Track 16
ALANA
I PRACTICALLY RUN home, confused and soaked with desire, all while reprimanding myself for being so reckless.
What the hell was I thinking? Flirting with Vince. Getting jealous over Jake. Giving in to that whole moment in the closet.
I release a jagged breath.
Clearly, I’ve lost my damn mind.
I stare at my flushed reflection in my bathroom mirror.
“You need to get your shit together,” I say aloud.
Just as soon as the words leave my lips, the images flood my mind.
Jake’s dark infuriated gaze pinning me in place.
The sharp, demanding edge to his voice as he called me out.
The grip of his strong hand at my waist, in my hair, around my neck.
His tongue as it plunged into my mouth. The feel of his fingertips as they traced my lips before I wrapped my mouth around them.
My eyes close as my skin buzzes, remembering the sear of his touch. I can deny it all I want, but the truth is I want more of it. I want all of it. And if that doorknob didn’t shake, I would’ve had it. The rest of my world be damned.
It did feel good, didn’t it? To let go. To give in…
My eyes find themselves in my reflection again, a fervent need swirling within them.
“Fuck it,” I say as I grab my purse off the edge of the sink and beeline to the kitchen counter for my keys. I’m only two steps from the door when a knock comes from the other side.
I freeze, my heart pounding as I reach for the knob.
Three bangs come next, and they settle between my ribs.
An elated excitement blossoms in me, curving my lips into a smitten smile.
I grab the handle and swing the door open, my eyes awaiting the earthy hazel ones that have swarmed my mind since before I ever knew the man behind them.
Only, the eyes that find mine aren’t hazel at all. They aren’t kind or soft or filled with the desire I hope to find.
These are a bright emerald green. And they’re filled with envy.
With jealousy.
With greed.
They’re the eyes of a past I’ve tried to outrun, but they’ve found me here. Because they’d find me anywhere. To the ends of the earth if they had to—just like they once promised me.
Don’t forget what you owe me, Alana. You’ll never get away from it, no matter what happens to Parker.
“Hey, babydoll. Miss me?”
The saliva in my mouth sours, and I nearly gag as I swallow it down.
“Aww, that much, huh?” Derek pushes past me and into my apartment, the aroma of stale cigarettes and ash trailing behind him.
Shock and fear halt me in place. I shut the door abrasively. "What are you doing here, Derek?”
“It’s nice to see you, too, Lana Lane.” His words morph his lips into a sly, conniving grin.
“Don’t call me that. That’s—”
“Parker’s. I know. The great and powerful Parker,” he mocks, rounding the corner of the kitchen and landing on the other side of the peninsula. He picks up a candle and smells it, then scrunches his nose in disgust.
“Fuck you,” I seethe.
“I wish you would.” His eyes glitter mischievously as he passes the candle between his hands.
He sets it down, and his emerald eyes give way to a seriousness that unsettles my stomach.
“You know, you left town pretty quickly after what happened with your brother. Didn’t make so much as a sound when you hightailed it out of Banksville.
Took me by surprise, considering we had a deal we never finished. ”
My body flinches at the mention of my brother and my Florida hometown; a tiny, rundown historic swampland filled with moss-covered trees and tin roofs on the south end. It’s exactly where forgotten people like Derek and I grew up.
There were two types of people in Banksville, Florida—the blue-collar families who were functioning, productive members of society, working hard and living right. And then there was everyone else.
Derek and his group of misfits were the lowest of the ‘else’ group, leading the town’s lost into small-time crimes, drugs, and everything in between.
If we hadn’t moved to their exact neighborhood in the middle of our family downfall, Parker never would have crossed paths with a guy like him.
He never would have known the guys with the trash reputations.
And he wouldn’t be in prison right now for a crime he didn’t commit.
I scowl. “What do you want, Derek? Our deal is done.”
“Our deal is not done, little princess. And now I’m here to help you finish it.”
“Yeah, sure. Because you’re such a giver. So full of handouts to everyone in need,” I scoff, crossing my arms before me.
“I did help you,” he exclaims, his lip twitching with his snarl.
“Oh, please. You screwed me over at best—”
“Hey!” he screams. “Don’t be an ungrateful bitch.”
“Are you kidding me right now? It was your fault!”
“How the hell was it my fault you lost your shit?!”
I grind my teeth, refusing to speak.
