The Society

by Michelle Brown

  “Did you hear? Sam James isn’t in today. I drove past his house on the way to school, and there’s a for sale sign outside,” a small girl with brown hair says in hushed tones.

  A boy with a shaved head and a skateboard asks, “What do you think happened? Do you think it's true that Elena Montgomery did something to him?”

  “I mean, someone said she was at the party covered in blood. But that doesn’t make sense,” someone else chimes in, and my lips twitch. The rumor mill was always filled with twisted truths.

  “Class president Elena? No way, she doesn’t even kill spiders.” A fourth voice laughs.

  The first girl chimes back in, voice determined as though she’d just solved some giant mystery. “Someone is just spreading rumors, bet it’s that Serena girl. Heard her slagging her off in the hallway this morning. Quinn almost punched her.”

  The others tut and make shocked noises, but I can tell that they’re loving the drama.

  I open the door to the music room, ignoring Elena’s frown as I take a seat and wait for her to finish playing the awful piece she’s practicing. She turns her back to me and carries on for another fifteen minutes before I finally get a chance to talk.

  “Hey Princess, it looks like your reputation is intact,” I call out as she places her violin back in its case. “Heard people speculating about Sam and apparently you’re too soft to have done what you did.”

  She gives me a look. “People believe what they want to.”

  I stand and take three big steps towards her as she gathers up her sheet music. “And you’re happy to have them underestimate you?”

  Lena looks up as we stand inches away from each other, green eyes weary. “The greatest threat is the one you don’t see coming, Tristan.”

  She doesn’t look like she’s slept in a few days, and I wonder if the guilt over Sam was the reason for that, or if it was something else playing on her mind.

  I run a hand through my hair and groan, “We’re back to using my full name today then.”

  Lena tries to turn away, but I can already see that her cheeks are turning a delicious shade of pink. Am I finally ruffling her feathers? “We’re not talking about it, remember?”

  I place a hand on her waist and turn her back towards me. “No, I remember you saying that and running away.”

  “I didn’t run away…” she counters, lifting her chin defiantly.

  “Yeah. You did.” I chuckle as I tuck a stand of blonde hair behind her ear. “Maybe you should add the track team to your long list of extracurricular activities.”

  “Why are you here?” She rolls her eyes, but doesn’t move away from me, my hand still on her waist.

  “To talk,” I murmur softly as I lean in closer to her.

  “You need to leave.” Her words are firm, but I don’t miss the way her body closes the gap between us as she melts into me. She’s been fighting me every step of the way because she doesn’t know how to let go, and she wants to. Badly.

  “You need to give in.” My lips brush against hers with every word I whisper, but I don’t kiss her. Not yet. I just need to hold out a little longer. It’s killing me, as I resist taking what’s mine, but I need her to give me a sign.

  I don’t have to wait long. Her hand grasps the back of my neck as she crashes her mouth against mine, and I almost grin. That’s all I needed. My free hand cups her cheek as I deepen our kiss, and it’s everything. It’s hate, love, anger, frustration, lust, and it feels like when I watch her dance, but it tastes so much sweeter.

  She pushes us backwards until I stumble into a chair, but that doesn’t slow us as she climbs onto my lap. I don’t know what it is about kissing me that brings out Lena’s more commanding side, but I wasn’t going to complain. Her hands cup my face, while my hands roam down her body and over her legs. Part of it is helping her stay on my lap, the other part is feeling her bare skin against mine as I slide one of my hands under her skirt. The tips of my fingers just skim against her damp cotton panties when the bell to mark the end of lunch rings, bringing her out of her lust-filled trance. Once again, she jumps off me like she’s been burned.

  Her chest is heaving as her breathing is all over the place, her lips swollen, and her cheeks are still pink, and yet she was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

  “You know, you’re starting to hurt my feelings,” I call as she grabs her backpack and flees the music room.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Elena

  I run again, my mother’s words ringing in my ears, “Fuck Tristan Radcliff. There is nothing you can do, that The Society cannot fix.” I’m pretty sure they won’t be able to fix my broken heart if I fall for the stoner with a wandering eye. Blythe was already gunning for me, and he was getting cosy with Serena on Friday, so why did I keep kissing him? It was just a game to him, and it was starting to get too real for me.

