Chapter 14 #2
Aloud, I said, “I didn’t try to seduce my uncle.
I nearly got assaulted by a serial rapist who is currently being charged with the same crime with another underage girl.
” My voice sounded strong, despite my tears.
I could control my words, but not their flow down my cheeks or the heat they practically sizzled across as my face flamed.
“It was hell, or as close as I’ve ever experienced.
Then again, back then I didn’t know about this classroom since it is actually hell, and you are the devil. Phoenix, don’t.”
I grabbed my bag and moved to leave, hoping he wouldn’t follow me.
Fueled by temper, I stormed out of the room, the repercussions hitting me with each footfall.
Did I really just yell at a teacher? And I stormed out of my classroom…
Panic made my hands shake, and I wondered what got into me.
I didn’t do things like talk back, normally. I usually took the abuse and moved on.
Instead, I boldly kept going. Straight down the hall, out the front door—I am cutting school.
I never skipped so much as a class before, not even while everything spiraled out of control in Chicago.
I breathed hard, the air blowing out of my nose hot and angry.
I turned seventeen today, making it a day for new things.
Where am I going? I didn’t know, but my legs kept going until I got to the park. I found an empty bench, then sat on it and looked around. Kids played, the sun shined, a normal day. Nothing to signify it as otherwise unusual at all, other than me skipping school.
Oh boy. I put my head in my hands, panic making me a bit lightheaded. What did I just do? Shit. I would be in sooooo much trouble. I stomped my foot. Damn it.
“Alatheia,” a voice called out and I jolted, startled into holding my breath until my pulse pounded in my ears. Is that…Bethany? She grinned as she jogged to my bench then sat down next to me. “Haven’t you heard me? I’ve been calling your name for blocks.”
I leaned back, still shocked she left school. “No. I guess I was kind of out of it.”
“Right? I figured.” She looked around, crossing her legs and relaxing into the seat. “This is a good spot to look at the lake.”
What is happening here? “What are you doing here?”
“I needed to see if you were okay. Don’t worry, I told Phoenix I would check on you. He’s probably trying to text you. Collins tried to take his phone while I stormed out, but anyway. I had to see you, obviously.”
I couldn’t think of anything obvious in the situation. “Sorry, I don’t understand.”
“I told you the other night, I get it.” She blinked at me, and suddenly her eyes seemed way older.
“Wasn’t I clear enough? I almost got raped once.
My old nanny’s boyfriend, who stayed with us two summers ago in Europe.
She brought him to our house. I haven’t had a nanny in years, but she came to visit, and she brought him.
I had a near miss. I didn’t realize that happened to you, too, until Marco told me.
Afterward, I knew we had to be friends.”
Well…this is unexpected. At least it explained why she went from making fun of me to friendly on the first day.
“I’m sorry that happened to you.” Birds sang, their song somehow drowning out the city noises for a little while, but the clouds hung low, blocking the sunshine and causing a chill in the air.
Rain threatened for the past few days but didn’t fall.
“So to start with, you honestly thought I tried to seduce my uncle.”
She met my gaze, hers surprisingly steady.
“Yeah, I can be a bitch when I’m threatened, according to my therapist. It’s probably because my father left us when I was young then my mom married Eurotrash.
” She shrugged and took my hand, her grasp warm against my chilled fingers.
“I feel threatened in that class. Honestly? I feel threatened in all of my classes. People here are rough.”
They really are. I considered the kids playing again, while I processed her words.
Maybe I would answer faster when Bethany texted me about her hair moving forward. She hit pretty low on the nastiness scale to begin with, and her logic made sense to me. Not to mention she ran out of the school and cut class for me.
“Happy birthday,” she said with a smile as she dropped my hand.
“Thanks.” I glanced around the park again, still not sure what to do with myself. “Hey, Bethany? I’ve never cut school before. Should I go back? Or should I stay away, since I left?”
Her straight white teeth flashed when she laughed.
“Do whatever you want. They won’t bar you from the building, but you’re already in trouble.
Might as well make a full day of it. I gotta go back for a test in the afternoon.
” She rose and rolled her eyes. “But I’m glad you’re okay.
Collins is such a witch. She blackmails families, or so I heard.
I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s juicy, if it is. ”
As Bethany made her way back to Pullman, I contemplated how I would use my new bad girl streak. Curious, I pulled out my phone.
It erupted, overflowing with text messages.
Phoenix hadn’t lost his phone, because he sent me a ton of texts. Most told me he was very upset about what happened, which I knew before opening the phone. Half of them said he would cut school to come find me, since he could see on the app I went to the park.
Barrett encouraged him to stay in class and out of trouble, because he would come for me. The twins also texted, most of theirs seeming pretty upset because I didn’t tell them it was my birthday.
I crossed my legs, leaning back on the bench until Barrett arrived.
The gray sky threatened rain still, and everything about the situation suddenly struck me as really funny.
I started to laugh, and I kept laughing until my sides hurt and tears rolled down my cheeks.
I stormed out of a classroom where the teacher accused me of trying to sleep with my uncle.
It sounded like something out of a melodrama, too theatrical for real life, even.
I laughed so hard, I doubled over and gasped for air as I tried to reply to the group thread.
I’m on a park bench. I’m okay. I’m…not sure what I just did.
I didn’t forget my birthday on purpose. I’ve never celebrated it before, so I honestly forgot.
I planned to celebrate it, someday once I got away from my family and found friends.
“Well,” Barrett said as I still gasped and wheezed for air. “You have friends now. Happy Birthday, Sweetheart.”
He offered his hand, and I fell into his arms with a sigh as the laughter finally subsided. “Shouldn’t you be in class?”
“I am exactly where I should be.” He grinned at me. “Do you hear that?”
