Page 6 of Velvet Thorns
“Shannen, I swear to you.”
“Fuck you, Phoenix.” Her scream tears right through me. “Fuck you for making me believe you again.”
She’s already backing away when I lunge after her, grabbing her arm, needing to fix this, needing anything but the way she’s looking at me like I’m the monster under her bed. She whirls on me, and her palm cracks across my face so hard that my vision explodes into white-hot stars.
“If you ever breathe in my direction again, I’ll chop you up into tiny pieces and use your blood for paint. Now leave me alone.”
I never imagined this would be the last time I spoke to her. But it is, because after this, she’s gone.
Chapter 1
SHANNEN
You're Invited to the
South Lake High Ten-Year Reunion Masked Halloween Ball
Join us for a night of mystery, memories, and mayhem beneath the masks.
Date: October 31st
Venue: The Amberley Hotel
Time: 7:00 PM until late
Dress to impress.
Mask required.
Your past is waiting…
I stare at the invitation like it’s a death sentence written in gold lettering, and every ugly memory slams into me at once. The nights I cried until my throat was raw, curled up on my bedroom floor, begging whatever god might be listening to just let me vanish into nothing.
I can’t go backthere.
Absolutely fucking not.
No.
Not a chance in hell.
But wouldn’t it feel good to shove every inch of what I’ve become down their throats and watch them choke on it?
That voice inside me, the one I keep locked in the dark… well, she’s awake again, and she’s smiling. She’s grinning like a sadistic bitch in heat, high on the promise of revenge. She’d kill to walk into that ballroom and tower over those parasites who spent years making my life hell. The ones who spat at me, laughed at me, and tore me down for their own amusement.
I wouldn’t exactly hate showing everyone that I’m not the girl who couldn’t afford clothes without holes anymore.
But then again, I’m supposed to be better than that. I’ve made something of myself—yeah, it’s under a new name, one I chose instead of inherited, but it’s mine.
I got out of Indiana as fast as I could. No goodbyes. No looking back at a life that brought me nothing but pain and misery. I bought a one-way ticket, took the scholarship in Seattle, and shoved what was left of my existence into two duffel bags.
I left for college without ever looking back. It wasn’t easy, and it didn’t happen overnight, but I built an empire from nothing, brick by bloody brick, fueled by rage and the unshakable need to prove I was more than what they tried to reduce me to. Now, I run one of the most successful graphic and web design companies in the country. My name opens doors, my brand builds digital worlds, and I’ve been thriving ever since.
My life is a luxury now. First-class flights that leave the world small beneath me. A skyline view that stretches farther than the grimy trailer windows I used to press my forehead against. The sheets I sleep in are soft, the air smells like freedom, and there’s always a home waiting for me to return to. I don’t take any of it forgranted because I remember what it’s like to starve—not just for food, but for safety and kindness. For someone to notice you exist, or to just care whether you come home at night, or if you vanished and became nothing more than a name no one bothered to say out loud.
The life I grew up with will never leave me. It clings to me like a stubborn asshole with boundary issues. It’s just learned how to dress better, walk in heels, and pretend it belongs in the room.
I used to sleep on floors so sticky with beer it stuck to my skin, surrounded by burned-out needles and the stench of stale smoke, while waiting for parents who never looked at me unless they were high enough to forget I was theirs or pissed off enough to remember to take their drug-fueled temper out on me. Sometimes I was so scared that school felt like the only safe place I had—until even that was taken away from me.
