by Amo Jones
My mouth pops open, and then slams shut, but then pops open again when I realize what he has just said. Luckily Micaela is asleep, or I’d be throwing shit right now. He goes over to her crib. “I just fucking miss her. Drives me crazy.”
I’m still trying to decide whether or not I’m going to bite. “I never said anything about me being your girlfriend, Nate,” I whisper. I aim for neutral, but the nip at the end of each syllable would prove otherwise. Nate picks that up, because he’s smart. He’s leaning over the crib, his arms tensing as he grips the edge. His head is hanging low, watching Micaela sleep, but as soon as those words leave my mouth, his hooded eyes come up to mine, a smirk on his stupid mouth. “Good. Don’t want any confusion here.”
“None at all,” I declare. Maybe I answered that a little too fast.
“You answered too fast.”
“Fuck you. Are you done?” I hate how he gets to me, but we’ve always been different. This is why I always thought he and Tate would’ve made a better couple. They made more sense because they both had no issues with sleeping around.
His eyes don’t move from mine. “You’re coming with me tonight.”
“What?” I cross my arms in front of myself. “To where?”
He stands straight. I can’t read his expression. What the hell is with everyone and their unreadable faces? This world sucks. “Be ready at nine. Mom already knows she has Micaela.” He turns to leave, but just before he steps outside and closes the door, he cranks his head over his shoulder, smirking. “And wear something short and tight.”
He steps out and shuts the door before I can swear at him. Daemon’s book is now squashed to the back of my brain, although it’s ties are still latched onto me by a thread.
I reach for my phone, dialing Madison. She answers after a few rings. “Hola.”
“What’s happening tonight and why is Nate picking me up at nine?”
If I can’t get any answers out of Nate, I’m cashing in on girl code.
“What? He’s bringing you?”
I pause. “Bringing me where?”
Just when I think she’s not going to say anything, she exhales loudly. “Wow. Okay, um, on a run. It starts at a meeting point and—you’ll see. Bishop is here now, but hey, can we talk tonight?”
“Of course?” I say, confused why she would need to ask if we could talk. We hang up and I go around cleaning everything quickly while Micaela is asleep. It’s just after six when I’m finally nestled in bed with Micaela, gazing at my phone.
I know that I shouldn’t.
I mean, I really know that I shouldn’t.
I pick up my phone and hit dial.
“Well, this is unsuspected,” Peyton purrs down the phone.
I briefly choke on my words, and then clear my throat. “Ah, yeah…” there’s a reason why I was calling her, and I need to get to that reason now. “Where are you?”
She scoffs, and I’m reminded why I really don’t like her, regardless whether she is my sister by blood. “Like I’d tell you.”
“Listen,” I turn over to the other side when I catch Micaela watching me. “I need to know something.”
“Hmmm, and what makes you think I’d tell you anything that you need to know?”
“I don’t really care, Peyton. I know when you’re lying and when you’re telling the truth, so I’m going to go with that.”
She pauses, and then exhales. “Fine. What?”
“Daemon…”
The sound of a high-pitched hyena cackles through my phone, and the image of what her face would look like right now has my fists bunching. “Aw, honey. I can’t tell you anything about Daemon. But here’s something I can tell you…” She stops again, and I roll back over the bed, swinging my legs off. I hang onto the silence by the tips of my finger nails. “Nate is playing you, this much I know. He is playing you big time.”
“Why would you think I’d care if he was playing me? Him and I are nothing.”
She lets out another cackle. I really fucking hate her laugh. Have I always hated it, or is it a new thing for me? “You and he will always be a something.” Then she hangs up, leaving me annoyed with her cryptic message. I go to call back but get a recorded voice message saying that this number is no longer in service.
Typical Peyton. Flips everything upside down and walks away.
A knock on my door yanks me away from my deciphering. I quickly get up and open it.
“Hey!” I say to Elena, who is standing there with a huge smile on her face. “You’re early?”
