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

  “Will you look at that,” one of them snickers, the mocking tone feels colder than the chilly breeze of the freezer. “The Ice Queen is begging.”

  A sudden bark of dark laughter makes my heartbeat even faster as I unerringly get clear glimpses of their faces with the light in the freezer. They both look alike. They both have wide grins on their faces, skirting on the blurred line of pure sadism as they stare at my naked body.

  Alarms blare in my pounding head, overpowering the acute pain rattling against my skull with an intent to cause more fuzzy, unclear memories. My heart feels like it wants to beat out of my chest.

  No, no, no…

  The chattering of my teeth has nothing on the way my freezing body is trembling violently on the floor.

  Through the slits of my eyes, I watch as the shadows become bigger, their threatening footsteps muffled by the pounding of my heart.

  They’re coming toward me.

  They’re going to touch me, to hurt me… I can feel their intent so clear that soon, it dawns on me, they did this to me, They’ve hurt me before.

  Who are they?

  I have no idea how it’s possible, feeling their intent, malicious gazes on me, but their agenda is clear way before they say it.

  “Yeah, she’s going to be begging louder soon enough,” the first guy says with a chuckle. “Get the camera ready, that bastard Fitz has a package coming his way.”

  Fitz…

  Why does that name have a faint but electrifying hum of familiarity? Why does it feel like I know that name?

  But before I can think more of it, I’m yanked up so hard that the loud howl of pain that escapes my lips as agony rips through my body pierces my own eardrums.

  In that moment, as darkness claims me once more, I see green orbs staring at me and heart flutters.

  3

  Julian

  “Speak!” I roar, looking at my best friend, my fists are clenched tightly, my fucking heart racing.

  “J, listen,” Liam starts. “We met with someone to get the envelope. Honestly, I just tagged along with Cole after you know, hew came back from college for your trial and all…”

  He’s fucking mumbling and I don’t have time for that mess.

  “What the fuck is he trying to say?” I demand, now staring at Cole. He sighs, running a hand down his face oil frustration.

  “Julian—”

  “Don’t fuck with me, what does he mean?”

  “We needed help,” he says, waving a hand at me. “You were fucking screwed the moment that trial started, and you know it. Everyone here knows that, including Mia so we got help.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?” I demand, my throat feeling tight like I’m being strangled in the middle of the fucking day, my mind racing and conjuring up images of Mia.

  Mia smiling.

  Mia dancing.

  Mia in my fucking arms.

  Mia telling me she loves me.

  And then, Mia, begging me to listen to her pleas of innocence with tears streaming down her face like a torrent of rushing water and then me leaving her, refusing to listen...

  “Fucking answer me! What the hell do you mean?”

  “Dude your case was fucking dropped, thrown out the window is more like it, and it’s all thanks to Mia,” Liam says, glancing at Cole who just stares at me head on and I realize something else. Something I should’ve asked first.

  “Yes, but you fucking saw her right?” I seethe. “Besides seeing Courtney and even talking to her, you saw Mia.”

  I look between the two of them, unease trickling down my spine as the heaviness of their silence stiffening my neck and shoulders.

  My jaw clenches, feeling the need to rip their jugulars out with my bare hands because of all the rage and violence seething in me at the obvious situation in front of me.

  “You didn’t see her, did you?” I mutter. It’s not really a question. I can already see the answer on their sullen faces.

  Slowly, with measured breathes and measured movements, I resume stalking toward Cole’s car.

  “Julian?” Dad calls after me but I ignore him. “What do you boys mean? Julian, where else would they have gotten the news that Mia provided the evidence needed to get you acquitted?” Dad questions, turning around to look at Cole and Liam fully. “Right, boys? You just saw her. There’s no way...” he trails off.

  At the deafening silence, I feel more than hear them right behind me.

  Ahead of me, Cole has unlocked the car. I don’t have to look to my side to know that he’s already there, silently brooding beside me.

  “Fuck,” Liam whispers. “I should’ve known something was wrong the moment I saw that she-devil, but I don’t fucking think of it.”

  “Boys, you stop right now!” Dad demands right behind me, then I feel his heavy hand on my shoulder. “Son, I know you’re feeling a lot right now, and I know you’re angry, but just stop and think.” There’s nothing to think about, but I don’t say that. All I see is Mia, on that bed, in that dark room… bruised and hurt. “I know rationality is the last thing on your mind, but remember what I told you before, I expect you to be smart.” Dad says, his voice deceptively soft yet still non-judgmental. We’ll see how that lasts when there’s blood on my hands.

  “Let me fucking go,” I grit out, then look at Liam and Cole. “You two had no fucking right going to her like that. I could’ve—”

  “Gone to jail!” Liam seethes. “Get your fucking head out of your fucking ass and see the bigger picture here, J!”

  “Yeah, and how the fuck did you know she’d help?” I grunt, the thing in my chest beating wildly because it’s clear that while I hated her, my best friend never shared the same sentiments because he knows the truth.

  “Well, if you must know, you insufferable jerk, I’ve been talking to Mia almost every single day whenever you were not around,” he starts slowly, softly, his voice like a whisper of doom.

