Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jameson
Blackbear FT Gucci Mane - Do Re Mi
“ T he stupid bitch punched me,” I growled after Ashton had slapped me in the head for interfering. Apparently, he wanted to be the one to break her for what she did to him. But Ash was my best friend. Fuck that.
She ruined everything.
Our friendship, she broke Ash’s heart, and even Kash suffered when she did what she did. Because of her, I’d never let a bitch get close enough to me like that again. She fucking ruined me.
Ashton glared at me. “I have it under control. You can have your fun, too. Just let me do what needs done first.” He leveled me with a hard look. “Trust me. We will all get to fuck her shit up.”
I leaned against the tailgate, my jaw throbbing where she hit me. She was lucky we were in public. “I want what’s owed to me,” I snarled. “Before you showed up, I was going to take it.”
Fury flashed across his face and before I knew it, he was on me, fisting the front of my shirt in a vice-like grip. “You lay a finger on her and I’ll tear your shit up,” he seethed. “Got me?”
I shoved my palms against his chest, forcing him back a step. Kash watched us with disinterest, placing a cigarette between his lips as he sucked, the smoke billowing out around us after he lit it. My heart was pounding against my chest with adrenaline. I wasn’t Ashton’s little bitch. I respected Everleigh at the time and her relationship with my best friend. But they weren’t together anymore.
“You going soft on me already?” I snarled. “She fucked your goddamn brother and you’re still protecting her?”
Ashton jerked me forward by his grip on my shirt, his nose coming within inches of mine. “Say that again and I’ll rip your dick off and make you choke on it. She’ll get what’s coming to her. I’m biding my fucking time. It’s only day one.”
Kash patted me on the shoulder, silently urging me to step down and reign in my emotions. Hesitantly, I blew out a breath and dropped my shoulder in defeat. Seeing her sitting there with her family like nothing had ever happened grated on my goddamn nerves. Even more so after hearing all about her preppy little boyfriend. She was living the dream. Had her family, captain of the soccer team, a boyfriend who was a captain, too. Even friends. Ash filled us all in over the phone on the drive up here. It was worth transferring schools for. Since everything went to shit, finding her and making her pay was the first thing on my list.
“Fine,” I gritted out. “Just say when, master.”
He smirked at me, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Soon.”
Kash took another long pull of his cigarette before he snuffed it out and let it fall to the cement. “I’ll keep him in line.” He smirked. “He’s just pissy right now. We drove thirteen hours and haven’t even unpacked yet. Spent the day enrolling in classes.”
Ash snorted at that, amusement flickering in his gaze. “That true, James? You tired and throwing a tantrum?”
“Fuck you,” I snapped.
I pushed off the tailgate and made my way to the passenger side of the door, their laughter following me. Slipping inside, I propped my feet on the dash, my head aching from all the thoughts swarming it. It felt weird being back here. Too many damn memories I had no interest in dissecting. This ice cream parlor had become somewhat of a safety net for me. It was one of the only places left standing that my mom had taken me. There was also the infamous diner on fifth avenue, which shocked me when we drove past it to come here. Figured that place would be long gone by now.
My mom had been perfect. She always went out of her way to make sure I was heard, to make sure I was happy. How she ended up with my piece of shit father was beyond me, but she must have seen something in him no one else did. The abuse didn’t start until after her passing, but I was sure she would have left his ass had she bared witness to it. Even after being away from my dad for the last year, I still had nightmares about the depraved shit he’d do to me, or make me go through, just to fill some kind of sick fantasy.
Blowing out a breath, I leaned against my seat and closed my eyes. His beady hazel eyes peered back at me through my lids—the same eyes I owned. Dark blue with green flecks through them and a dark blue hue.
“You’re lucky I don’t put you in foster care, make you the state’s problem. You should be grateful.”
“Why you smiling down at your phone like some prissy little bitch? You got a girlfriend I don’t know about?”
“You’ve done it now, boy.”
“It’s time for you to become a man. Your mom was too easy on you. Told her that, too.”
My throat felt tight as I peeled my eyes open, my heart racing in my chest. The only solace was that I no longer had to live with him. Even in my later years of high school, Ash, Kash, and Everleigh had helped me to avoid him. But when Evie spread her legs for Dakota, Ash slipped into himself and seemed to forget about me—not that I blamed him for it. I blamed her . She was the only girl he’d ever loved, and she ripped him to shreds. Because of her fuck up, I was stuck at home more often than desired. I knew it wasn’t anyone’s place to help me, but it reminded me that my homelife was temporary.
