Chapter Twenty-Three

Darius

She screams she’s eighteen and then runs off like a fucking child!

“Beck, Corv, get the cars, You two with me,” I bark out as I race after the pain in my ass. Crue and Saint are right with me as we chase down the girls. I see them dart across the road heading for the park. It’s fucking dark out and these idiots are running into a park surrounded by woodlands? Fucking morons. We race across the road. Gaining on them, the moment we hit the grass of the park, Leah looks over her shoulder and shouts.

“Split up!” I growl. She is going to pay for this. Her friends do as she ordered and break away in separate directions.

“Saint get Cody. Crue get Katie. I got the little shit,” I snarl as I sprint after her. I’m only a couple steps behind her when I break through the brush. She chances another look over her shoulder and squeals out a laugh, then darts around a tree and I lose sight of her for a couple seconds. I round the same tree and come to a halt when I don’t see her anywhere.

“Boo.” I snap my gaze to the side where she leans against the tree, huffing. I crowd her space and place my arms on either side of her head, caging her in. Our breaths are coming in rapid pants thanks to her impromptu race. The smile that is plastered on her face pisses me off.

“You think this is funny?” I snap.

“Yeah, I do actually.” Her sarcastic reply grates on my already frayed nerves. “You act all big and tough, and pretend to hate me but look where you are, Darius. You had a choice to chase three girls and from what I heard back there you didn’t even have to think about which one you were gunning for!” She steps into me so our chests brush against each other, then grips the sides of my shirt keeping me anchored in place as she slowly cranes her neck back to meet my gaze. “You either want me or you let me fucking go because I can’t keep playing this game with you.”

“Game?” I snarl as I yank free of her hold, putting a couple feet of space between us. “You think this is a fucking game?” I roar. She shrinks back into the tree but my temper is too far gone to be controlled. “None of this was ever a fucking game to me. This is my life you are destroying just by being near me! I fucking hate you, Leah.” She flinches and drops her gaze to her shoes as her shoulders hunch forward. “I’ll never fucking forgive you for what you did to me, I can’t,” I grit out before storming away from her. I break the tree line to find Beck standing there with a pitying look on his face. Before I can say anything, he holds out the keys to his car and flicks his head toward where it is parked at the curb.

“Saint and Crue have the girls in there, drop them at their dorm and grab her a bag. I’ll get her and bring her back with me and Corvin.” I nod my thanks and begin to move away but his words have me halting. “She’s right, though. You either want her or you don’t, you need to decide.” The only response he gets is a grunt before I’m storming off toward his car.

I made Cody pack her bag and smacked Saint across the back of the head when he offered to pick out her panties. After leaving the girls, we headed straight home and have been sitting in the car for five minutes. I know we have to go in but I don’t want to. Beckett’s words keep replaying over and over in my mind. They may be true but it’s fucking hard to let go of your first love. What makes the whole situation more fucked up is I can’t even escape my first and only girlfriend because she is my best friend’s little fucking sister!

“You know if we don’t go in we’ll never find out why Gary was here.” Crue’s attempt to get me out of the car works, my curiosity is peaked and I need answers. We storm through the door only to find Beck and Corv sitting in the living room, alone . At the sound of our entry Corvin slowly turns his head toward us and pins me with an angry fucking look that promises pain.

“Gary fucking Hayes doesn’t walk off the field. That motherfucker goes out in a box!” I dart my gaze between Beck and Corvin utterly fucking confused.

“What happened?” I hedge. Corv jumps to his feet and flips the coffee table before storming up the stairs. When I hear his bedroom door slam shut, I look to Beck for answers. He shakes his head and stands.

“All I know is, he hurt her and Corvin won’t tell me any more than that. Him showing up tonight wasn’t because she wanted him there. You need to talk to her, Darius, because Corvin is out for blood.” Beck turns and heads up the stairs to check on Corv I presume.

“Dude, what the fuck did we miss?” Saint mumbles as he brushes past me and heads for the kitchen. Crue pats me on the shoulder as he heads for the basement. I stand here stunned and fucking confused as hell as to what happened in the twenty minutes it took us to get here. I’m too angry to go to her, so instead, I drop her bag at the base of the stairs, grab two beers from the fridge and head out the back to kick it by the pool. I kick my shoes off and drop down onto the ledge of the pool not giving a fuck that my jeans are getting wet as I kick my legs back and forward into the water. I grab one of the beers and twist the cap off before downing half the bottle. I don’t normally drink but the cluster fuck of events from the past few days has me needing it.