The softest bit of music drifted to us over the other sounds of the park, the musician somewhere far away from us. I didn’t really notice it until he pointed it out. “Sure. What is it?”
“I don’t know. Dance with me anyway.”
He spun me in a circle, twirling me and dipping me romantically.
His smile sizzled down my spine, waking up a hunger for him I didn’t expect.
“I don’t mean we’re your friends, although we are.
Still, we’re more than that. Aside from us, you do have friends.
Quite a few, it would seem. Phoenix said Bethany literally chased you out of class.
Thanks for telling him to stay there. I don’t want him to get sent away, but I barely convinced him I had this covered.
I caught a fast ride share, so if you don’t mind, I would like to spend the rest of my day with you. ”
I pressed my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes as I confessed, “Well, I guess I have a temper.”
He grunted, a sound like a half laugh. “You do. It is coming out because you finally feel safe with us. That being said, maybe you shouldn’t storm out of classrooms.”
I sighed. “How much trouble am I in?” I wondered if I would meet the chipper principal under less than chipper circumstances, or if they would throw me out entirely.
He shook his head. “None. Your whole classroom witnessed that nightmare accusing you of trying to have sex with your uncle. The question is why did she think she could say something like that and get away with it? I looked into her on my way here. I didn’t bother Kit, since he’s working on other stuff for us, but his paralegal dug into her for me and found quite a history. ”
I snuggled further into his arms before confessing, “Bethany said she blackmails people.”
He stopped spinning me, his gaze concerned instead of steady.
“Well, that completes the picture. Her life looks pretty normal on paper until she gets dumped at the altar at the end of the 1980s. She was engaged to an investment banker, and she’s been a problem ever since.
Maybe a blackmailer, too, who knows? Regardless, it’s time to get rid of her. ”
I widened my eyes. “What do you mean by that?”
Barrett laughed, spinning me again. “I’m not going to have her killed, if that’s what you’re thinking.
I’m not a hitman. No, I intend to have Stephen offer her a lot of money to go away.
Otherwise, we’ll expose some of her secrets to a lot of teenagers.
Honestly, she must be abusing someone powerful to be so brave.
If she attacked the crème de la crème, she’d be shit out of luck by now. ”
“Will Stephen pay her?” From what I knew, Kit usually handled that sort of thing.
“Kit’s busy, and I think Granny probably berated him for putting you guys in harm’s way.
He’ll probably avoid me for a while because of it, and Daniel was part of it.
He is also persona non grata this week, but Stephen looked sad at Granny’s the other night.
He knows we’re disappointed in him, so I think he’ll do it. ”
I shook my head, wondering when Barrett learned how to handle his family like he played a chess game.
Finally, I said, “Listen, I don’t know what’s going to happen, Barrett.
I think I might be gone in six months.” I put up my hand to stop him before he could insist I wouldn’t be going anywhere, since I wouldn’t believe him anyway.
“It’s my birthday, so I get to say whatever I want without you arguing today.
If I’m wrong and this is real, then someday, I hope our lives have as little drama as possible.
Do you think we could manage drama-free? ”
His smile became dreamy, so I dropped a quick kiss on his chin.
He tugged on the end of my hair, boyish charm in his every cell.
“Are you seriously going to try to use your birthday, even though you don’t do birthdays?
That was impressive. We’ll make it our goal, life drama-free.
We probably should live somewhere in the middle of the ocean, just the five of us, to ensure we don’t have any outside drama, but we’ll figure it out.
In the meantime, what would you like to do today? ”
I considered it, while he continued dancing me slowly around in circles to distant notes captured on the breeze. “What’s Coney Island like?” I finally asked.
“Honestly, I’ve never been there. It’s after Labor Day, so I don’t even know what’s open, but let’s go. Together.”
Could it really be so simple?
With Barrett, sometimes yes, I learned.
He opened the door of the car he called for me, and as I ducked inside, he told me, “Reminder, the twins’ birthday is in two weeks. Phoenix’s is next month, while mine is in November. We’re all fall babies.”
“It might not be my birthday, for all I know. If I wasn’t born in Colorado, maybe I wasn’t born when I think, either.”
He shrugged. “I don’t mind an excuse to celebrate you again. We can have multiple Alatheia birthdays.”
I pinched him, tossing him a fake scowl. “My mom celebrated it today, so this is the birthday I recognize, regardless of that fact. I don’t honestly want more than one day.”
“Then this will be it.”
As we got in the car, the sky opened up, the promised rain finally falling all at once. I almost told him to cancel the plan, since nature said we shouldn’t go to Coney Island. I didn’t say it, though, and by the time we arrived, the rain had stopped.
The amusement park portion shut down after Labor Day, but we could still walk along the beach.
I kicked off my shoes and held Barrett’s hand, my toes sinking into the cool sand, while wondering if we were about to get soaked.
The ocean appeared angry, churned up by the rain and capped with white peaks.
As much as I appreciated the view, the scents, the breeze—what a truly surprising treat—I couldn’t shake the urge to glance over my shoulder, certain eyes were on me.
I couldn’t see the PI anywhere but that didn’t mean he couldn’t see me.
“Little different from the Hamptons.” Barrett said, capturing my attention as he kicked some sand at me.
I shrieked, dodging easily. “Not better or worse, just different. What do you want to be when you grow up? We’ve talked about my dreams and goals, but I don’t think we have discussed what you want out of life. So, what do you want?”
I used to just say a life. When I didn’t even have a single friend, my goals were pretty simple overall. Could I honestly imagine something else? “I have no idea, honestly. You make me feel like I can do more than survive. I don’t know what the rest looks like yet.”
When his mouth met mine, I tasted his possession. It was different than how Barrett usually kissed me, but I hung on and gave myself to him as the sky opened up around us, the angry waves crashing to the beach at our feet.