Swiping my tongue along my lips, I settled back into the seat as the driver’s door creaked open and Kash hoisted himself up. He didn’t bother buckling up as he put the key in the ignition and twisted.
He casted a glance over in my direction, his eyes resting on me for a moment too long. “You good?” he asked.
“Never better,” I retorted dryly.
A soft smile played along the edges of his mouth, one so unlike him that I knew it was because he had something up his sleeve. “Well, I was just talking to Ash,” he began, putting the truck in reverse before backing out of the lot. “Apparently, there’s a party coming up. Everleigh will be there with her little boyfriend, and supposedly hot best friend.”
“If Ashton says she’s hot, then chances are, she is.” I smirked.
We all had similar tastes when it came to girls. But once one of us staked a claim on her or dated her, the others backed off. It made things interesting in high school, especially between me and Kash. But then he started dating Crystal, and I wanted nothing to do with that bitch. He could have that one.
He nodded thoughtfully, flicking his tongue over the silver hoop that was wrapped around the right side of his lower lip. I’d given him that piercing, just like I’d given him those tattoos, just like I’d given Everleigh and Ash their tats. My infatuation with drawing had sprouted when I was around ten. I realized I could escape into a world that was purely of my making. Nothing else mattered when my hand moved across a slab of paper. Once I mastered that, I grew interested in body art and piercings. Ash was the one who gifted me my tattoo gun. I remembered spending hours trying to master how to use it. After practically begging him, he allowed me to do the stick-and-poke tat that he and Everleigh both had now. Well…he covered his up after they split. But it was buried beneath his new art.
When we made it to the dorms, Kash followed me to my room. He glanced around at all of the boxes decorating the floor and walls as they leaned against them. The only thing that was put together was my bed, and I was half tempted to leave it that way and fuck with it tomorrow, but all my clothes were still packed away and I had to be in classes tomorrow.
“You going to be good sleeping here alone?” Kash questioned. “I can stay if you want.”
I hesitated, my father’s words echoing in my skull. The sound of his fist connecting with my flesh sounded moments later, causing my breathing to become uncoordinated. It was embarrassing. I was an adult and still couldn’t stomach the thought of being left completely alone. At our last college, Kash just moved his things into my room because I was always asking him to stay. I didn’t want to be a burden anymore than I’ve been.
“I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, silently calling me on my bullshit. “It’s a new place,” he continued. “Your nightmares will be worse, and you’ll be restless.”
“I’m an adult.”
Sighing, he strolled across my room and sat on the edge of my bed. “Let me at least stay for the week,” he offered. “If you want me to leave after that, I will.”
I grumbled an incoherent response, knowing he wouldn’t back down on this. For some reason, he felt responsible for me. If it made him feel better, he could stay. I wouldn’t thank him out loud for it, though. Regardless of how much relief swarmed my insides at his insistence.
Instead, I got to work ripping open boxes and began sorting through them before putting them in their rightful places. After a few moments, Kash got up and started helping me. After a few moments of grunting and putting clothes away, Kash stilled, lifting a picture that he’d found in one of the boxes.
“You still have this,” he said, a hint of pain in his tone as he held it up.
It took me a moment to realize what it was, but when my eyes focused on the photo, my chest constricted. It was a picture I’d taken at the beginning of our junior year in high school before things all went to shit. Everleigh was standing between me and Ash, his hand in hers while my arm was snaked around her waist. Kash stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her chest, resting his chin on the top of her head. Ash’s mom had taken the photo right before we went off to the homecoming dance. Everleigh had never looked more stunning. Her dark hair was left down, curled to perfection, and she was dressed in a dark blue dress that reached her thighs. She was beaming at the camera, her perfectly straight teeth on display, and her eyes so full of happiness that it hurt.
I knew I’d brought the photo. I remembered staring at it as I threw it in a box, debating on burning the damn thing or trashing it. But the guys were in it, too. It was one of the last times we were all that happy together. She’d somehow become the glue that held us together, even though we’d been fine without her before.
“What about it?” I grumbled, snatching the picture from his grip and shoving it in the top dresser drawer.
Pain flashed through Kash’s icy blue gaze, and he swallowed, glancing away from me. “Did you love her?”
I scoffed. “She was my best friend. Of course I did.”
“No. Did you love her?”
