Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
JADE
Roman: Please Jade, I need you to talk to me.
That’s the fifteenth message I received from my brother this week.
Roman: If you won’t answer me, I’m coming to you. I’ve had enough.
And the sixteenth message I deleted just after reading it.
Roman’s been incessantly texting me for two weeks now, practically begging me to give him another chance to explain, well fuck I don’t know what’s left to say. To be honest I’m not sure I fully understand what it is that’s keeping me from seeing him, from forgiving him.
Is it because...
He left me for so long.
He never came back to look for me.
He killed my father.
It definitely can’t be the last one since I’m not even sure I’m truly pissed off about that. Maybe the fact he was capable of killing but knowing Roman, that could have always been a risk. I wasn’t planning on reaching out to him or answering any of his text messages, but ever since I found that strange note taped to the front door of our dorm room, I’ve been on edge.
Always watching you darling.
I constantly feel like I’m being watched, as if someone is tracking my every move and I don’t for one second doubt it’s connected to my less than pleasant conversation with Daddy Silver last week when I ran into him at the Silver Estate. I accompanied Stella to pick up some clothes she was going to donate to a shelter down in Pleasant Hills. He greeted us the moment we arrived, and immediately I noticed Stella was somewhat on edge. Her interaction with Silver Sr. Took a 360 degree turn from the first day she introduced him to us back on Halloween night last year. She nervously shifted beside me, refusing to look Stephan in the eye. I however stared directly into two familiar gray eyes that glared wickedly at me.
Intimidation. That was his goal, and dark, menacing glares were his tactic. Not to mention subtle, less than friendly threats.
“You and your sister have surely made yourselves comfortable here.” he murmured, obviously trying to ensure Stella wouldn’t overhear us. “You’ve adapted well to this new environment and adjusted to all the various changes you’ve encountered. It would be a shame for your stay here to be cut short for any reason. You see others weren’t so lucky and have found their stay here slightly more troubling. It’s a good thing my son, niece and their friends have taken a liking to you, otherwise things might be a tad more difficult.”
I scoffed at his attempt to intimidate me by threatening me with a ticket back to the slums I came from. I know well enough I’m a threat to him, a tempting vice his son seems to keep coming back for. He wouldn’t be wasting his time with me if he weren’t at least a little nervous that his well-oiled machine was starting to malfunction.
On top of that, I’m not sure if it’s my deranged imagination playing tricks on me, my paranoia finally pushing me over the edge, or if in fact I did see Skeet and his pathetic sidekick, outside of Scottie’s Diner last night. Watching me, just like the note said. I can’t take any chances, I need answers.
Which is why I’m finally texting Roman back, the reason I am willing to meet with him today, preferably in his apartment. I’m tired of being out of the loop around here, always the last to know everything and this time, I’m going to make sure I figure things out on my own. Well sort of.
Stephan Silver has been a complete nightmare ever since he began suspecting there was something going on between his son and me. The elitist bastard doesn't want his son's, his only heir’s, future, and pristine legacy to be ruined by some orphan with no pedigree whatsoever. Especially not a pregnant slut . I’m sure he hasn’t figured out the extent of my condition. He can’t know I am currently carrying his first and only grandson or granddaughter inside of me, however I won’t lie and say I’m not terrified of what he’s capable of doing when he does in fact discover the secret I’m hiding.
The conversation Silver Sr. and I had earlier last week, his veiled threats, and phony concern for my well-being, have left me with a sour taste in my mouth and the impression that Wesley Servite’s untouchable and well-respected business associate , is involved in far more sinister activities than he is believed capable of. After all the devil himself Wesley Servite, may he rot in hell, was only as vile as his hellish disciples helped him become. Between Silver and he, well let’s just say there was quite a bit of bad blood. And now that I suspect Stephan is connected to Skeet, who is in turn connected to Kane Dalton and The Order, I’m even more certain this is not a mere coincidence .
Which brings me to the dilemma at hand, for my sake and for that of my unborn Little Monster, I need to know who exactly Sebastian and his father are involved with, and that list begins and ends with The Order and their front man, Kane Dalton. If it weren’t for Silver Sr. I would have all together forgotten the name. I haven’t heard from Kane since I so subtly told him to fuck off, but Silver Sr. mentioned him, more like not threatened me with Kane and his associates interest in pretty little girls like me. Fucking asshole.
“There is a rumor floating around, something about a Kane fellow and his accomplices. Apparently they have an itch for pretty, young women. I do hope you and your sister keep a vigilant eye out, you know with her track record and your appearance.” Way to subtly say I dress like a whore, and “deserve” whatever negative attention I receive from vile fuckers like them.
I could have given him a piece of my mind then and there but I acted as cool as a fucking cucumber. Unbothered, indifferent, and unafraid. But that seems to be the norm I’ve been faking lately.
