“Should I know what that means?” I question as I sip my coffee.
“Well not really I just wanted to say ‘duh’. I can’t really say it with Em and Alex. They look at me weird.” He says and I just smile. “But then today, we really don’t want to be caught in traffic that’s why we had a new entrance and this parking lot made last year.”
A new entrance? Is that why he stopped to punch in a code? These boys have their own entrance into the school, their own private parking lot with an exact number of car spots. What is that?
“The other two spots?” I question as he opens his door, sipping his coffee and out of nowhere, Alex and Emmett are getting out of their cars and walking towards Noah. I hadn’t noticed that they were in their vehicles. My heart starts pounding as I take in Ace’s ripped body, wearing the hell out of that uniform. Fuck.
“Get out and see for yourself.” He says and with that, the door closes softly after him and I watch as he passes the coffees to his brothers and I try to calm my nerves. It’s just Emmett who is so damn angry at me and Ace who kissed me on Saturday and spent the night half naked in my bed, kissing me to within an inch of my life. No big deal. Nothing out of the ordinary here, people.
And then there is the realization that the boys don’t know what exactly happened four years ago. No pressure.
I can totally do this. And besides, I want to see what Noah meant so with that in mind, I take a deep breath mixed with a little prayer not to spill coffee all over myself or make a fool of myself, I open the door and then I’m out of the car.
Immediately I feel three pairs of eyes on me—two of them frosty, cold, dark, calculating and angry—but I ignore the other two and focus on the kindest, smiling eyes that have always managed to make me feel better all the time.
“Thanks for the coffee and the ride. I better go find Kim.” I tell Noah and he shoots me a full smile.
“Wait, before you go. Come here.” Noah calls out and I look at him questioningly, doing my hardest to ignore Ace and Emmett but their penetrating gazes are hard to just ignore. I feel as if they are both drilling holes onto me and it’s driving me crazy.
“I’ll be late for class, and I hate being late.” I tell him and he snorts.
“Baby Blue, do you ever read your schedule. It’s W.B.H open day today.” He explains and that’s when I notice that he isn’t wearing the regular uniform that is required of the Westbrook Blues High students. None of them are.
Today they are all looking like freaking alpha, moody, panty creaming, tall Greek gods athletes and I hitch in a breath as I take the three of them in. I have no idea how that is possible but I get an answering reaction from Ace as he takes me from the totally un-interesting school shoes on my feet, my white ankle socks, my pleated skirt and white shirt and royal blue senior blazer, completed with a black and blue tie matching my skirt.
His gaze makes me feel things that have no place being felt by me but he isn’t really happy about that either.
“Wait, W.B.H day? Are you in the running?” I ask Noah as I walk towards him, ignoring Emmett and Ace as I go. I know they probably don’t want me here and will definitely let Noah know that little fact but I really don’t care.
W.B.H day is a huge day at the Westbrook High because it’s the day they not just announce some of the most important features to take note of in the new school year, but they announce the various captains and presidents of various clubs and sports.
It’s almost like some kind of pep rally, but this shit is dipped in gold because well, any position of leadership in the school is great but there are only four spots that are the crème de la crème.
The football captain. The basketball captain. The president of the Student body and last but not least, the captain of the baseball team.
“In the running? Baby, I run this school.” Noah spreads his arms in the air and I snort.
“Yeah, everything is yours buddy.” Emmett says for the first time, but he doesn’t look at me but Ace on the other hand, his gaze is unwavering, his gaze moving between my eyes and my lips. I shiver.
“Isn’t it though? I know you shit heads will be announced football and basketball captains, meanwhile, I will not only be the famous baseball captain but I will dedicate my life and show the world my generosity by being part of the council.”
A pause. A dramatic pause. What the hell?
“The Student Union? Have you fallen ill?” I reach over and place the back of my hand over his forehead. “You seem normal. Are you even good at baseball?” I know he is, all of them are good at every sport and play as the first string for all sports. But their passions lie elsewhere and I know George always had his eye out for baseball captain.
My question is met with silence as we all think of the one person that was a master at handling baseball. His swinging arm, the way he would bat, the way he was so damn good and catching the ball or whatever it is they do on that field, George was all for it but now he’s gone. My brother always fancied the sport, all sports really but baseball was his thing.
“Yeah well, I had the best teacher in the game.” Noah speaks up, breaking the heavy silence that threatens to clog my mind. “And besides, I’m suspended from the swim team so. . . “
“Suspended?”
“This idiot thought it would be a great idea if he could add some chemicals into the pool one night because he wanted to see how Alister looked like with his body painted green.” Emmett explains and I’m shocked but the two burst out laughing.
“Of course, they knew it was me right away because, well, who else would want to see their Math teacher green?” Noah puffs up his chest but quickly dissolves into a fit of laughter. I shake my head thinking of the rather, larger gait teacher’s body swathed in a green palette—not a good sight at all. Why would anyone take a swim late at night when predators like Noah—who apparently have no qualms over breaking into the school and committing a felony. But hey, he isn’t bothered at all.
“But why the council?”
