Broken and Screwed (BS #1)(23)

“Distance thing?”

She nodded and wiped a third tear that slipped down her cheek away. “Uh huh. You don’t ever get mad at people, but you freeze them out. Once you put up a wall to someone, you don’t take it down. I was so scared that you were going to do that to me.”

“That makes me sound horrible.”

“Oh, no, Alex. Please, no. I don’t want you to think that. It’s just you.” A sudden understanding came over her.

I backed away. I didn’t want her to understand me. I didn’t want anyone to understand me.

Her eyes widened, but then her arms dropped to her sides. And she forced a bright smile on. “Okay. So, are you going in there with me? I came over to make sure Cord was okay and chew him out for not calling me. I called Amanda Sherman. Her mom works at the station and she was there waiting for her to get off work last night. She said that she saw Jeremy and James Hazel get arrested, too.”

“Oh.”

“Wait, why are you here?” Her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t come to chew Cord out for me?”

I bit the inside of my lip. I could’ve taken that, but I knew she’d see him anyways. I shook my head. “No. I came because of—”

“Marissa?”

We whirled around. My heart was in my throat, but I relaxed. Cord was coming from around the house with his arm around a slim blonde. She wore skintight white jeans and a bright blue top that flowed over her br**sts. They were clearly outlined underneath and it was obvious she wore no bra.

Marissa drew upright. A grim look came over and her eyes hardened. “Are you kidding me?”

“What?” He glanced at the girl who hung on him. “This is Ariella. Have you met her before?”

Marissa’s neck vein stood out. For a second, I waited for her to launch herself at him. She wouldn’t go after the girl, she’d go after him and I already knew I’d back her up. My arms fell down. My knees bent slightly and I loosened my muscles, ready for anything.

“Cord told me he was so nice to go to your little school dance with you. That’s so sweet of him.” The girl tipped her head back and flipped the platinum hair over her shoulder.

Marissa bared her teeth.

“I just gave him a reward for being so sweet to you.” Ariella laughed.

The sound traveled down my spine. It was sugary sweet and so fake I had a hard time holding back some laughter. The girl was a plastic bimbo. It was so clear that I wondered why Marissa hadn’t unleashed her claws and verbally stripped the girl down. She could do it. I had witnessed many times where I had been uncomfortable by how far she would take the verbal beating.

And then she drew back and turned away.

“What?” My mouth fell open as I watched her walk away. Her head was down and she hugged herself as she hurried to her car.

It wasn’t long before she drove away.

And then my claws came out. I turned around with heated eyes and glared at Cord. “Are you kidding me?!”

The bimbo giggled with delight, but Cord’s smirk dropped an inch. “What?” He glared back at me. “Your friend is hot. What do you expect from me? I wanted to bang her and I did. I never pretended otherwise with her. She knew exactly what I was about when I got a ride down here.”

“Why did you agree to go to the dance with her? If that’s what you were after, why play it up as some romantic gesture?”

“What romantic dance? I was coming anyway. The dance happened to be the same weekend Hunt was coming, so I told her sure. She knew this wasn’t anything more than a hook up.” He rolled his eyes and then patted the bimbo’s rear. “Come on, Ariella.” As they walked past, he saluted me. “See you later, Princess.”

When they got into a car and drove off, it was then that I felt the cold air for the first time. I shivered under my coat and hurried to the door. Then I really thought about what I was doing there. I didn’t know if Jesse was actually there. And this was a stranger’s house. This was Jeremy Benson’s house. He was a criminal.

I wanted to throw my hands in the air from frustration, but then I pushed away all the nerves and pressed the doorbell.

It wasn’t long before it was thrown open. Some guy in only jeans stood there with a dazed smirk on his face. His hair fell over his eyes and he yelled over his shoulder, “It’s a girl!”

A smatter of laughter sounded from inside. Someone yelled back, “Is she hot?”

He looked me up and down. “Yep!”

“Then bring her in!”

More faces peered around the corner and one of them scrunched up in shock. “Holy hell! That’s Ethan Connor’s sister.”

The guy straightened abruptly. His cocky demeanor vanished. “Oh, hi. I’m Nick. I didn’t know who you were.” Then he gestured inside. “You can come in, if you want.”

I stepped inside. He flattened himself against the wall so there were a few feet between us and closed the door behind me. “Uh, so do you want something to drink?”

“She ain’t twenty one, Jr.”

“Oh, yeah.” He grinned at me, flustered at the same time. “I think we got soda. Jer!”

“What?”

“We got anything that ain’t alcoholic?”

“You want to mix something?” The voice sounded from down a hallway. It was growing closer. “Otherwise why would you want something that ain’t alcoholic?”