Eleven
SCARLETT
T he rest of the week continues uneventfully and to my surprise Ace has completely ignored me and the guys, which is refreshing. Especially after finding out from Liam that he told the guys I was “off limits.” The nerve.
Yet I can’t help feeling put off after that kiss we shared. I should be thankful that although Carrington has made her fair share of snarky remarks every chance she gets, it hasn’t been too often.
It’s finally Saturday, week one in this hellhole is complete. Today I’m able to hide away and avoid everyone, or so I thought.
There’s another party tonight. Shocker.
This, however, is the first party of the new school year and according to Stella it’s the main event of the year. Apparently last weekend’s party didn’t count for this school year, as it was thrown to commemorate the end of summer vacation. Great.
I try to get out of it by telling the girls I don’t feel good, but Jade sees right through my bullshit. Instead, I’m in my room getting ready for tonight .
After my morning shower, I put my hair into a bun while it was still wet. Letting it air dry, it’s now showing its natural slight wave which saves me the trouble of styling it. It’s still early September, which on the West Coast signifies it’s the middle of summer, but the weather is cooling down slightly in the evenings.
Looking through the clothes I brought with me, I settled on a pair of dark ripped jeans and a black crop top with the front cut out to a low-V landing right between my breasts. The material around my neck forms a built-in choker of sorts, accentuating the small dip of cleavage between my breasts. Sexy yet not too revealing.
Jade and I have this tendency to cut out parts of all our thrift shop, hand-me-down clothes, giving them an edgier, brand-new look. I added a bit more makeup than I’m used to, lining my eyes in black liner, adding a few coats of mascara to my lashes and completed the look with a dark red color on my lips. I try to feign indifference but I’m actually really nervous about tonight.
Ace will surely be in attendance, but I fail at trying to convince myself I’m not getting ready for him. Irritated by my thoughts, I’m about to wipe the blood color off my lips when Jade barges through my bedroom door.
“Ever heard of knocking, Jade!” I call out annoyed.
“We’re sisters, it literally means I don’t have to knock.” I roll my eyes and chuckle, bringing a tissue to my lips.
“What are you doing?” she asks. She’s changed into ripped jeans and a lilac strapless crop top. Her hair is sleek straight tonight, and I can tell she’s added a light purple eyeshadow to her waterline.
“Wiping this shit off,” I answer.
“Why? Scar, you look hella bomb. I’ve always told you that’s your color.”
I shake my head. “It’s too much. I look like I’m trying too hard to make an impression.”
“Scar you could go bare faced and wear a damn potato sack and you’d make a hell of an impression. Besides I bet your man won’t mind,” she teases.
“Who?” I ask a little too eagerly.
“The Dragon Man, why? Who’d you think I was talking about?” she asks, another teasing smile appearing on her face. She settles onto the couch across from me, not planning on leaving the room to let me finish getting ready.
“No one.”
“Riiiight,” she says, elongating the word. “Anyway, you know you don’t have to impress him, boy’s a goner. However, if there was anyone else, say a douchey self-righteous prick you’re trying to impress....”
“Cut the bullshit, Jade, what are you getting at?” I sneer pissed off.
“Well, Ace of course. Dude is a top-grade A-hole, but fine AF, and he’s got it bad for you.”
“Shut up, Jade. You’re talking out of your ass, sis.”
Walking away from her before I give my true feelings on the situation away, I grab my phone from the charging port and shove it into my pocket along with the tube of lipstick in case I need to reapply later.
“Scar, I’m telling you, he hasn’t been able to keep his eyes and hands off you since we got here. We all can see it. Why do you think Drake is extra possessive over you suddenly? Dragon’s worried the king is here to slay him and take the princess as his queen.”
“You’re out of your mind sis. Drake and I…”
She interrupts me before I can finish. “Have been screwing each other since the summer started.” I look over at her, shocked she’s aware of what’s been going on. “You guys ain’t fooling anyone. But he’s also never been so controlling in public. Until Ace came into the mix.”
I roll my eyes exasperated by her inquisition and observations that are clearly misleading. “Look, I don’t give a fuck if you think Ace wants me or not. I’m with Drake and besides, even if I wasn’t, I’m not into the whole ‘holier than thou’ attitude Ace has going on.”
“So, you’re with Drake now. Like as in a couple?” she asks, overly excited.
“We haven’t out right said it but, I mean, I guess we will be after tonight.”
Jade’s hand comes up to her chest as she feigns to be shocked. “Scarlett Steele, are you gonna ask your Dragon Man to be yours?”
I can’t help laughing at her dramatics. I swear my dear sister could grow up to be some A-list Hollywood actress if she wanted it bad enough. “I guess it’s about time, isn’t it?” I say with a shrug.
