Fate In Pieces (Fate #3)

Brielle

PROLOGUE

The twisting and turning in my gut should have been enough to get me to stay home. I should have listened to it.

A girl from my school invited a bunch of people to a party since her parents were going to be out of town, and even though my best friend, Amani, asked me to stay in, my pride and need for revenge didn’t let me.

Instead, I devised a plan to get excessively drunk and make out with whoever showed interest, thinking that would be the only way to make my ex, Caleb, jealous. I was sick of being the “good girl” in my friend group.

I did my best to act like I didn’t care when I found out that Caleb was dating Ellory, but I failed miserably.

Ellory was supposed to be one of my best friends. I guess I couldn’t have been more wrong.

In true Amani fashion, she had my back. She was my actual best friend, and she—thank God—chose my side in the friend breakup. She didn’t fight my desire to go to the party; she knew exactly why I had to go.

“Get in bitch. We are only staying for an hour if I’m not having fun,” Amani yelled as she pulled up in her mom’s convertible.

She had her own car but refused to use it when it was nice out.

She always said her mom’s car lets her curls breathe.

Her full, beautiful curls always had a mind of their own.

No matter how much product that girl used on her wash days, she’d get nowhere and give up.

I could never put that much effort into my long, thin hair.

I was always exceptionally jealous of my beautiful best friend.

“God, can’t I just be a lesbian and marry you?” I teased.

“I am too much for you, and you know it,” she joked.

She had on her signature jean jacket and matching shorts that would make Jesus blush with how much of her ass hung out. She paired that with her red high-top vans which, of course, I own too! She and I always bought matching shoes. It’s kind of our thing.

She constantly changed her clothes in the car to go out. Her mom was super strict about what she wore, and she has always been too eccentric to fit into her mother’s mold. Her signature was wearing something bright and bold to stand out against her beautiful ebony skin and blue eyes.

Amani brought an outfit for me to borrow because her clothes are much nicer than mine. I wanted Caleb to eat shit for breaking my heart. He’s got a thing for my legs, so I figured why not show him what he can’t have?

There were already about fifteen kids when we pulled up to the house. Amani headed right over to where the music was being played and changed it to something more upbeat while I went to grab some drinks.

I downed one glass of jungle juice before refilling it and grabbing one for Amani. With a drink in both hands, I walked over to where she was already flirting with a girl I didn’t recognize.

Watching her be so carefree with what she wanted always impressed me.

She wasn’t afraid of who she was. Unlike her, I was so scared to share my true self.

I had always dated guys, so why was I finding girls attractive?

I didn’t really understand it. I told Amani about it first, and she was ecstatic.

She helped me realize that it was okay not to know what I wanted yet.

When I finally shared this with Caleb, my life blew up. At first, he acted like he was okay with it. He even made a joke about having a threesome. Which I showed zero interest in. I hadn’t even been sexual with him yet.

A week later, I walked into school, and everyone knew my secret. Ellory and Caleb were holding hands that same day. When I confronted them I got the, “It’s not you, it’s me” speech.

A few days later, the actual truth came out when I discovered he wasn’t comfortable with me looking at girls and didn’t want to “date a dyke”.

The funny part was that Ellory was the first girl I ever kissed. We kissed three weeks prior to the whole mess and hadn’t spoken of it since. She was just as confused as I was and we both were scared to admit what had really happened.

As more people arrived at the party, I got nervous and drank faster. I sat down for a while, just people-watching. That was until Caleb walked in. I thought he was alone for a second, but then her stupid face came into view.

Ellory .

Ellory was my opposite in every way, just like my sister. Big boobs, curvy waist, and a big ass. I guess it shows Caleb doesn’t have a type, or maybe he did, and I was just a stand-in. I guess I’ll never really know.

The moment she saw me, her face fell. She walked over and tried to talk to me, probably about to explain what happened, but I didn’t want any part of whatever fake apology was going to come out of her mouth. I didn’t let her say a word.

I realized how drunk I really was when I could barely stand to walk away.

Luckily, someone else stopped her and brought her into their conversation.

I made my way to the bathroom so I could be alone until I could get Amani to answer her phone.

I needed to leave fast. Fuck getting revenge. Caleb wasn’t worth it.

I stared at myself in the mirror, looking at how pathetic I was for even being here. Why did I think this was a good idea? He doesn’t care about me and wouldn’t even be jealous. He’s fucking happy with his new curvy girlfriend.

