Mia

Four

Mia

“I told you to stay the f**k away from me, Kenny,” I growled, wishing I didn’t have my back pressed against the lockers with Kenny close enough to kiss.

            So maybe I still thought he was hot, sue me. Even still, I made damn sure he didn’t know as much. Besides, the quickening of my pulse had very little to do with his hotness. After the short one-sided conversation with Pierce and having him see how despicable I was to let Kenny touch me, I about lost my s**t. He handed me the biggest load I had dealt that day, and I even had a scare of a teacher coming in the restroom while I was in the middle of a deal. We played it off as passing a tampon under the door, but holy hell I almost got caught! My freaking mess of a life flashed before my eyes. 

            When I met Kenny at the end of that day, I told him I had to be done for good, no matter what. I told him to keep my cut and leave me the f**k alone. For two weeks, I did an amazing job of avoiding him by going straight to class when we got there, hurrying between classes, ignoring all threatening texts from him, and being the first one out to Ava’s car every day. Ava seemed happy about it but also curious, always asking questions, especially about Kenny, whom I didn’t want to say s**t about.  

            But today I let my guard down because nothing else had happened, and I was being careless. Now I was caught like a mouse in a trap, with nowhere to run. 

            “Better watch how you talk to me, doll face.” He leaned in close, brushing a hand over my cheek. I jerked my face away, making him sneer. 

            Who calls anyone “doll face?” Blech.

            He pulled back an inch, not nearly enough for comfort. “Noah’s not happy, Mia. Not happy at all. Thought you would have gotten the message by now, especially after yesterday, but you’re apparently a lot dumber than I thought.” 

            My stomach sank, my knees wobbling. “Yesterday? What the hell happened yesterday?” I tried keeping my voice even, “tried” being the key word. 

            His eyes went all squinty, his hands landing on the lockers on either side of my head while examining me. “What do you mean, ‘what happened yesterday?’” he demanded. 

            “Nothing happened yesterday, Kenny.” I rolled my eyes, going for blasé…failing miserably. Had something really happen? Did Ava just not tell anyone? Or had it happened to someone else? God, my life was a mess. 

            The smirk he flashed made my skin crawl. Something had happened, and the fact I didn’t know what it was made it so much worse. “Why don’t you ask your sister what happened?” he suggested, before smashing his mouth to mine, taking what was definitely not his with his lips, his tongue, his teeth. And I was so damn pathetic for letting him.

            Before I could even think to shove him away, he was walking away, leaving me panting against the lockers. It took a second for reality to sink in, but once it did, I almost threw up from the overwhelming disgust and self-loathing. 

            Shoving away from the lockers, I was on a mission to figure out what the hell happened. I hadn’t heard anything all day, but maybe Rabia knew something. And if she didn’t, I would grill Ava to get the scoop. 

            Out at my dad’s Jeep that Ava was still driving, since her car wasn’t fixed yet, Rabia was leaning against the passenger door, shoulders slumped, a far-off stare in her eyes that made her appear as if she was questioning all humanity. She had to know what happened. She cared about Ava, probably more than herself. Only something bad happening to her could have put that look there. 

            “What happened?” I demanded the second I got there. 

            She startled, her gaze jerking to me before her lip quivered and she took a deep breath. It took everything in me not to roll my eyes. I was in no mood to deal with crying. “Sydney thought it was funny that I didn’t know Ava’s props for her dance were destroyed this weekend,” she told me, her voice thick with tears. 

            “Sydney,” I snarled the name, acid rising in my throat. 

            Sydney was a conniving b***h who also worked for Noah. I wouldn’t be surprised if she participated in the destruction of Ava’s props, especially since she had a thing for Cade, who wasn’t interested in her at all because he was into Ava. Damn. I was going to scratch that b***h’s eyes out after I figured out how to get them to stop. To leave Ava alone.

            You know how to get them to stop.

            Not like that. No more. 