I stumbled back a step at the question, my head spinning, even though I already knew the answer. It used to keep me up at night. I’d been so fucking guilty over it, and never uttered a word about it to either of the guys. She was Ashton’s girl, and I was just the problematic best friend with daddy issues. I suppose that things were different now and there was no reason to lie anymore. “Yes,” I choked out, the weight leaving my shoulders after keeping a secret like that for so many years. “Never would have done anything about it though.”
He nodded. He’d gotten close to Everleigh, too. Just not like I had. He’d purposely kept his distance, like he knew she’d pull him under her spell if he did and he didn’t want the complications that came with it. He was smarter than me.
“And you were still willing to fuck her after Ashton mentioned it?” He wasn’t judging me. His words were laced with genuine curiosity.
I shrugged. “I know it was stupid. It felt impossible to pass up, but she didn’t want to.” Now I was glad she didn’t. The only way I’d touch that bitch now was to make her cry.
He shot me a sympathetic smile. “I would have been down too had I not been with Crystal.”
I let his words sink in, mulling them over a few times in my head. I knew he would have. I’d seen the way he looked at her from time to time. She had us all wrapped around her little finger, and the funny part is, I wasn’t sure she ever realized that. Everleigh brought light to our group. She was funny, non-judgmental, and caring. She helped us all in ways we never would have been able to thank her for. But then she ruined it, like none of it had mattered to her. Like we didn’t matter.
I remembered Ashton stumbling through my door while my dad was gone. A heart-wrenching look on his face like he’d just seen something horrendous. His eyes were glassy and red like he’d been bawling, and I knew in that moment that something was very wrong. He never cried. Not over anything. He couldn’t even speak when I asked him what was wrong. He just slumped onto my worn-out couch, bent over with his elbows on his knees. His breathing was ragged, and he was tugging at his hair harshly, rocking back and forth. The memory was imprinted into my mind, and I knew it always would be.
“She betrayed me,” he’d choked out after a few moments of silence.
As soon as the words had left his mouth, I knew who he meant. Everleigh . I didn’t ask for context. Just sat beside him, my own stomach dropping as I sifted through my thoughts, attempting to conjure up all the bad things she could have done to break him this badly. But when he finally told me, that was still worse than anything I managed to think up on my own.
Shoving the horrid thoughts to the back of my mind, I pushed out a sigh. “What’s done is done. Right?” I asked, glancing over at him.
He nodded, wincing like he’d been having similar thoughts. But none of it mattered anymore. She was a whore. By the rawest definition. The girl I’d confided in, the girl I cuddled up on the couch with, the girl I let into my fucking heart. She was nothing to me now. Nothing but a painful reminder of what we all had and what we were forced to lose at her hand.
A timid snake with rounder hips than I’d remembered. Large brown eyes that I used to fantasize about while I jerked off at night. Fair skin that I wanted to paint red as I slapped her ass with her on top of me. But those were the last things I wanted now. Now, I wanted to hurt her just as much, if not worse, than she’d hurt us.
“Does Ash know how you felt?” he continued, watching my expression closely.
“About me loving her more than a friend?” I snorted when he nodded. “No. Let’s finish unpacking. I’m tired of talking about the little cunt. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
He didn’t say anything else, just started going through another box. My chest felt heavy after thinking about her so much. I’d refrained up until now from letting my mind wander back to that time. But it just reminded me even more that I wanted her to pay.
Once we were finished, we sprawled out on my bed. Exhaustion settled heavily over me, but I couldn’t go to sleep, yet. It was only six and if I didn’t eat something tonight, my stomach would be grumbling profusely. Plus, I’d wake up at like two in the morning if I crashed now. So instead, I stared up at the mundane ceiling, craving the burn of alcohol sliding down my throat. Drinking had become my favorite pastime, despite how much I hated when my father did it.
The room was painted so white it was blinding. Empty boxes decorated the wooden floor, making me grumble with the reminder that I’d have to take a trip down to the dumpster sometime soon. I couldn’t wait for the weekend to roll around. I’d probably hit up a bar, get trashed, fuck some nameless girl, and then crash. That’s been my routine for the last year, and I didn’t see any point in putting a stop to it.
I turned to look at Kash who was scrolling on his phone beside me. “When is that party again?”
“Not this weekend, but next,” he replied without sparing me a glance.
Frustration built inside me. It made sense, though. People weren’t typically ballsy enough to throw a party two days after school began. It would mostly be tame until the frats kicked into gear. Right now, they were probably too busy with their never- ending list of recruits, planning their hazes, and figuring out what sadistic shit to put them through.