  Today was already an epically shit day, I hadn’t even made it to second period when someone had sent me the video of Serena cussing me out and Quinn defending me. I thought she was my friend. I thought she was normal, but there she was, sticking a knife in my back the second I left myself vulnerable.

  I see her in the common room, and it’s like a red rag to a bull. She was willing to let me get hurt, raped, and for what? Personal satisfaction? I try to push away the anger that simmers away, but I can’t. I can’t keep it inside any longer. I storm over to where Serena is sitting with some of the girls from the cheerleading squad.

  I’m aware of a few other students lingering and watching, especially Atlas and Quinn, but I ignore them as I place my hands on my hips. “Why did you set me up?”

  “You deserved it,” she scoffs, before leaning in and whispering, “I know everything.”

  I frown. “Huh?”

  “The Society,” she hisses, sitting back and waiting for a reaction.

  I look at the two girls sitting on her right, and giving them a hard glare, I bark, “Leave. Now. If you value your place on the squad, you better move.”

  They look at Serena for a moment before standing and leaving. I don’t know what she’s been saying to the squad to have them questioning my commands, but I’d had enough. She needed to be put firmly in her place, for my sanity and for her life.

  “I know all about it.” She looks at her nails for a minute, pretending to be bored. Standing, she grabs one of my lapels. “I’m going to destroy it, I’m going to bring you to your knees, Elena. Show you what real power is.”

  I stifle a laugh. “You are so naive.”

  “What?” She snarls in my face.

  I place my hand over hers and twist, forcing her to her knees, squealing in pain. “You cannot destroy The Society. It will ruin you. It will butcher you, leaving your bruised and broken body in an unmarked grave. Maybe in the marina? Or in the woods? Possibly at the bottom of the lake? It doesn’t matter, there will be no trace of you left behind.”

  I’m aware of Quinn and Atlas clearing out the common room in the background as I hear Tristan’s voice somewhere, but I close it all out. I was sick of being seen as weak. I was just trying to behave. I was just trying to make everyone else happy, but I wasn’t going to be walked over. Not here.

  With one hand keeping her on the floor, wrist bent at an odd angle, I use the other one to grab her pretty red hair and yank her head back. Leaning in close, I whisper, “It will be like you never existed. They will wipe out all traces of you. And when someone asks your family, ‘What happened to Serena?’, they’ll reply with, ‘Serena who?’ That’s what The Society does.”

  She tries to swing for me with her free hand, but using the hand I have in her hair, I shove her away before pulling her back, like a rag doll. She yelps, and I’m willing to bet that when I let go, I’ll have a clump of hair as a souvenir.

  “There is no escape. No forgiveness. No redemption, Serena,” I explain, aware that there’s a coldness to my voice that makes her feel uneasy. I can see it in her eyes, the fear. Before she only looked at me
with pity and earlier jealousy, but that was gone. “Traitors don’t normally deserve a warning, but this is yours. And it’s the only one you’ll get.”

  “Bullshit!” she cries, but there’s no force behind her words. It is sinking in as she looks around and realizes that the only people in here now are part of the organization she’s bad mouthing.

  “Where is Sam, Serena?” I say, making sure it hits her how serious this is. “Go to his house and see for yourself. See what I’ve done with one phone call and then decide if you want to keep coming for me. Because I have no problem digging your grave myself.”

  “You wouldn’t…”

  “She would,” Atlas growls from where he’s blocking the door to stop anyone else entering.

  “You should have seen Sam when Lena was done with him,” Quinn laughs, joining in the torture. “You think I’m scary? You have no idea she’s capable of. She just likes to act like a good girl.”

