Chapter 20
Ophelia
“Trap Queen-Fetty Wap”
The warehouse is alive tonight. Not party alive. Safe alive. Like the outside world can’t touch us inside these rusted metal walls full of stolen liquor and emotionally damaged teenagers pretending we aren’t all about to snap completely in half one of these days.
But honestly, it’s comforting.
Music echoes through the mostly empty warehouse while Bianca destroys Asher at beer pong for the third game now.
“You’re cheating,” Asher accuses dramatically while tossing another ball at her head.
She catches it one-handed and flips him off. “Maybe you just suck.”
Stone nearly falls off the couch laughing. “That’s what she said,”
“Stone,” I deadpan, already halfway drunk. “You have the maturity level of a moldy pop-tart.”
He points at me immediately. “And yet, I’m everyone's favorite.” He grins.
“No one said that,” Bianca chimes in.
“I said it in my heart.” He laughs, then blows her a kiss.
I laugh harder than I should while curled sideways in a beanbag chair, holding another drink.
For the first time in days, my chest doesn’t feel quite so heavy. Probably because I’m intoxicated enough to temporarily forget my life is a dumpster fire wrapped in designer clothing.
My phone buzzes again in my lap. Brayden.
He is not who I want to speak to right now.
Still nothing from Hayden though. I know what he did the other night.
I saw it. I fucking watched on the cameras.
He killed that man for touching me, and I just want to hear it from his fucking mouth, but he refuses to answer me.
So, I glare at the screen dramatically. “I hate men.”
Asher snorts from the couch he just plopped into. “Bold statement considering you keep kissing them.”
“I only kiss emotionally devastating ones,” I say, and Stone lifts his beer proudly.
“Consistency matters,” he says as Bianca snatches my phone before I can stop her.
“Oh my god, O.”
“What?”
“You’ve texted him thirteen times,” she says in shock, and I try to snatch it back from her grip.
“That is none of your business.” But she starts reading it anyway.
“Hayden answer me.” Bianca grins. “Hayden, I hate you. Hayden, please answer me. Hayden, if you died again, I’ll literally kill you.”
Asher wheezes laughing while I bury my face in the pillow beside me. “Delete yourself, fuck!”
“You’re unhinged.” Bianca cackles loudly.
“She’s in love,” Stone says dramatically while placing a hand over his chest. “Tragic really.”
“Shut up. He literally killed a man just outside these damn doors. He owes me a goddamn explanation,” I say, but despite the teasing… it hurts because Hayden still hasn’t answered me.
Not one message. And every minute that passes makes the ache inside my ribs grow sharper.
So I throw back another shot.
Bad idea.
“Romeo and Juliet,” Stone says in the worst Shakespearean accent I’ve ever heard as Asher pours another shot.
I swipe it from him and grin.
“Hey, that’s mine,” he protests, making me laugh.
“I got an idea.” Bianca suddenly shoots up from the couch shouting.
Ten minutes later, we’re all outside behind the warehouse shooting at old beer cans lined up across the broken crates.
Again. Normal teenage activities.
Teenagers who happen to carry illegal weapons and know how to clean blood out of concrete.
Stone dramatically misses every target possible.
“You suck,” Bianca tells him cheerfully before nailing three cans in a row.
“Women love humble men.”
“Women love accuracy.”
Asher hands me another gun. “Your turn, Barbie.”
I line up the shot while laughing too hard to properly focus.
Bang.
Direct hit.
Everyone cheers obnoxiously like I just won the Olympics.
“THAT’S OUR PSYCHO BARBIE!” Stone shouts, and I bow dramatically.
For a little while, we’re just kids.
Broken kids. Dangerous Kids.
But still kids underneath all the violence, trauma, and blood staining our hands. Sometimes we just need it. Let it all out and be ourselves.
By three in the morning, the boys are passed out in their rooms in the back while me and B sit outside on the roof wrapped in hoodies while cold air brushes against our skin.
The city lights glow beneath us. Beautiful in the saddest kind of way.
“I used to think if I loved someone hard enough,” Bianca says quietly, “they’d stay.”
I glance toward her as she stares straight ahead.
“My mom abandoned me and Justin when we were six. Didn’t even say goodbye. One day she was just… gone.”
Pain twists in my chest instantly. “I’m sorry,” I say, and she shrugs like it doesn’t matter.
It clearly still does.
“Then my dad drank himself to death after allowing his friends to touch me. I was almost trafficked because of him,” she spits as silence settles between us.
“What? This whole time I thought your parents were good people,” I say, and she laughs.