I can’t ask Sebastian anything about The Order, I did that night Kane’s men attacked me and he wouldn’t tell me the truth. Even if he had, I’m not sure I'd be one hundred percent sure it was in fact the truth. When I spoke with the infamous Dalton, he made it clear to me that he and Sebastian have a history, however, the extent of it remains a mystery. There is one thing though I’m almost certain about, being Wesley Servite’s lackey, Roman must have run into The Order at one point or another. He might even know Kane Dalton on a first name basis, criminals tend to run in the same circles. So it’s my long-lost brother I’ll be interrogating and if he doesn’t crack, I’m determined to get answers one way or another, even if I have to go down to Galen Grove myself once again and talk face to face with Kane. For now I’ll be going to pay my big bro a little visit, and I'll be asking Liam to take me. After all, isn't that what friends are for?
Walking into my fourth period class, Physiology with Professor Langley, I immediately spot Liam sitting in his usual seat, third row, second to last seat, Casey and Leighton sitting on the table tops in front of him. The desperate glances they’re aiming at him are quick to give away the fact that neither of them, nor anyone for that matter, has managed to snag the attention of the star quarterback, who up until recently was hoping to score with me.
I briskly walk straight to him, all glances in the room tentatively watching me as I come to stand right behind the two wannabe groupies. “Beat it bitches,” I sneer, their laser sharp gazes instantly turning to me, as they foolishly try to set me ablaze with their minds. Pathetic.
“Excuse me,” Casey squeals, as she jumps off the table turning to face me, her arms folded against her chest as she pops her hip out irritatingly.
“I said fuck off bitch,” I utter, maintaining a passive aggressive expression.
“And who the fuck do you think you are,” Leighton shouts as she jumps off the table and moves to stand beside her bestie. I swear these two are pissing me off, all perfect looking in their tight little school uniforms, and Blair Waldorf imposter syndrome. As if.
I can feel my blood sugar dropping to dangerously low levels. Fuck I’m going to need a snack, and I’m not opposed to taking a bite out of these two twats. “No one. I’m a fucking nobody, but what I am is getting dangerously pissed off. So let me say it in a way your pathetic little minds can understand. Fuck. Off.” I pronounce it clearly.
“How fucking dare you bitch,” Casey sneers, her red hair bouncing in her ponytail as she pushes into me. Alright that’s it, the bitch is dead.
I step into her, pushing her back gently with just the tip of my pointer finger on her chest, “First of all, don’t you dare fucking touch me again, not if you’re fond of that pretty little face of yours.” I add slightly more pressure as I continue, “Second, I’m not in the mood for your phony show of power , and third,” now I have her backed up against the desk she so desperately wants to keep, “You're in my fucking seat.”
The class oohs and ahhs, snickering loudly as Casey pales in disbelief looking back at Liam who chuckles behind her.
Liam shrugs his shoulders so fucking smoothly giving them one of his famous gleaming smiles. “Sorry girls, Jade here asked me to save her a seat.” The two girls huff and puff as they walk off, making a point to push past me as they do. I can’t help myself, I swear I try but it happens almost by instinct. I gracefully stick my foot out tripping the bitch causing a domino effect of epic proportions.
The class erupts in blaring laughter, hooting, and hollering as Casey and Leighton quickly stand brushing off their less than graceful exit. “Oops sorry, might want to watch where you’re going next time, you know pretty faces and all.”
Ignoring me, they run off toward the two remaining seats on the far right of the room, while I take my seat spinning to face a wide grinning Liam. “I need a favor from you,” I say, straight and to the point, not bothering to address the little fiasco that just occurred.
“Well hello there gorgeous, I’m good thanks for asking,” he mocks, and I swiftly punch him in the arm causing him to flinch. “Ouch, fuck sorry, I guess I deserved that.”
“Oh shut up, you swear like it hurts your impenetrable biceps.” I roll my eyes at him, clearly not enjoying the way this is turning out.
“Impenetrable huh?” he utters with a sly wink. I give him my infamous don’t fuck with me glance and it turns out the boy isn’t all brawn and no brains. He’s impressively quick to understand I’m not in the mood to play around. “Alright sorry,” he apologizes, straightening in his seat before leaning forward on his elbows to meet me. A whiff of his overindulgent Axe body spray makes me terribly queasy. “But seriously what the fuck was that about?” he asks, raising a blond brow quizzically .
“Nothing, I need a favor,” I say once again, this time whispering so only he can hear. His blue eyes tentatively look around the room to ensure nobody’s paying any attention to us, lucky for me they’ve all forgotten the little scene that happened just moments ago and are back to gossiping amongst themselves. “What is it?” he asks, his gentle eyes brimming with curiosity and excitement as he awaits my response.