A slow smile stretched across my face as a thought sprouted. “What if we started our own fraternity?”
Kash bristled at the idea. He’d be more interested in that kind of shit than me, so it didn’t have to do with the fact I brought it up, but what we’d have to do to get one going. “That would be crazy expensive,” he pointed out. “And do they even have a frat house left on campus?”
I shrugged. “If they don’t, we’ll just make one of the existing leaders step down and take their spot.” Violence wasn’t foreign to me. I’d dealt with a shit ton of it all through middle school and high school. I wasn’t a murderer, but I had no problem with making someone wish they were dead.
“Why are you suddenly interested in being a part of a fraternity?” he countered. “I tried to get you to join one at the beginning of last year and you shut it down.”
I rolled my eyes. “Because I’m not going to let some little rich prick haze me and control me. I’d rather run the damn thing.”
He thought about that for a moment but then blew out a breath, seemingly coming to a conclusion. “We can try. But it won’t be easy. This kind of shit takes a lot of money.”
“Then we need to find the right connections. We’ll let someone in who’s loaded. Once we’ve used him all up, we’ll discard him unless we find a reason for him.”
His lips twitched in response, apparently liking the sound of that. “I guess we can check in with the dean and see if there are any unoccupied frat houses lying about. That would make things ten times easier than having to torture some asshole to give theirs up and risk expulsion.”
I nodded in agreement. Maybe coming back to Brookhaven wasn’t such a stupid idea, after all.
I slid into an empty table at dinner, Kash moving to take the seat beside me as he usually did. The room was bustling with students chatting about, and it was a relief to find that I didn’t recognize a lot of them. Seems like a lot of our former classmates skipped town like we had originally. I glanced down at my steaming plate of nachos and took a chip between my fingers before biting into it.
I was about to mention something to Kash about a plan I’d been mulling over for the frat, but when he tensed, I followed his gaze instead, expecting to see Everleigh. But it was almost just as bad.
Crystal strolled in, arm in arm, with a girl I didn’t recognize. Her blonde hair was pulled into a neat bun on the top of her head, and she looked classy . That thought nearly made me choke. Crystal was the furthest thing from classy, having bounced on both Kash’s and Ashton’s dicks on more than one occasion.
“I thought she went to fucking Yale or some shit,” he muttered.
I swallowed, tearing my gaze away from the bitch that had hurt Kash just as much as Everleigh had. He’d pined after her for years until she finally relented once she realized Ash was off the market and wouldn’t cheat. He had been her second option, maybe even third, but I never liked her much, so she knew that wasn’t an option. I could have told him a million times that it was a bad idea, that she was after Ashton. He knew, but didn’t care. The poor lovesick fool.
As if things couldn’t get any worse, Everleigh strolled in behind them with her hand clasped in some dudes, presumably, her boyfriend. Crystal turned toward her, and for a moment, I expected a fight to break out, or some drama. But they just looked at each other before parting ways.
“I think that’s the hot girl Ashton was telling me about,” Kash said, nodding to the smoking redhead who had stepped up next to Everleigh. “Her name is Amber or something like that.”
“We could call her over.” I smirked, glancing over at my best friend.
He didn’t even have to think about it, he nodded almost immediately.
I turned back to my nachos in the meantime, getting my fill before cat-calling the sexy bitch who was wearing a skirt so short you could see her tan lines.
“Do you think Everleigh would care?” I asked. It wasn’t like she ever kissed me or told me she liked me more than a friend. She’d been all about Ashton up until she wasn’t. But a part of me still hoped that back then, it hadn’t been one-sided.
He shrugged. “Who knows. From what Ash was saying after your little temper tantrum in the parking lot, he’s worried he doesn’t even affect her.”
My gaze snapped to his again. That would be a problem indeed. The entire reason we had come here was to make the little bitch suffer for tearing us apart, but if she didn’t care anymore, then most of our tricks would roll off her back. We’d have to get creative if that was the case.
Our conversation was cut short when Ashton slid into the seat in front of us, placing his plate down on the wooden table. His gaze was hard and calculating, like he was a wolf on the hunt. My eyes instinctively darted to his hand where the stick and poke used to be, but you couldn’t even tell now. In its place was a black rose with webs intertwined throughout it, giving it a haunting appearance. Black blood trickled down the petals—a reminder of what once was.
