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But Billie was a semi-professional MMA fighter back then. She humbled us real quick.
NSC has a scar they leave on their enemies. The pathway for tears. That’s what Billie did to me that day. She pinned me to the ground once I was beaten up, grabbed her knife, and cut me. I can’t admit out loud that I deserved it, but I know it. Now I have a scar from the corner of my left eye, across my temple, and all the way to my hairline. Ethan and Elliot saved me that day. It’s not something they would do again now.
Billie and I are quite alike when it comes to size. We’re on the smaller side, barely five-foot tiny girls who think ourselves bigger than we are. She has that innocent look about her, with big brown eyes that always seem surprised. Whereas I have the catty look, with almond eyes and high cheekbones that make me look like I’m always judging someone.
Now we even share scars we gave to each other. My stomach twists when I see the thick scar today. I regret everything I did for the Kings to keep the North Shore in our hands, but even more, the things Sawyer made me do.
We become inhuman for a slice of power in our corner of Silver Falls. As if any of this matters.
Now I bear Billie’s scar and she bears mine.
“Caden,” Kay snaps, fury powerful in her voice. “The reminder of you not being part of this crew anymore should be enough for you to step the fuck back.”
His jaw works from side to side, grinding his teeth, and his lethal eyes are still on me. He’s swallowing me whole without a single movement. Kay ignores him and steps in his line of sight, allowing me to breathe again.
“Don’t worry about him.” Elliot’s voice startles me. I hadn’t realized he was so close. I was too focused on Caden. “You’re going to be with us, anyway.”
The ominous tone doesn’t help in the slightest. My heart is going to explode from the anxiety freezing me right now. The pressure on my bones threatens to break me.
“Jade.” Kay brings my attention back to her. I’m backed against the wall, with Elliot and Ethan on either side, and she’s towering over me. “You’re stuck with me until I get every single cent back from the money you stole.”
I startle when she puts a hand on my shoulder, and it makes her smile. I thought she was going to hurt me, and she loves that I’m scared of her.
“Kayla.” I lick my dry lips. They taste like blood. “I don’t have your money. I promise you.”
“That’s okay.” Her smile is terrifying. Caden doesn’t get his craziness from nowhere. The whole family is fucked up. Their dad was the worst of the three. “You’re going to work for me until you’ve paid me back. You remember how that works, right? I give you something to do, and you execute like a good little soldier, huh? Except now, if you don’t, I’ll be putting your body on your father’s grave, and your head on your mother’s. That way, you can be with both of them even in death.”
A shiver runs past me. She has no pity, no fucking heart. I know how that feels because I used to be the same. The Kings had made me that way.
Being away for so long has weakened me. I might still be angry and look tough, but I know my skin is not as thick as it used to be because my heart fissures at the mention of my parents. It reminds me that I truly have no one anymore.
My dad killed himself when I was a senior in high school. He couldn’t take the situation we were in anymore. The debts were too high, the money coming in too low. He lost his job, and that was the end of him. He apologized that he couldn’t take care of us anymore right before he went to his bedroom and hung himself. Never in a million years did we think that’s what he was about to do when he apologized.
Nine dollars and ninety-seven cents. That’s how much money was in his bank account when he pushed off the stool that was holding his weight. The credit card was well below the zero line, but going under the ten-dollar line on his main bank account tipped the balance. Three cents.
Nine dollars and ninety-seven cents. Why? Why not five?
Why not zero? If he had just waited for zero, I might have realized something was up. But he was always taking care of us. We had a place to live, no matter how small. We had food on the table. I had clothes on my back. He gave me lunch money for school.
If only he’d said something to me. If only he’d just opened up and told me that we had nothing. I was already with the Kings. He knew that. I would have asked for a loan, worked harder, done anything.
I still can’t sleep at night knowing I could have easily asked for a thousand dollars from Kay. We were friends. She was important and would have given it to me if only to pay for the rent.
“Do you even know where your mother’s grave is, Jade?”
My gaze drops, throat tightening.
Talking about my parents is more than I can take right now.
“Of course you don’t,” she snorts. “You weren’t here for the funeral.”
My ears start ringing. I’m choking on tears I refuse to let reach my eyes.
“I was there,” she tells me. “I paid for it because I thought you’d show up. I’ll be adding that to your bill.”
I throw my head back, swallowing the sob that threatens to explode out of me. “Stop.”
“Why didn’t your sugar daddy pay for it?” she insists.
