Page 29 of Giving In

“Rose, love, listen to me. You guys are involved. Period. You were involved before coming to Stoneview. Running away to a rich family doesn’t change shit. You two do what you’re told, and we’ll discuss keeping you out of future shit.”

He lets go of her and she takes a few steps back, looking daggers at him and massaging her jaw.

“Your family needs you. Don’t disappoint.”

He turns to leave, and I sprint back down the stairs.

This is worse than I thought. The twins are neck-deep in this.

I only stop running when I’m out of the house, past the driveway, and back on the street.

I need to talk to Emily about this. I need to bring her home with me and tell her what I just saw. There is too much information for me to handle on my own. I turn around to walk back to the house and hit against a hard chest.

“Ow,” I exclaim and take a step back looking up as a hand grabs my arm tightly.

Fuck.

Jake is looking down at me, furious. The hate emanating from his body is burning through his hand and on my arm.

“You,” he growls.

He knows I told Chris.

My brain goes on high alert and the drunken feeling I had completely disappears.

“Wait, let me explain,” I say, helplessly shaking my head.

“Yeah, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.” He drags me with him up Camila’s driveway.

“What are you doing? Wait!”

He doesn’t listen and doesn’t let go until we’re by a black G-Wagon. He opens the passenger door, throwing me inside. I barely have time to pull my arm away before he slams the door.

I look around the car and take three deep breaths. Each one makes me tremble a little more and Chris’ words ring back in my ears. ‘Don’t let him drag you down his fucked-up slope just because he’s haunted by demons he can’t handle.’

What kind of demons? The kind that had him involved in Sam’s gang when he was barely a teenager? The kind that you pick up when you’ve been in the system for too long? When you’ve been in so many families that you lost the meaning of it? Seen too much that forced you to age too early?

The slamming of his door makes me jump out of my thoughts.

“Seatbelt,” he says coldly as he starts the car.

“This isn’t your car,” I reply.

Really, Jamie? That’s what you’re worried about?

“Shut. Your. Mouth. Do you know what that means? Clearly not since you went and told Chris about Sam. Out of all the people you could have told...Chris,” he seethes. A cold chill runs down my spine.

I slowly fasten my seatbelt as he backs out of the driveway and onto the road. He speeds down Stoneview and I hold onto the door.

“Have you been drinking?” I ask worriedly. I don’t want to die because the bastard doesn’t get it’s not a good idea to drink and drive.

“If you don’t stop talking, I’m going to hurt you, Jamie.” The way his voice stays calm when he says this makes me shiver. It’ssocalm.

I swallow the lump in my throat and try to quiet down the voice in my head that screams,he’s going to hurt you anyway!

After minutes of driving in silence, he finally stops the car. I recognize where we are straight away. It’s the parking lot at the bottom of the trail that leads to Stoneview lake. The lake in the middle of thick, dark woods. He gets out of the car, slams the door, and walks to my side to open my door.

“Out.”

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