  “What?”

  “Someone needed to check in on her and looking at this shit now, I was right and fucking wrong at the same time.”

  My head is spinning as I process his words, but I’m the one in the wrong here.

  “Okay, backtrack, what happened exactly to get to this?”

  As always, my best friend can’t be bothered to be rushed. If Cole Perry is giving you details, you best fucking believe it will be just that, detailed.

  “You fucked up by casting her aside, ignored her calls when she was all but out of her mind with worry trying to contact you and make you see reason,” Cole goes on. “She even tried Liam but he...”

  “I messed up so bad. I told her to go suck the devil’s cock and burn in hell,” Liam says pained, looking horrified and disgusted with himself. “I swear I thought I was protecting you! I didn't know...”

  I stare at Cole, waiting for the rest of the story, guilt churning in my stomach. A frisson of unease starts at the base of spine until it becomes a tidal wave, knocking me over and over.

  “She told me she was innocent.” I can hear the accusation in his voice, he doesn’t have say. The anger, mixed with the disappointment, again, in me. “I believed her.”

  “Don’t. Make. Me. Fucking. Question. You. Again.” I grit out, each word tinged with a murderous intent that doesn’t faze Cole.

  “She told me she has a plan, but she was pretty sure in order for that plan to work, she had to side with the devil.”

  Side with the devil.

  “Courtney.”

  Her name falls from my lips and a plan starts forming in my head. Of course, my dearest mother. She must have had a hand in this. But how could she do this to her? To anyone for that matter.

  “What?” Dad huffs in shock. “How does your mother tie into this?”

  How is she not tied into this? It’s been her all along.

  “Oh please, Dad,” Liam seethes. “Give us some more respect than that, Dad, referring to that watch as our mother.”

  “Well, unfortunately for you, son, no
matter what she’s now, she still gave birth to you.”

  “Are you on her side? Is that it?” Liam demands angrily, getting into Dad’s face. “For all we know she’s the one who set this entire thing up! She’s had it out for Mia since day fucking uno.”

  “What? You think your mother would set an elaborately criminal plan like this where someone is not just taken but…” Dad trails off, looking at me.

  “If you’re going to defend her, then fuck off,” I say keeping my voice low then turn to go, painfully aware that I’ve just wasted a shit load of time. Time I could’ve used to get to Mia.

  “I’m not defending anyone, I’m saying we need to pull the facts together,” he says, then drops his voice. “Before things are done that cannot be undone.”

  “He’s going to kill that asshole and by God, Dad, I’m helping.”

  “Stop. Listen to all the facts first and then you can do what’s best.”

  He’s the voice of reason, that much is clear, but where’s the reason in taking a girl who’s barely coming out of the throes of depression, grief and quite recently, the heartbreak I caused her?

  “Get out of my way or I’ll remove you,” I say just as smoothly.

  “I’m not saying that, but what exactly did Courtney do? How did Mia end up going to her? At least let’s figure that out.”

  “Mia needed help,” Cole says it as if it’s that obvious. “She knew she had to find a way to prove your innocence at all costs.”

  Apparently, that includes shaking hands with my mother who might be the one who put me in this entire mess just so I could hurt Mia.

  And fuck, was she successful.

  “Yes, but why her?”

  “Remember when you guys came back from Europe?” Liam questions but how could I forget? How she kept saying this was a set up?”

  “Yes. She said something about her father using Julian to get to her,” Cole says, his eyes narrowed, trying to piece something together, but Dad’s already there.

  “Think carefully, son,” he says lowly. “Why would Mia go to Courtney, unless…”

  My fucking mother is working with that jerk, deadbeat asshole, Nathan.

  “Holy shit!” Liam gasps.

  “How?” I demand, staring at my Dad, feeling like a fish out of water.

  “Well, it’s really…” His voice trails off as out of nowhere, a crowd of hyped- up reporters with flashing cameras rush toward us and the next thing I know, they’re firing question after question at me. It all sounds like a fucking beehive on steroids as they push and shove.

  “Hey, hey, stay back!” Liam demands.

  I see Dad shove his way through and security right behind him. Where were those assholes to begin with?

  “We need to get out of here,” Cole mutters close to my ear.

  “Not shit.”

  I don’t really care who I knock down or who I hurt as I barrel through the crowd of these assholes, remembering a similar scene just like this from years ago. The day I met Mia and she broke my trust for all time—so I thought.

  “Where to now?” Cole asks, his voice hard and low for my ears only.

  “I need to get my girl first.”

  “Yes, we can start by looking for her first, verify that she’s indeed missing but for that, we need answers,” Cole says and he’s right of course.

  “We need a fucking game plan,” Liam says over our shoulders.

  “No, what you all need to do is try and calm down and let me do what I can to find out if Miss Montague is truly missing,” Dad says. I know he’s talking to me and I need to get him off my fucking ass so I nod. “Give me a few hours.”

  “Yes, John, but we need to get out of here,” Cole says, waving at the press who I’m doing my best to fucking ignore.

  “Yes, let’s go to the house.”

  “Either way, none of this really makes any sense,” I growl, tugging at my hair as security hustles us toward the waiting cars.