I turned to look at my lack of an ass in the mirror, tearing myself down, once again.

“Bullshit,” I said it out loud to no one in particular. The bathroom door creaked as it opened a second later.

“What is?”

Caleb stood there with his perfect brown eyes and swept over hair. A slight flutter erupted in my stomach. I quickly curbed the feeling and turned away.

“Knock much?” I grabbed my phone off the edge of the sink and turned to face him. “I’ll get out so you can come in. Knock next time, okay?”

“Bee, wait.” The nickname punches me in the gut.

He is the only one in the world who calls me Bee.

I love sunflowers, and he brought me a bouquet of them on our first date.

He admitted his mother bought them, but the thought was cute.

A bee was in one of them when I went to sniff them and it landed on my nose.

He swatted it away and wound up getting stung instead.

It became one of our favorite inside jokes.

“Don’t call me that. It’s Brielle to you. You lost the privilege of cute nicknames.” He looked at me silently, almost angrily. “Move so I can get by.” He continued to stand in place and just stare. “Please,” I added.

I stepped to his right, and he blocked me with his hand on the wall. I looked up into his eyes and immediately knew something was wrong.

“Are you high right now?”

He shrugged. “Maybe. Why do you care?”

“Because I lo—” I stopped myself. “Ya know what…I don’t anymore. Just let me get by.”

I tried again, and this time he lightly pushed me back toward the sink. I watched, stunned as he shut and locked the door.

“What…what are you doing, Caleb? Let me out. Now!”

“You had to ruin everything. Didn’t you, Bee?”

“Excuse me?” I was shocked for a moment. “In case you forgot, I shared an enormous secret with you, and then you told everyone, and now you are dating and probably fucking one of my friends, so forgive me if I don’t see what I did wrong here.”

His face became a dark shade of red. As he stepped towards me, I took a step back, pressing my body into the counter.

“Bee, you fucked this up. You just had to let people know you liked girls too. Everyone found out and started teasing me for not being enough for you. Brian and the entire football team told me I wasn’t man enough to keep a girl happy.”

I almost felt bad for a second, but that faded quickly. “Cay, you told everyone. I told you and the girls. That’s it.”

“Well someone told them, and it wasn’t me.”

I looked down. “Ellory,” I whispered. I looked back up at him. “If you really didn’t say anything, then it had to be her. Amani would never.”

He stepped toward me again, leaving almost no space between us. I put my hand up. “Caleb, stop. I don’t care who did what. This is over, and I would like you to let me out.”

“No,” he growled.

A small pit started to form in my stomach. “No? What do you mean, no? Move, or I’ll scream.” I tried to push him, but his stocky football player body didn’t move an inch.

He gripped both of my upper arms. “You made me the laughingstock of my team.”

Fear crept in. I’ve never had a fearful thought while I was with anyone before. Especially not him. “Caleb, I don’t know if you are just too drunk and high to realize what you’re doing, but you are scaring me, and I need you to let me go. I am going home.”

“No, you are not. You will give me what I deserve—what I have been waiting six months for.”

“What are you talking about?” I tried so hard to open my phone to call Amani without him seeing it, but of course, I had a type-in password.

He grabbed my phone out of my hand and threw it into the sink. “I will make it so you never think of another woman again. I am going to fuck you senseless.”

No. This cannot be happening. I am not having sex. “No, you’re not.” Tears pricked my eyes. I didn’t even recognize him.

He leaned in and whispered, “If you scream, I’ll make it hurt even worse than it’s already going to.”

He lifted my dress and shoved his hand into my underwear. I struggled to get out of his hold, but he was too strong. I tried to yell for help as he turned me around and pushed my face into the wall.

“Brielle, you fucked this up. You’re going to fix it.”

“How?” I pleaded. “Caleb, please don’t do this. You care about me. You don’t want to hurt me. This isn’t you. Please.”

He pushed my face into the towel hanging on the rack in order to muffle my voice.

“Shut the fuck up, Brielle. You are going to give me what you have been promising all this time. I am taking what is rightfully mine. You are mine.”

Tears began to flow down my cheeks, and I pleaded even though he couldn’t hear me. I’m not sure he would have stopped even if he did.

He yanked my underwear down my legs to around my knees, and his fingers entered me roughly. I cried out in pain.

He let go of me as he pushed his body against mine. The moment I heard the sound of his zipper, I knew my life would never be the same again. It was happening, and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.