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"I suck at all this expressing emotion shit. I just wanted to say I'm fucking glad we didn't lose you. Not only because if we did, the twins would probably burn Brutham to the ground." A faint hint of a smile brushed his lips.
That was exactly what they'd do. With Chloe and Dane inside. They'd sit outside on the front lawn with beer and pizza, and watch. And laugh while my sister and her lover screamed.
No one would ever accuse them of being too sweet.
I gave Slade a questioning look.
"You're wondering what I would do?" He mused on that for a while. "I'd probably drive the getaway car, and be their alibi. I'd like to think I have enough credibility that if I say they were with me, I’d be believed. I might even help them spread accelerant all around the building before they lit a match."
He mimed striking a match against a matchbox and throwing it. Followed by his hands rising in the to signify fire, or an explosion.
His boyish smile made him look younger. Evidently, he had the same violent streak as the twins. I wondered if they were related somehow. Or maybe I just attracted sadistic men.
That suited me just fine.
Imagining the guys destroying the place shouldn't have been hot, but it was. All three of the guys would do more than burn the Academy down. They'd burn the whole world down for me. And then dance in the ashes. They'd get off on doing it.
"It won't come to that," Slade added. "We'll deal with this. We'll teach them they fucked with the wrong people. By the time we’re done, they'll wish Chloe hadn't relinquished everything to you. They'll wish she ran, dropped off the face of the earth while she could. But she didn't and that was her mistake. Like Hunter said, when we fuck back, we're going to fuck back hard."
He emphasised the last word with a nod, his nose slightly scrunched, teeth bared.
I closed my eyes and exhaled softly. I was tired, but more than that I was angry. At myself for letting Zachary in and accepting that present. For listening to his lies and not seeing them for what they were. For knowing there was meaning in what he said but not taking the time to think it through and realise something was up. For not realising he brought a Trojan horse to my door and welcoming it with open arms and even cuddles.
I even named the fucking thing. I was naïve and stupid and I could have died because of it.
I was angry at Chloe for being a spineless bitch. She couldn't even come at me herself, she had to send Zachary on her behalf. Even if he swore up and down this was her idea, she'd deny it. She'd go to the grave denying it.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was angry at my father too. Sure, Chloe did this, but this whole competition bullshit was his idea. He could have chosen one of us and been done with it.
Even as I was thinking that, I realised it wouldn't have been that simple. If he chose Chloe, I would have insisted he change his mind. If he chose me, she would have done the same. We would have resented each other and him until one of us was dead.
Maybe that was the idea. He wanted one of us to kill the other, because he was too gutless to do it. Too much of a coward to cut one of our throats. Instead, he pitted us against each other, forcing us to do his dirty work for him. Making us hate each other more and more, until our relationship was shredded into nothing.
I hoped he was satisfied, because that was exactly what was happening. If Chloe was in front of me right now, I'd wrap my hands around her throat and squeeze until her body went limp, her lips blue, her eyes lifeless.
I'd stare at the dead body that looked a lot like me and know I'd won.
The only thing I knew for certain right now was that Iwouldwin. This attack made me more determined than ever.
Creeping around in the shadows, sending Zachary with a teddy bear, that was unbecoming of the Bell family. Both of them should be ashamed of themselves.
Zachary was right, he wasn't a Bell; he never would be. He didn't have what it took. Neither of them did.
I would head the family with Hunter, Parker and Slade by my side. And the whole fucking world would tremble.
CHAPTER16
LILA
I dropped my books onto the top of the table with a thud that made Chloe jump. Smiling in satisfaction at her response, I flopped down in the chair opposite her. Arms on the table in front of me, I sat looking at her.
"You're up out of bed, I see," she said sweetly. It would be obvious to anyone listening that she wasn’t only referring to the hospital.
I ignored her attempt to slut shame me —as if she could talk anyway—and smiled.
"Yes, I've made a full recovery. The doctor says I won't have any lingering side-effects." That was almost the truth. The doctor said shethoughtI wouldn't, but I may suffer problems in the future.
In the short term, I tired more quickly, but that would pass.