It’s no surprise the party tonight is also down by the beach. Evidently, that’s the spot for most of the Servite Academy parties, other than a few the guys throw at Servite Manor, Ace’s family home.
After another half hour of waiting for everyone to be ready, we all walk down to the private beach together, but before walking onto the beach, I pull Drake to the side.
He’s dressed in dark jeans and a black long-sleeve shirt, the only visible tattoos are the ones snaking around his neck. Together we look like the perfect grunge-chic couple. His dark hair, still slightly wet and his green eyes more of an emerald color tonight mold perfectly with my raven locks and bright blue eyes.
Drake’s the only guy I know that can make face tattoos and piercings look sexy. His natural long, dark lashes have always made his eyes look like they’re lined with eyeliner and his plump lips would make any girl envious. All in all, he’s fucking gorgeous in a “I can fuck you really good” kind of way.
I lick my lips and realize I’m blatantly staring but he does the same before grunting lightly and reaching his hand out to me, grabbing me by my waist and pulling me in.
“When you look at me like that, Scar,” he says, biting down on his lips. “It makes me wanna show the world you’re mine.”
“Then do it, Dragon Man,” I say breathily leaning in closer to him.
Drake looks at me slightly thrown off by my words. I’ve always been the one shooting him down, telling him I don’t want any kind of romantic relationship between us to get in the way of our friendship. Drake’s my best friend, my confidant, and his friends are my family. My people. I only have a select few. Jade, Kai, Jax, hell even Ruby. I don’t get close to people easily.
Blame it on my DNA and parental upbringing. No real father, an absent stepfather, an indifferent stepbrother, a psychotic mother. But with Drake things are different. I don’t want to jeopardize that, which is why I can’t fathom the reasoning behind my next words.
“I’ve always made it seem like a relationship between us would be wrong, dangerous. You’re my best friend, Drake. I’ve never wanted to risk ruining that over us getting together and it ending badly but I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to do anymore, or if I’ll end up regretting it but…”
He interrupts me before I can finish, placing his finger on my lips to stop me from talking. “You asking me to be your boyfriend, Scar?” he asks, a hopeful look in his eyes.
“Yeah, Dragon Man, I guess I am.”
He answers not with words but with his lips crashing down on mine. His lips are soft and his calloused hands running over my lower back send shivers up my spine. However, the moment’s cut short as we’re interrupted by not one, but all four of the Horsemen.
“Looks like the princess finally stepped out of her tower to play with the dragon,” Bass says, a little too proud of his clever pun as he comes around behind us .
I press my face into the crook of Drake’s neck not wanting to make eye contact with any of them, especially with a certain asshole who just a few days ago had me in this same compromising position.
“Fuck off, Silver,” Drake says, calling Bass by his last name. I can feel their stares on me burning me from behind.
“Let’s go,” I murmur to Drake, pulling him with me toward the beach and ignoring the guys behind me. It’s foolish of me to think they’d let me go so easily.
“Not so fast, Little Red, I haven’t given you my congratulations,” Ace calls out, his deep, raspy voice coming from behind us.
God, his voice instantly sends a shot of heat right through me. He shouldn’t affect me this much, not after everything that just happened with Drake. Drake looks down at me and I tense. Can he see it on my face? The effect Ace has on me.
“I want nothing from you,” I shout, yet don’t sound convincing.
“Not even a little parting gift? Maybe another like the one I gave you the other night.”
I feel Drake’s body tense beside me. His grip on my waist tightens, his fingers digging into me. Son of a bitch, of course he would bring that up. His boys chuckle on cue.
“Ooo yeah, tell us about that again, man.” This time it’s Alek who speaks.
I look up and find Drake eyeing me curiously, a million questions running through his mind, but his glare turns straight to Ace. I hadn’t noticed before, but Jade and the guys are right behind us, a small crowd forming ready to enjoy the show.
I look over to Jade and she raises a brow to me silently asking what the hell Ace is talking about.
Alright, this is how he wants to play it out then, let's play. I squeeze Drake’s arm and smile softly at him before turning to face Ace. And fuck if he doesn’t look good.
He’s wearing the same leather jacket and black jeans he was wearing the other night, but this time wears a white V-neck shirt underneath. His beanie hides his unruly blond hair while his blue eyes are almost clear in the moonlight. Ace stands across me, arms crossed over his chest as he stares hungrily at me, his bottom lip tucked between his teeth.
His smug expression irks me. “Yeah, Ace, why don’t you tell us about that again.” I step toward him slowly and can hear him growling as I approach. “Tell them about how you tricked me into coming out to meet you by pretending to be Drake. How when I came up behind you, you grabbed me and put your hands and lips on me.”
Behind me, I can feel Drake approach us. “You fucking touched her?” he snarls, coming toward Ace, but I hold him back.
