Chapter 7
SEVEN
JESSICA
“Who was she?” Rain asks that evening after I return from the hospital.
I walk past Chris and Malice with my phone held between my ear and shoulder as they come in through the front door. My brother spots the sandwich on my plate and reaches for it, but I pull it out of reach. Greedy bastard.
“Make your own sandwich,” I tell him.
Chris mutters something as he passes, Malice close behind him. A joint sits tucked behind Malice’s ear, and his gaze flicks briefly toward the staircase.
“It’s not a hotel,” I shout after them, then remember Rain in my ear.“Why is your brother always here?” I ask, racing up the creaking stairs to the second floor.
“Maybe because it’s a luxury mansion compared to our little crappy trailer,” she responds, slurping her drink. “You live in an actual house.”
Music drifts from Summer’s room. My sister has been quiet this week. I want to talk to her (trust me, I do), but I’ve been so caught up in my own mess that I haven’t been there for her. How can I be there for others when I’m barely managing myself? Everything’s a mess.
“Jess?”
The sound of Rain’s voice brings me back to the present moment, and I close my bedroom door behind me, stepping over dirty laundry on the floor. “I’m here.”
“A random bitch from the Heights approaches you in the parking lot to threaten you.”
“Yes, that’s pretty much how it went down.” I sit in my desk chair and take a bite out of my ham sandwich.
“What did she threaten you with?”
Oh shit.
I stop chewing, trying to think of something, literally anything, to say other than the truth. “She, uh, said I have to show up at a party at Kane’s house this weekend.”
Rain is silent for a beat, and I hold my breath. “Oookay. Let me rephrase that. A random bitch from the Heights approaches you in the parking lot to threaten you with what exactly? A good time?”
“May I remind you that a party at Kane’s house sounds anything but fun. I’m not ready to see him flaunting other women in front of me yet. Or ever. And no, she didn’t threaten me with a good time.”
“Well, what did she threaten you with? Why do you have to show up at the party? And why would a Heights princess even want you there? That makes no sense. It’s more logical why my hippy neighbor always puts her potted plants outside when it rains instead of just watering them like a normal person.”
I’m at a loss for words. My mind is echoing like an empty shell, with not a single thought inside. I couldn’t even come up with an excuse if someone had a gun to my head and told me to think of something clever, or else.
“I don’t know?” A question rather than a statement.
Rain hums softly under her breath. You know the kind of hum, not a typical one, not the kind you do when you’re not really listening.
No, it’s the ‘whatever you say’ kind of hum.
The kind that silently communicates that you’re full of shit, but they won’t call you out on it, though they want you to know they’re aware.
I put Rain on speaker and set the phone down to peel the crust off my sandwich. “I have to be there.”
“And you want me to be your partner in crime.”
“You always were the Robin to my Batman.”
“Don’t offend me. If anything, you always were the Donkey to my Shrek.”
“That’s the best you can come up with?”
“I’m just getting started. Want more? How about the Patrick Star to my SpongeBob SquarePants? Or the Chewbacca to my Han Solo?"
Choking on a piece of bread, I reach for the half-full bottle of Aquafina. God knows how long it’s been sitting there, but it’s either stale water or the Heimlich Maneuver.
“Really? Star Wars again?” I croak once I can finally speak. “Must have been some good dick.”
“If nothing else, George Lucas inspired a lifetime of Star Wars jokes.”
“Who is George Lucas?” I put the bottle down, debating whether to take another bite of my sandwich, but I don’t want to die today, and eating around Rain is proving dangerous.
“The creator of Star Wars, you doofus.”
“Proving my point once again that Boone should be up for the Nobel Cock Prize. No other guy has left such a lasting legacy with his Star Wars posters.”
I can’t help but laugh at my own bad humor, and I can practically hear Rain rolling her eyes.
“So? You in?” I ask, crossing my fingers.
If she can’t come, I’ll drag Summer with me again. She won’t mind, though I can’t deny that if shit hits the fan, Rain is the better option.
“I’m always up for trouble. You know that.”
“Thank you,” I reply as I glance at the nightstand drawer.
