AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I am your…friend. Come on, Amelia, what did you want me to do? They’re my new friends at my new school. I don’t want to make waves.”
“You mean you’re a yellow-belly coward. Now that your momma is going to marry that rich man, you think you’re better than me? Better than those of us from this side of town.” I turn around with a huff, my fists clenching tight, and give him my back, marching up the last step and away from him. I’m so mad right now that the desire to punch Finn in the nose is riding me hard. Momma would be mad at me, though, if I hurt Finn. That’s not ladylike behavior.
I hear him let out an angry gasp and turn around to look at him. He’s reached the top of the stairs, his face flushed and his shoulders hunched around his ears. I watch him as he approaches me in the new running shoes and clothes his soon-to-be daddy bought him. He doesn’t even look like my Finn anymore. He looks like them now.
“I’m not a coward, Amelia! I didn’t say I was better than ya; you did!” He grabs my arm and pulls me towards him. I don’t think I have ever seen Finn so mad. Is he mad just because I called him a coward or because I told the truth?
“Yeah, well, you act like it now.” I scowl in his direction and bite down on my lip. I have never really fought with Finn before. He and I have always been best friends, right from preschool. He’s always been like a persistent tick I could never get rid of, not that I really wanted to. But he’s changing, and not for the better. I see how those boys talk to him and how he wants to please them, to be one of them. I have no place in his new world, and he knows it.
“You know what, Amelia, I didn’t do anything wrong, and I’m tired of you being buttsore because I’m getting a better life than yours. It’s not my fault my momma met Jack, and I’m done feeling bad about it. Those kids, I’m going to be like them and you… you’re going to still be you.” He turns around and starts going back down the stairs, his shoulders hunched over his long skinny frame.
“I don’t want to be your friend no more, Finn. You’re a jerk, just like them! Good riddance to you when you leave our side of town and head to where the rich folk are. You’re already turning into one of them snobs anyway. I might be dirt poor, but at least I’m not a liar and a fake.”
He whips around on the last step, his face filled with fury and his lip curled. “Yeah, well, you’re a big fat cow, Amelia. They were right! Don’t worry. I don’t want anything to do with you either.”
The memory rips through me and has me stumbling against the door to my room. That was the last time Finn and I were together without the presence of the other kings. Shortly after that, they started repeatedly showing up and bullying me. Finn never did anything to stop them. Some friend he ever was.
“WHAT THE FUCK!” I hear Finn’s shout from his side of the wing and turn on my heels to head in that direction. I watch as Carter runs up the stairs toward Finn’s door. When I get to the open doorway, my mouth falls open.Holy shit!
TRAITOR is splashed across his bed, written in what looks like blood. I step into the room and stare at the mess all over his bed. Ugh, is that ketchup? It reeks in here. Someone and I have a sneaky suspicion of who has painted Finn’s bed in ketchup and scrawled the word “traitor” across his bed linens.
I turn to look back towards the hallway, but no one else has made it into the room except Carter, who is standing there with a shocked look on his face. “What the fuck is that?” He inquires, coming further into the room, dipping his finger into the mess, and then raising it to his nose to sniff. “Yuck, it’s ketchup, bro.”
“I can fucking see that, Carter. The question is, who just fucking scrawled ketchup writing all over my bed?” Finn turns to me with a raised eyebrow, and I have to bite down on the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
I raise my hands in innocence. “It wasn’t me, but it looks like you have really pissed someone off, Finn.”
“Traitor? Why are they calling you a traitor?” Carter asks with confusion.
Finn stares me down with a stern look. I know “someone” has been leaving him little messages since we returned from the hospital. He didn’t think I knew, but I’ve witnessed a few of the items, like his pillowcase with the word “traitor” on them.
I was going to say something, but now watching his reaction, my lips are sealed firmly shut. Let him think it’s me or that he has an enemy in the house. The desire to keep these kings in line and remind them they are under my control needs to be re-established, it seems.
“No idea, but I have a suspicion who it might be, and that person better watch themselves.”
I roll my eyes at his idle threat. If he wants to come for me, let him come. I am not Amelia Hamilton anymore; he can’t hurt me with his words. I’m a Stratford now, and he’s forgotten I hold the upper hand. Time to remind these kings that they are not my equals and are, in fact, my captives.
I walk back into my room and slam the door behind me, stripping down out of my clothes, disgusted by the sticky mess I am right now. I connect my phone to the Bluetooth in the bathroom and turn on the shower to the hottest setting. I want to boil their branding off my body and know that I am free of them.
“Antihero” by Taylor Swift blares through the ceiling speakers and a maniacal chuckle leaves my lips. I couldn’t have picked a better song for my mood and situation right now. It’s time I did some damage to my kings.What if they discover who you are?My mind questions. I let out a deep sigh as I stand under the scorching hot water, pouring down on my tense muscles. Then they realize I am not here to play games with them; I’m here to own them. My revenge has been a long time coming, and somewhere along the way, in all this mess, I have forgotten why I came here.
I need to protect myself from them. I need to protect myself before they succeed in doing more damage to my heart, soul, and mind. I want to relinquish my prisoner status, a prisoner of my vengeance, and the only way to do that is with their total submission.
Chapter 27
Mateo
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” Friedrich Nietzsche
Arustlingnoisehasme tensing my body. That fucker is back again to flay me some more. I don’t care how much he hurts me; I won’t help Vincent capture Mia. I would rather die first.Ha! Don’t worry, you’re more than halfway there, my mind whispers.
The last couple of days have been a blur of hell on earth and complete darkness in a void of my mind’s making. Vincent has cut me open, stabbed me in numerous parts of my body, and even broken every finger on my left hand, only to have the doctor piece me back together and keep me barely alive. The gunshot wound to my chest is also a constant humming of pain every time I take a breath. I yearn for oblivion, for sweet darkness to continue to overtake me. It’s in that darkness that I see Mia. Mia, who calls to my heart and soul while also holding back from me her true self. She’s a specter in my mind urging me to return to her, yet the realization that I will never see her again lies between us.
“Hey…wake up.” A small voice whispers near my ear.
I ignore the voice, my eyes are too heavy to open anyway. Whatever torture Vincent has decreed for today can go on without my participation. I hate that motherfucker with all that is in me, and I have no intention of fueling his sick needs.
The touch of someone’s fingers on my battered face has me pulling my head away from the contact and pain shooting through my limbs. Vincent’s man detached the manacles on my arms days ago, knowing I was too weak from all the bleeding and injuries to fight back or even try to escape.See, even they know you’re inadequate and worthless.