            But there’s no other way. 

            “I can’t believe she didn’t tell me.” Rabia gulped, pulling me from my gory thoughts of Sydney bleeding and crying on the ground. 

            Ugh. Girls were so emotional. 

            “Don’t take it personal, Rab.” I gave her arm a fleeting pat. “She hasn’t been talking to anyone lately.”

            With another sniff, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. Thank God. One disaster handled. Sort of. But now I was going to have to rip into Ava for not telling anyone. 

            When she finally got out to the car ten minutes later, I was seething. My sister, Ms. Perfect, was a f*****g dumbass. And I was the pond scum of the earth. 

            How could I have let this happen? 

            One issue at a time, Mia. 

            Right. 

            “Hey.” She waved at us with a grimace, as if she knew what was coming. “You guys ready to go?” she asked when we just stood there watching her open her door. 

            We glanced at each other before finally getting in. Awkward silence filled the car while she got on the road. “Is everything okay?” she asked us, glancing at me in the rearview mirror, as she usually did when getting ready to scold me for some unknown reason. “Where’s Kenny been, Mia?” she asked when we didn’t answer her first question, but I suddenly wished we had. Why the hell was she always bringing that asshole up? 

            My skin crawled just from the mention of his name, but I tried to play it cool. “That guy’s a douche.” I shrugged, winning at the mission to brush off the worst mistake of my life.               

            “Ha, took you long enough to figure that out.” She laughed, actually laughed about it, and Rabia snickered. She had no idea, but that was entirely my fault. That didn’t mean her laughter didn’t feel like a million knives stabbing my heart. “So are you guys gonna tell me what’s up or are we going to continue being all awkward?” 

            Rabia glanced at me. I shrugged. She sighed. Ava’s hands gripped the steering wheel as if she were mad at us. “We heard what happened,” Rabia finally said, and I rolled my eyes. 

            Ava was being a special kind of b***h that day. It was terrible I was responsible for what happened to her props, but her new careless attitude sucked. 

            “What happened?” she played dumb. “Are you referring to the fight Cade and I got in? Because that’s no big deal.” She shrugged but grimaced as if the act was killing her. I knew how that felt. Too bad I didn’t want to talk to her about it. “It wouldn’t have worked out with him anyway, you know?” 

            Another shared look of surprise with Rabia. When the hell had she broken things off with Cade? Was I really so terrible a sister I didn’t know what was going on with the only boyfriend she’d ever had? “You aren’t going out with Cade?” I demanded, hopeful that the whole prop thing was just a lie Kenny started in order to scare me but also really confused as to why she would break things off with such a great guy. “You two were all over each other like a week ago. And didn’t he get in that fight for you? Why would you break it off?” 

            “Mia,” Rabia chided, earning another eye roll from me. At this rate, my eyeballs would be stuck in the back of my head by the end of the drive. 

            “Yeah, not going there with you, Mia, so butt out.” Ava gave me this awful smile in the mirror. “If that’s not what this is about, what’s going on?” 

            “We were referring to your dance props,” Rabia said, her voice barely above a whisper. “We heard someone ruined them. I believe someone said it was as if they were sent through a wood chipper?” 

            “Yeah, um, I don’t want to talk about that either,” she answered, making me snort, even though my insides were a mess. It had happened… and it was entirely my fault. 

            Rabia didn’t seem to have the guts to say anything else, so I kept on grilling her. How dare she? How dare she keep something like this to herself? Sure, I was keeping something even worse from her, like the fact I was responsible for the props… and her car. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?” I demanded, leaning forward on the center console. 

            “Why do you think, Mia?” she snapped, making Rabia flinch. 

            “Enlighten us, Ava,” I drawled, leaning forward so I was almost in her face. “It’s pretty shitty your best friend had to hear about it from that b***h Sydney. Just saying.” 

