Bitter Kisses (It's Just High School #3) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,12

two of them in and…

I fail before I can even get to my feet

Falling hard on the cold slab, I let out a howl of pain, but above my scream, I can hear laughter.

I’m on the verge of passing out at the amount of agony passing through my body like being electrocuted. This pain, it’s too much. Especially from my head. I’m sure they beat me up with something over the head.

I feel them coming closer, stalking toward me in a frightening way. I start thrashing around, kicking and lashing out.

I slam my own chin with my knee, but I don’t stop. I keep fighting, not caring what I connect with.

“Ah fuck this! Where is that needle.”

Needle?

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, then I feel a pinprick on my arm.

Almost immediately, darkness claims me once more, swallowing my screams, my fight and my willpower… throwing me into an abyss of uncertain danger.

And all I can see, is a pair of green eyes so intense, I cling to them.

Julian…

Chapter Three

Julian

“I’m not going to ask you again.”

My vision is tainted with a red haze of fury, the taste of urgency and something else close to fear that makes the blood in my veins boil as the unmistakable stench of war hangs over us, and it looks like right now, I’ll have to fight my brother and my best friends for answers.

I look at my best friend, my fists are clenched tightly, my fucking heart racing, ready to knock him the fuck out and he knows it too.

“J…” he starts, not daring to look away. “Just try to breathe, bro.”

“Don’t fucking try to manage me. Tell me what I need to know!” I roar.

“Whoa, J, man, just take a moment to listen,” Liam says stepping in. “We met with someone to get the envelope.”

“You met with Courtney!”

“Uh, well, to be honest, I just tagged along with Cole after you know, he 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.

“Your case wasn’t going well.” I already hate where this is going, but Cole doesn’t give a damn. “We needed help.”

“I never asked you—”

“You were going to be convicted and thrown behind bars and that key tossed in the fucking Grand Canyon for all your rich white boy shit going on.”

“I didn’t fucking need any help!” Especially from her! I didn’t want her to get dragged in this and now…

“Yeah well, you got it anyway!” he snaps. “You and I both know you were fucking screwed the moment that trial started. Everyone here knows that too, including the girl you accused of setting you up when she told you she didn’t! Mia saved you!”

“And now she’s been taken!” I seethe. “Don’t you fucking get that?” Everything is connected. My fucking fake-ass was dropped and then in the same breath, Mia is taken? By Matthews of all people? This can’t be a fucking sick coincidence. “Now, I’m going to fucking ask you, what does all this mean?” I demand, my throat feeling tight like I’m being strangled as my mind races, conjuring up images of my Little Minx, the girl I failed.

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...

“I told Mia that your case wasn’t going well and guess what asshole? She told me she had a game plan,” Cole starts, his voice low, laced with anger and caution as he regards me.

“Did you fucking see her then?” I seethe, feeling like I’m hanging on by a fucking thin thread. “Besides teaming up with that retched mess that calls herself my mother, you fucking saw Mia, didn’t you?”

“Of course, they saw her,” Dad says but even he can’t hide the uncertainty in his voice.

I stare at Cole. Unease trickling down my spine as the heaviness of their silence stiffens my neck and shoulders.

I want him to say yes. I want him to say he saw her, was close to her and saw if there was something wrong, something that could