?” I laughed. “I’ll figure it out. One thing at a time…”
I pointed and they all looked as Aaron and Ryan approached. They were tailed by Max and Owen.
“What are you going to do?” Ash asked.
“You’ll see,” I said.
When Aaron saw me, I nodded.
He had no choice but to come face me.
I was blocking their precious baseball field anyway.
“Uly,” Aaron said.
“How’s Jasmine?” I asked.
“She’s going to be okay,” he said. “I, uh, I called her parents. They’re going to play it off as an extended flu.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Hil asked.
“They don’t want their daughter to look like a drugged-up statistic,” Ash said.
“Is she getting help?” Belle asked.
“She is,” Aaron said. “She’s going to be okay. I appreciate-”
“Shove that up your dick hole,” I said.
“Uly,” Belle said.
I stepped closer to Aaron. “You deserved more than a punch. Letting her get that close to Charger and those other guys. And the worst part… they’re all weak. You could have done it yourself. But you don’t have the balls. You just stand there and wait for someone else to do your dirty work.”
“It won’t happen again,” Ryan said, trying to stand up for his friend.
I laughed. “Of course it won’t.” I stared deep into Aaron’s eyes. “And I hope Jasmine finds someone else.”
“Fuck you,” Aaron said to me.
I closed my right hand tight into a fist. “Ready to finish this?”
“Uly,” Ash said. “What the hell is this?”
“Shit,” I said. “You’re right. We’re about to miss the show.”
“What show?” Max asked.
“Everyone turn around and watch.”
And that’s what we all did.
Them, Belle, and the asshole jock baseball players.
I saw Lizzy and I grinned.
I looked down at Belle.
She grinn
ed at me.
“What did you do?” Ash asked.
“Did she have something to do with Jasmine?” Aaron asked.
“Nope,” I said. “This is for me. And someone else.”
Lizzy walked to her car and stopped at the door.
“I wrote her a love letter,” I said. “With a key. Just to get her going.”
Lizzy looked around and found me.
I waved to her.
Belle threw her two middle fingers.
Lizzy opened the driver’s side door and she screamed and jumped back as thick mud poured from the car.
“What the hell is that?” Hil asked.
“Just mud,” I said. “I smashed in the sunroof and filled her seat. Just for fun.”
“Holy fuck, man,” Max said. “You’re going to be on camera for that…”
“She won’t say a word,” Belle said.
“How do you know?” Aaron asked.
“Trust me,” I said. “She won’t say a word.”
“I’ll break her jaw if she does,” Belle said.
“Watch this,” I said.
Next to the car was Ella.
Lizzy’s new best friend.
The two of them together and what they did to Mara…
Lizzy yelled something to Ella.
Hil started to laugh.
Ella opened the door and mud fell out of the passenger side too.
“Oh yeah,” I said. “I took care of both seats.”
I really wished I had the chance to do more.
It wasn’t nearly enough mud to get them dirty. And it wasn’t smelly or anything. But there was no way they could sit in the car. And I made sure to cover the steering wheel and the console. You know, just letting it be known… things were messy.
Both Lizzy and Ella stood looking at each other in disgust.
“Dirty cunts standing in their own filth,” Belle said.
“Sounds like my kind of party,” Hil said.
“Wow,” Aaron said. “That was vicious.”
“That was just the beginning,” I said. I looked at Aaron. “Now get out of my face before I hit you again.”
I ended up walking away from Aaron, but my point was made.
I finished my cigarette and left it burning on the ground as I walked to my car.
Hil, Ash, and Belle were right behind me the entire time.
When I got to my car, I opened the door and just stood there.
“Say whatever you need to say,” I said.
“We’re here to help,” Hil said. “To get to the truth for you, bro.”
I looked over my shoulder.
“Something is going on,” Ash said. “It’s not adding up.”
ULY (Bay Falls High - Them Book 1) Page 17