Page 72 of Make Me Yours

Beside him, his girlfriend Tracy grinned wide, yellow teeth rotting at the gums, joining him in this mockery I faced daily. She was fucking ugly as fuck. Yellow-blonde hair turning green at the ends, ten layers of makeup piled on high to hide what ten years of doing meth had done to her. She never let my old man see her without it. Surely she knew even he would dump her ass if he knew what she truly looked like.

Without warning, his knuckled fist hit me straight in the stomach, making me bend forward in agony. Another to the side of my face as I stood there crouched over, staring down at the floor. Blood dripped out of my mouth as a single tooth lay on the dirty carpeted floor beneath me. At least it was already half loose. I didn’t cry though. I couldn’t piss myself and cry all in the same day. I wouldn’t have made it out alive if I had.

“No one will ever give a rat's ass about you, do you hear me? Why would they, huh? You can’t even fucking talk. All you do is stand there and take the fucking beatings like the goddamn pussy ass kid you are.”

A kid, that’s what I was. Just a fucking kid. A year later was the day I finally fought back. The day my life changed forever when I was taken out of his care and put into the foster house.

But to this day, my old man’s words still ring loud and clear, haunting me like a bad dream, reminding me of the truth he drilled into me.

No one would ever give a rat’s ass about me.

I’ve been so lost in my own thoughts, damn that was some good weed. I hadn’t realized the rest of the gang moved over to where Ruby, Drake, and I were, pouting and avoiding everyone for good reason.

“God, I’ve fucking missed this,” Jade sighs, drinking the slushy margarita she clutches in her hand. She grins widely as she notices everyone watching her. “The worst part of being pregnant was that I couldn’t have a single sip of this godly nectar.” Everyone laughs at her dramatics, but it’s Scar who raises her brow curiously and slightly irritated.

“Really Jade,” Scar scoffs, “The fact you couldn’t get drunk was the worst part about being pregnant. What about the, oh I don't know, throwing up all day, or gaining like twenty plus pounds?”

Jade rolls her eyes, flicking her long blond ponytail toward her sister, “Oh, come on, that wasn’t that bad.” Everyone knows she’s just lying since Jade threw up almost the entirety of her pregnancy, not to mention her appetite was out of the roof and drove Bass crazy.

“What about the mood swings,” Bass jokes, Ace turning to him and raising his hand for a high-five. Both girls glare at them, making the guys quickly raise their hands in surrender.

Pussy-whipped fuckers.

We’re all gathered around the firepit in the middle of the sand at the forefront of Bass’s beach house, directly facing the ocean. The waves are quiet and serene on this early fall afternoon; the sun setting, making the blue sky turn all different shades of purple, orange, and red.

It’s cooling down in the evenings, so there are blankets and pillows laid out on the floor beside the two coolers full of alcohol and other beverages, and burgers charring on the grill.

Everything is so different from just a year ago when we first arrived, now all together instead of on opposite sides, but as I look around at the group before me, it’s the most important person who’s missing. Elijah sits by Ace going on about who knows what, completely distracted, as Bass moves over to join them, oblivious to the fact Stella is nowhere in sight.

The girls are on the opposite side, no longer carrying the babies they had just a moment ago, and it’s then I know exactly where she’s gone. Stella loves those babies and every chance she gets relieves their mothers of their duties.

Instead of asking where she is, I announce I’m going to the restroom, sneaking into the house unseen, and taking the stairs to the second floor to find her.

As I arrive at the door to Onyx and Sapphire’s nursery, I hear her soft, angelic voice singing a lullaby I’m all too familiar with.

Hush little baby don’t say a word. Mama’s going to buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird don’t sing, Mama’s going to buy you a diamond ring.

A sharp pang of guilt hits my chest, making me nearly fall over, as I slowly push the door open, and she comes into view. She’s cradling one of the babies, not sure which one, rocking them back and forth as she sings, while the other two are sound asleep in the cribs. I move to step forward, but I can’t, physically can’t. I’m locked in place, one hand against the door, the other on my chest, my eyes burning, prickling with something unknown to me.

What the hell is wrong with me?The sight of Stella holding a child shouldn’t affect me. I shouldn’t want to run to her, wrap my arms around her, and comfort her, as her voice changes from melodic to broken.

The door suddenly creaks as I lean against it, making her spin her head toward me in panic, but she doesn’t stop singing. Her eyes meet mine and instead of asking me why I’m here, or what I want, she turns back toward Caeli in her arms, and continues to rock her. From here I can see she’s almost asleep, Onyx and Sapphire each in their own crib, softly snoring.

Slowly she sets Caeli beside Onyx, her little arms stretching above her head as she gets comfortable, snuggling beside him. They’re tiny, only a couple months old, but already so attached to each other. Stella moves to a dresser beside the rocking chair and turns on a sound machine and something that looks like a baby monitor, before moving toward the window and pulling the curtains shut.

Tiny little stars appear glowing on the ceiling as the room goes dark. A lamp nearby she turns on reflecting off the lampshade with cutouts of horses galloping. The light from the bulb makes them project against the walls of the room, and it feels like they’re prancing around us.

It isn’t until she’s finished setting up the room that she turns her attention back to me, still frozen, standing like an idiot in the same spot.

“I can’t keep doing this, Kai,” she whispers as she walks toward me. In the darkness, her skin glows as the minor strokes of light illuminate her between the shadows. I don’t speak, I couldn’t if I wanted to. I have no idea what I’d even say. I came up here to look for her but had no plan for what I was going to do once I found her.

The only thing I can think of is how her skin felt under my fingertips, how good her pussy felt wrapped around my cock, squeezing me as she came for me, screaming my name. I swallowed her moans, kissing her, and my mouth was salivating from the memory, with just the thought of doing it again.

I know she feels it too, the tension in the room. The silence is deafening, nothing but the soft hums of babies snoring, and the white noise that blends into the background. Her wide eyes are glazed over with desire as she watches me watching her, my eyes roaming over her body, imagining it naked beneath me, at my mercy. I was so angry and caught up in the moment I didn’t get to admire all of her, indulge in her.

I take a step forward, floating in the air as I make my way over to her, reaching out to cup her cheek in my palm, my free hand gripping her waist and pulling her toward me. She doesn’t resist, doesn’t pull away or wiggle out of my hold. She doesn’t fight me, but the look in her eyes shows defeat.

“Tell me,” she murmurs against my lips as she leans forward and softly grazes mine with hers. “Right here, right now. Tell me you love me, or I’ll walk right out that door and you'll never see me again.”

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