She wiggles, looking around the room for Micaela. “I know, I just miss her because I haven’t seen her all day, and als—”
“—let me through! Her cool aunt is here,” Scarlet, Bishop’s mom, pushes past both of us.
Elena sighs. “—also her.”
I snort, waving Elena inside to follow Scarlet. Kicking the door closed, I exhale. “Well, you guys are early, but I guess I can find something to do to burn time.”
I make them tea, but Scarlet wanted coffee, so I change hers to coffee. The silence is awkward, but having Scarlet here is a good thing. It stops Elena from giving me half a million-dollar cars or money.
“She’s so beautiful,” Scarlet coo’s, cradling Micaela in her arms.
“Thank you,” I smile at Scarlet before Elena steals my attention.
“Are you excited for tonight?”
Not really.
Tillie
“Where are we going?” I ask as Nate drives us onto the main highway.
He smirks, dropping it down into third gear and flooring it forward. “On a run. You’ll see Madison and everyone there.”
“Ah, okay, but why are you taking me?” My fingers clench around the door handle. I can’t think of any reason as to why he would be taking me with him, and it makes me nauseous what with the brief conversation I had with Peyton, and with Nate’s track record.
“Did you have something better to do?” He clips back, and my attention snaps to him instantly. His jaw is slightly taunt and his fingers are flexing around the steering wheel.
“What? No. I’m just wondering why you would bring me with you.”
He doesn’t answer, so I hit the radio and let the music waft between us.
The drive is around twenty minutes, and it’s not long before we’re pulling into a long gravel driveway. Trees shade over the road with fresh cut grass spread behind as a backdrop. I can see a glass octagon shaped house right at the end with fairy lights hanging around the edges, beaming it bright.
“What’s this place?” I ask, leaning forward to get a closer look.
Nate hits the volume down slightly, but the base is still shaking the metal. “This is the meet. Stay close to me and don’t take drinks from anyone.”
“What?” I ask, horrified. “What is this place?”
“It’s called the meet. This is where the night starts and ends.” He pulls to the front of the entryway where a large man stands wearing all black and a clipboard in his hand. “Nate!” I whisper as he climbs out of the car. I grab the handle, opening the door wide. Swiping down my white short-shorts, I chew on my lip, second guessing my clothing. Its casual, but it’s sort of—tight.
Nate looks me up and down, and slowly comes closer to me, backing me up against the car. I can hear people in the background, but I’m so caught up in his eyes that I don’t break the cerebral contact. His hand comes to my upper thigh, squeezing me. “The Artist” by Jay Sean is spilling out loudly from the octagon shaped house thingy. Nate lifts me up by my thighs, his hand coming to my throat. He licks me across my bottom lip and then bites on it roughly. “No wandering off tonight, principissa mea. You know where this belongs.” He grins, his hand coming around to cup my ass as if to accentuate his point. He kisses me before looking back. “At least, while I’m around.”
He puts me back down to my feet, his eyes going over my shoulder, and I turn to follow his line of sight. Madison, Bishop and Brantley are there.
“Where’s everyone else?” I ask, nudging my head.
Brantley grins. “It’s our turn this week.” His eyes fly to Nate. “You’re a greedy bastard. Some shit does change.”
Nate flips him off. “Just with her.”
Brantley returns his bird flip. “Yeah? I’ll remember that next time you have the Raven jumping around on both of our dicks.”
I suck in a breath, hopefully not obviously. Who the fuck is The Raven.
Nate doesn’t seem bothered, and why would he be. I knew who he was when I decided to, as Brantley well put it, bounce around on his dick. I can’t deny the sting though.
Madison grinds her teeth. “Not sure I like her yet.”
“Who?” I ask, annoyed with being out of the loop.
Bishop chuckles, pulling Madison into him. “Chill, baby. She has nothing on you.”
“He’s lying,” Brantley rolls his eyes, walking past us. “She’s by far the hottest chick I’ve ever fucking seen. Isn’t that right, Nate?” I can almost hear Brantley grinning.