“He just told us that he likes to be the one making decisions about school decorations and the dances and shit.” Emmett explains, only then now smirking at Noah and they start rough housing. Some things that used to be, still are, I guess.
“Really?” Noah doesn’t care about any of that shit unless. . . “Why?” I demand, looking at him suspiciously.
“Because of the easy pussy of course. What? Don’t you know that girls love it when you step in and take charge after enjoying a show of them fighting over which colors to use for the prom theme?” He starts laughing right then making Emmett and I shake our heads,
“Does that mean you are running for president?” I question him as I sip the rest of my coffee.
“Uh no, where is the fun in that? I like challenging authority.” He says with confidence and well, there it is. Noah really just wants to cause trouble. “And besides, that she-devil, Brittney bitch is running to be president right now.”
“What?” My jaw drops and I look sharply at Noah and all the boys pause and look at me like I’ve just grown horns. I mean, my reaction is a bit out of left field but that heifer. . .
“Does she have competition?” I ask Noah because well he has all the details. Such a gossip boy.
“No, are you thinking what I know your shady mind is thinking?” Noah questions and I watch as his smile begins to grow.
“Yes, but not me though.” I say and he pauses, and then he quickly catches up.
“Oh, hell yeah! That’s the shit of the century right there! I would pay good money for this, fucking hell I love you!” Noah shouts and then picks me up out of nowhere and I start panicking.
“Put her down, you are making her dizzy.” Emmett tells Noah who quickly places me back to the safe, holy ground.
“Don’t thank me, we still have to ask her if she will do it first of all.” I tell him but he isn’t listening. He gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and then beelines across the grass, straight towards a door that I hadn’t no
ticed.
“Uh, where is he going?” I ask watching as Noah literally bounces in glee as he goes.
“To add a name to the ballot, if whatever you two were talking about is correct.” Emmett says and then with one last look my way, he follows after Noah. He doesn’t linger at all, as if he doesn’t want to be around me any longer than necessary.
And that leaves me with the huge force of life that is Ace, leaning over the beast of a car behind him he watches me like I’m his prey. Tension that Was trying to smooth over and ignore from the second I saw him comes rushing back with his eyes on me like that.
With Emmett and Noah gone, I feel naked with that gaze that sees all, searching the depths of me that are empty, as if he will find something there that is worth his time. There is nothing there and I just can’t help him. I wonder if he knows. . .
I turn to walk away in the direction of the main building but before I can take a step away from him, he speaks.
“You are not going to ask me?”
His voice is rough but it makes me melt at the same time. I turn back but try my best not to stare at his lips, the same lips that kissed me with bare minimum of light around us. The same lips that seduced me in a way I have never been seduced before. Those same lips are right now pressed in a fine line and I process what he just said, bring me back down to earth.
“What’s the point when you never tell me the truth?”
“I have never lied to you.”
“Yet you keep pertinent information that I have the right to know away from me.”
“So, you decided to what? Confront Noah hoping he will give you answers after what you did?”
“At least he is a better friend than you any day. And unlike some people, he managed to shed a whole lot of light on these mysterious issues.”
At my words, he lets out a slow, dangerous, shiver inducing chuckle that has me taking a step back. I can’t ignore the threat of violence that his chuckle evokes. He pushes away from the car and in one stride he has me pressed against his hard front, a large arm around my waist and his gingers painfully tugging my chin up.
“Get your damn hands off of me.” I demand but he only tightens his hold.
“You think I’m your friend?” He questions with an oh so soft voice that makes my knees weaken. It’s one of those voices that he uses just before he is about to shatter one’s soul. I hate that voice. “Tell me, when have we ever been friends?”
“You wouldn’t know what being a friend means exactly seeing as you murdered one you called your brother.”
He doesn’t fight me, but I can feel him hardening between us, and I shiver, thinking back to Saturday night.
“And what’s to stop me from doing the same thing to you? You already hate me. Isn’t that what you said on Saturday, laying in the arms of a murderer?”
He questions but his voice isn’t all that soft anymore. No part of Alexander ‘Ace’ King is soft right now. Not even the hard glint in his eyes. But I don’t look away, I hold his stare and level him.
“What happened to George?” I question, dropping the empty coffee cup to the ground and circling my arms around his large torso, concealed by his letterman jacket. If he thinks I can’t play this game too then he has another thing coming.
We are so close that I feel his breath hitch and he tenses. I look up at him and bash my eyelashes like the other girls, trying to be as seductive as I can but I feel awkward. He scoffs, watching me like a freaking cartoon character
“You are not them, Star.” He says. “You already have my attention but for all the wrong reasons.”
It’s not even eight o’clock yet and I’m being seduced by Ace King in the middle of some private parking lot that I have never seen and I’m allowing it. What the hell is wrong with me.
With that thought, I push away from him and he lets me, taking several steps away, breathing hard and fast.
“I want answers Ace. I can’t go on like this, not ever.” I tell him and it’s as I turn away that I glance down and right there on the block that is facing Noah’s car is something that I hadn’t noticed before and gasp.
