Bitter Kisses (It's Just High School #3) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,42

mess you love more than anything else because at the core of that hard exterior you’re not just strong, you’re a sensitive person full of insecurities but mostly love and now you’re talking about ‘there’s no way out’? There is a way out of this shithole, damn it! We just need to find it.”

We stare at each other, the irony of this situation not lost on me.

There was a time I would’ve said ‘screw it, I’ll save myself and leave this bitch,’ but I’m no longer Mia from before the summer. Or the Mia before my life unraveled the day I moved into the Fitzgerald mansion.

I have no clue who I am. Amy as my father said or Mia, a name I gave myself, but one thing is clear. I’m not staying here to find out.

“Okay,” she says, her voice small and shaky. “Let’s do it.”

“You’re damn right we’re going to do this. We can’t give them the satisfaction of breaking us. No way.”

We can do that all by ourselves anyway, if cutting myself is anything to go by.

But one thing is clear, I’ll be damned if I let Shane and his fucking brother assault me, hold me hostage and dope me up like a fucking horse, all just to hurt Julian.

I attempt to stand up, biting down on my lip, bracing for inevitable pain. I almost fall over, realizing that my legs are asleep. Kristine catches me.

“Shit, okay, you’re useless in moving around.”

“What sort of drug did they use on me?”

“The kind used to numb a person’s entire body until you can’t move. Can’t talk. Can’t make a sound or scream for help. But you’ll be awake, watching everything happen to you.”

Silence.

She’s had this drug used on her before. But before I can ask more, she quickly helps me back on the bed.

“You lie back down, so you can try to recover. I’ll get you another sheet and check this shithole again.”

“Maybe they have some kind of phone here, it might be old but maybe we can call for help.”

“Maybe,” she mumbles, her voice lacking conviction, but she goes anyway. Kristine grabs another dusty sheet, air whips it and then brings it over to me. “I shouldn’t have done this. When they get back…”

“We won’t be here when they get back, check for another exit.”

Kristine nods, steps back and rushes to the back of the warehouse, cradling her baby bump as she goes.

I hear her move stuff around, and I wish I could tell her not to make so much noise but maybe noise is good. Maybe someone will hear us and come inspect what’s happening.

I tug the extra sheet around me, anxiety thrumming at my nerves.

Just then, a piercing scream shatters my thoughts, bouncing on the walls of the warehouse and I jerk up, startled as fear sinks into me. Dread knots my insides.

Another scream and then the unmistakable sound of flesh being slapped. Hard.

“Kristine!” I shout, my voice still groggy. “Kristine, where are you?”

She doesn’t respond, but I hear whimpering, then the sound of heavy footsteps. Then…

“Well, well, fucking well,” he says, his voice throaty, full of sick amusement and hate. “I was wondering if you two were going to pinky promise to save each other and guess I was right all along. You stupid cunts.”

My eyes narrow, hate slithering down my spine as I look up at him as he roughly drags Kristine by her hair on the dirty hard floor.

“Sean.”

“The one and only,” he says, with a laugh. “I’ve been waiting for hours for you to finally wake up because you are my long-awaited appointment to ruin.”

Chapter Ten

Julian

I see the unmarked black SUV as soon as I pull up at the Devil’s Track. This is the place I first put my hands on her after years of watching from a distance, hating her, wanting her, not knowing what to do with her.

This is where my brother was almost blown to bits and I almost lost him.

This is where my trust in Mia dwindled all over again, my mind clouded by the overwhelming evidence stacked against her when she was innocent the whole time.

And even then, she tried to speak up and tell me to get my fucking head out of my ass.

Knowing that the guy who left the van here is probably gone and left everything I asked for exactly where it should be, I walk up to the van, not watching where I’m going until I pull the driver’s door open and almost have