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I can hear my teeth cracking as I clench my jaw. My hand even reaches forward, knowing it would take nothing to wrap my fingers around her neck, squeezing until the life leaves her body.
She walks away from me, her ass swaying beneath her skirt, and now I know her pussy is bare to the world, to the air. Anyone could see it if they really wanted to. It would take nothing. Only a slight flick of her skirt.
My nostrils flare, and I hop out of my truck, seeing the guys sitting inside Levi's black Mercedes. Smoke clouds up the car so much I can barely make out who is who. I walk up to the driver's window, tapping on it with the back of my knuckle.
Levi startles, and the window rolls down, a wave of smoke curling from the window. I reach my hand in, plucking the joint from his fingers and taking a hit. We usually smoke inside our cars while we’re at school, because Sister Mary is an absolute bitch and will hound me for a week if she knows we're smoking on the property.
Not that she'd be able to do anything about it, but she still fucking tries.
"Dude, what's up? Was that your sissy in the car with you?" Levi chuckles, his eyes red-rimmed and glazed as hell.
My chest twitches with a cough, and I exhale through my nose, watching the front door. Vera makes it to the top of the steps, glancing over her shoulder. She brushes her fingers through her black hair, showing off the white underneath. Her nose piercing glistens in the morning sky.
Fuck. What is happening to me?
I pass the joint back off to Levi when she walks inside. "It was."
Atticus rolls down his window in the back seat, pressing his forearm on the frame. Another wave of smoke rolls out, and he shakes his hair from his eyes as he glances up at me. "How is baby sister doing this morning? Surprised she came back after yesterday."
I look to the empty steps, no Vera in sight. "She's got no choice. Mommy dearest forced her hand."
Atticus chuckles. "I figured she'd put up more of a fight than that."
I think back to last night, the scars on her back, the way she looked at me, with pure hate in her eyes. "She puts up a good fight," I say honestly, surprised at the words that come out of my mouth. Disgusted with them.
"What did you just say?" Felix asks, bending forward so he can look around Levi. "She puts up a good fight?" He laughs, confused.
I curl my fingers inside the car, gripping the door until my fingers turn white. "Game is still on, fuckers."
Felix leans back in his seat, grabbing the joint from Levi. "Good. Fucking scared me there for a second."
Not more than I scared myself.
The warning bell rings, and I slap the top of the car. "I'm going in."
Atticus leans out the window. "You're acting fucking weird, Mal."
I flip him off. "Because I've got a bitch of a sister and a slutty, gold-digging stepmother that hasn't even spoken a word to me." It's all true. My dad thinks this is what's good for the family, but he doesn't understand… there is no family.
There's him. And there's me. My dad fractured whatever was left of the family years ago. Now all that's left of our family is buried in the dirt, covered in pine needles from the nearby trees.
We're nothing.
And now my dad brought two more people into his poisonous life.
Who knows? Maybe he'll end up killing them, too.
17
VERA
"Are you feeling better?" Hazel asks from the desk beside mine. I glance over at her, not wanting to get hit again by Sister Marjorie. My hand still hurts from yesterday. Luckily, it's not my writing hand. I'm also worried that the next time she hits me, I'll snap.
And I really don't want to go back to The Room of Atonement.
I nod at her, looking back down at my paper, trying to finish our assignment for the day.
"Did you talk to Malik?"
