Reckless Hate: A Bully High School Romance (enemies-friends-enemies-lovers-enemies) (Westbrook Blues Book 1)

by Thandiwe Mpofu

  “Come on Kim, we don’t have to be here you know.” I tell her again. For some reason, she insisted that we come out for the game even though she obviously isn’t in the mood.

  “I promised him that I would come out and watch him play.” She confesses after a while. I look at her and for the first time, I can see the misery in her eyes. Misery caused by my other best friend.

  “Oh, Kim.”

  “He told me never to break any of the promises I make to him, so I’m not breaking this one.”

  My soul just fucking shatters right here and then. Noah, is hurting and it’s all because of me. Oh God.

  “Noah is a delicate being. But so are you.” I start but I can’t get anymore words out because the players come rushing out from their state of the art changing rooms. The crowd roars!

  It’s a deafening roar as the Westbrook Team jogs onto the field, led by three cocky, drop dead gorgeous guys that I would recognize from anyway.

  “Hot damn.” Kim breathes beside me and I numbly agree.

  “Is that?” She points out and I nod.

  “Yeah, the boys have custom jerseys. It’s been like that since, well, forever.” But something is different about Ace’s jersey. It’s freaking not the same anymore. . .

  Ace’s uniform is printed at the back as BLUE ACE 01! He added Ace to his uniform. I almost faint right there in the bleachers, watching him run on the field, the announcer saying his name. The entire stadium goes wild for the three boys, it’s incredible.

  Emmett’s is BLUE EM 02.

  And Noah’s is printed with BLUE NOAH 03.

  “Ah fuck, this is fucking hot!” Kim cheers along with everyone else. “I want one of those jerseys!”

  “Then we should make our own.” I say with a giddy laugh, feeling so damn good right now because of Ace’s jersey.

  “Noah please fuck me!” Some random girl shouts from behind and Kim’s head whips around so fast, I think she might snap her own neck.

  “Noah! Noah! The same group of girls, freshmen by the looks of it, start shouting. Kim turns back with an annoyed expression on her face,

  “I hate those little bitches.” She seethes but before I can say anything, it’s game time and we watch for the next hour as Westbrook demolishes Spring son the field.

  Watching Ace play is just. . .like Kim said, it’s fucking hot. At one point during the game after Noah scored a touchdown that he passed, Ace looked up to where I was and pointed at me. The stadium goes nuts and I don’t know where to hide my face so I lean on Kim’s shoulder, trying to hide my face.

  “Oh, look at Brittney stomping her little foot! Yes, Blue Ace, yes!” Kim shouts and I laugh in delight.

  Then Noah did the most unexpected thing at half time for the on-going campaign for Student Union President.

  He had a short clip played on why the school should vote for Kim. It was probably a thirty second clip of pictures of Kim.

  Now, these were not fluttering pictures of Kim. These were pictures of Kim at parties, enjoying herself. I cover my mouth with a gasp and I watch Kim’s face turn red.

  “I’m going to fucking murder him and feed him to the bears!” Kim growls until the ending of the video. Utter silence falls over the crowd.

  It’s a picture of Kim studying, Kim arguing with someone who suspiciously looks like Noah and then Kim with the most serene smile ever.

  Then the words come up and the entire school cheers.

  You won’t get anyone more real!

  I look over at Kim and she has tears in her eyes now. The entire school then bursts out laughing with the next side.

  Besides, Brittney Spears wanna can never pull do what Kimberly Allory does. Her fake boobs couldn’t handle real work like SU. So, go vote Allory for President!!

  NOAH RAN OUT THEN AND hyped up the entire crowd with a megaphone, making everyone chant Kim’s name. Noah’s crowd control is insane, I swear I feel the buzz myself.

  I watch in surprised delight as Kim blushes and laughs at the same time! Then Noah came to stand directly in front of us, but his eyes were only for Kim.

  But he doesn’t say anything. They just stare at each other.

  “Oh God, I think I’m going to fuck him long and hard tonight. Sorry Raea.” Kim gasps.

  “Uh, okay.” Is all I say and then soon the game resumes but Kim is famous now. As for Brittney? Well, she’s stomping her little foot, glaring daggers at Kim and I.

  Oops.

  “Oh, she mad as hell.” Kim says and we burst out laughing then enjoy the rest of the game. This isn’t so bad. I could come to games if they feel this good. Fuck, I feel like I’m high on life right now.

  We win, obviously and now it’s time to go home. My mother is blowing up my phone and I have since been ignoring her. Kim and I walk towards the changing rooms feeling good as hell. We are going to wait for the boys so we can go to the party together but as we draw closer, a voice stops me.

  “Astraea Felds.”

  Please, no. Let it not be her.

  I turn around and there she is, in the flesh, wearing the finest outfit that stands out and isn’t really suitable for a high school football game, no matter how extravagant the school is.