“The Banks are. They saved us from foster care. But Banks ain’t our real last names. We changed them once they officially adopted us. I’m not sure if Justin ever told Hayden about our past, and please don’t be mad that I’m just telling you now. It’s just that—”
“I get it. I don’t tell many people about my life either. I understand,” I tell her, and she grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze.
“Thank you for always being a good friend to me. I fucking love you, O,” she says, and I laugh.
“Bitch! You don’t need to thank me. Besties for life,” I say, and she laughs.
“Alright, enough about me,” she says, nudging my shoulder with hers until I groan dramatically. “You still love Hayden like crazy, huh?” The question settles heavily between us. I stare down into my drink for a long moment before taking a shaky breath.
“Sometimes I think he’s stitched into my bones.”
“That bad?” she asks, and I nod slowly while tears sting unexpectedly behind my eyes.
“He was my first everything.” My voice cracks quietly. “And no matter how hard I try… nobody else feels right.”
Not Brayden. Not anyone.
Because nobody kisses me like Hayden is trying to survive it.
Nobody looks at me like I’m the only light left in the world.
Nobody ever will.
Bianca reaches over, squeezing my hand roughly before stealing my drink.
“Maybe because nobody else is him,” she says, and fuck. That sinks in a little too hard.
After leaving the roof, we go back inside and I fall onto the couch. I barely sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see Hayden.
So, by the time morning arrives, I’m exhausted before the day even starts. Unfortunately, Brimstone High doesn’t care about emotional damage.
Walking into school, it is Chaos immediately. Again.
Because, apparently, I physically cannot exist peacefully anymore.
I’m grabbing books from my locker when Tracy appears beside me, smelling like cheap perfume and bad intentions.
“You know,” she says loudly, “Hayden stayed at my place last night.”
My entire body goes still.
Tracy smirks wider instantly. “He's a lot rougher than I expected.”
Rage fills my veins and rushes through me so fast I don’t even think.
I slam my locker shut hard enough to rattle the hallway. “Shut your mouth.”
“Why?” She laughs cruelly. “You jealous?”
No. I’m heartbroken.
Which is so much worse.
“He kept saying your name though,” she continues smugly. “Guess he still misses his little princess.”
That’s it.
I grab her hair instantly and slam her against the lockers hard enough students scream.
Tracy claws at me while I drag her to the floor.
“You lying bitch!”
“Maybe if you put out better—“
I hit her before she can finish.
Once. Twice.
Again.
People start chanting as she thrashes beneath me, digging with her nails, but I barely feel it through the rage boiling inside me.
Then suddenly, strong arms wrap around my waist, hauling me backward.
“ENOUGH!” Brayden growls, breathing hard, furious, controlling the Chaos like he always does.
Tracy starts sobbing dramatically on the floor while teachers finally push through the crowd.
“She attacked me!”
“She deserved it,” I spit as Brayden tightens his grip around me before smoothly turning towards the staff.
“I’ll handle Ophelia,” he says calmly. “She’s overwhelmed. I’ll take her home.”
Of course they let him because Brayden Augstine gets whatever he wants.
The second we go outside though… something shifts. Adrenaline races beneath my skin from the fight, and Brayden notices.
“You done?” he asks while unlocking his car.
“No,” I say, and he smirks.
“Good,” he says as we get into his car and peel out of the school’s lot straight to an empty parking lot overlooking the water just outside of Brimstone.
The second the car stops… he kisses me.
Hard.
Like he’s trying to burn Hayden Marks straight out of my system. I kiss him back.
Angry and reckless.
Everything explodes between us fast.
Hands gripping and pulling while our mouths suck, lick, and bite at one another. His hand slides between my legs, pulling my panties to the side while his finger finds my clit with ease, flicking it.
My pulse pounds as I fist his shirt and moan into his mouth. The seat reclines back and he climbs on top of me, never taking his fingers away from me. I lay my foot on the dash as a finger sinks inside me. I moan loudly, sucking his bottom lip.
“You drive me fucking insane,” he groans against my mouth.
Maybe I just want to feel wanted by someone who actually stays.
His lips move down my throat while his fingers continue to pump slowly in and out of me.
My thighs shake because, for once, he feels so fucking good.
He uses his other hand that is no longer in a cast to pull down my top and takes a nipple into his mouth.
I damn near bow off the seat because it’s almost too much.
Just as I slide my hand into his jeans, a sound cuts through the parking lot making me freeze.
A motorcycle engine.
Deep. Loud. Familiar.
I know that bike and now all I can think about is Hayden.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!