Page 49 of Unspoken Truths

Elijah is tall and muscular, but seems as if he’d do well in a sport where he needs to be fast on his feet. I haven’t paid enough attention to any of their interests, I’m not obsessed with them the way the rest of the high school is. His brown eyes are calculating and cold, his lips twisted in humor only he can see. His jacket is missing, white shirt rolled up his forearms to expose beautiful skulls and flowers. I didn’t think skulls could be pretty.

He looks too comfortable walking next to me, which makes me feel the exact opposite. Elijah seems like someone who enjoys working in the background.

“I live with Ignacio, and Jared made quite the impression on my first day,” I say softly.

“Do you need to lick my boots to remember my name, then?” he asks dangerously.

“I think I would make myself forget it on purpose if you did that,” I sass him. “I’m not interested in whatever fuckery you have planned today. Go away.”

“There’s so much fire inside you today,” Elijah grunts, grabbing my hand and rocking it over his hard cock. “Why don’t you get on your knees and take care of that like the good little slut you are?”

“You need to have sex that’s not forced in order to be a slut, don’t you?” I ask him, as if I actually care what he thinks.

His arm drops from my shoulders and he lets go of my hand as he twists to look at me as he walks backward.

“Seriously?” he asks. “As in, you’ve never had sex that wasn’t…”

“Rape? No, I would still be a virgin otherwise,” I say. “Taking one of the worst moments of my life and turning it into entertainment is really fucked up, Elijah.”

His foot slips in the wet grass as I say his name, but he manages to catch himself from the surprise.

“One of us ran with the information, and did whatever was necessary,” he says. “It’s simply what we do.”

“I’m not the enemy,” I remind him. “I’m just a girl.”

Moving around Elijah, I attempt to walk ahead of him, but his damn long legs won’t let me.

His fingers wrap around in my hair until he fists it, pulling my head back sharply.

“You’re a girl who doesn’t belong here,” he rasps, lips almost touching my skin as he pulls me roughly against his chest. “You should be in a trailer park with your mother, or at the public school doing crack.”

“Crack?” I ask, a laugh bubbling up inside of me. It’s inappropriate, but I can’t help it. The idea of doing something so preposterous makes me laugh even harder. I’ve never done any drugs, and my doctor isn’t even sure if prescription drugs are something I should consider for my mental health.

God, these guys. Fucking crack is what he comes up with.

“Is that what you think poor people do? Huddle together to randomly smoke crack?” I chortle. “That’s a little extreme, Elijah.”

“I’m not poor, I don’t know what your drug of choice is,” he mutters, grunting when I shove my stun gun between his legs and push down on the button to force electric pulses into his dick.

“Maybe you should do a little research before insulting me,” I say sweetly, twisting to get my hair out of his fist. Shoving my foot into his chest and pushing him away once I’m free, I shrug. “Keep your hands to yourself too.”

Elijah cups himself, groaning as he writhes, dropping onto his back.

“Come kiss it better!” he roars. “You better not have broken my dick!”

“What were you going to do with it, anyway?” I ask, my feet already stepping away as I walk backward. Oh, how the tables have turned. I can’t get cocky, though. I don’t know how high his tolerance for pain is, and he’s already made it clear he’s not above using his strength against me. “Attempt to shove it down my throat? Plot twist, I fucking bite, asshole.”

Turning away, I race toward the track, despite the fact that I hate to run. Elijah roars behind me, still on his back, but I refuse to turn back around. His presence is a reminder that I don’t belong here, this world isn’t mine, yet I’m slowly beginning to want it to be.

There are opportunities here that aren’t accessible at other schools, the classes more challenging than I’ll find at any other public school I’ve attended. I want to keep moving forward.

I just need the Kings to step back and leave me alone, or I need to make them. The problem is, I don’t think anyone has ever made them do anything they don’t want to do. They’re overprivileged, cocky fuckers with too much damn money and time.

I haven’t done anything to them except exist, which means that I need to talk to Liliana to decide how I can fight fire with fire.

* * *

LILIANA

---