  I slowly loosen my grip on her wrist. “I’m going to let go now, and you are going to run. Because if I count to ten and you’re still in my sight, I’m going to show you what I can do.”

  She doesn’t need any other incentive, I’ve never seen her move so fast in my life, and I trained her on the cheer squad.

  “Wow. I didn’t realize you had such a dark side, it’s badass,” Quinn teases as she slings her arm over my shoulder, and we watch Serena scurry across the courtyard through the window. “You’re finally embracing The Society. What’s brought this out?”

  “I did!” Tristan calls, sounding smug, from where he’s been watching the whole time.

  “Stalking me again?” I snarl as I rub my temples. Why was he everywhere I turned?

  “You left your violin in the music room,” he says with a grin, holding up my case. I snatch it from his hand.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Tristan

  Once again, she runs away, lugging her violin case with her. I shrug as Atlas laughs and Quinn gives me a quizzical look, her arms crossed as she asks, “I thought you were winning her over?”

  “Doesn’t look like it from where we’re standing.” Atlas chips in, letting some of the students back into the common room. It’s a well-known fact that we’re from wealthy families, and that normal rules don’t apply for us, but that doesn’t mean we avoid the curious glances as they speculate about what happened.

  Sitting in one of the plush armchairs, I pull a lollipop out of my blazer pocket. My voice is smug as I pop the sucker into my mouth. “She almost bit Serena’s head off and you’re saying that’s not progress? Pfft. You guys don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s into me.”

  “If you say so.” Quinn looks dubious as she sits opposite me. “I saw your father yesterday, is he back for long?”

  “Long enough.” I bite out; the man was a waste of space, and he was beginning to interfere in my life.

  Atlas perches himself on the edge of her chair. “Well, he needs to watch himself. Another woman from Port Ellesmere has been reported missing.”

  I say nothing. I get the gist of what they’re saying. My father was going to get caught if he wasn’t careful, and who knows how many bodies they’d dig up in my backyard.

  “Well ,today’s been a bust,” I say with a groan, standing. “I’m gonna head home.”

  “What about last period?” Atlas asks, as if he cares—which he doesn’t. School isn't a priority for any of us.

  “What about it?” We laugh, and it’s moments like this that remind me I’m not alone in The Society, we’re all part of this organization, this way of life, and not all of it is dark and filled with greed. Just most of it.

  My father is home when I pull up to the house. Dumping my bag in the hallway, I head into the kitchen to find him making grilled cheese sandwiches, wearing jeans and a polo shirt instead of his usual suit.

  “Where’s the housekeeper?” I ask as I sit at the breakfast counter.

  He doesn’t look at me as he plates me up one of his sandwiches and slides it across unexpectedly. “I’ve given them the afternoon off. Why’re you home early?”

  I take a bite, gooey cheesy filling my mouth. “I didn’t want to stay for French lessons. Waste of my time.”

  “I’m sure Elena would disagree, French is the language of love after all.” He watches me as he speaks, eyes narrowed, and I know he’s trying to calculate my reaction. I bite my tongue, not saying a word as he baits me.

  “I must say, she has grown up to be rather lovely.” He sits at the breakfast bar opposite me. “A woman in charge, there’s something very sexy about that. Smart, beautiful, and not afraid to get on top. She has it all.”

  He has a faraway look in his eye, and I know he’s thinking about my fiancée.

  I scoff. “You like your women cold and with rigor mortis, so I guess that rules Lena out.”

  His mouth twists into a sinister smile. “That can be easily remedied. After I’ve had my fun, of course.”

  Dropping the remainder of my sandwich back onto my plate, I hiss, “You wouldn’t dare.”

  He laughs cruelly, and I have never hated my father more. “Stop assuming you know what I would dare to do.”

  “She is mine.”

  Biting into his own sandwich, he chews slowly. “Nothing is yours. Do you understand what The Society is? It’s seeing something you want, and having the power and the guts to take it, regardless of the repercussions. Consequences are nothing when you have the wealth to back you up.”

