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Vickie is the one who convinced me to keep my mouth shut in high school. When I got hurt and turned to her, she told me I was a liar and to not spread bullshit about Kings’ men who were untouchable.
Don’t make up a lie to bring attention to you, Jade.
Never bring this up again. I’ll fucking kill you.
I shake my head. “Get out of the way,” I hiss at her.
I don’t even wait for anyone’s reaction. Hesitation can get you killed in this town. I shove her in the chest, forcing her to take a step back.
“Here we fucking go,” Elliot mutters. “The real Jade is back.”
Yeah. Being a sweet little thing didn’t last long.
I can’t stand Vickie. The sight of her makes me absolutely feral. There’s something about not being believed that kills your sanity. And the person who called you a liar is not just your worst enemy, they’re a reminder of the nightmare that annihilated you.
Vickie reacts on reflex. She shoves my shoulders, rearing her arm back, but Elliot grabs her wrist before she can get to do anything else.
“Let me go,” she snarls. “The bitch deserves everything coming her way.” Her upper lip curls as she looks me up and down with disgust plastered on her face. Her upturned nose gives her another level of condescension. And to think high school me wanted to lookprettylike her.
“You’re going to give that money back, Jade. Trust me.”
I pause, my brow furrowing. “Money? What money?”
Is that what they think I did? Stole money? That I would be that stupid?
“I can’t wait for Kay to get her hands on the lying bitch.”
I lose it.
“Shut up!” I shriek, throwing myself at her. I get a messy punch to her eyebrow—hurting my knuckles—before Ethan pulls me back.
His arms are around my waist, and he lifts me up easily. Five-foot my ass. My biggest regret in life is not getting those hours of sleep when my dad put me to bed as a kid. I might have been taller. It might have been harder for Ethan to pick me up like I weigh nothing and high enough that my feet don’t touch the floor anymore.
“I’ll fucking end you, Vickie,” I shout as Ethan sidesteps her and pushes the door to the hallway to carry me to Elliot’s bedroom. Elliot follows, closing the door behind us and cackling like he’s having the time of his life.
“Fucking hell, you haven’t changed one bit. Still angry at the world, are you? You’re way too volatile for someone who owes everything to this crew.”
“I owenothingto the Kings,” I spit. “Fuck you. Fuck all of you.”
“Anytime you want, baby,” Elliot chuckles as Ethan finally lets me go.
I stride away from him, angry enough to punch the wall and split my knuckles open. When I turn around, I’m breathing so hard my nostrils flare.
I wasn’t always angry at everything and everyone. It only began when the world started being unfair to me. When, despite all my best efforts at doing things the right way, no one would hear me.
But since senior year, that’s all people know me for. A furious woman. A real bitch who can’t keep her fists to herself.
“You can stay in here while you calm down,” Elliot says, taking a few steps toward me. “You don’t want to be out there anyway, believe me.”
I am a ball of burning rage, and Elliot makes it worse. “You’ve always been too quick to light up. You’ve got anger issues, Jade.” The clinical way in which he says that is oil to a burning flame.
“I fucking know that!” I scream at him so fiercely my vocal cords sting.
Maybe if I’d ever felt listened to in my life, I wouldn’t feel the need to shout.
But no one ever heard me.
No one ever cared.
