Bitter Kisses (It's Just High School Book 3) Read online

“You think those assholes are that creative enough to mess with my head?” I growl, letting the anger fester as my mind races.

  “Dude, try to calm down,” Liam warns, glancing around at the passers-by.

  “Your brother is right, son,” Dad mutters, his face as dark as mine while he stares down at the phone, not bothering at all about what people are seeing. “We need to handle this privately.”

  “Stop looking at it!” I snap, my protective instincts kicking in and I almost laugh. It’s crazy how I don’t want my father to see the love of my life looking like that—so exposed, so vulnerable, beaten down and stripped of her dignity—when at this very second, Matthews has his fucking hands on her…

  “FUCK!” I explode, undiluted fear racing through me, frying my nerve endings to a crisp.

  Stunned, dad stares at me like I’ve grown horns. At this point, I don’t fucking care if I really do have them. I’ll be the very devil if I have to for what’s coming.

  Dad gives Liam his phone back, holding his gaze at the same time. Then they both turn to look at me.

  I have no idea what they see on my face just then but Liam curses, his eyes widening. Cole takes his car keys out, not saying a word, but ready.

  “J, we don’t know if this is actually real,” Liam rushes to say, stumbling over his words in a rush to calm me down. “You know how they like to fucking play games like these.”

  The darkness closes in on me, my vision narrowing like I’m looking out from a tomb, a deep, deep grave and my oxygen is running out.

  Death.

  It feels like death is in my bones, over me fucking head, around me.

  But why her? Why fuck with me through her?

  “I’m going to kill him.” The words are hoarse, clipped, sounding somewhere between an unhinged, wild madman and a solemn vow made by a sociopath.

  It’s the most truthful thing I’ve ever said in my life other than when I told Mia I love her. Liam and Cole both know it as well.

  “Fuck!” Cole and Liam both whisper at the same time knowing that I mean it.

  Alarmed, Dad looks around, his eyes narrowed.

  “Julian, you can’t say things like that in public,” Dad says, dropping his voice. “Anyone can hear you.”

  The fucking world can hear me right now and I wouldn’t even give a damn. There’s violence in the air, everyone can sense it.

  “We don’t know what’s going on here, so take a breath.”

  I can only imagine at the taste of relief that would have filled me if I had any suspicion that this was fallacy, but that’s a luxury I haven’t been afforded.

  “J, for all we know, these assholes are playing into this shit about you going to jail!” Liam says.

  “Then how do you explain that damn text?” Cole mutters unhappily. “That asshole clearly knows that your case was dismissed.”

  “Exactly! How the fuck does he know that?” I seethe, anger bursting through me. “How does he know when I just fucking found out myself literally a few minutes ago? And how did he get to Mia?”

  Cole and Liam glance at each other quickly but I catch the furtive worried expressions on their faces. Straightening up, cracking my neck from left to right, I narrow my gaze on both of them.

  “How do you think he got to Mia when you two just saw her?” I repeat, each word heavy on my fucking tongue. Cole is quick to gauge my sudden mood flip but Liam…

  “That’s what’s tripping me up!” Liam says. “We just met with Mom to get the stuff from Mia…” he trails off, snapping his mouth shut.

  “You met with who?” I demand, turning to look at my brother fully.

  “Ah shit,” he whispers, shifting on his feet, glancing at Cole.

  “Who the fuck did you meet? Because I swear to God, if either of you had her in your sights and don’t do a damn thing to watch over her, I’m going to kill you with my bear hands. Because right now, she’s fucking naked, hurt, bleeding and at the mercy of these assholes!”

  2

  Mia

  There’s a low buzzing sound ringing from somewhere unknown that rouses me from a restless, empty and strange slumber.

  I feel groggy and strangely drowsy in a way that feels unnatural for some reason.

  What happened?

  I try to search my mind, but nothing comes back to me. It’s all dark and formless, like I’m existing in a blank space. Like there was nothing before this moment.