Crap. I should have returned the dagger earlier… I should have done it when I was still sleeping with Kane. Well, it’s too late now.
I’ll just have to accept the bitter truth and do what needs to be done.
At least I won’t have anything tying me to Kane once the dagger is back in his father’s office. I can finally wash my hands of him.
“Open your damn eyes.”
What did she mean by that? Open your eyes. Open my eyes to what?
“Jess?” Rain’s voice filters through my thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“You spaced out again.”
“Sorry. I’m still pretty raw from that night.” The words taste bitter on my tongue as the memory of Kane with that girl on his hood flare in my mind.
“That’s because you’re in love with him.”
Unfortunately.
“Look, I’ve gotta go.” I clear my throat and blink away the sudden burn behind my eyes. “Chris needs help with something,” I lie.
“You know you can talk to me, right? I won’t judge.”
“I know.”
But I’m not ready to talk.
“Love you,” she says, the sound of a fridge opening in the background.
“Love you, too.”
The line goes dead, but I don’t move right away.
Looks like I’m going out this weekend after all.
What if Kane is there with that girl? And what if she’s all over him?
What if she threatened me with that video to get me to go so I’d see them together?
Is that what she wants? To rub it in my face?
To hurt me? Or is it a setup to get me caught returning the dagger?
That way, she can prove it was me and eliminate the competition once and for all.
A sound from Summer’s room stops me dead in my tracks, and the phone slips from my fingers before I can catch it and lands on the carpet with a soft thud.
The sound comes again. A soft giggle.
Rising from my chair, I cross to the bed and press my ear against the wall to eavesdrop.
At first, there’s nothing but the gentle notes of a Taylor Swift song playing in the background on my sister’s old CD player.
I listen harder and catch a muffled sound.
What is she doing?
A moan slips through the wall, and I stumble back as if I’ve been shot, then fall off the bed, crashing to the floor with a yelp, somehow pulling the quilt with me, which now seems determined to swallow me.
I pop back up, my messy bun barely hanging on, and brush my wild hair out of my face.
Focus.
Seconds pass as I struggle to free myself from the quilt, wondering if I imagined the whole thing. But then I hear something else: the deep rumble of a voice that certainly doesn’t belong to my sister, and my eyes widen in shock.
Holy crap. There’s someone in her room with her… someone of the male variety.
I try to stand up, but the quilt tangles around my ankles, causing me to crash to the floor again. It feels like the universe is working against me, as if God himself is cheering my sister on.
Apparently, I seem to be the only one who cares about her virtue.
Not even our creator seems to care if some tattooed guy from the Falls steals her virginity right under our roof.
Well, not on my watch.
“God dammit,” I curse the quilt, kicking it off my ankle, but it won’t let go, like some injured survivor of a natural disaster, clinging to my pants leg. Don’t go. Please. I’m begging you. Don’t leave me here. I’m almost tempted to tell it I’ll find us rescue.
Once I finally free myself, I throw open the door but stop short at the sight of Malice exiting my sister’s room.
Did he—?
Was he—?
No.
My eyes dart back and forth between Malice and my sister’s door. No fucking way. Out of all the men who could sneak out of Summer’s room, it’s this damn horndog?
Has she really lost her mind?
He notices me watching and smirks… fucking smirks. Like he wasn’t touching my sister moments ago. My brother would kill him if he found out.
Before I can point out that he’s a dead man walking, he puts his finger to his lips.
Sshh.
Is he for real? Does he think I won’t tell? That I’ll let him get away with touching my sister?
No amount of deep breathing can calm the storm inside me.
My heart pounds as he saunters away. I consider confronting him, but one look at my sister’s door makes me hesitate. So much has happened lately, but that’s no excuse. I should have been there for her. Asked questions. Talked about her instead of my fling with Kane Ravencourt.
As I approach her door, I raise my hand to knock, but something stops me. I glance at the stairs, wondering when and how it all began. And why Malice of all men?
He’s the last person I could picture my sister with. They’re too different, and she’s too gentle and innocent for someone as unhinged as him. But then again, none of us thought I would fall for someone like Kane, and look how that turned out.
I lower my hand.
She’ll come to me when she’s ready to talk.