Track 16 #2
Deep sadness and anguish slam into me, and my eyes begin to prick.
“What about Jamie? Did it work out for her?” Derek tongues his cheek, eyes still on mine.
“You think she’s better off in Banksville stuck with you?
” His jaw ticks and his nostrils flare. “You didn’t stop anything.
You just postponed it. The second Parker gets out, he’s going straight home to Jamie, and they’re going to get out. Watch.”
“Yeah, see,” he says with a twist of his lips. “That’s exactly why I’m here.”
My stern gaze burrows through him, deep-seated rage stirring within me. “Why?”
He sighs. “I need a favor.”
“Absolutely not.”
“You haven’t even heard what it is yet.”
“And you think I’m going to listen now that I know what you did? That you’re the reason Parker is in jail right now?!”
“Hey!” Derek yells, closing the distance between us completely.
His one hand finds my shoulder, pinning me to the door.
The other balls into a fist, his forefinger pointed at my nose.
“Let's get one thing straight, princess. I am not the reason your brother is in jail. He is for being a shit friend. And you are. You and your stupid loser father you so desperately needed to save are the reason Parker is in jail. If it weren’t for you, my plan wouldn’t have worked.
You helped put him there just as much as I did.
It was the perfect fucking storm because of you. Don’t forget that.”
Tears sting my eyes, and guilt coats my gut. My teeth grit together so hard, I feel my jaw nearly crack. Derek smooths out his expression, backing off me while he collects himself.
“I need to lie low for a few days,” he explains. “A couple things went wrong back home, and a few people are looking for me. No one will look for me here. So, I need to stay.”
He stares at me silently. His bold, envious eyes looking almost innocent in their pleading. I swallow the bile that rises in my throat as I lean forward, and with complete and utter disgust, I dismiss him entirely.
“Is this the part where I offer my assistance to a corrupt, jealous psychopath?” I huff.
“I wasn’t… I’m not…” He stumbles between his words, releasing another annoyed breath. “This has nothing to do with jealousy. It’s principle, Alana. He was fucking wrong, and he deserved what happened. If he wasn’t lying to me, none of this—”
“You know what, I was wrong about you. You aren’t a complete piece of shit.
You are the scum of the entire earth. You are lower than the most vile and you deserve to be caught by whoever the hell is looking for you.
And I hope… I hope when they find you, they beat the living shit out of you.
” I reach for the knob behind me and pull the door open. “Now get out.”
I stare him down with flames in my eyes. I wait expectantly for his feet to move, for the waft of stale cigarettes to float past me and out of my home. But instead, the corner of his mouth lifts. His lips twitch, his bemused expression back in place. He sucks his teeth with a breathy sigh.
“I thought you might say something like that. Which was why I didn’t plan on telling you all those things, but you…
” He chuckles. “You and those blue eyes have a way with me. Get me talking about things I shouldn’t be saying.
” He bites his cheek as he looks away. Then his eyes pin mine in place.
“Here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re going to close that door, and you’re going to let me stay.
” His voice is thick as he moves toward me.
He hovers close by, his head bent as his hand covers mine around the door handle.
“Because if you don’t, if you make this difficult for even a second and don’t let me stay…
” His eyes flicker with evil, vengeful elation.
“I’ll make sure Parker never leaves that prison. ”
My heart sinks, fear tumbling over it.
My mind races with the unlimited possibilities that hang above me—Parker catching another drug charge after something gets planted in his cell.
A violent offense added to his record while being forced to fight for his life against another inmate.
A shank shoved deep into his side by an unseen passerby in the yard…
Derek watches fear turn to desperation in my eyes, and his lips turn the slightest bit more.
“That’s what I thought,” he nearly whispers with a smirk as I release the knob.
The door falls shut behind me, and with it, the last sliver of safety I thought I had gets shut out.
The lock clicks—a small, pathetic sound—and Derek’s smile widens like he’s been waiting for this moment for a long time.
For me to fold.
For him to win.
My fingers tremble at my sides. I can still taste the words I threw at him, the fury, the fire. They’re nothing but smoke in a hurricane now.
He casually steps farther into my living room, like he owns the air in it.
Like he owns me.
“I knew you were smarter than your brother,” he says with a sly grin. “Hey, guess that’s why you’re the one with the scholarship, right?” He winks at me as he sits, propping his dirty boots up on my coffee table and tossing my Happiness pillow to the ground.
Something cold and heavy settles in my bones. A realization that feels a lot like defeat.
And I swallow it down painfully whole.
Silently.
Because I have absolutely no other choice.