  “Denise King.”

  There is frost in my voice, I can feel the hate in me rising. I was planning on ditching the dinner she is throwing tonight. There is no way I was going to go to her fucking dinner after what Ace told me last night.

  She’s a monster, that’s what she is and I can see it in her eyes now.

  What this woman did. . . it just makes me so damn angry and I can’t articulate the hate I feel towards her.

  She’s the devil in a beautiful, so damn beautiful mask. With eyes much like her son’s but hers are those of a snake.

  “It’s so good to see you dear. How are you?”

  But before I can tell her how I’m feeling inside, another voice calls my name.

  “Astraea! I’ve been trying to call you. . .” My mother quickly walks over to me. She looks distressed until she notices Denise King standing right in front of me.

  “Uh, who is she?” Kim whispers in my ear as we both watch the two women stare at each other. We step back, away from them and I notice something different about the two women.

  This time, all the pretense is gone, there is no fake smiling, no exaggerated friendliness. No, these women hate each other and it’s plain to see.

  “My mother and Alex’s.” I murmur.

  It’s then that I notice the way my mother is dressed. She isn’t wearing any of her usual and extravagant ‘going out’ clothes. No, she’s actually wearing a pair of simple jeans and a designer top with simple pumps on her feet.

  That’s so unlike my mother.

  She NEVER dresses casual when she knows she is going out in public. What more when there is a chance that she might bump into someone she knows—this time, she bumps into her frienemy, Denise King.

  “How lovely to see you here, Amanda.” Denise says, watching my mother.

  “I can’t say the same of you Denise. What are you doing around my daughter?” My mother seethes and I frown. My mother was practically shoving me into Denise’s face just last week, what happened?

  “Oh, now you want to be a mother, huh Amanda. I wonder how Astraea feels about that. Tell me, does she know how vile of a loose woman you are?”

  Denise’s words are sharp, clipped and angry. Shivers go up and down my spine and I look over my shoulder to see all three boys behind me in the shadows. I don’t think Denise or my mother know that they are there. But I quickly turn back to watch my mother and Denise go at it.

  What the hell is happening?

  “Parenting skills? Right, like you can be commended after the disaster you brought to that boy.” My mother spits.

  I don’t know if Denise and my mother are aware that they have an audience. By this time though, the stadium is practically empty. It’s just me, Kim and the boys, watching my mother and Denise scoff and insult each other. />
  “Stay the fuck away from me and my daughter, bitch!” my mother spits in her face and Denise growls.

  She actually growls.

  I fear that Denise is about to launch herself at my mother but she holds herself back, smiling patiently instead, wiping her face with a little napkin that she gets from her designer purse.

  “You should have thought about that before you weaseled your way into my husband’s bed.”

  Kim gasps beside me. My jaw drops to the floor.

  No, I didn’t hear that right. I must be dreaming right now. But that look in Denise’s eyes, no that’s real. I can feel it from over here.

  “Come on Raea, I think we should go.” Kim whispers but I don’t move.

  “You thought I wouldn’t find out? Oh honey, everyone in Westbrook knows how you slept your way up to the estates. Sleeping with Syrus Easton was a low, but my husband?”

  Oh my god.

  I start shaking, my brain can’t process any of this. I step backwards and keep going. The voices are back in my head No, this is not happening. Behind me, I can just about feel Emmett’s gaze on me. Did he know about this? Is any of this true?

  “What?” I gasp, pain piercing through me.

  My mother slept not only with Philip King, Ace’s father but with Syrus Easton, the fucking abusive asshole that doesn’t deserve to be Emmett’s father.

  “Oh honey.” My mother starts as she looks at me with a wild look in her eyes.

  “It’s all a lie isn’t it, Mother?” The words come out breathless but she doesn’t say anything at all. Nothing to dispel the lies in the air, only, they are not lies. . .

  I want her to deny it. I want her to tell me that Denise is a fucking liar and is wrong but my mother doesn’t deny it at all.

  “Oh my God. I think I’m going to be sick.” I gasp, but before I can fall to the ground, strong arms catch me. I know it’s Noah, but he stays in the shadows somehow. My mother doesn’t see him, nor does Denise.

  “I got you, baby Blue.”

  “Astraea, honey. I. . .”

  “Amanda, what is she talking about?” I don’t know where he came from or why he is here because the guy has never set foot on this school’s grounds as far as I know, but my father steps out of the shadows and slowly walks up to the group.

  “Fuck.”

  “Richard, what are you doing here?” My mother’s question, her voice shrill and high.

  “You sent me a message, demanding that I come here.” He explains, with a confused look on his face. “What is Denise talking about it?"

  “I didn’t send you any message.”

  “Oh, that would be on me, I called you here, Richard.” Denise says with an evil cheshire grin on her face. “See, you had to know that Amanda here never really got you that job from out of nowhere. She slept with my husband, for years, for it.”

