Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
Ivy
I wake to a salty taste in my mouth.
Frowning, I lean up and blink a couple of times.
Why am I on my couch? Did I fall asleep here after Max left?
I yawn and still taste the salt, so I rub my face … only to find something sticky.
What the…
I bring my fingers to my nose and smell.
Wow.
That’s definitely cum. No mistaking it.
Did Max come back into my house?
I stand and look around. The key is missing from my kitchen counter, even though I’m sure he placed it there before he left. I shiver.
Maybe he came back to steal it again and then got overwhelmed with more desire?
I check out the rest of my body. There are splotches of cum left everywhere on my skin.
Damn, I didn’t know he could come three times in a row. And while I was asleep too.
I pull out my phone and message him.
Me: Did you come back into my house and come again?
It takes him a while to respond, and he keeps deleting messages over and over.
Max: No…
That sounds like a lie to cover up the fact that he was hungry for more. I grin at the thought.
Me: No need to lie. I know the key is missing.
He keeps typing and deleting his sentences, backing up on whatever he was about to say.
Then he stops replying entirely.
Guess he’s too embarrassed to admit it.
I shrug it off and swiftly jump under the shower to clean up before I wake Cora to get dressed too. I give her breakfast and prepare her bag, then drop her off at Mrs. Schwartz, and bike back to Spine Ridge University. Every day, my muscles are getting leaner and leaner just from all this damn biking I’m doing, but I’m not going to give up just because it hurts a little.
Going to this college was a dream come true. A dream they’d have to tear from my cold, dead hands if anyone ever wanted me to quit.
Even as a little kid, I was always boasting to my mom and dad about how I was going to go to this school and build my own company from the ground up and become rich. They cheered me on, and I worked so damn hard to achieve this goal.
No amount of blackmail, bullying, or boys with questionable sexual needs, is going to keep me away from here.
I park my bike in the stands and wipe the sweat off my forehead, then chug some much-needed water and head to my first class of the day.
I enter the class room, and Mr. Alec Caruso, my teacher for this class, welcomes me. “Hello, Miss Clark. Nice to see you in good spirits today.”
“Hi,” I reply as I pass him by. “Just in time.”
“No worries, I haven’t started class yet.” He winks. “Find a seat.”
A particular aura hangs in the back of the room, and my eyes immediately gravitate toward its center. There sits the vicious green-eyed boy with his black and white hair and his violent temper. The twitch in his lip when he sees me makes me swallow away the lump in my throat as a grin slowly begins to spread on his cheeks.
Does he know I witnessed him kill?
Did Max rat me out and tell him?
I swiftly turn to the side and sit down as far away as I can from Silas. I’m not going to give him anymore ammo. But the second I grab my books and put them down on my desk, something hits the back of my neck.
It’s on the floor, so I pick it up. It’s a tiny piece of paper all crumpled up, so I unfold it.
After your classes, you come to me.
I turn around in my seat and stare him down as courage bolsters me to stick up my middle finger. The smirk on his face only widens.
I turn around again and listen to Mr. Caruso as I pen down more notes so I can at least study the material after this class, because Silas is trying to make it impossible for me to pay attention.
Another paper hits me in the back of the head, and I grab it and read the note.
You wanna do this the easy way or the hard way?
I write something on the back and chuck it back at his face.
Didn’t know you were so attention-starved, you needed blackmail to get ladies to come to your house.
His nostrils flare when he reads it, and just that one bit of annoyance is enough to make my day.
Suddenly my phone buzzes.
Psycho: Yet I didn’t even need more than three words to get you on your knees. Begging. Moaning. Coming all over my floor.
My hand nearly crushes the phone in my hand.
That asshole!
Me: You think I did any of that because I want you? In your fucking dreams. You’re a girl’s literal worst nightmare.
Psycho: We’ll see about that once you’re on the floor again with that dainty fucking ass of yours.
Me: Asshole.
Psycho: Thief.
Me: Keep reminding me, maybe I’ll finally decide to rob you until you have nothing left.
Psycho: You don’t even dare to look at me, so I fucking doubt it.
I immediately turn around and stare him down, making sure he gets the message.
Me: I’m not afraid of you.
Psycho: Oh … is that a fucking challenge? Because I’m always up for a game of cat and mouse to bring the terror.
Me: Try me.
I don’t know why I typed that, but it’s too late to unsend it. And judging from the smug look on his face I am already beginning to regret it.
Fuck.
