she stormed out of the party.
“Yeah, it looks like you chummy-buddy days with those bitches are over. Kendra is out of your neck.”
“Kendra?” I frown. I thought it was…
“Yeah, apparently she said she and Liam are a thing, used to be a thing, I don’t really know the specifics but you didn’t poke the beehive, Mia, you shook it up. Violently, might I add.”
The fuck?
“How did I do that?” I question. “I didn’t do anything to Kendra.”
That girl has never been on my radar in anyway. How is it that’s he’s on my case now? Also, her and Liam?
“Well, there are pictures of you kissing Liam that were leaked this morning as well.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Another leak?
“What pictures?”
“Come on, Ice Queen, I know you remember that party Rye, Jaz, you and me went to some what, two, three years ago?”
Shit, I remember that party of course. I remember everything that happened. How could I forget when my night started with dancing and kissing Liam to fighting with Julian?
“See the thing here is, those pictures weren’t out there before and if those pictures are out now, what do you think the R.A.C.K are going to leak out next?”
She doesn’t have to spell it out for me, I can see where this is going. This means the Roxy, Kendra, Charlotte and Avery obviously have images of me topless, skinning dipping at that same party. And knowing how cold hearted they were, they could leak those at any time. But, they wouldn’t dare, would they?
“You do know that between the four of them, they know every juicy, dark, dirty secret that happens in this town, right? It’s like they are the Marie Antoinette of blackmail.”
Fuck! It makes sense now. Just a few weeks back, Julian’s fling, Casey, harassed me after ballet rehearsal but the R.A.C.K said something to her and she left all red faced and angry. Do they have something on her? Do they have something else on me? Could they be the ones who leaked this mess about Nancy?
“Oh God.”
“I doubt he’ll answer you,” Kristine mocks. “So many people have been waiting for this.”
“For what?”
“The moment you fall, Ice Queen.”
Of course, they have.
“Like you, huh?” I mumble.
“My priorities in life have since changed, Mia,” she silently admits, looking at me with such despair in her eyes, I feel it in my stomach.
“Kristine…” I whisper and she shakes her head, stepping away, but I press on. “What happened to you? Who did this to you?”
“I can’t…” she cries now, and I rush to hold her.
In this moment she isn’t a foe, she was never my enemy though, it doesn’t matter who she is because she needs someone with her.
“You need to go back to them,” she cries pulling away to look at me, holding my upper arms with a tight grip.
“What?”
“The Fitzgerald brothers, you need to go back to them.”
“Kristine…”
“I saw the backpack you came in with. I see the way you’re dressed. Your mom is gone, isn’t she?”
How does she know? I look away, shutting down instantly. I don’t want to admit that last part to her. I don’t want her to see the guilt churning in me, making me sick to the stomach.
I killed her.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Mia, but you need to go back to them. You’re not safe out here. Especially here with me. They might come back,” she says hurriedly.
“They? Who is they, Kristine?”
“You know who.”
“The Matthews…”
“Shh, don’t mention their name, Mia. They’re looking for you. Julian beat Sean up pretty bad and now they’re out for blood, this time for real.”
That fear is back in her eyes again, awakening mine. I hate that someone so strong as Kristine has been reduced to this.
“I don’t care about that. It’s not my war. What are they doing to you?”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know, Ice Queen,” she chuckles bitterly, taking a step back. “You can see it in my appearance, you probably can smell it in the house.”
Yes, I can.
It’s drugs.
“Kristine, whatever it is—” I start but she cuts me off.
“You can’t help me, you have to help yourself. You need to make sure they don’t get their hands on you,” she says quickly walking over to the backpack I left in the corner and comes back with it. “I have no idea what the situation is between you and the Fitz brothers, but they seem to care for you. They have never done what they did for you at that party. I saw the