            I slumped back in my seat while Ava went on and on about not wanting anyone to worry about her or some s**t. I got it, I really did. I was right there in it. No one needed to worry about me, but Ava, Ava was going to get herself hurt, and no one would know what the hell happened because she was too stubborn to tell anyone. 

            Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing, Mia? 

            When we pulled up to Rabia’s house, she turned in her seat before getting out. “Someone is obviously trying to hurt you, so you shouldn’t be surprised the people who care about you are worried.” 

            “I don’t want anyone to worry, though.” Ava groaned, scrubbing at her face and shoving those insane curls of hers off it. “I just want to finish the year. You both know if our parents found out about this, they would probably pull me out of school or something ridiculous.”

            This caused another snort from me, but Rabia gave me a sharp look, which kept me from adding my two cents. “It’s understandable you don’t want your parents to find out, but that doesn’t mean you can’t tell anyone. That you can’t lean on others to help hold you up. I’ll see you tomorrow. Please watch out for yourself.” 

            When she got out of the Jeep, I got in the front seat but didn’t say another damn word to my dumbass sister. This verified that Kenny was telling the truth. That they really would keep hurting my sister if I didn’t comply. If I didn’t keep dealing. 

            When we got home, we went inside, still giving each other the cold shoulder. Mom was in the kitchen, getting something from the freezer. “Hi, girls,” she said in a huff over her shoulder. “How was your day?” 

            “Great, I’m going up to my room,” I answered, bounding up the steps before she could respond. There was no way I could pretend any form of conversation with her when I was such a mess inside. 

            They had hurt my sister yet again. What the hell am I going to do? 

            The second I closed my door, my phone went off.

            Kenny: So I’ll see you tomorrow. And don’t forget about the party this weekend. 

            My heart sank. I had to play along. At least for a little while. Disappearing wasn’t an option yet.

*****

With the school dance recital coming, they had me dealing more than I ever had before. I was certain I would get caught, but never did. I did however stop letting Kenny grope me. It was strictly business. Yay me. I followed their rules for two more days, but that was about all I could handle. 

            The night before the recital and party that I was supposed to deal at, a weird number texted me. 

            “Look out your window.” Was all it said. 

            My stomach flipped over, and I broke out in a cold sweat. Fear consumed me. How could I look? But also, how could I not? A quick glance had my heart pounding. A dark figure leaned against the tree right outside my window. On closer inspection, after getting my nerves to calm, the moonlight revealed Pierce in all his sexy glory. My heart raced for an entirely different reason. 

            What was he doing there?

            How had he gotten my number?

            He’s a cop, genius. 

            He got his phone out, the light of it illuminating his face, making the scar on his cheek shine. 

            My phone beeped again. 

            Come down.

            With a quick nod, I retreated from the window. What was I going to do? Find out why he was there. He had left me alone after Ava’s car… or I had become a master at avoiding him. Whatever. Every time he tried cornering me, I dodged him because I was tired of being cornered.

            Since it wasn’t pouring rain for once, I chose not to change out of my pajamas. With some flip-flops on, I snuck out the side door of the garage—much like I did on party nights—and found him right by that tree. The anxiety rolling through me almost caused a freaking heart attack. It was sprinkling some, but he didn’t seem to care as he watched me approach. The cool raindrops did little to stop the onslaught of sweat pouring from me. Fiddling with my phone seemed the best option when I was only feet from him.

            His muscly arms were crossed over his chest, his gray T-shirt stretching across his broad shoulders. When I glanced up at him, he was staring at my bare legs, effectively making me regret not changing out of my pajama shorts. 

            This new habit of keeping my mouth shut was far too unsettling. “What are you doing here?’ I snapped, breaking the silence. 

            His gaze jerked to mine, his jaw tightening. “Take a drive with me,” was all he said before walking toward the driveway. 

            My only choice was to follow. I mean, I had other choices, but I couldn’t not follow. He was parked around the corner of the next street. I thanked God it wasn’t his squad car.