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TEMPTED BY THE DEVILS
BY ANGIE COTTINGHAM
CHAPTER ONE
ADELYA
“Adelya!” my mother yells from her perch beside the door. “Come on. We’re already running late.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Keep your panties on, Mother.” I mumble under my breath. “Coming!” I call out while I take my time zipping up my bag.
I look around my room one more time, taking in every detail, trying to recall what it looked like before my mom packed it all up and moved it out. The only thing that stands out now is the old chalkboard wall we painted when I was five. I can still see the faded notes James used to leave me. The thought of my big brother sends a pain through my heart and brings tears to my eyes.
I try not to think about James because it just reminds me of how much life has sucked since he died. It also makes me think about them. The three boys from the other side of the tracks.
Three boys that had it all, and at one time, promised that I one day would as well.
Two years ago, I lost everything. James, the boys, my dad. James’ death was like a whirlpool sucking everything down with it. After Dad's death, James changed. Where we used to talk about everything, he began to shut me out.
I know James was their friend and his death would have hit them hard, but I still don’t know why they stopped talking to me. Their actions made me a pariah at school. It was like one day they were there and the next they were gone. Yet, their legacy lived on. Especially in the way others treated me.
I still don’t know what college they went off to, or even if they went to college. I can’t picture Ashby not furthering his education. He was always the studious one of the three.
Under that nerdiness I loved, a darkness lurked just around the edges. I’d heard rumors about his father being a dickhead, and while I never asked, I always felt that was what brought us together. It was as if he could see the same darkness in me.
Elias, the golden boy. The class clown. He always had a smile on his face, but it seemed to shine brighter when he looked at me. We used to get such a kick out of pranking the others. He gave me confidence.
There were only two times in the years I’d known him when I ever saw him angry, and it reminded me of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He went from being a golden god to being a dark demon in five seconds flat. It didn't scare me so much as surprise me. I knew deep down that he'd never hurt me.
I heard James and my dad talking once. James and my dad were using terms like bipolar and manic episodes. “Thomas Payne refuses to have him tested. His son couldn’t possibly be weak enough to have a condition.”
Then there was Gael. My protector. Unlike his name, which means calm, there was nothing calm about him. He was impulsive, believing in acting first and asking for forgiveness after. He was a raging tempest, always coiled so tightly. The only time I saw him relaxed was with the guys. I saw that storm in his eyes soften only when he focused his gaze on me.
I bet you’re cringing right now, thinking about how these guys were my brother’s friends and older than me, yet I was into all of them. Or maybe you’re asking yourself how that worked. I guess it’s only fair I explain. Technically, the guys were my friends first. Well, I saw them first.
We all grew up in the same town, though they lived in the massive houses on the hill while we lived in a smaller one across the tracks. Literally. There was a set of old railroad tracks that ran down the middle of the town from back in the day when coal was king.
I was seven years old, playing at the park when a football landed on the hopscotch board. I picked it up, preparing to give it to whoever had lost it when I came face to face with them. Don’t think I’d ever seen ten-year-old boys stand with so much authority and honestly; it scared me a little.
Until Elias smiled and spoke, “You wanna play?” He’d asked me.
Gael pushed him. “She can’t play with us. She’s a girl.”
Ashby just looked down at his shoes.
I huffed. “Who would want to play with you, anyway? You’re just a stupid, smelly boy.”
They said nothing else as they walked away and began tossing the ball again. But Elias kept looking at me every few minutes.
A couple of weeks later, I was again at the playground. This time jumping rope when one of my classmates, Tyler, tripped me. I went down hard on my knee.
The next thing I knew, Gael was punching Tyler over and over. I sat, hands on my bloody knee, transfixed. Besides my dad, I’d never seen anyone so angry, and I was so scared. I scooted myself back until I was sitting curled under the slide. I clenched my eyes closed and put my fingers in my ears, trying to drown out the sound of Tyler yelling.
“Are you ok?” Ashby asked, touching my knee. I hissed but nodded to let him know my knee was fine. But I was in so much trouble when I got home. The skirt of my dress had ripped and blood had dotted the lace. Dad was going to be so mad.
I remember racing home and hiding the dress in the back of my dresser drawer. Later that night, James had come in and helped me clean the scrape on my knee. He noticed me limping a little when I came down for dinner.
It seemed after that night that the boys were at the playground every time I was. It took a couple of weeks before we exchanged names and months before I realized that the reason I only saw them there was because they lived on the other side of town.