  As I try to recall, the fizzing—more like a hiss—sounds louder, closer, more shrill, making me freeze with my eyes closed, my heart thumbing in my chest. I try to listen closely.

  Where am I?

  The sound becomes louder and closer that for a moment, I think it’s coming from right behind me. The more I’m cognizant of the distorted humming, the more it makes me uncomfortable, as alarms blare up in my head.

  It’s as if I can sense some kind of unknown danger close to me, made more acute by the shrill buzzing. There’s something familiar about the sound, but I can’t seem to be able to place a finger on it. Where have I heard this sound before?

  I try to move away, the need to escape the unpleasant, ear-splitting noise becoming instinctive more than an conscious decision. But then… nothing happens. Confusion settles in the pit of my stomach, but I try to move again and then I realize… I can’t move.

  Huh?

  My eyes flare open with a sluggish heaviness that frightens me. Immediately, I’m met with thick darkness so oppressive, a cold chill, zaps through me.

  Why is it do so dark?

  An acute shiver slams through me. I blink furiously, thinking that I might still be asleep, bit I know I’m not. The painful pounding of my heart tells me so. The hitch of breath caught in my lungs, tells me that I’m fully awake, and yet, I’m surrounded by darkness that makes a sliver of fear go down my spine.

  Where am I?

  An involuntary chill whooshes through me again. I strain to pay attention to my surroundings, the unfamiliarity of them grating at my nerves the longer I lay there, blinking nervously at the offending darkness that awakens dread in the pit of my stomach.

  A cold gust of wind wafts over me and I tremble. I’m scrambling to figure out where I am, but nothing comes to mind.

  I try to think of what happened before, but it’s all… silently drab, like nothing existed before this moment.

  Blinking furiously, I try to adjust to the darkness, but I soon realize that it’s impossible. It’s so dark that it feels like the blackness is hovering over me, like I’ve fallen into a sink hole so endless, it feels like there’s no way out.

  My heart starts pounding with renewed vigor, prompted by the darkness around me and the cold chilly breeze, wafting over me repeatedly.

  I lie still trying to conjure up what happened before, the events that led to this but nothing comes to mind, frustrating me even more as fear fills my insides.

  desperate for some kind of memory that will make all this make sense, but nothing happens. I lie there, waiting, but it’s like my body is disconnected to my brain, as if it’s empty and yet, there’s an odd tingling sensation at the back of my head that’s shouting at me, almost begging me that I HAVE to remember something—anything—but there’s nothing but an empty void matching the pitch darkness around me.

  Maybe I’m dreaming. This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had odd dreams. My aunt always said that I have a terrible imagination that conjures up messy chaos that comes alive in my dreams. I guess she’s right.

  Frustrated, I quickly give up on trying to remember and decide to get up. Gingerly, I try to sit up straight, but I’m met with pain so acute, it steals my breath away.

  My jaw unclenches, dropping open on a silent scream that tears through my lips with a sudden swiftness that makes me jump. When I jump, more pain filters in my system, making me gasp in anguish and surprise. Tears well up in my eyes as the crippling agony rips through me at a brutal speed that’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before in my life, but just as swiftly as th
e tears appear, they seem to dry up, chilling to trails of ice on my cheeks, freezing my nerve endings.

  No, this isn’t a dream. This is a nightmare.

  Frightened and confused by the agony slicing through my body, moving in waves, I try to get up again to inspect my surroundings as well as myself, but more pain shoots through my nerves, forcing me to lie still.

  Each time I so much as move, each time I try to get up, the pain reverberates through me so intensely, I cry out softly, my throat feeling so dry, I can hardly let the sound out. Whimpering now as frosty tears run down my cheeks, I force myself to lie down, my heart beating unevenly, pounding viciously against my chest like it wants out.

  Jesus, what happened to me?

  As far as I can tell, I’m lying with my back on something hard, a bit smooth but so cold—almost like a concreate slab—it takes a moment for the pain to simmer down, soothing down the licks of fire caused by the pain all over my body.

