Page 88 of Raise 'Em Up

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Missi mutters under her breath, and my mom shakes her head but leaves us.

Missi slams the door, flicking the lock. I stay on my bed, too exhausted to move.

“Why are you here?” I finally ask her when she hasn’t said a word in over five minutes.

Her casually walking through my room, touching my things, has me on edge. This bitch is psychotic, and I hate having to walk on eggshells with her.

Spinning back to face me, she gives me a bright smile, then twirls a strand of her dyed hair.

“Black Ridge is beautiful this time of year, isn’t it, Lenny boo? I was sad when you didn’t invite me on your little trip a few months back, but once I took a hike there, it all made sense.”

My eyes widen and my mouth opens. No fucking way. She’s got to be bluffing.

She continues to smile and chat about the weather and the mountains.

“How?” I narrow my eyes at her…

“You should really know by now that I won’t ever let you out of my sight. Especially out of town, baby. You’re mine. I never thought that I would witness you and your family pissing on a grave.” She crinkles her nose. “That was an extra special… surprise.”

Nostrils flaring, I jump up and grab her arms, shaking her.

“Are you fucking crazy?!” I hiss and then snort. “Of course you are.” I shake my head. “Do you have a death wish? Missi, you don’t understand how dangerous it is that you were there. If they ever find out…”

“It’s sweet that you are worried about me, Lenny, but I’d be more concerned for your friends. I mean, if I was to go to the police, or maybe post this video and wait for it to go viral…”

“What video? The sex? Go for it! I am tired of you holding it over my head. It doesn’t matter anymore. I left the Cheer house.”

Missi laughs and pulls away from me, patting my cheek condescendingly. “Oh, honey, I mean the little clip I have of all of you at Black Ridge, of course.”

My eyes widen in horror. Fuck. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck. What the hell has this batshit crazy bitch done? We are so fucked. If Linc or the Black Venom Crew find out that Missi knows where Alvero is buried, they will kill us all.

Mateo might be his cousin, but that doesn’t matter to Linc. If there's a chance his brother, Hunter, best friends and girl are at risk of being in danger, he will kill any threat without blinking.

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath, then give in. Because just like Linc, I’ll do anything for the ones I love. Even if it kills my soul to do it.

“What do you want?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Again!” I shout, and everyone groans.

“We’ve been at this for hours!” Ursula shouts. “This is bullshit.”

“This is life,” I tell her. “We’re down a man with no replacement. That means we need to re-work a lot of our routines.”

“Or we could come up with a new one.” She gives me a dirty look.

“We have a lot of good ones. Why spend all that time making up a new one? It will be easier this way. Now, let's go again.”

Everyone is exhausted, and I don’t blame them. I’m fucking miserable, but not because of cheer.

Things at home have been shit for the past few weeks. It started with the change in Lennox. He slowly started to distance himself from us, and when we confronted him, he got defensive.

He started fighting with Mateo because of the way Len was treating him and Rylee. It got to the point where Lennox just left. He wouldn’t give us any reason as to why either.

After Lennox left, Mateo started fighting again. He doesn’t care about the money, he's doing it because he needs to work out his anger. I can tell he’s on edge, and he's doing his best not to take it out on us.

So, he regularly comes home with broken ribs, bloody hands, and a busted up face. I know he needs this to deal with things in his own way, but it’s just adding more stress to Rylee’s plate.

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