Just as I finish the last bottle of beer, I hear the door open behind me. Looking over my shoulder, I see Corv coming toward me with two beers in each hand. He hands me two before dropping down beside and placing his feet in the water. We sit here silently, sipping our beers and looking up at the night sky. The silence isn’t tense or uncomfortable. Sometimes, it’s actually nice to not be alone with your thoughts and have someone to just sit with you. I never knew what that was like growing up. I was banished to my room to fend for myself while my mom worked . Having an addict and a whore as a mother fucking sucked but her being useless led me to Corvin and his family, and for that reason only, I can’t hate my childhood. I made a vow to myself the night I moved into the Williams’ house, I would never allow myself to become like my mother and still to this day I have never touched a single illegal substance.

“He hurt her,” Corvin’s whispered words pull me from my inner thoughts, my temper has settled enough for me to talk now.

“What did she say?” I ask in an even tone.

He runs a hand through his hair in frustration. “It wasn’t what she said, D, it was in her eyes. I could see the fear. She completely shut down when I asked her if he had ever hurt her at school. She went pale, started screaming that she was so sorry for being a fuck up and if she could change it she would, then ran upstairs to her room.”

I mull over his words trying to make sense of what he is saying. Tonight I saw that same look on her face when I walked through the door and saw his hand on her. At the sound of my voice I saw her relax almost like she was grateful that I was there to get him away from her. If that is the case and she is scared of him, what changed from them fucking to her being fearful of him?

“What do you want to do, Corv?” I ask.

“I want to bury the fucker six feet deep for ever hurting her. This is what I have always been scared of, her finding a guy and him being a piece of shit! Why couldn’t she end up with one of you guys,” he says before he begins to laugh. Meanwhile, I sit here frozen.

“Would that be a bad thing… if she did end up with one of us?” I keep my tone light, trying to act nonchalant when in truth, my heart is beating so fucking fast. He bumps me with his shoulder and snorts.

“Dude, I would fucking rip all of your dicks off if any of you touched my sister. I know what you fuckers get up to behind closed doors and that isn’t happening where Leah is concerned.” I force out a laugh for his benefit but inside my hope of him ever accepting me and Leah together fizzes out. “We have a couple weeks before the season starts and we play them, I want him carted off the fucking field and out for the whole season. I don’t know exactly what he did to her but I know he did do something to her and he’s going to fucking pay for that!” I grunt out my agreement.

Morning times in this house are fucking chaos. We all fight over the toaster and cereal boxes like pigs. Don’t even get me started on what it’s like when the five of us make protein shakes at the same time.

“You used all the fucking milk!” Crue shouts. Beck shrugs his shoulders as he scoops another mouthful of his breakfast into his mouth. “You asshole, now I have to have toast!” Crue is always a grumpy bitch first up in the morning.

“Dude, I’ll buy you a bagel when we stop to get coffee.” Crue beams at Saint.

“You do love me!” Crue sing songs.

“More than anything!” Saint replies in a fake British accent.

“Leah?” The four of us all turn toward the door to see Corv rushing toward his sister who looks like shit. She has dark circles under her eyes, her hair is piled on top of her head in a messy bun. She wears a loose fitting tee that she has knotted in the front and plain black yoga pants. “Are you okay?” She nods in answer to her brother’s softly asked question. “Uh, want a lift to school?” Again she doesn’t respond verbally, just shakes her head and tries to move around Corvin but he blocks her path. “Talk to me, Leah, what’s going on?” he pleads.

“Nothing, I’m fine, everything is fine and dandy. Now can I go or I’ll be late for practice.” Stunned by her response, he nods and reluctantly steps out of her way, letting her walk right out the door without a fucking fight.

“Why the fuck did you let her leave?” I snap the second the front door clicks closed. Corvin spins around to face me looking utterly lost.

“What did you want me to do?” he growls angrily.

“Chain her ass to the bed if you had to!” I can hear the anger in my own voice. He eyes me warily for a second before asking,

“Since when do you care so much about my sister?” The accusation in his tone is clear. I should try to cover my ass but I’m tired of choosing between the Williams siblings. Like Beck said, I need to make a choice and I think I have. I stand, grab my bag off the floor, sling it over my shoulder and close the space between Corvin and me until we are standing an inch apart.

“I’ve always cared, more than you know or should I say more than you cared to see. I was the one who was worried about her while you were out dipping your dick in whatever had a hole. So don’t fucking stand there and question my motives where she is concerned.” I leave him standing there with a stunned look on his face as I chase after Leah.