  In some parts of my body, I can’t feel anything, desensitized by the cold no doubt, but then in others, I can just about feel everything and yet, I have no idea which parts are which, or where the pain is coming from. One thing is clear, I’ve been hurt but I have no idea where exactly but judging from my quivering lips, the painful gasps of breath I’m taking and the unending agony passing through my system at a constant speed, I’m sure I’m hurt extremely bad.

  Not only am I hurt, but there’s something disconcerting about all this, something flittering at the frail edges of my scattered consciousness, as if waiting for me to grasp it.

  When the next cold gust of wind blows over me though, it doesn’t take long to figure it out, freezing me even further than I am already.

  I’m buck-ass naked from head to toe.

  Confusion and fear grip me by the throat as I lay there, trying to force myself to calm down, but I can’t.

  What happened to me?

  I repeat this question over and over again, each time with urgency laced in terror, but my mind is blank. I can’t recall anything. The void in my head becoming more pronounced, even louder than before, inducing a fresh round of terror that brings back my voice.

  Something, maybe a dream or nightmare I can’t quite grasp, attempts to break into my consciousness with a fleeting yet violent snare, like the licking of fire over one’s skin.

  I close my eyes so I can focus and just like that, small details start coming to me with an agonizing slowness that does little to calm my racing heart. There’s pain reverberating through my entire body but the most pain is coming from my head. Shifting slightly, I can feel the tenderness from the side of my head, but I dare not move any other part of me to check. Did I hit my head somewhere? I mean, the buzzing, the faint dizziness and the intense pain that rivals the rest of my body is proof of that, right? Maybe even my scattered and intangible memory.

  I force myself to stay still so I can

  “Put her down over there, naked. Let her stew over what’s to come!”

  A sharp gasp escapes me as the menacing voice flits through my mind with a fading hostility that makes my heart pound even harder.

  Who was that? But most importantly, why can’t I remember anything? Is my head injury that bad? Oh God.

  Dread starts coursing through my veins. The buzzing sound comes back, slicing the thick dark silence and I start trembling all over again and that alone, awakens more pain but this time, it comes from my lower body.

  I still, and my heart skips a beat, but the agony reverberates through me. I suck in gulps of air, mentally willing the pain to ebb. I’m lying here, naked. My lower body hurts with an agony that I can’t comprehend. No…

  No, don’t think about that. Let’s find out more about this

  Skipping over those thoughts, I force myself to concentrate on. Where I am than what happened to me. I need to get out of here, but the first thing I need to do is figure this out. Gritting my chattering teeth, I stifle the scream of agony as I force my hand to move. Yes, my fingers are frozen, but what else can I do?

  Ignoring the nakedness of my body, I realize that there’s space around me, like I’m in the middle of something.

  I listen closely to the buzzing and just then, another cold gust of wind wafts in the air and it hits me like a freight train then. I’m in a freezer!

  The more I think about that, the more the theory becomes probable. The cold slab I’m lying on, the constant gust of cold air, the humming sound… I’m in a freezer, an industrial, walk-in freezer by the way the sounds I made echoed and bounced around, as well as the space around me.

  The realization of where I am is both terrifying and hopeful. If I’m in the freezer, kit’s possible that I can get out, right? Then I’d need to get up and it seems my body is battered and bruised all over.

  No, don’t think about that right now. Let’s get out of here first.

  With a desperation that clings to my battered body, I gingerly try to get up, braced for the onslaught of inevitable pain, but it’s useless. The moment I move my head, the rest of my body laying still, a sharp, shrill, keening cry slices through the darkness, sounding from somewhere distant, echoing in the darkness.

  It mixes with the buzzing making me jerk, but that’s the wrong thing to do as the movement causes more pain. And just like before, the pain acts like some sort of green-light for the high keening cry that breaks through the cold blackness that swallows me.

  Oh God, please. What happened to me?

  I want to cry, but I can’t as waves of pain crash into me still, hazing my unseeing vision until I think I’m going to pass out. The cold should help with the pain but it’s not working for me. It’s making everything worse.