And I’m over this shit, but at the same time, I can’t show that it’s affecting me. I just have to stop Nate from being too hands on. Of course he’s been messing around with girls, but what annoys me is that this girl has obviously been a regular, and apparently he’s shared her with Brantley—no surprise there—and she’s nicknamed Raven and—big and—she has Madison pushing on the insecure side. No one, and I mean no one can make Madison insecure. Consider me intrigued.
Madison yanks on my hand. “Let’s get a drink, shall we? Also, ignore Brantley. He hasn’t gone there because—gross—and neither has Nate. They’re fucking with you. This time.” She whispers into my ear. I want to ask her what she means by “gross”, but she is already dragging me forward.
“Yeah.” I look right at Nate as I let Madison drag me toward the glass house. “Good idea.”
His eyes stay on me until I drag them away. No deal, buddy. No way am I letting him run playboy on me.
The big guy waves us through and as soon as we get inside “What’s Happenin!” by Ying Yang Twins is thudding loudly.
“Is this a club?” I lean into Madison.
She shakes her head, dragging me toward a table where around four other guys are seated. A couple are young, really young. I’d have to say around sixteen. Too young to be here. The entire area is circled with tables and small bars, and then you take a few steps down, and—I lean over the railing.
“Holy shit!”
There’s a massive UFC shaped octagon downstairs with a fight happening and people screaming, throwing money around. The rowdy people don’t surprise me. It’s the tables of immaculately dressed men surrounding those people, hidden in the shadows. Smoke drifts up through the air as they all watch the fight in unperturbed ease. One man in the corner with a fedora hat looks up at me and I stop. Immediately looking away.
Madison follows my sight, handing me a bottle of some pre-made drink. I take a sip, the vodka hitting my throat instantly.
“Are you okay?” Madison asks after downing half of her drink.
I turn to face the railing and watch as two guys fight in the middle of the ring. Both shirtless, both ripped, and both—“ouch!” someone got a kick to the face. The smell of sweat mixed with cologne, cigar smoke, and weed lingers around the place.
“Tillie?”
“Hmm?” I turn to face her, my mouth around the rim of the bottle. I drink the rest and gesture to her. “I need another.”
“Okay so that’s a no,” Madison murmurs, and then hooks her arm around mine and drags me back toward the table where the guys are seated. I haven’t seen any of them in my life.
Their eyes all come up to us, and I take a second to draw in their appearance, because I’m in the mood to be shallow. There are four of them, two are young, around sixteen, I’d say, and the other two would have to be older. Like around Spyder’s age, so twenty-four-ish. I can feel the distinct sound of blood pulsing through my ears as the alcohol begins to seize my thoughts, relaxing my muscles slightly.
“What you girls up to?” One of the young guys grins at us, his eyes raking over my body. He has a square jaw and cheeky eyes. His nose is slightly crooked, giving his otherwise pretty appearance a rough edge. The other young guy has long hair that hangs around his neck and has muscles for days. The other older guys have buzz cuts and if I’m being honest, seem to slightly resemble each other.
“Nothing.” Madison smiles. “Looking for drinks!”
The bold one with the crooked nose gestures down to the glass fridge beside him. “By all means, Swan, help yourselves, but tell me…” He leans forward, his eyes pointedly on me. “Who the fuck is this beauty?”
A few of them snort but carry on with their game of poker.
“This is Tillie, and she’s—”
I cut Madison off, “—really good at poker.”
He flicks his tongue out and then gestures to the seat beside him, but I take the one closest to the older guy. Madison slips beside the bold one after handing me my drink. She glares at me but with a smile and I shrug. I’m done playing nice girl with Nate while he’s off being a ho and I’m home playing baby mama. Just because a girl is a mom, it does not mean that she can’t have a life. You know, outside of mom-hood. I’m going with that anyway.
“He’s a little straight forward,” the one beside me leans into my ear after dealing us up.
I shrug, taking another sip of my drink. “I don’t mind. Is it Texas Hold ‘Em?”
They nod and I pick up my cards. We keep playing as more music blasts through and more drinks disappear.