“I need you to take me somewhere after school today, but I need you to be discreet and not ask any questions.” His mood instantly goes from excited to reluctant while he shakes his head, running a hand anxiously through his slightly long blond hair. He has to say yes, I mean I can’t exactly ask Sebastian for help, he’s more pissed at my brother than I am, not that I even understand why, but I know he’d go all protective alpha on him and the last thing I need is for those two to end up in jail or worse, dead.
“I don’t know Jade, look, with Sebastian showing up each and every time we’re together…”
“Don’t worry about him,” I say interrupting him, “I know for a fact he’s going to be out of town. He’s actually leaving right after lunch today and won’t be back until tomorrow. That gives us plenty of time for you to take me where I need to go.”
“Which is where exactly?” he asks.
I lean in closer to him, aware that prying eyes beside us are eagerly watching, surely ready to relay the message to their king. Hopefully by the time the news gets to him, Liam and I will be long gone. “To see my brother,” I whisper, his eyes going wide in shock. I guess that’s not at all what he was expecting me to say.
“Jade,” he mumbles, but I’m quick to wave him off.
“If you won’t take me I’ll just find another way to get there Liam. But I’m asking you, I came to you for a favor, trusting you my friend, would understand.”
He cringes slightly, closing his eyes for a moment and I know it’s because I’ve less than subtly sent him straight into the friend-zone, again. Looking up at me he gives me his most apologetic smile, “Sebastian won’t like it if he finds out, not only because you’re going to see your brother he for some reason hates, but because it’s me who’s taking you.”
I give him my best puppy-dog-eyed expression. “He won’t find out, Walker, I promise. Will you take me or not?”
He smiles softly, nodding and I can’t help but mimic it. “Yeah of course, how can I say no to you. Meet me after school on the field, I’ll park my car nearby and we can go right after practice is over, the guys won’t say anything.” I extend my hand to him, taking his in between mine.
“Thanks Liam, you’re a great friend and honestly I really need one right now.” His smile weakens, his eyes clouding with something ominous dark and melancholic before turning back to their beautiful shade of blue.
“I’m here for you Jade, anything you need, no matter what Sebastian says or does, I’m here.” I nod slightly, caught in a trance as I take in the genuine kindness he offers me.
I’ve never met anyone like Liam Walker. Someone who isn’t, for lack of a better word, broken. Never have I come across someone who doesn’t view the world with a daunting and dark microscopic lens, someone whose life hasn’t been wickedly cruel to them and still holds onto the innocence of not understanding what true solitude and melancholy looks like. It’s exactly what I need, it’s what I should be drawn to, for only the whole can fix the broken, yet it’s only the broken who understand what it feels like to break.
That right there is the reason Sebastian and I are physically, mentally, and now emotionally drawn together, like two magnets that can’t fight the pull. We’re like two parts of the same broken mirror that broke into thirds, useless, cursed, never to be complete, yet still perfect reflections of one another. Half reflections when held together still remain imperfect but nonetheless serve their purpose, until one of us lets go and the other falls crashing down, breaking into a million smaller shards of glass, piercing, painful, and irreparable. Because the broken will always remain broken, some of us spend our entire existence trying to find our missing piece while others, well we just learn to live with the understanding that we’ll never again be what we once were, whole.
“Get the fuck away from her!” A loud, deeply masculine voice shouts startling the both of us. Liam quickly releases my hands, as he looks away silently cursing himself. I immediately know it’s him. Even if I hadn’t recognized his voice, even before turning around, I should have known, expected this. I gradually turn to my left spotting Casey and Leighton giggling with smug grins plastered across their faces, as Leighton waves her phone at me. Fucking bitch texted him.
“I swear quarterback, you’d think the first time would have been sufficient warning, the second time a merciful reminder, but the third, now that’s just fucking rude. You’re a dead man Walker.” Bass snarls as he steps up to Liam’s desk reaching down and grabbing him by the collar of his perfectly ironed shirt.
Liam doesn’t bother making any excuses as for why our hands were grasped together, he doesn’t even try to talk his way out of this one, he just sits there resigned and accepting of the beating that’s sure to follow if I don’t put a fucking stop to Sebastian’s temperamental tantrum. “Let go of him Sebastian!” I shout, standing and grabbing tightly onto Bass’s bicep. It’s like fucking concrete under my palm, the bulges of his muscles twitching in anger, the erratic beating of his heart palpitating through them and down my fingers.
Bass ignores me, his laser focus glued to Liam, his Adam's apple throbbing in his throat and I’ve got to admit it’s doing things it definitely shouldn’t be doing to me if the sudden ache that’s running through me is any indication. Fucking pregnancy hormones, not now. “Sebastian please, let go of him.” My voice softens and the plea in my eyes makes him suddenly snap out of his fury and turn to face me, his eyes showing not anger but worry as he looks intently into mine searching for answers. Answers as to why I’m always in these situations with Liam. Not jealousy, but hurt, like my being close to Liam, enjoying being around him, physically, mentally, and emotionally pains him.
