“Don’t what?” he asks, confused. “Make things right?”
“Exactly that…I can’t,” I struggle to find the words that won’t make me sound like I’ve gone completely insane, but the desperation is tearing at me and shows in my voice, killing me as I know he sees it. “I need you to hate me. It’s the only way.”
“Only way? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Please, just don’t. You make the pain go away.”
“What?”
“HEY,” a familiar voice says moments before Blake forces his way between us and pushes Slade back a few steps. “Leave her alone.”
Slade catches himself but his eyes come back to mine, even more confused about what I just said.
Blake’s outburst has people from everywhere desperate to see if there’s about to be another showdown. They race in to form a circle around us and I groan, wishing this could all just end.
I sense Maze at my back and Damian forcing his way into the circle.
Seeing Slade’s stare, Blake glances down at me and sees the tears brimming in my eyes. He snaps. “What the fuck did you do to her?” he demands, getting into Slade’s face. “She was doing so much better before she met you.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Slade says, his anger intensifying by the second.
As if not hearing a damn word that Slade has just said, Blake continues ranting at him, completely out of control as he slurs his words and wobbles on his feet. “That’s fucking bullshit. You’ve had Skylah on edge since day one. She only just got past that bastard forcing himself on her and then you come and fuck it all up.”
No.
My eyes widen in terror as my heart begins to race. Time slows and I watch as every last eye turns my way. Maze gasps and throws a hand to her mouth, Damian looks as though he’s about to be sick, and Slade…Slade looks as though he could kill.
Blake continues talking shit, not realizing that my world has just gone up in flames and Damian tries his best to shut it down.
I can’t move.
My eyes remain on Slade’s dark ones, both of us completely motionless as I beg whoever exists above to open up the ground and let me fall.
How could he do that? My own flesh and blood just betrayed me to the whole school and he’s too fucking drunk to realize.
Damian pulls him away and the other guys on the team start pushing the crowd away.
It’s just me, Maze and him and judging by the look he’s giving me, he now knows exactly what I was desperate for when I asked him and Damian to make me forget. He knows it all, every last secret I’ve desperately tried to hold onto.
Slade takes a hesitant step towards me which is when Maze jumps into action, she glares up at Slade. “Don’t,” she demands, holding her finger out at him like a misbehaved child as she curls her hand around my upper arm.
She tugs hard and the movement gets my feet going, and the second the momentum gets me going, I run, and I don’t stop until Maze’s is burying me deep inside her car, protecting me from the harsh ugliness of the world around me.
Chapter 19
I stand on Shay and Ben’s doorstep watching as Maze’s old beat-up car pulls away. She stayed for a short moment, checking that I was alright until I sent her away, knowing that was the last time I’d be spending my time with her. I put it to the back of my mind, desperate to get into my bed, climb under the covers and curl my knife into the palm of my hand.
Her car hardly gets two houses down the street when a familiar black Dodge RAM pulls into the vacated driveway. Slade’s engine rumbles loudly and echoes down the street until he finally cuts it and meets my eyes across the front yard.
I can’t handle this right now.
I’m about to storm inside and lock the doors before the passenger side door opens and my dick of a little brother comes tumbling out and falls face-first into the grass. Frustration takes over and as much as I want to hate on my bother right now, I can’t fault him for trying to protect me. Slade though, I know damn well that he was drinking at that party and he sure as hell shouldn’t be behind the wheel with my brother riding shotgun.
Slade gets out of his truck and walks around to scoop Blake out of the grass. He does it so effortlessly that I have to gawk as he leads Blake to the front door.
I unlock the door and swing it wide. Slade gives Blake a push, only Blake has other plans. He uses his moment to change direction and stumbles right into me. My knees buckle under his weight and I fall back against the door frame, groaning as my back hits the edge.