  “Doesn’t it?” Dad says, looking at me. “But like I said so many weeks ago, if you really think about it, you’ll know who’s really behind all of this.”

  That makes me freeze, turning around to look at him.

  “The Matthews scum are in no way related to your fucking brother.”

  “Brother?” Liam says, confused. “You mean Nathan had something to do with this?”

  “Haven’t you figured it out yet?” Dad questions, taking his own phone out.

  “Well, we know he set J up, using his own daughter to do so, but why would he…” Liam trails off. Cole grumbles something unintelligible under his breath but I know it’s a curse. “But that doesn’t make any sense! Why would he endanger his own daughter by letting those bastards hurt her like this?”

  “Can you not think of a reason?” Dad mutters, shooting me a meaningful look then he presses his phone to his ear, walking toward where he parked his car when we arrived at the courthouse.

  Liam looks after him. I can see the gears working but for once, I’m not concerned about whatever conclusion he comes to. He’s not my priority right now. He can be suspicious all he wants.

  Turning away and slide into Cole’s car as he and Liam agree with Dad that we’re going to meet him there.

  As soon as Cole slides into the driver’s seat and starts the car though, the tension crackling between us as he grips the stirring wheel with a tight grip.

  “Cole,” I growl, and he regards me with a cool look.

  “She’s part of my life too,” he says. “I’m in this. Whatever it takes. Wherever this goes.”

  I’m silent for a beat, thankful for his unwavering support but also recalling what he said to me the time we got locked up after that party so many fucking weeks ago. I’ve out Cole in danger so many times and he’s jumped into the blazing fire head first for me. But this time around, with what I have to do, I’ll protect him with my life if I have to.

  “Fine,” I mutter.

  “Fine.”

  Making sure Liam is gone, driving after Dad, Cole pulls into traffic.

  “Where?” Cole questions silently, the tense energy crackling, intensifying, like we’re both drenched in gasoline and we know, someone is about to strike a match.

  “My dragon mother’s lair.”

  Just then, another text shows up, with another picture but this time, I think I’m the only one who gets it the image.

  I SEE RED!

  4

  Mia

  “There! Another one successfully sent! Now let the real war begin.”

  “Fuck, this is too easy.”

  “Right? I bet you Fitz is losing his fucking shit,” Sean announces, typing something on his phone dramatically, then he tosses it aside, glancing at me. “Now, let’s see how much he cares for his whore.”

  I’m shivering, my teeth chattering like a rattle snake. Having regained consciousness only a few minutes ago, I can hardly register anything else other than the excruciating pain in my body.

  And my very naked, bruised and aching body… Oh God.

  I have no idea how it happened or when, but now, I’m no longer in the freezer. I’m staring up at some pretty high ceilings. It’s like I’m in some kind of warehouse and both Sean and Shane are sitting there, right next to me, touching my body.

  I want to vomit.

  “I love how she keeps her bits clean and shaved,” Shane says and makes a show of reaching for between my legs. Something in me snaps as horror freezes my veins.

  That’s when I start thrashing around, kicking and screaming.

  “Don’t you touch me!” I scream by even I can hear how distorted and garbled my words are.

  Instead of actually hearing me and actually listening, they start laughing.

  “Calm the hell down, Ice Queen.”

  “Hold her down, Shane! She doesn’t even weigh much.”

  “Why? Just give her some of that shit they gave you to subdue her.”

  “Ah, yes.”

  Before I can think about it or reali
ze what they’re trying to do, a needle is stabbed into my arm.

  “Ah,” I groan, but it sounds more like a sheep’s cry than anything else. I feel a strange numbness starting from my arms, then the rest of me. I just grow still, blinking slowly like I’m about to lose consciousness, but not really.

  They just drugged me. These assholes just drugged me

  But whatever kind of drug they used has strange effects on my body.

  While some parts of me are numb, I can still feel the pain.

  My head is still pounding. My lower body is screaming in agony and I realize what I was feeling when I woke in the freezer is nothing compared to this and the drug in my veins.

  I’ve never experienced hypothermia before, or having my body begin to thaw in a large room with a cold windy breeze. Everything hurts, and nothing is working as it should.

  I can feel my lungs working double time as I fight to catch my breath, but it doesn’t help. It’s as if my body is shutting down slowly but painfully and my heart…well, that’s failing too.

  “She’s in pain and still bleeding. She needs a blanket,” that same female voice from before says, but I can’t even move to look at who it is, but her voice…

  “Nah, I think she’s looking great just like this. With her perky little nipples on display like this…”

  “She needs to get warm, or do you want her to die of hypothermia?” she questions, her voice high pitched and so familiar but with the few breaths left in me, I can’t figure who it is.

  “Do you want a fucking turn in that freezer, bitch?” Sean threatens the girl. I guess she shakes her head or something because Sean says, “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now shut your fucking mouth. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

  He turns around to look at me. I can see him reaching forward to touch me, but I scream, jerking away from him in a rush that proves to do me no good, other than giving me more waves of pain.

  “Are you in pain, Ice Queen?” he says with a laugh, enjoying my distress.