“Let me remind you I did nothing you didn’t let me, Red,” he answers, a smug grin plastered on his beautiful face.
“You mean because I didn’t pull away quick enough,” I blurt out.
“I mean because you kissed me back,” he says, moving forward to meet me.
Ace looms over me, his head leaning down to meet my stare. The crowd gasps in unison and his grin widens. This fucker thinks he’s won, but he’s forgotten who he’s playing against.
I smile slightly, a smug grin now appearing on my lips as I walk up closer to him whispering loud enough that those closest to us can still hear.
“You wanna know why I kissed you back, Ace. Because I was thinking of him the whole time. He’s the one I came out to see. The one I was imagining running his hands up my waist and around my body. The one whose lips were claiming me. Claiming. What. Is. His.”
Ace’s face contorts in anger, and he’s suddenly fuming at my response. The crowd gasps louder, but this time I can also hear a few laughs coming from the audience, so I speak louder for everyone to hear.
“You only did that after I’d hung up on you and told you to stay the fuck away from me and mine. Don’t confuse my need for him with anything else.” I place my hand on his chest moving my fingers upward with every word. “I have my very own dragon to ride, I don’t need a lousy horse.”
I hear a bunch of oohs and aahs as I turn to Drake who’s grinning at me as he places his arm around my shoulder. He kisses me and salutes Ace as we take off toward the beach leaving the Horseman and his people standing alone, not bothering to look back.
“That shit was fucking amazing, Scar,” Jade says, laughing as she comes over to our table a few minutes later.
Jax comes up behind me lifting me up into his arms. “Fuck, you should have seen how pissed he was when you guys just walked away. I swear I saw fucking smoke coming out his ears.”
“That was dangerous, Scarlett,” Stella says nervously. “He’s pissed, which means he’s going to retaliate. Nobody’s ever challenged him like you are,” she continues, and I can see she’s truly freaked.
“Which is why he doesn’t know what to do. You could see it on his face. He was dumbstruck,” Ruby chimes in, also visibly proud of me which is odd.
“Yeah, and you embarrassed him in front of his followers. Which is exactly why you need to be careful. A show of power in private is different, but a stand-off in front of his people, fuck, Scar, I don’t know what he’s going to do.” Stella turns back to where the crowd was huddled a few moments ago but they’ve all gone their separate ways, not a damn king in sight.
“Relax, Silver, we’re good. He knows now that I can’t be fucked with. That I won’t allow myself to be played. Sure, he took an ego hit but he’ll get over it.” But sadly, I don’t sound very convincing.
Drake turns to me. “Scar, we need to talk,” he says, and I immediately cringe knowing damn well he’s gonna ask what happened.
Jade throws her arms around me. “Same here, sis. I’ll let you hash things out with your man, but tonight you and I are gonna talk this out.” She kisses my forehead and grabs Stella’s arm taking off toward the keg nearest our table. Ruby and Jax have escaped once again, and Kai has this redhead from my math class sitting on his lap.
The sky is aglow with hundreds of stars fading into nothingness and I suddenly wish I could do the same.
“Scar,” Drake groans when I continue to ignore him.
“Look, Drake, I already said enough about what happened. I really don’t wanna talk about it right now.”
“Scar,” I look up to him and his face is serious. “I just wanna know if this,” he points between us as he sighs, running his fingers through his hair. “If it’s…” He pauses again.
“If it’s what, Drake. Spit it out,” I ask, now irritated by his insinuation.
“If it’s real or just a move to put the fucker in his place.”
And now I’m fuming. “Fuck you, Drake. Fuck you for even suggesting that.”
“Well, what am I supposed to think, Scar? This whole time you’ve always told me we can’t risk it and now we’re here, this fucker kisses you, and you tell me you wanna be with me. I don’t…”
“Yes, I want to be with you because you respect me. Drake, you’ve always been there for me no questions asked. I want to be with you not because of him, not because of this school, but because I wanna be with you.” His green eyes darken, looking almost black in the night.
He pulls me to him and claims me, his mouth taking what it needs. What he needs to believe is that it's him I want. I kiss him back giving him the relief he needs, but just as quickly break the kiss.
“Was that our first fight?” I ask, smirking up at him.
“Yeah, babe, I think it was.” I bite my lip and he pulls me in closer.
For the rest of the party, I stay by Drake’s side. Jade and Stella are talking to Liam and some guys from the lacrosse team and I can tell Jade’s getting flirty. Her straight hair is being twirled in one hand while the other one’s grazing Liam’s bicep.
Looking around, I see all my people here with me, enjoying themselves for the first time in a really long time and I realize that no matter the reasons for us being here, no matter the entitled assholes we must keep fighting off, this is where I want to be. This is where I belong. I know it is.
And I’ve never felt like I belonged.