It’s the words “Blue 3M” in white with a blue hue around it like some kind of fancy art shit but I know exactly what it means. Blue Generation number 3. The Montreal’s are the third most powerful family. I glance to where Emmett’s car is parked, completely ignoring Ace who just stands there watching me like he can see the dots finally starting to connect. But no way.
On Emmett’s space it’s the same as Noah’s but on his it’s “Blue 2E"
I quickly walk towards the empty slot that is at the other side of Noah’s car. I should have noticed it but I was too nervous at seeing Emmett and Ace that I wasn’t paying attention to what was right there waiting for me.
That’s what Noah meant when he said I should step out of the car and see it all for myself. That’s why their eyes where all on me when I got out of Noah’s car, hell that’s why Noah picked me up.
“You wanted answers, baby, I’ll more than give them to you, I’ll show you. Make sure you check the spot beside mine.”
And with that he turns on his heel and heads straight for the door that Emmett and Noah disappeared through, living me stand there like I’ve just seen a ghost because right there, is another spot but this time, it’s an addition that just opened the gates of hell.
“Blue 4F"
I gasp and I take it in, the moniker that marks the parking spots. And with dread that fills my stomach unlike anything I have ever felt, I walk as if in a haze towards the other side of Emmett’s car. I hadn’t noticed before but between Emmett’s space and Ace’s, there is an empty spot but this time seeing it knocks the wind right out of me.
“Blue Star 4F”
It’s right there beside Ace’s obvious one if the crown and ace of spade underneath can tell, “Blue Ace 1K”
What the hell is going on here? It’s not just the fact that I have a parking spot no, that is irrelevant. Anyone can get a fucking parking spot and stamp it as theirs it’s not really a big deal.
But what this is right here, this is not just some high school show of power, this is much bigger than that. This is the Westbrook Blues dominance sign.
The three families that have always held power, the so called families that founded this land have always been the Kings, The Easton’s and the Montreal’s. With power ranking respectively. Legend has it that the heirs would always be identified by the royal color blue that the ‘founder’s’ thought to be significant and would stand out and in this case, they chose Blue.
And because of the, those in that band of ‘Blue’ were always regarded as the royalty, as part of the families that owned—for lack of a better word—Westbrook.
But my family, the Fileds family moved here when I was fucking seven. We never owned any land. My grandfather was not a pioneer of any land, he was a hard working honest man that worked in the mines. I’m not a descendent, I’m not an heir to anything but here it is, the evidence that says otherwise.
“Blue Star 4F”
Ace calls me Star. My name is somewhat associated with stars, with justice and peace if you dig further in Greek mythology so there is no mistaking who they meant. But number 4? There has never been four families, but now there are? George and I were included in this. Don’t get me wrong, George and I were closest to the three families but we never, not once, wanted to be part of that triangle of power that rules Westbrook. Wait, did George know about this? He must have, after all Noah did say they had the parking lot built last year and George was very much alive and well at that time. Then why didn’t he tell me?
Is that why he wanted me to come back?
Do my parents know about this? Hell, they probably are the ones that instigated this entire thing.
But the question remains, why? And fucking how?
My mind begins to race as I hear the distant sounding of the school bell, signifying that it’s class time or whatever schedule we are on today but I can’
t move.
I think back to the first time I arrived at the estate. It seemed too big, much too extravagant.
I think back to the way my mother held herself that day. The way she gushed over Denise King.
I think back to the way George was buried in the estates family burial site. A place that was reserved for the generations and generations of the families that ‘found’ Westbrook.
I think back to the way Denise King was at our house last Friday, talking about a dinner invite.
I think back to it all and the color drains out of my face.
Is my family part of the most elite, most significant, above royalty and majesty band of Blues?
What the actual fuck?
CHAPTER TWENTY
ASTRAEA
I FEEL LIKE I’M A DRUNK person, stumbling and incognizant of their surrounding. I make my way to the main building just in time with the second bell. I guess I made it but I’m hardly aware of all the other students around me. This time I can successfully say their staring and whispers goes unnoticed and frankly, I’m very much unbothered by it all at this point.
“There you are!”
I’m jarred out of the buzzing in my head when Kim links her arm through mine rather vigorously, pulls me along with the steaming force of movement that is her.
“Good morning to you to.” I mumble but she doesn’t hear me.
“I was waiting for you and I for sure thought that you were going to skip school today.” Kim says as she looks at me but we keep moving but I have no idea where we are going. We don’t have the same class until after lunch.
“Oh, believe me I have no enthusiasm to be here.” I sigh. Fuck, this morning—hell this day—has a taste of shitty in it. I guess that had to be served along with my first steamy cup of café after a while. Thanks a lot Westbrook!
“And you look it too. Hurry up or we’ll get crappy seats.” Kim keeps on moving, quickening our pace and I once again give thanks to the gods that know me for the disappearance of my earlier teenage need to be all girly and wear heels all the time during my years here at Westbrook High. Thirteen-year old me would give me a pat on the back for my choice of footwear now—if only to keep up with the force that is Kim.
Reckless Hate: A Bully High School Romance (enemies-friends-enemies-lovers-enemies) (Westbrook Blues Book 1) Page 25