Obviously, she’s the reason behind his mood for the past few days. Dude’s worse than a girl. Now isn’t the time to confront him about it either. Shit is already fucked-up with Ezra being gone. Unlike most high school relationships, our friendship isn’t fake and childish. Our friendship stems from kids who clung to each other in the midst of their worlds falling apart around them. We’ve all got childhood trauma which forged our bond, and the loyalty we each have for each other is unbreakable. They bleed, I bleed.
“You ready? Let’s meet Rowan at the house and set stuff up, get the place lit for tonight,” I say to Alec, and pull my hoodie on over my head. Black to match my jeans, my go-to outfit. Chucks, Vans. Same shit, different day. Tonight it’s black and white checkered Vans to go with my hoodie.
“Rhys.” I look up and see Alec standing in front of me, wearing a serious expression.
“I know you’re giving Bash a hard time… but just go easy on him, okay? We’re already missing one of us, I don’t want to see him fall off the deep end or some shit.”
I nod.
He’s right. Sebastian’s by far the most emotional of the four of us and it’s obvious he’s going through some shit.
Sebastian’s the good guy, the sensitive one. Alec’s the stoner, who is too chill to give a shit about anything. Ezra’s the life of any and every party. And then there’s me… St. Augustine’s fallen angel. The four of us make up The Kings. Us against the fucking world.
“Yeah, I’ll work on it.” I give him a small grin, and we head out the door together, back into the storm outside.
But Sebastian? I need him to pull his head out of his ass, because the only thing we should be focusing on right now is getting Ezra out. Whatever the fuck it takes. I’ll deal with it tomorrow. Tonight was reserved for Valentina Carmichael.
An hour later, we’re standing in the middle of the abandoned house that’s only a few miles from campus. Tonight, it’s pitch-black outside and the rain pours, but we have the entire house illuminated by candlelight. Not very bright, the darkness still lurking in the shadows of the room, it gives a sense of foreboding. There are mismatched couches and chairs scattered throughout the living room, random tables set up for beer pong… inside tonight, since the sky is falling down outside of the house.
The entire house itself is Gothic architecture that is a looming two and a half stories of brick. The family who once lived here was murdered by the father. After sitting on the market for years, it went vacant until we came along.
Since it's just Alec and I, along with a few guys from the team, the place is eerily quiet. You can hear every creak and groan of the house settling, and it's giving a creepy vibe that sends a thrill down my spine. It fits perfectly with what I have planned for tonight.
I check my phone and see the time. People will begin arriving soon, so I head upstairs to the one room in the house reserved for us. No one is allowed in there unless they're brought in by one of us four. Off-limits.
No questions.
Inside, there’s a king size bed, a table, and a large floor-to-ceiling mirror left by the previous owners. It’s a sanctuary untouched by the high school wasteland that takes over the house every Friday and Saturday night. I lay down on the bed and close my eyes, listening to the stillness of the house, the patter of rain hitting the roof, the wind whipping outside. A small sliver of quiet I want to hold onto for a few more moments. The constant fall of the rain lulls me to doze off. When I wake up, the house is loud with chatter and music. The walls are vibrating with the volume, and there's the same red head from the other night leaning over me, straddling my hips, wearing nothing but a bra and panties.
What the fuck?
I sit up abruptly and she topples over, off me in a huff.
"Jesus, Rhys, what the hell?” she cries and scrambles off the side of the bed.
"How’d you even get in here?"
I get off the bed and put distance between us. I'm thoroughly fucking annoyed at the audacity of this girl.
"We had fun the other night, I wanted a redo since you never finished." She giggles and steps closer.
"So, you thought you could come in here and fuck me while I was literally asleep?"
Her eyes widen when my voice raises.
"I-I…" She stutters over her words and starts searching around for her discarded clothes.
"How about this?" I walk over to where I'm standing right in front of her. "Don't fucking talk to me, don't think about me, fuck, don't even fantasize about your lips wrapped around my cock. That shit is never happening again," I sneer. My jaw clenches in tandem with my fists. Both of which are balled at my side in anger.
"Everyone was right. You are such an asshole, Rhys Blackwood."
"Don't fucking forget it."
She flinches when my voice echoes throughout the room and her eyes fill with tears. She grabs her shirt and pants, and rushes out of the room still wearing only her bra and panties.
Fuck. I can’t help but run my hands through my hair in frustration. A habit I find myself doing far too much.
My phone chimes from the nightstand, a text from Alec telling me Rory is here, and Valentina is with him.
Perfect timing. I can let my anger out on the person who truly deserves it.
Downstairs, the party is electric. Everyone’s buzzing with weekend excitement, a break from the strenuous course load it takes to be enrolled at St. Augustine, and the constant watchful eye of the Catholic church. No room for error. Infractions are ten times more serious here than they are at any normal school. Parents pay thousands of dollars for their children to walk the straight and narrow here, to make sure the outside world doesn’t influence their kids’ teenage years, where they could be good little students. Yet said students would do anything for a piece of freedom. The chance to rebel.
But freedom is never free. It always comes with a price.
People like me would never have the chance to be free. The demons shackled to me would never give me any reprieve from the hell in which I live.
“Yo, Rhys, bad-ass party,” David calls from the kitchen as he walks over to me.
“Have fun.” I give him a fist bump when I walk by but don’t stop to converse. I have one task tonight and it’s to bring my little lamb to her knees.
My eyes search the room for her, only pausing for a second when I see tonight’s red head in the corner with her friends, glaring at me. If looks could kill, I would be dead before I even knew what hit me. I barely let my glaze flit over her as I search the room for Valentina, and I finally find her standing close to Rory in the far right corner of the room, where the glow of the candles is sparse.
She's wearing a baggie hoodie that swallows her frame and a pair of ripped jeans. More bold than I've seen her before. Her hair is in loose curls around her face and she's wearing makeup. Her arms are crossed across her chest, a bored expression takes over her face, but behind it, I can see that she's anxious. This isn't her scene. She's only here because of Rory, and he's only here because I had him invited. When I said the school was mine, I wasn’t lying. It took less than twenty-four hours to know every single thing about Valentina Carmichael I wanted to learn. Including her best friend, Rory, who’s tutoring Alec in calculus.