AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Or until War earns the paycheck I desperately need.
Daisy’s smile is an ugly smear across her face and I can already tell where this is going. I’ve seen that look on her face—it’s the smirk she’s always given me before sinking her claws in my face. “You always were a liar, weren’t you, Melody? You never could tell the truth, and it looks like nothing’s changed. Like what happened to my sister. Are you still telling that tall tale about how you tried to help her? Or are you starting to admit that you’re the one who stood by while she choked to death, you sick bitch?”
I move toward her, hands tensed into fists, a sudden and violent ringing in my ears. “You don’t know a damn thing,” I say but something’s going off in my head, some alarm, screaming at me.
Daisy’s grinning now and not backing down. “Did you tell your guy the same bullshit story you told everyone else after Rosie died? That slanderous disgusting shit? Did you tell him your pathetic little story, your little woe-is-me garbage? Your little pity fest?”
“Fuck you, Daisy,” I say, and I’m trembling now with rage.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I bet you can’t tell that lie anymore, can you? Because it was never about Rosie bullying you or being a bitch, and trust me, she could be fucking cruel to me too. Nah, it was always about little Melody getting all the attention for herself, the big boss’s daughter, the most important girl in the whole Leader family. You couldn’t handle that a dead girl was getting the spotlight for a little while, so you told your sob story, you made up your little lie, and you slandered my dead sister’s memory all for your own pathetic attention-seeking.”
I’m breathing hard, face flushed, dizzy as the memory comes back to me, that horrible night two days after Rosie died: crying so hard I threw up and Renee finding me on the floor of the barn and asking what was wrong, and how I admitted it to her. I told her everything, the whole ugly story about why I hated Rosie and what she did to me when we were younger, I let it rush out of me in a stupid, horrible flood, and once I was done, I felt better but everything got so much worse, because Renee couldn’t let it go. She couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
“I never wanted you to find out about that,” I say so softly I’m almost whispering, but Daisy only shakes her head. “I never wanted anyone to find out.”
“Bullshit. Another lie. How many more lies you got, Melody? God, just go back home and leave us alone. You’re not wanted here.”
“I’m not lying,” I say and feel like I might fall over. “I was never lying. I’m not—” But I am lying, or I was lying, or maybe I’m lying now. I can’t tell where the real me starts and the stories end because for so long now I’ve wrapped myself in layers to keep all this pain at bay.
Now Daisy’s ripping it back into the light.
But my protest only makes Daisy’s lip pull back in rage. “Don’t start denying it now, you disgusting, fucking piece of trash,” she snaps. “You sick piece of garbage, I swear to god, Melody, I’ll fucking kill you, don’t you start denying it now!”
“You don’t know what happened,” I choke out. “You weren’t there. You knew what your sister was like, do you still think Rosie was innocent after all these years? Do you really think Rosie wouldn’t have—”
Daisy comes at me, screaming. I’m so surprised that I don’t even defend myself. Her hands slam into my face, slapping me hard. I stagger back and she’s still on me, slapping, punching, screaming at me, telling me she hates me, she’ll kill me, she’ll rip out my eyes and make me eat them if I don’t leave. I snap out of my shock as fear and rage take over, and I manage to hit her back, screaming right in her face at the top of my lungs. I grab her hair and pull and she grabs on mine and we hit the ground in a heap, pulling and scratching and trying to hurt each other, an ugly mess of limbs and screaming and hate, and I don’t know if I’m trying to beat Daisy or the memory of Rosie and I don’t care. Being back home and facing all my demons has driven me to the edge already and I’m tumbling, plummeting back down into that dark place.
“Hey! Let her go!” Hands grab me, more hands grab Daisy. She’s struggling, shouting, crying, accusing me of every awful thing she can come up with, trying to hit me, trying to hurt me, and I’m trying to hurt her right back.
“You lying bitch, you made it all up, admit it, admit you’re a fucking lying bitch!”
“Daisy,” Uncle Lovett says loudly and finally yanks her away. I feel a piece of hair tear from my scalp and I yelp in pain. “Stop it now, Daisy, damn it.”
“Fucking bitch,” Daisy screams as Uncle Lovett pulls her away, and she keeps struggling, keeps shouting obscenities, insults, every horrible thing she can come up with, she spews it at me like bile.
Then War’s there, standing between Uncle Dudley and me. Dudley’s staring with hate in his eyes like he wants to pick up where Daisy left off, and I’m sitting on the ground breathing hard, my lip swollen and bleeding, my ears ringing and head pounding, and War’s glaring at my uncle.
“Go ahead,” War says like he’s ordering at a restaurant. “Come closer. Take your shot. You want to, I can see it.”
Uncle Dudley’s eyes flash malice. “This ain’t your fight, boy. You can leave whenever you want.”
“I could, but I like it here. So come on, old man. Come closer. Come try to hurt a girl while she’s down on the ground. That’s the kind of man you are, isn’t it?”
Uncle Dudley’s lips pull back into a disgusted sneer but he shakes his head and turns away. “Sick people,” he says and spits in the grass, walking after Uncle Lovett, who’s still pulling screaming Daisy away. “Sick fucking people.”
War watches him go until they disappear into the big house, Daisy’s screams silenced, and quiet falls over the ranch.
I sit there, head spinning, trying to make sense of what happened. Daisy called me a liar, refused to admit I might’ve been telling the truth, and attacked me—and I didn’t back down. Sure, I panicked at first, but I hit her back, and it felt good, it felt really good to stand up for myself.
Even if I basically lost.
“You okay?” War’s expression is clouded. He holds out a hand and I let him help me up.
“I’m fine. I haven’t been in a fight since—” I shrug and dab two fingers against my split lip. “Not since Rosie died.”
“You got a few good hits in there,” War says, softening a bit. “But Daisy kicked your ass.”
“Thanks, I’m aware. No thanks to you.” I push away from him and stagger a few paces toward the tower. “I think I need to be alone for a while.” I turn my back on him, unable to look into his handsome eyes right now. I can only guess at what he’s thinking after what he just heard.
