2. Hate is a strong word
1812 Words
(Danielle)
“You’re right,” I said lightly, turning away from him. “And you are not worth my time.”
He scoffed. “Whatever.”
“I am glad we are not friends anymore, because you are… so fu.cking fake.”
I wished, I hoped that he didn’t affect me anymore. That I was stronger to ignore his words, to move on, to not engage. But pain had a long memory, and his shadow clung to mine like it had nowhere else to go.
"Don’t show him you’re hurt," she growled. "He’ll use it. He always does."
She was my steel. My shelter. Fierce, proud, and done with the broken pieces I kept holding onto. Especially when they all traced back to Aaron.
She kept me sane. If it wasn’t for my wolf, I would have long broken down. With my family, my past, my trauma… she was the one who kept me strong.
"I know, I know," I muttered under my breath, shaking my head.It sliced through the wall I’d built brick by bloody brick—years of pain turned into armor—and I still felt the cut. But I didn’t let it show. I wouldn’t.
“What the fu.ck are you--” he gritted his teeth, giving me a blistering glare.
“Everyone loves you, loves what you show them--this perfect, polite future Alpha, but I’ve seen you for what you are. I’ve seen you raw, ugly, and cruel, and I didn’t like it. You’re a coward, Aaron, and sooner or later, they’ll all see it too.”
Like he left me. Like he walked away, turned his back, when I needed him the most.
His jaw clenched. His eyes locked on mine like he was trying to burn a hole straight through me. I didn’t flinch. I refused to look away.
“Yeah? Did your parents see the real you? Maybe that’s why they didn’t want a failure like you.”
I went still. His words, sharp, venomous, landed exactly where he’d meant them to. Deep.
It was sharp enough to cleave even through the hard shell of protective walls I had built around my heart for years, and reinforced them with the hatred of other people.
I bit my lips, glaring at him, my eyes burning.
But I didn’t cry. I’d trained myself not to cry. Not in front of them. Not in front of him.
“I’m not a failure,” I whispered. “It’s their loss they didn’t want me.” I turned away, voice dropping. “And you are nothing but—”
“I am everything you are not, Danielle,” he said with a smile that was so real, yet so fake. “I’m the future Alpha. I have everything and everyone. You? You’re just background noise. Even your family doesn’t want you, and that’s your life.”
“I don’t need anyone. I don’t need anything.”
I prayed for the bell. Silence. Of course. The Goddess hates me.
“You don’t belong here. You know that. We all do. You're just too shameless to take the hint and move on. Why are you here? After… after every fu.cking thing?” he growled, his eyes flashing with a hint of his wolf.
“Bastard,” Rexi snarled. “He can’t talk to you like that.”
"He can talk to me like that," I whispered to her. “And he will. Because no one will stop him.”
As far as everyone was concerned, Aaron was perfect. A great wolf, a great warrior, a great future Alpha. He was someone who opened doors, smiled sweetly, handed out favors like blessings.
But I’d seen behind that act. I had seen him for what he was.
I thought of Daisy… lost in some faraway dream, alive, but not living.
She existed in a faraway world… and I wanted her to wake up already. I was tired of fighting all of this by myself.
My heart clenched, and for just one goddamn second, I wanted him to say something kind. To remember what we were once. To know that I loved his sister more than he loved her, that I missed her more than he did. To grieve with me for everything we had lost that day two years ago.
But he didn’t. He never did.
Because as far as he was concerned, I was the one to blame. The only one.
“Why do you even bother talking with me?” I asked. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just ignore me?”
His eyes narrowed. Something flickered, confusion, maybe, but it vanished behind his fury almost instantly.
“Ignore you?” he scoffed.
“Yes,” I snapped. “Move on. Forget about me. Don’t talk to me again. Don’t even look at me.”
He leaned closer, voice low and lethal.
“Move on? You think it’s that easy, Landon?” His words dripped poison. “I want to take every last bit of happiness you have and destroy it. You deserve to live alone. You deserve to feel the pain you gave me—every second, every breath. I’ll make sure you never move on, that you’re forever stuck.”
I flinched back from him, my heart racing. He looked like he wanted to burn me down, and dance on my ashes.
His eyes were cruel and unmoving as he stared at me, with murder in them. If he could kill me now, he probably would. His eyes were like venom, his face granite and there wasn't even a small trace of the Aaron I once knew, trusted. Once loved.