“Alright, girls,” bold one, whose name is actually Lennox, says. “You riding with me?” He looks at me, and in my fuzzy brain, I shrug, standing from the table. Not sure where we’re riding to, but right now, I don’t care. I haven’t seen Nate all night, and there’s a dark part of me that thinks he has probably found the blackbird chick. Whoever she is.
Madison’s hand comes out to mine. “Don’t be reckless…”
I yank it out of her grip. “I’m not you, Madz. I don’t deal well with games unless I’m playing.”
She chews on her lip nervously then stands up, leaning close to my ear. “Listen, there’s something I need to tell you, but I don’t want you—”
“—Come on, pretty girl, let’s go have some fun…” Lennox says, hooking his arm around my neck. I drop the shot that’s on the table and let him drag me out of this glass house of doom or whatever it is. I probably should drink some water soon if I want to wake up in the morning with some memories.
A couple of the other guys are following us out when Lennox beeps a Maserati. “Ride shotgun, baby.”
“Hold up.” My hand comes to his chest. I’m experiencing a wave of honesty and I feel bad if I’m dragging some poor kid into mine and Nate’s rip of drama. “Do you know who I am?”
He seems to search my eyes, and it’s the first time I notice the flecks of blue in them. He really is gorgeous, as are the other guys, but I’ve come to learn over the year that the only people associated with The Kings are beautiful one way or another. On the outside. They’re rather shitty human beings on the inside.
He smirks, leaning into my ear until his lip touches my lobe. “Yeah, baby mama, I do. You wanna play or what?”
I lick my lips, my eyes going to the other three guys who are watching me. “You do realize Nate will kill you, right?” I’m bluffing. Nate doesn’t care.
Lennox grins again. “You do realize, he’s probably fucking Laken right now, right?”
“Wait!” I shake my head, trying to clear the fog. “Who is your sister and how old are you?”
“Get in the car, baby.” He points to the car.
I lick my lips. “No. Who is Laken?” Raven, Laken. I’m not leaving without answers.
He pauses, searches my eyes and then smirks. “Laken Sloan. You don’t know her—yet. And I’m sixteen.”
Reality comes crashing back into me. He’s sixteen
, I’m not a fucking cradle snatcher. “You know what? Pass.” I start walking toward the gravel road. Everything is spinning in my head and I’m not sharp enough to catch onto a word that has been said. I pull my phone out and see a text from Nate.
Nate: Where the fuck r u?
I flip my phone off because that’s mature. This was all his stupid idea anyway. Headlights stream from behind me, but I hear the car before I see it. Stepping to the side of the road, I signal to let the car pass, only it doesn’t. It hangs behind me, engine idling loud enough to wake the devil himself. Definitely a V8. I turn, shading the headlights from my eyes. Black with circle headlights, looks like an old-style car. Something you see on Fast and Furious. It rumbles up closer, pulling right beside me. The windows are tinted so I can’t see inside, but even if they weren’t, I wouldn’t be able to make out much of anything. The back-window slides down as the deep growl of the engine reverberates around me. I almost have to block my ears it’s that loud.
Three guys are in the back, and—I squint my eyes. “Okay, I didn’t realize it was Halloween in April?”
The back door opens, hitting me in the leg.
“Ouch!”
My eyes go over them again, each of their faces are painted in the Dia los Muertos face paint. Black and white with translucent eye contacts in. I wouldn’t recognize them from a damn line up.
“Get in the fucking car, Tillie.”
Well, I recognize that voice.
“Nate?”
His hand comes out, pulling me into the backseat.
“What are you doing!” I yelp, falling across not just Nate’s lap, but the rest of whoever is in the back.
Nate slams the door closed, grabs me by the back of my neck and slaps my ass cheek. Hard. A loud clap breaks out along with my scream.
“Nate!”
My short white shorts have probably ridden up high enough to flash the curves of my massive ass.
“I fucking told you to stay the fuck away from anyone while I’m around, and what do you do?”