  “Did you hear that?”

  I force myself to stop moving and clamp my mouth shut, stopping any sound from escaping the moment I hear those words. What was that?

  “She’s screaming in pain!” the same voice cries, sounding muffled, yet the agitation is clear as day.

  Frozen, I strain to hear, trying to place the familiar sounding voice with a face but no one comes to mind but one thing is clear. There’s a girl out there.

  I wait for her to say something, hopefully she’s talking to someone about me.

  Maybe help has arrived, called by my screams of agony and yet no other sound reaches me for long seconds, maybe minutes or is it hours? It’s like I imagined the voice.

  “Get her out of there,” the voice begs, sounding uncertain now and I realize, the voice is real.

  Yes, yes, get me out of here. My teeth start chattering, allowing myself a moment of vulnerability and hope knowing about to be saved from this freezing torture chamber where someone clearly hurt me then dumped me in.

  “It’s not right leaving her in there to freeze to death. Why did you put her in there anyway?”

  Everything in me screeches to a halt as soon as I hear that. This time the voice isn’t muffled or sounding faraway. It’s right outside.

  “To cool her fucking anger,” a cool indifferent voice answers, and I still all over again, this time, a strong wave of fear and something else goes down my spine when I hear that voice. It sounds identical to the one that flitters in my memory.

  The vindictiveness is the same.

  The indifference, same.

  But the smugness, that’s even heightened now, as if there is a level of anticipation to it now.

  “Besides, it was your idea to let her cool off before we actually start this long awaited game,” the voice continues, clear maniacal amusement ringing clear for all to hear, but I think that’s for me. Whoever the guy is said that for me to hear him and what potentially awaits me.

  “I didn’t mean to actually put her in the fucking freezer,” the girl says, her voice stressed and full of… fear. She sounds horrified.

  “Of course you didn’t. That extra touch is all mine,” the sadistic male voice says. sounding amused and almost psychotic.

  I shiver as soon as I hear it, but as soon as I do that, waves of agony cru
sh into me. But that’s not what makes fear slice me seven ways to Sunday as three fundamental truths slams into me at the same time.

  The first is pretty obvious, judging by everything I’ve manage to pick apart about my surroundings and the agony I’m in—I’m in danger.

  And judging by the people speaking right outside the freezer, I determine, number two, that I’ve been kidnapped by people who know me. But knowing me is the issue, it’s the fact that they hate me.

  Lastly, my fear is rooted in the simple and the most complicated, the voices talking sound morbidly familiar, yet, just like the empty, illusive memories before I woke up to this point, I have no idea who they are.

  “But you know what, I think it’s time we play, don’t you?” the guy says. “I’ve been fucking waiting for this.”

  Just then, there’s a clicking sound, as if the dials of a key and lock are working together, unlocking something—the freezer. So, even if I had made it to the door, it’s locked from the outside. Then, a flood of light slice through the darkness, hitting me right in the middle of the freezer.

  Blinking furiously, I try to look away, the sudden light so intense for my eyes that had grown used to the dark.

  “Ah, there she is,” the male voice purrs, standing in the doorway of the freezer, blocking the flood of light. “I thought you’d appreciate staying in your kind of environment, huh, Ice Queen.”

  Ice Queen…

  There’s another ring of familiarity to that, but it’s still evasive to my memory.

  Squinting, I try to see his face, but it’s cast in shadows, his shape large and intimidating. He takes several steps into the freezer, just as another person, just as large, just as intimidating, steps in with him.

  “Yeah, you’re nice and frozen, aren’t you?” the new guy says, a smug note in his voice. From the day I met you, you’ve been nothing but a frozen bitch, thinking you’re above everyone else.”

  Since the day I met him? I don’t even know him.

  So why is his voice familiar as well?

  “Pl…pleaseee.” The word comes out as a shiver, the voice sounding unfamiliar to my own ears, drowning out with the buzzing. My teeth are chattering so hard. The pain flowing with the numbness like a distorted sound. “Pleaseeee.”