He was a stranger. This guy. This guy hated me with everything he had. He wasn't the guy I had once played with, laughed with. Innocently kissed under the mistletoe at sixteen.
At eighteen, this man burned to destroy me.
“Cat got your tongue?” he asked, smug. But for a split second, I saw it—something soft, something uncertain. Like concern. But it was gone too soon.
He wanted to hate me and hurt me and the inherent goodness in him sometimes rivaled his meanness. But he wouldn’t give in. He was hell-bent on hurting me, and he wouldn't stop, not even to assuage his conscience.
The bell rang, blessed and late. I picked up my bag and walked out, not sparing him another look.
If I could walk away from this school, this cage and this dreadful life, I would do it without blinking an eye. I would not hesitate. But
I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, not now, when my dreams were this close to becoming real.
When I graduated, I would run. I would not stay. Not even for Daisy.
Sorry, Daisy. But she’d understand. She always understood.
With a deep breath, I moved toward my locker.
Sean was waiting for me near my locker, smiling, holding out a bottle of water. His face was smeared with dirt, and he looked sweaty.
“Hello, beautiful,” he said with a grin that smelled like forest and fresh air.
“Hello to you too, beautiful,” I said, teasing. He winced.
“Don’t call me that, you menace.”
“Did you run?” I asked, studying his flushed face, wiping the dirt on his cheek.
“Yeah. Ms. Colleen had us tracking rogue trails. I almost killed Justin again.”
I gave him a nod. “I had to deal with Chemistry,” I grunted. I would have given anything to run with them.
“Why do you look mad?” he asked, his grip tightening. “McCarter? That fuck.ing asshole. Do you want me to punch him?”
I sighed. “Always. But don’t hurt him. His father owns the school.”
“That won’t stop me.” His growl rumbled, protective and wild. “But first, you need to stop looking like someone kicked your puppy. Stop pouting and smile.”
“That’s not a smile, Danie,” he said, pulling at my cheeks.
“I will bite you,” I threatened, glaring. He laughed.
“Worth it. So, what’s new other than Aaron being an ass?”
We reached my locker and I leaned into the familiar rhythm.
“Well, I ruined my lab with HCl, almost called Mr. Boston ‘Mr. Borate,’ and got detention. Again. Goddess, I hate my life.”
“You’re a disaster,” Rexi groaned. “I hate my life, too.”
“You love me.”
“Didn’t I warn you about letting your imagination run wild?” Sean asked with a frown. “I didn’t want to say I told you so, but…”
“Thanks for the reminder, oh wise wolf.” I smiled. “What about yours?”
Sean chuckled. “So, yeah, my day? Let’s see. Erika punched me because I called her boyfriend an ugly duckling, and I broke Austin’s glasses.”
“Sean!”
“I promised to take him to the ophthalmologist. I’m not a monster.”
“Good. Be nice. I’m off to spend the rest of this terrible day in detention.”
“Don’t kill him yet,” Sean called out as I walked away.
The second he was gone, I turned back toward the detention hall with a sigh so heavy it might have shaken the walls. This day had been relentless—one emotional wrecking ball after another—and it wasn’t over yet. Not even close. Fuc.k. I wanted to go to the dorm and sleep the rest of the evening away.
I was halfway down the hallway when I heard a voice behind me. Quiet, bitter, and far too close.
“He’s going to leave you, you know.”
I jumped, spinning around. Aaron was standing there, arms crossed, jaw clenched, his eyes dark with something I couldn’t quite name.
“Once he realizes what you really are,” he said, stepping closer to me. “You can pretend like you’re a good person, but we all know it’s a lie.”
The word hit like a slap.
My heart thudded against my ribs, every muscle in my body tensing. I stared at him, forcing myself to breathe through the sting in my eyes. I swallowed hard, pain burning behind my ribs.
“Like you left me?” I said quietly, the words sharp and trembling.
He left me… when I needed him the most.
And just like that, everything shifted.
Aaron froze. For the first time since I’d met him, Aaron McCarter, sharp-tongued, unshakable, didn’t have a single thing to say. His mouth parted, but no sound came out. His expression cracked, something behind his eyes faltering for just a moment.
I waited, heart still pounding, but he didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
“What? Cat got your tongue?”
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- Writer