“You asked for stronger shit for your dad, and I got it for you. You were supposed to take half and hold the rest until I had it sold. No one told you to go and get caught.”
That part makes me see red. “You set me up, asshole!” I seethe. “I wouldn’t have gotten caught if it wasn’t for you! Now I’m in some kind of debt to you when you screwed up your own deal? Forget it! Fuck you, Derek.”
“I didn’t set you up,” he says through gritted teeth, his hands balled into fists, knuckles white.
“Yes, you did, you lying prick! You set me up and then you—”
“I didn’t set you up. I set Parker up!”
Shock zings up my spine and widens my eyes as I shudder. A wave of betrayal crashes against me like the angered ocean rivaling a stone harbor.
“W-What?”
He lets out a frustrated breath. “The setup wasn't meant for you. It was for Parker. You were just my means to get there.”
I can’t hide the emotion shaking my voice. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“When he picked you up that day, I told him the cops had a checkpoint on Duclos when it was really on Avery Street. I told him to go a different way so he wouldn’t have time to pass Jamie’s job.
But I knew he couldn’t do it. I knew he’d have to pass where she worked, like he did every night before he went home, because he’s a lying piece of shit! ” he screams, and I flinch.
“See, I tried to help your brother. But he didn’t want to help himself.
He went around me, around my directions, and because he didn’t fucking listen, he ended up at the backend of the checkpoint, just like I knew he would if he went to pick up Jamie.
I gave him the rope to hang himself, and he decided to jump. So fuck him.”
“Are you actually insane? Do you even hear yourself?”
“No. Parker’s insane for thinking he could fuck my sister without my permission! For thinking he could take her away!”
“She’s a person, not a piece of property, you psycho! She loves Parker—”
“Don’t say that! Don’t ever fucking say that!” He slams his hand down on the counter as spit spews from his mouth.
Fear jumps in my chest. Silent, still moments fill my apartment. My heart pounds loudly in my ears. My breaths are short and shaky. My heart is torn by revelations I can’t possibly register right now. My brain feels like it’s running on overdrive. It’s all too much to process.
Derek runs a hand through his hair and stretches his hands out after. He blinks a few times, his body moving in a wave as if he’s trying to clear the anger from his body.
“Why would I set you up?” he asks with a tilt of his head. He slowly walks toward me. “I liked you, Alana. You were just a kid, but that fire in you, the risks you were always too willing to take—you had me drawn to you even then.”
“I was barely sixteen.”
“You didn’t look sixteen.” His eyes twinkle, and nausea swirls in my belly. “And I was willing to wait. I had every intention of waiting for you to grow up and making you my queen.”
“Queen of the damned,” I spit. Disgust stirs in me as he closes the space between us with slow strides.
He stops a foot away. An amused huff leaves his nostrils. “See? I missed that.”
The severity of his betrayal hits me again. “How could you do that to him? Parker was your friend.”
“Was,” he corrects. “Parker stopped being my friend the second he started fucking my sister.”
“How can you say that? You grew up together! You spent almost every day—”
“Because he tried to take her from me!” he screams, red-faced. “He tried to take my sister away. They were leaving. I couldn’t let that happen.”
When surprise registers on my face, he continues. “What, did you think I didn’t know? I know everything that goes on in my town, Alana. He was trying to take my sister from me—”
“To give her a better life, Derek! To give her everything—”
“I’m everything!” he yells, his voice splintering. “I gave her everything,” he sniffs, his body trembling.
If he weren’t such a vile excuse for a person, my heart might actually break for him. But knowing who he is, knowing he intentionally sent my brother to prison for six years, takes any sliver of hope I had for Derek and burns it to the ground.
“You’re a sick person, do you know that?
You’re so obsessed with your sister, with your power over her and everyone around you, you’ll do anything to keep it!
You’ll let her suffer in that shitty little town, knowing she deserves better!
Knowing Parker would have given her better!
You’re so fucking selfish, I can’t stand it.
You thought you could keep them apart by sending him to prison? ”
He shrugs. “It was a good plan.”
“It was a horrible plan! You ruined his life. You ruined mine! I could have been arrested that night! I could be where he is right now.”
“Pfff. That never would’ve happened,” he says with a shake of his head.
“Parker would always take the fall for you. He wouldn’t let you miss out on your scholarship, on your big life.
And look at you now,” he scans my apartment, “living in quite the lap of luxury for a hood rat, so I guess it all worked out now, didn’t it? ”