Page 97 of The Masks She Wore

?She stared at me with wide eyes. “You really didn’t,” she tried to convince herself. “You didn’t. That’s…did you really?” she asked, trying to force herself to come to terms with my imaginary scenario.

?Truthfully, I couldn’t think about anythingbutJack while he was fucking me. While he was even in the same room as me. He took up every corner of my mind, which probably wasn’t that healthy, but once you were fucked like I had been fucked, it was hard not to let it consume you.

?But that reaction? That was real. She had been there with me in that class, she remembered him. Right? Nobody could pretend to act like this, could they? This had to be real.

?After a moment of thought, she smiled. “I’ll tell you what though,” Viv went on, leaning over. “He wasn’t as hot as Mr. Denson,” she said as if someone would overhear us.

?My eyes widened in absolute shock. “Our History teacher? Ew. Viv, he had a rat tail and a goatee.”

?She shrugged, her smile wide. “I kinda liked it. Gave me troubled art teacher vibes.”

?We broke into laughter as we finally pulled through the tall, wrought-iron gates that led to the front of the church.

?She was normal. She was Viv. How could I have ever doubted Viv. She had been there with me through everything. Through Donna being a bitch, through the classes I thought I failed, through losing my virginity, and my drug and alcohol phase. Through losing my mom, she had been there through it all.

?God, I was so stupid to doubt her over some guy. I mean, Jack wasn’t justsome guy, but he wasn’t my best friend. He wasn’t there, he didn’t know her like I did.

?She pulled up next to another car, a black Lexus, and shut it off. “Right up your alley, right?” she asked, looking over.

?She did it all for me. This club in the middle of nowhere, the Molly, everything. She cared about me, I was sure of it now. She hadn’t lied about anything.

?I felt a huge smile break across my face as I really took it in. The dark clouds rolling in, the wind whistling through the trees, the creepy stained-glass windows and spires reaching up to the heavens with a large cross mounted miles above everything else it seemed. “Yeah,” I nodded, looking over, my muscles relaxing, the excitement of the creepy ambiance finally settling in. “This is amazing.”

?She clapped her hands and slid out of the car, with me following right behind her. It was beautiful. I could smell the Fall rainstorm coming, the edges of Winter trickling in. Fuck, it was gorgeous. If I had any plans of having a wedding, this is where it would be.

?She handed me my bracelet and clipped hers on. I did the same, twisting it around to study the symbol across the cheap black leather.

?An upside down cross with an anatomical heart in the center of it.

?It was absolutely perfect.

?She looped her arm through mine and pulled me towards the door.

?It was just like any other club. A DJ, lights, people dancing and sweating, music so loud, it drowned out any thoughts, and a bar, stocked to the teeth with booze.

?We got ourselves a few shots and joined the crowd, dancing and grinding against each other. I lost my jacket almost immediately, and when the Molly didn’t hit, I asked Viv for another, losing myself in the music. I forgot about my problems, my worries, my fears, my exhaustion, and I just was.

?God, it felt good.

20

Jack

November 17th, 2019

It was just past midnight when I was finally on my way to Rae’s location, only pausing to make a quick switch of vehicle due to the storm hitting California.

?The three bastard boys we had been assigned to kill had caused more trouble than Zo and I had thought, but we handled it just fine. She had to stay and wait for Jade, but I needed to go. I hadn’t heard from Rae in over an hour, and I was tired of waiting. I trusted her to take care of herself, but I had also hoped for at least one drunken text teasing me. She couldn’t help herself, that much I knew, so the fact that I hadn’t heard from her at all worried me deeply.

?The shrill of my phone broke through my thoughts. I picked it up, glancing at the name, my heart skipping when I saw her name flash across the screen.

?I hit answer, her ragged breathing seeping through the speakers of my car almost immediately.

?“Hello, Princess,” I greeted, barely able to contain my anger. I didn’t want her going to Viv’s, the woman was bad news, but she would have gone anyway. I at least expected a couple of updates, drunk or not, and she had gone silent. She shouldn’t have gone silent.

?Silence was death.

?Greyson had tried to walk me through breathing exercises to control my anger problems, but so far, those lessons had proved to be useless. Our anger was meant to be used as a weapon, nothing less.

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