  “If you lay a finger on her…” I threaten, but he just smiles. If he wants to underestimate me, then that’s his decision. But I would protect Elena with my life, and I would give her everything she ever wanted, including every last pound of flesh from my body if she wanted. There was no line I wouldn’t cross for her.

  He takes another bite and another smug, leisurely chew. “My fingers, my mouth, my cock, my knife. What are you going to do about it, Tristan?”

  I stand, unable to look at his face any longer. Confidence was his weakness, that and pretty dead girls.

  “You’ll help me cover it up, just like you did with your mother.” His voice is full surety, as if he knows me better than I know myself when in fact he doesn’t have a fucking clue.

  “I will kill you,” I promise quietly. I had always known that it would eventually come down to this: me or him, I just assumed I’d have finished school first.

  He chuckles and finishes off his last bite. “We both know you don’t have it in you. You’re too much like your mother.”

  My mother. The ultimate bait between us. My father liked to remind me that I was an accomplice in covering up her murder every time he felt like he was losing control over me. But he didn’t realize that she also fuelled my need to be rid of him. And now he wanted to harm Elena? Once more, I warn him. “Stay away from Lena.”

  “You don’t scare me, boy,” he calls after me as I leave and head to the dance studio.

  I let myself into my apartment and make a mental note to have all of my paintings and tools moved here this weekend. I don’t want to stay in the Radcliffe mansion for much longer, especially not if Elena was going to be with me. I look around the empty space and add furniture to the list of things I need before I move here, two chairs and a mattress on the floor weren’t going to cut it anymore. Grabbing a can of soda from my bag and lighting up a cigarette, I slouch into the chair by the window and wait, there is no way that Elena won’t dance today, even if it is a Monday. Things were moving too fast for her, and she’d need a way to process, she’d need an outlet where she could control the tempo.

  Waiting as the daylight faded into dusk and eventually into night, I zone out. I can’t keep letting her run away, especially not now my father had his eye on her. She needed me to protect her. To push her. To make her see how fucking incredible she was. The stupid masquerade ball was in a few days, and Lena would be paraded around like a prized cow with her violin before the entire town.

  A light flicks on, filling the st
udio with brightness, and my chest tightens as I see Lena strip off down to a sports bra and a pair of yoga pants before pulling her ballet shoes on. I can tell they’re the ones without the blocks from this distance by the way her posture is more relaxed, but I also know from experience that this means she’ll be pushing herself harder. I watch as she stretches and warms up, the way she spends time carefully bending and pushing herself lets me know that tonight will be intense.

  I’m proved right as she begins to spin, doing delicate chaîné turns across the studio before moving into pirouettes. I don’t know what music she’s listening to as she suddenly starts to move like she’s in a K-pop music video, poppin’ and locking her body before dropping to her knees and doing positions on the floor like a hip-hop dancer. All I know is that she’s burning so fucking bright when she’s like this, all that passion lighting her up from the inside as she sweats and moves every muscle.

  Fuck. I was obsessed. Consumed. Elena was mine. And I was going to prove it to her at the ball. There would be no escape for her there, I’d make sure of it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Elena

  Tonight’s the masquerade ball, and it feels like I’m suffocating. It isn’t just one thing either, it’s everything. I’ve been thinking about quitting the cheerleading squad after what happened, but I didn’t know how to approach my father. I didn’t want to be a disappointment, but I couldn’t imagine he would take it well since he was about to start campaigning again. People were treating me differently in school, some with reverence and others with fear as they walked past me in the corridor, and despite Quinn’s support, I couldn’t get used to it.

  As the limo pulls up to the city hall, I look down at my hands. My fingers ache from practicing the violin intensely, and my concealer hides the faint bruise on my chin. I know I’m not as awful as Tristan likes to joke, but he is right. There is no heart in what I play. I don’t enjoy it, and you can hear that in the melody, the notes feel heavy and forced, but there’s nothing I can do about it now.