“Mr. Silver, why on earth are you in my class and why do you have Mr. Walker by the neck?!” Professor Langley shouts, as she enters the room right as the fourth period bell rings. Bass reluctantly releases his hold on Liam glaring at me, “Follow me now,” he whispers, before pushing past me.
I obey, not questioning or arguing against him, making things easier for all parties involved. I simply follow after him but don’t make it out the door before Langley speaks again, “Miss Wolfe I suggest you find your seat as I escort Mr. Silver here to the Headmaster’s office.”
“Fuck off Langley,” Bass growls, stepping into the poor woman’s face, “Jade’s coming with me and there’s nothing you’re pathetic old ass can do about it.” Professor Langley gapes in disbelief but does nothing to stop us as Bass wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me out the door with him.
Outside he releases me, not bothering to turn around as we stalk down the hallway toward the front doors of the building. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me Sebastian,” I yell, my laughter echoing in the empty halls, but he doesn’t slow down, if anything he quickens his pace. I follow behind him my hands pushing against his back but failing to cause any sort of damage against the steel wall of muscle. “Stop fucking walking!” I shout, my anger and frustration getting the best of me, my hands now fists at my side. “I swear you’re so,” I pause, flooded with rage and not able to form a coherent thought. “Ughh, you’re so infuriating!”
He halts abruptly, my chest colliding into his back before he turns and grabs me by my arms pulling me into him as his lips come crashing down on mine. With equal amounts of fury and desire, his lips devour mine with no restraint and no goddamn apology for how rough they become as he slams me back into the glass enclosed shelf against the wall, the trophies rattling against the glass. His hands move to grab my ass, spreading me and pulling me closer into his body, until he lifts me and my legs wrap around him, pressing his already hardened erection into me. Like two crazed maniacs we make out with no restraint, our tongues colliding, our teeth biting down on sensitive, swelling skin, our hands aching to touch every inch of one another.
This can in no way, shape, or form, be healthy.
“I’m infuriating” he whispers, huskily against my mouth, “You're so maddening, everything about you drives me fucking crazy! Your attitude, your reckless impulsivity, this perfect mouth, your luscious cunt, you Jade Wolfe are the definition of infuriating.”
“I’m...”
A dark groan reverberates from him echoing around us as he bites down on my bottom lip. I can taste the metallic tinge of blood on my tongue as It comes out to lick it. “Why do you continue to make it fucking impossible to think straight knowing that asshole wants what’s mine.”
“I,” apparently this pregnancy has also made me lose all my fucking brain cells since I can’t form any sort of response. No sarcasm, no wit, nothing. I just blankly stare at his fucking lips. Plump, soft, and coated in my saliva.
“Stay away from Walker,” he grunts, a promising “ if you don’t”threat clear in his voice. I scoff at his blatant disregard for what I want, as always thinking only about himself and how my disobedience must look to those around him. “I’m not responsible for what happens to him the next time I see him near you.”
His arrogance snaps me out of my lustful daze, bringing me back to the selfish, hot headed bastard that continues to make it impossible for me to function. “You can’t ask me to do that Sebastian, Liam is,” my voice cracks, stopping me before I say something I’ll regret. I’m not sure how I was planning on finishing that sentence, but the glare in his ominous eyes makes me choose my next words carefully. “He’s my friend.”
His fingers find a single strand of hair falling out of my ponytail, tucking it behind my ear, softly tracing an invisible line across my cheek and down the buttons of my uniform shirt, “You. Are. Mine. You don’t need anyone else.” My breath hitches as my buttons snap open as his finger continues to descend. My nipples harden, my thighs clench, and the queasy sensation I’ve grown to despise makes its impending appearance. I swallow hard, repressing the bile that intends to rise in me. “I’m no longer asking Jade, I’m warning you. Stay the fuck away from Walker. You have no idea the kind of monster I become when someone threatens to take what is rightfully mine.”
I now know for a fact that this situation I find myself in is altering me much more than just physically and biologically. It’s rendering me psychologically unstable. It’s the only explanation for the response that leaves my lips next.
“That’s the thing you don’t know about me Sebastian, there is a monster in me too, extremely volatile, considerably unstable, exceedingly dangerous, and vaguely suppressed, and the only way to defeat a monster, is to become what it fears most.”
“I fear nothing baby,” he says, cool, calm, and un-fucking-phased.
“You’re wrong, there is one thing you fear most in this world. I know this because it’s the exact same thing that terrifies me right down to my fucking core.”
“And what’s that,” he asks, curiosity evident in his silver eyes.
“To be human.”