AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Curious why his voice went so bitter, I see an opening and go for it. “Gloria’s ex?”
“Yeah,” Dawson says. “He’s here tonight too. I shouldn’t have fucking come, but she said all the college kids would be here. She’s right, I guess. He’s in college like me. I was thinking about girls, though, not that asshole.” He snorts and takes another drink.
“You don’t like him, I take it?”
“He’s a fucking monster,” Dawson says, then chuckles. “But I got the last shot. He doesn’t know it, and fuck if I’d ever tell him. Then he’d really kill me.”
He gives another quiet, bitter laugh. He’s changed too. We all have. When I first saw Gloria, she looked so similar to the Savannah version that I thought only I’d changed. But she’s changed so completely that even her smiles are a stranger’s.
“Tell him what?” I ask. I fucking suck at deception. I’d fail a lie detector test in two seconds flat. Luckily Dawson’s way too drunk to notice I’m being shifty.
“People say it doesn’t make things better, to get back at someone,” he says. “But they’re wrong. It doesn’t erase what he did, but it feels fucking great to know I fucked him over too.”
I grit my teeth, wondering if he’s just going to drunkenly ramble nonsense all night. “How’d you do that?”
“I stuck it to him once, even if he doesn’t know it,” Dawson says, his voice harsh. “Stuck it to his girlfriend, anyway.”
I lean back on the swing and consider him. Gloria’s not the only Walton who ruined my life. Their whole family did.
That’s where I went wrong, and why the revenge on Gloria is never quite enough. She’s not the only one who needs to pay for what their family did. They should all pay.
Dawson himself is saying that’s the trick, that once you get revenge, you feel better.
“His girlfriend cheated on him with you?” I ask, chuckling like I find the whole thing funny. I know better than anyone that revenge is a serious game, but I can play along if it gets me something I can use.
Dawson takes a drink, finishing his beer and crumpling the can while he speaks. “Yeah, man. We got fucked up on Alice and just fucking raw-dogged the bitch all night. I thought she was going to die. I don’t care if I sunk to his level. If I have to come back to this town—the place is cursed, man, I’m telling you. I don’t know why you moved here.”
I sway the swing with my foot, like I’m not dying to shake him and tell him to keep talking. I could tell him that everywhere is just as fucked up, you just don’t know it until you see the rotten side. But I don’t want to derail his drunken train of thought so I just say, “I don’t know either.”
“I need another beer.”
“I’ll get you one,” I offer. “But finish what you were saying first.”
“That’s it, man,” he says. “If I have to run into him at parties, at least I know I got him once too, y’know? He fucking destroyed us. But when he fucks his girlfriend, he doesn’t know she took it from three guys at once. Just gangbanged the shit out of her, no rubbers or anything. Slut’s probably still leaking our cum six months later.”
I remember the guy who used to frown at me for kissing his sister in front of him, and again I find myself wondering what happened. It’s not like I’ve never heard guys talking shit, but it’s uptight big-bro Dawson, for fuck’s sake.
Still, I’ve been at Gloria’s lunch table for a few weeks now, and I know the kids at that school are fucked up from all that money. I’ll probably be just like them by the time I graduate.
“I’ll get you a beer,” I say, standing. “Be right back.”
I don’t go in search of a beer, though. I go in search of Royal Dolce. Even if I hadn’t seen him in the picture on Gloria’s desk, the guy is hard to miss. He’s six and half feet tall, his muscles have muscles, and he looks like he could whip out his dick and use it for a baseball bat when he’s in a silly goofy mood.
Just the kind of man a guy like me wants to know his girlfriend dated before him.
Unlike his brothers, he’s not mingling. He’s leaning against the wall, a red plastic cup in one hand, watching my new stepbrother like he’s trying to decide if he should disembowel him or let him live. I’m curious what Cotton did to get on his shit list, but that’s a question for another day.
“Hey,” I say, deciding to go right for the truth and face the consequences later. “Did you fuck my girlfriend?”
Royal barely shrugs one shoulder. I don’t blame him. It’s so big it’s probably hard to lift.
“Undoubtedly,” he says, his voice and face completely devoid of expression.
“Do you know who I am?” I demand.
His gaze moves to me briefly before going back to my stepbrother. “No.”
I debate throwing a punch to show him I’m not someone to be dismissed that easily, but who am I kidding? Of course I am. I’m no threat to him. He looks like he could reach inside my chest and rip out my heart with his bare hands like a cartoon villain, and I’m not quite suicidal enough to tempt fate tonight.