His jaw ticked when his eyes landed on Everleigh, and he stared for a moment longer than was necessary before turning his attention to his food.
We ate in silence for a few moments, but to my complete surprise, our prey walked right up to us, flipping her burgundy curls behind her shoulder. Lucas was beside her, a friendly expression on his face that pissed me off more than I cared to admit. Everleigh stood behind them, using them as a shield, like she’d rather be anywhere else.
The boyfriend looked between us for a moment before settling his gaze on Ash, like they were long-time friends, and I couldn’t help but to arch an accusing eyebrow. “I see you’re settling in well,” the dude said.
Ashton’s lips curled into one of his malicious smirks. “I am. Lucas, meet my two friends. They just transferred.” The way he said it was cold, and unless Lucas was stupid, he’d realize that Ash wasn’t a friend of his at all.
Lucas shifted uncomfortably on the balls of his feet. “Oh. Um. Hi. Are you guys joining the soccer team? My girlfriend—” He turned to motion to Everleigh, but all I saw was red.
“No,” Kash drawled. “We have other plans.”
Sucking in a deep breath to rein in my emotions, I turned to Amber who was looking between us with interest, like she could sense the unspoken tension in the air.
When her gaze landed on me, I shot her a smirk. “You must be Amber. Ash has told us a lot about you,” I lied, glancing over at Everleigh to see her expression. I didn’t miss the way she tensed, a flash of something crossing her features before she masked it again. Bingo Bitch.
“Oh really?” she asked in an experienced sultry tone, like she’d had tons of run-ins with bad boys before us.
I wouldn’t consider us bad . We didn’t do anything illegal aside from drinking, but we were almost twenty-one. But that’s the conclusion most girls came to when they took one look at us. They could be just as superficial as guys could.
“We would offer you a seat, but it looks like you already have plans,” I continued, glancing at the two people flanking her.
Amber’s shoulders tensed, and she turned to look at Everleigh. But her mask was firmly in place, so I didn’t know what the hell she was thinking. Finally, she turned to face us again. “Everleigh has Lucas. She’ll be fine without me for one meal.”
Ashton shot me a look, a thrill flashing in his eyes as they connected with mine. He scooted over to give her room and she sank down beside him, shooting her friend an apologetic look. Everleigh rolled her eyes, placing her hand on Lucas’s shoulder, the stick and poke still there. Even after all this time.
As I looked at Ashton, I was hit with the sudden realization that he was fucking loaded. We didn’t need some dweeb’s help. Not when we had him. It was the most obvious answer to our little frat problem.
“Let’s go sit with Rose and Alex,” she suggested, tugging on him.
He glanced over his shoulder at her and nodded. “Sure, babe. Just one second.”
Babe.
Hearing it directed at her by another dude had my stomach tying into knots. It shouldn’t have bothered me like it did. Even if Ashton was my best friend. Fire filled my veins, dark spots dancing along the edges of my vision.
I couldn’t help myself. I just couldn’t.
Ashton shot me a warning glare, as if he were sensing where my train of thought had gone, but he could relax. I wasn’t about to lay a finger on her.
The words were tumbling out of my mouth before I could even think them through. “Does your boyfriend know how much of a slut you are?” I demanded, narrowing my eyes at Everleigh.
Her lips parted in shock at the callousness, and at the fact I called her out right here in front of not only her boyfriend, but her best friend, too.
Amber looked between us, a stitch between her brows. “What is he talking about?” she asked before her boyfriend could beat her to it.
Lucas shook Everleigh’s hand from his shoulder before moving to wrap a possessive hand around her waist instead, his eyes narrowing at me. “You ever call her that again, and I’ll?—”
“You’ll what?” Ashton taunted. “Tell your rich daddy? I’ve got one of those, too.”
Lucas’s jaw ticked, a fire sprouting within the depths of his eyes. “You don’t even realize how much of this school caters to me ,” he ground out, sounding even more like a spoiled asshole than I’d originally predicted.
Everleigh sighed. “Come on. Let’s go. They aren’t worth it.”
Amber’s voice sliced through the bickering, her eyes manic like she was trying to piece it all together. “Do you guys know each other?” She motions around the table and then to Everleigh who’s still trying to lure her fuck toy away.
Ashton glanced over at the girl who’d ruined his heart, his face set in stone. When she discreetly shook her head, pleading with him not to say anything, a smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.
“She’s my ex-girlfriend.”