  Have you ever gotten your heart broken? Have you ever experienced a kind of blinding pain that rips you apart in a swift second and leaves you breathless, panting for breath? That’s exactly how I feel right now, watching Denise smile, as she looks at my father.

  “What?” My father almost roars, stepping away from my mother who is now crying.

  “What fucking game are you playing at, Denise?” My mother shouts at here.

  “Playing at? Honey all I’ve ever wanted was justice.” She starts, her smile disappearing and the evil peeks it’s ugly head. “I put up with that man for years, I won’t just stand around watching him give you everything!” She spits in my mother’s voice.

  I feel him before I see him. Ace comes to a stop right beside me, watching his mother like he is looking at the devil. But Denise doesn’t notice him at all, her sights set on my mother who is trembling like a leaf in a storm.

  Because that’s what this is, it’s the storm.

  “Richard, did you know that you are not the father to Amanda’s children?”

  Heartbeat.

  Heartbeat.

  Heartbeat.

  Dread fills my insides, watching my father shake his head. My stomach drops as I look at him.

  “What the fuck are you talking about now?” He questions, looking between Denise and my mother but at this point, my other doesn’t say anything. I’m holding my breath. I want to speak up. She can’t take this away from me too. She’s done enough already.

  I want to scream at Denise that she is a liar, that she doesn’t know what she is saying but no, Denise King isn’t done here.

  She isn’t done ripping me apart.

  “Oh, don’t give me that Richard. None of them look like you. I’m sure you knew that.” Denise laughs, completely oblivious that she has an audience that extends past parents. . .or whoever the fuck they are.

  But maybe she knows. . .

  “Denise, you shut your fucking mouth right now.” My mother starts but Denise tsks, staring at my mother with a huge grin then it disappears again, revealing the true, unfiltered raw evil with her.

  “Tell me, does Astraea know that you signed her away to marry Syrus’s son? So that you and your filthy husband can be the fourth family?”

  Oh my God

  “Does she know that is getting married to Emmett soon.”

  “That’s enough! My mother shouts but she doesn’t at all deny anything. “That is none of your business!”

  “You, pathetic bitch! I’ve done so much to just watch you take it all from me and I won’t fucking allow your bitch of a daughter of weave into my family’s life. I got rid of her before, I can do that again!” she laughs, spreading her hands.

  Gasps of shock fill the air around us. I can feel Noah and Ace suck in a breath. Kim begins shaking beside me and Emmett, he’s deathly still as we all watch Denise in her prime.

  “Hell, I got rid of the other one too!”

  So, The End?

  WELL, BLESS YOUR HEART. I’m sorry? I think I am.

  But don’t start sharpening your pitch forks, Astraea, Ace and the Blue Crew will be back in book 2, Vicious Hate. Release date to be announced but you should go ahead and add it to your TBR, as well as the third book, Broken Hate.

  You’ve made it to the end, congratulations, you are now part of the BLUE CREW!!

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  Acknowledgements

  I CANNOT BEGIN TO DESCRIBE to you the emotional, mental, physical journey I went through with writing this book. I can’t say for sure how long Astraea has been brewing like a storm in my own mind and my soul but she is here and it would have never been possible had it not been to a few people.

  My parents. Thank you for giving me 2am pep talks about how I have to be authentic and real with everything I do. Thank you for believing in me, it means more to me than I could ever, ever tell you. I love you both!

  Jenny Dicks—you keep proving to me just how badass you are! Thank you pushing this baby through all those months of doubt and well, chaos. Kylie Romney, you are straight out crazy and your love for Emmett is unreal! Thank you for your precious time that you took to sort out my messy thoughts. And for the interesting drawings you left for me. . .

  My betas, Mercedez and Julie. I’m really protective of my work, but this story, I couldn’t tell anyone about it until I noticed something about you two that made me open up about it. Thank you for loving my boys and this story as much as you have.

  To all the bloggers, the bookstagramers that promoted, loved and shared this book cover, the story and reviewed, you are all BLUE CREW!! I love you and thank you so much, y’all made me super happy and emotional at the same time.

  And lastly, to you who is reading this, because I sure won’t—It will only make me cry—thank you so, so much! I’m not sure if you loved the story or not, but this one was birthed from my heart and either the response,
I still thank you for taking your time to read this book. Clearly if yiu are reading this now, you are a real one!

  LASTLY—I swear this is the last one. To everyone going through the storms of life, uncertainty, depression, and all the crazies, I see y’all. I feel you and to me, everything is blue. It might not be all great, and some days are worse than others, but just know, you are not alone! I love you!

  Thank you so much!!!

  x. Thandie.

  Other books by

  THANDIWE MPOFU

  The Incongruity Trilogy

  The Billion Dollar Plan

  A Billion Broken Pieces

  Billion Dollar Hearts