Page 38 of Hers To Keep
I laugh hysterically, at the irony of the last time we were here, thinking the worst thing that could happen to us was being forced to attend school with a bunch of rich, privileged jerks. I guess in a sense that was the turning point in all of this.
After that, it all fell into place for Wesley Servite like a domino effect.
“You lost me, no need to lose anyone else on my behalf.” My laughter quickly turns to tears that sting as they fall upon my icy cheeks. “You’ll come to lose them by your own betrayals soon enough.” Hearing those words from his very own lips, lips stained with blood because of me, cut like shards of glass embedded in my heart, being dug in deeper and deeper with every insult he throws my way.
“I thought you understood, Drake?” I mumble, my words barely distinguishable in between sobs. “I’m not just doing this to protect you anymore. Honestly, if I’m being true to myself, I don’t think it was ever really about that. He’s like no one I’ve ever met. The things I feel when I’m with him, the way he is with me, it’s like nothing I ever imagined possible.”
Drake finally looks my way, the rage inside of him bubbling at the center, like volcanic lava about to erupt. Green eyes darken as he scowls furiously at me. It’s the first time I’ve outright told him how I feel about Ace, and whether that hurts him, it needs to be said. “He’s the fucking devil, Scar. How can you not see that? This whole fucking place, his whole family, they’re evil incarnate.”
Suddenly, a door slams behind us, both Drake and I turning back at the sound, and it’s almost as if I’d summoned him. Ace appears from behind the glass door of the house, a deep scowl on his face as he sees me sitting beside Drake, clearly visible are the tears in my red-rimmed eyes. I look behind him to see everyone who was in the living room now standing behind the glass watching us intently. Jax and Kai stand ready to attack if needed,Jade and Stella with wide gazes as the tension unfolds before their eyes. Ruby stands in the far-right corner, a smug look on her face as her eyes meet mine finding the solemn look within them. All while Grayson & Sarah stare worriedly, not understanding the gravity of what’s about to unfold.
I turn back to Ace, where he stands motionless, heeding the plea in my eyes, begging him to stand down. I don’t want there to be an altercation in front of Grayson and Sarah. I wouldn’t know what to say, how to explain to them the mess my life has turned into. Grayson’s words to me the day we left haunt me as I look around at the scene before us.
Promise me one thing, you’ll show those pricks that you kids are from Pleasant Hills, and here, we are family. We are Graysons. We stand together, and nothing, or no one tears us down.
Well, I showed them.
I jump off from my place on the wall, turning back toward Drake, his anger like venom, seething within him. I need to leave here and never come back. The pain I’ve caused my family is unbearable. The reminder of what my life was like here, the small glimpse of happiness I got, and what I will never get back, is like a recurring nightmare. So once again, like a broken record, I tell another wicked lie to make him hate me even more than he already does. Well, not really a lie because I’ve foolishly come to believe it, but more of a warning, pushing him to stay as far away from me as he can.
I’m toxic, a poisonous flower whose beauty hides the venom within me, fooling those around me into believing I’m pure, angelic even. When in reality I’m the deadliest there is. A flower that kills without warning, a silent drug who kills, leaving no trace. He thinks Ace is the bad guy, but I’m the one who’s at fault.
“Some say he’s a God, others say he’s the devil, but in reality, he’s just a fallen angel lost on earth, cursed to live a life of solitude. Forever alone wandering this hell, paying for his family’s sins, tormented until his soul is forgiven for the wickedness it’s done. Ishould know, I’m living it too. It’s why I can’t stay away. It’s why we’re meant to be together. I’m here to enact his penance. I’m his ultimate test and he’s my ultimate sacrifice.” I turn and walk away from him and toward Ace, not bothering to look back at him as he speaks.
“How. Fucking. Poetic.”
Chapter
Twenty-Two
DRAKE
How. Fucking. Poetic.
I shout after her as she turns her back to me.
After everything he’s done, everything his family has done to her, she stays faithfully by his fucking side. The fucker smirks smugly at me as they walk away, his arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders, leaving me here with the bitter taste of betrayal like venom on my tongue.
I’m not angry that he took her from me. I’m not one hundred percent sure she was really ever mine to tell the truth. I made the mistake of being so possessive with her, so controlling it pushed her away, but I can’t see how being with him is any different. I guess the threat of being destroyed, the fear of being ruined is enough to make someone fall in love. Either way, they deserve each other.
What pains me the most is that I lost my best friend. I’m too much of a bastard to ever admit turning my back on her might nothave been the right thing to do. The more I think about it, the less I think I loved her and the more I think I just needed a friend who understood me and was by my side.
She’ll survive this, she has to. The fire inside her, much like mine, is the will to keep fighting. It’s what kept me alive that night, as they relentlessly tried to break me; blow after blow, I held on, for her. I knew the guilt would break her even worse were something to happen to me, and I can’t let that happen. So the only thing left to do is accept defeat.
I must acknowledge the fact that she was never weak, nor a damsel who needed saving. She was my princess until he came and claimed her as his queen. Then they rode off on his dark horse, never once looking back at me.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
SCARLETT
“You didn’t have to just show up like that,” I snicker from the passenger seat of Ace’s car. His eyes remain focused on the road, not bothering to turn to me. “You had no right to barge in not only unannounced, but unwelcome.” I may have left with him to prevent further problems from arising, but it doesn’t mean I am not pissed at him for causing a scene.
“What the fuck was I supposed to do? I came to see you because I missed you. I get there and they tell me you’re out back with the fucker, and I was just supposed to sit back and wait or what, leave?” Jealousy is clear in his gravelly tone, and somehow the thought of him being jealous sends a shock of heat through me. What is wrong with me?
“Yes!” I shout, the seat belt cutting into my chest as I turn angrily toward him. “I didn’t need you to cause some jealous scene in front of my foster moms. I didn’t want them to know the shit storm my life has become since I left them. I didn’t want them to feel guilty.” My eyes burn with tears threatening to pour out, hiseyes softening at my confession. He reaches a hand over to me, running it gently across my thigh.
“I’m sorry, okay, but I can’t think clearly when it comes to you. I’m impulsive, reckless, and when you’re not with me, I become desperate. I need to know you’re safe every fucking minute of the day. I need to know that he can’t get to you.” I can sense the anguish radiating off of him like raging waves of emotion threatening to drown me as he watches me with a kindness in his eyes I never thought I’d see in him.