Bitter Kisses (It's Just High School #3) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,7

heads from their fucking shoulders for touching Mia.

“Where?” I demand.

“Over there,” Cole says. Spotting Cole’s matte black Dodge Challenger parked in front of Liam’s Lamborghini, I start striding toward it, fucking glad that he and my brother drove separately. It makes this all fucking easier.

“Will you ride with me?” I mutter.

“You don’t even have to say a word,” Cole answers.

Just then, my father looks up, finally noticing that something’s up with us. I watch from the corner of my eye as he quickly ends his call and rushes to us. It’s then that I notice Cole and Liam are both walking with me, thunderous yet impassive expressions on their faces. I have no fucking clue how I look like and right now, I don’t give a flying fuck. Not when I’ve failed this hellishly.

“Whoa, whoa, what’s going on here?” John demands, stopping in front of us, his searching, suspicious gaze moving from me to Liam and Cole. “Why do you all look like you’re about to go on a murder spree?”

Cole glances at me warily, his gaze shifting from me, to Liam, then toward his car parked across the courtyard by the curb. I can just about hear him calculate how fast he’ll be able to drag me toward the car before I snap.

“What’s going on?” Dad demands.

A heavy, violent silence hangs over us until Dad faces Liam.

“These two might be fucking tight lipped like a dead fish but you, what’s going on here?”

With a grunt of annoyance, Liam passes his phone to my dad and I sidestep him and continue on my warpath toward the car. Cole’s car is throaty and loud, we’re going to need something more silent for what’s in store.

Already, my mind is whirring with all sorts of strategies and contingency plans I need to put in place, but one thing is clear, Sean and his fucking brother won’t make it to the end of this fucking night.

“Jesus Christ,” Dad curses, his voice filled with disbelief, horror and disgust behind me. “What is this?”

“We still don’t…” Cole starts, but Liam cuts him off.

“It’s a fucking prank we’re going to return with a swift brutality.”

I stop, my palms balled into fists as the phone cuts into my hand, but the pain is nothing like the chaos in me.

“This?” Dad starts, a catch in his voice. I don’t have to see his face to know what he’s thinking. “This is a prank?”

Swiftly turning around, my gaze lands on my brother who clearly still in fucking denial over this.

“A prank?” I start, the incredulity of the word scorching my tongue like acid. Cole and Liam pause, their dark, hooded gazes now on me as they both finally see the rage in me, but dad just stares down at the phone, his jaw locked.

You sold her off just so you could avoid paying for your sins...

The empty, almost lifeless look in her once vibrant, aquamarine eyes.

She’s delicious though...

The way she was lying there fucking naked, battered, bruised and bleeding.

My Little Minx.

I’ve failed this girl so many fucking times but now the universe has finally conspired to really fuck me up.

It’s as if the universe has finally demanded for my existence to come to an end, and now here I am, feeling like I’m taking in my last breath, going straight to the pits of hell.

“You think this is a prank, Liam?” Dad questions, the doubt in his voice clear as the alarm in his eyes when he looks up at me.

“I mean what else could it be?” Liam says, shifting on his feet, regarding me with caution. “Well, to be fair, maybe it’s just a manipulated photo.”

“A manipulated photo, huh?” I whisper, ignoring how broken I sound as I walk back to my brother. Cole steps in, shaking his head slightly. “Do you really think that’s some fucking cadaver with bruises and a nasty bleeding gash to the head? You think that’s manipulated to resemble the girl who’s had my back when I didn’t have hers?”

The truth of my actions and the shit I said to her the last time I saw her is disgusting.

Great move, asshole. Get a fucking pat on the back while you’re fucking at it.

“Julian—” Dad starts but I cut him off as I stare at my brother but speaking to all three of them.

“You think those assholes are that creative enough to mess with my head?” I growl, letting the anger fester as my mind races.

“Dude, try to calm down,” Liam warns, glancing around at