I just invited him to chase me again just like that night in the woods. I should’ve kept my mouth shut after he antagonized me.
I turn around again so I don’t have to look at his psycho face while brewing with hatred.
Psycho: Five p.m. After your classes are done. You’ll be cleaning my room.
Me: I don’t hear a question.
Psycho: It wasn’t one. You need money and I need you to clear your debt. See you tonight, twig.
I turn off my phone before he sends me more lewd messages. Fuck. I really shouldn’t have picked up those papers, but it’s too late now. He’s got his hawk-eyes on me, ready to dig his claws in and pick me up like prey.
But he didn’t mention anything about last night. About me, watching them kill.
So maybe Max really didn’t tell them after all.
Silas
When class is over, I’m almost sad I’m no longer able to antagonize her with just a goddamn look. As I get up to grab my books, my phone buzzes. It’s Dad.
“What?”
“Come to the third floor. I need to speak with you.”
I roll my eyes and click off the convo. Whatever.
I shove people out of the way and get out of class, then head up all the fucking stairs to the dean’s office where my dad’s waiting. He’s leaning against his desk when I close the door.
“What’s up?”
His darkening gaze makes me realize this is serious business.
“Last night, your mom’s men found bones buried in the woods near the house.” His penetrative stare forces me to sit down. “Human bones.” He squints but I stare him down. “Do you happen to know anything about that?”
I shrug. “I don’t fucking know what y’all are up to. What’s it got to do with me?”
“Silas …” he grits. “Don’t lie to me.”
“Lie about what?”
He rolls his eyes. “You think I don’t know what you do? How long do you think we’ve been cleaning up after you?”
I swallow away the nerves.
Fuck.
Was it that obvious?
He grabs a cigarette and lights it right here in the room, taking a deep drag. “You’re callous.”
“It’s gone, isn’t it? No one fucking saw.”
“Our men saw,” he says, taking another drag. “And they will pin this on you if they ever go to the cops.”
“Then I’ll kill ’em too.” I shrug.
His jaw tenses. “It’s not that easy.”
“Yes, it is.” I tilt my head. “They’re your men. If you can’t trust them … why are they near our family?”
He takes another deep drag, staring me down like he’s disappointed in me.
But we both know why I am the way I am.
“Who was it?”
“A nobody,” I respond.
“Where did you find him?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because I need to know if there are any loose ends,” he grits, slamming his fist on the table. “Goddammit, Silas. I told you to be more careful.”
I look away. “I took care of it.”
“And my men had to clean up after the mess you left,” he says. “That’s not going to happen again, do you hear me? You can’t jeopardize your mother like this. What if the cops find out?”
“They won’t,” I retort. “Because you’ll take care of it.”
His nostrils flare and it takes him a while to respond. “No. Not anymore.”
I frown. “What?”
“You.” He points at me. “You will stop.”
I clutch the chair’s elbow rests. “No.”
He can’t ask this of me. He knows why I do this.
“Yes,” he reiterates. “You will.”
I stand and kick the chair away. “The fuck I will!”
“You have no choice.” He takes another drag before marching over to me and grabbing me by the collar of my shirt. “Stop playing around. This isn’t some fucking game, kid. You take the wrong guy, and you’re done for. Over. You don’t know the kind of monsters that live in this fucking city and what they do to protect their own. Your mother and I have been fighting tooth and nail to keep our kids protected, and goddammit, I won’t let you screw this up.”
“I need this,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Take out your anger on something else,” he says, grabbing my shoulders instead. “Go to a shooting range. Go join an axe-throwing group. Fuck, you can even join that dojo that friend of Heath’s father owns. What’s his fucking name … Blaine Navarro. He’ll give you something to take your anger out on and let it go.”
I jerk free of his grip. “I don’t want to fucking let it go.” I laugh out loud. “You think I do this because I’m angry?”
“Silas …”
“No, you don’t get to give me this talk. I fucking know what you and Mom did back in your days.”
Shock riddles his eyes.
“Yeah, Heath told me about his father’s big shoot-out at the Torres casino, one in which you took part. You act like you’re some goddamn good guy, but you’re not.”
“I never said I was, but I did it for the right reasons.”
“Fuck the right reasons,” I spit back. “I don’t need a reason to kill.”
I turn around and storm toward the door.
“Silas, you’re not going to dump any more bodies on my property, do you understand?”
I pause as I grip the door, my nails digging into the wood. “I am this way because of you .”
And I bolt down the stairs before he can say anything else.