Page 35

She stops talking abruptly, cheeks turning pink at her rambling. I get my whiteboard and marker out, starting to write on it with a smile on my face. ‘Hi! I’m Penelope. I am here with Riot.’ I draw a little smiley face next to my name and flip the board for her to see. Her eyes widen and fear flickers through them for a short second.

“O-o-oh okay!” She stumbles over her words, slowly backing up. Is it because I said I’m with Riot? Erasing quickly and writing something down, I flip it back to her before she bolts like I know she really wants to. ‘How do I look like you? You’re gorgeous,’ I say, a sad look washing over my face at her fear of me, more like her fear of Riot.

She stops in her tracks as her eyes scan my words and then snap to mine. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to be talking to Riot’s girl. I’m sorry.” Tears brim in my eyes at her words. So nobody can talk to me because I’m with Riot?

I nod slowly, a rogue tear sliding down my cheek. Forgetting the food I so desperately wanted, I turn around to head back to Riot’s room, my head dropping to look at the floor. Her eyes don’t leave me as I walk away. Halfway down the hall, I crash into a hard chest and a deep voice coos to me.

“Hey there, baby. Where’d you come from?” I look up to see a random man. Long blond hair touches his shoulders, and an ugly scar cuts across his eye and mouth. One of his eyes is brown, the other one white. He grabs my wrist, bringing it to his mouth and peppering light kisses on it. When he’s done, he doesn’t let it go. “You want to come to my bedroom? I’ll show you a great time.” He winks, his nasty Irish accent barely understandable.

I shake my head no, and his nostrils flare at the denial. I look over towards the living room to see Destiny still standing there, eyes trained on my situation. I plead to her with my eyes to help me. Her bright eyes narrow.

I look back at the man when he pulls my wrist, trying to get me to walk down the hall with him. I shake my head frantically, panic rising in my blood. “C’mon bitch,” he grunts, pulling harshly on my wrist again. I cry out, pain shooting through my arm to my shoulder.

Before he can tug again, a deafening sound rings out, and he drops to the ground. Warm, sticky, and some chunky liquid lands all over my face and body, blood pooling around his head. I scream at the top of my lungs, the slightest bit louder and I’ll break glass.

I fall to my ass, my hands and feet struggling to scoot me back to the cold wall. My heart is pounding so hard against my rib cage it feels like it’s about to break while I watch the man’s brain matter leak out of his head, blood staining the floor beneath him.

I look towards where the bullet came from and see Destiny standing there looking at the man, bright pink gun in hand. A guy rushes to her and grabs her arm roughly, but she shouts something at him, his eyes snapping to me before he lets her go and she rushes towards me.

She grabs under my arms, helping me to my feet as the screams and cries rip through my throat at the sight, everything going numb. It was one thing for me to be far away when Riot shot that man, but I was right next to this one. What if she missed? What if he moved? His blood and brain coat my face and clothing.

I’m hyperventilating as she walks us towards Riot’s room, kicking the door open, the wood splintering under her foot. I know there’s a camera in here, so he will definitely see this. Fuck.

She walks us to the bathroom, lightly nudging the door open. She doesn’t close it behind us as she sits me on the toilet and goes to start the shower, feeling the temperature with her hand. She comes back over to me and kneels, taking my bloody hands in hers, squeezing them tightly.

“I’m so sorry I had to do that. But he will not touch you like that when I know you didn’t want it. I watched you shake your head no and plead with your eyes. I got you, girl.” I calm slightly at her words, realizing she was genuinely trying to protect me.

“Can we get you showered and his matter all off of you? He’s always been a slimy bastard. Thank God I finally had a reason to kill him.” I nod my head, and she peels my shirt off, rambling about the most random things to help get me out of shock. She stands me up, shimmying my pants off but leaving my underwear and bra on.

She helps me stand up and walk to the shower. “And that’s why I hate fucking Dodge cars.” My mind snaps to reality, and I giggle at her remark. I wasn’t listening, so I don’t know, but I wish I did. Walking into the shower, she pushes me under the waterfall stream of hot water, scalding my skin in the best way possible.

She steps out of the shower, wiping the little bit of water off her tan arms. “I’m going to wait in the bedroom, Pen. I’ll try to find you some clothes and bring them in.” I nod at her, not being able to say anything else without my whiteboard. She smiles sadly before walking out, the door clicking closed behind her.

I focus on my breathing as I use Riot’s soap to lather it all over. I practically use the entire bottle of it to scrub every inch of my skin raw from that man.

I spend thirty minutes in this shower, the water having gone cold a long time ago, just washing my body. Over and over, and over. Until I feel the smallest bit cleaner.

He’s not on me, but I can still feel the stick of his blood, the warmth of his brain matter on my face. I shiver at the thought of him. The way he looked on the ground, his head having such a perfect hole in it, blood spewing out.

Destiny brought in clothes a while ago, a big light gray sweatshirt, some black leggings, and a new matching set of bra and underwear. After shaving, getting dressed, and giving myself a pep talk in the mirror, I walk out to see Destiny sitting on the floor in the middle of the room.

I shoot her a questioning look, and she speaks, “I was scared to sit on any of Riot’s furniture. I value my life greatly.” Is he really that scary to these people? She stands up, grabbing something from the edge of the bed, my whiteboard.

“I went and got it after I got you clothes so that we could talk.” Her entire face beams with joy, not bothered in the slightest that I won’t speak. It shocked me that I started talking to Linda and Riot that fast. I don’t want to trust someone else, and they break it. I’m already trusting my gut on Riot. Linda is a given; she’s a mother, a god damn good one at that. She has that maternal energy that surrounds her, letting everyone feel the warmth she carries around.

“So, since I just killed someone for you, and in front of you,” she smiles sheepishly, “Now we’re friends.” Her face is wary, hoping I won’t turn her down as she did to me. “Also, I’ll probably die soon because that guy was pretty high in the ranks.” All I can see on her features is fear now, everything else wiped clean.

‘No, you won’t. Riot will understand if the guy was hurting me.’ I write on my board, handwriting sloppy at how fast I went. I flip it to her, and a small sense of relief flushes her face, but the fear of what if is still there.

“Want to meet my friends?” I can tell she senses my hesitance as she closes the distance between us, pulling me into a comforting hug. My body tenses at the interaction at first, but I slowly release and hug her back. We stay like that for a little bit before she pulls back and speaks. “It’s okay if not, but know I’ll be there for you, girl. They are very nice too, and fucking idiots.”

After thinking for a second, I nod my head yes, and she literally starts jumping up and down, clapping her hands, and squealing.

She grabs my hand, pulling me down the hall so fast my brain and soul are still in the damn bedroom just standing there.

When we reach the living room, it’s full. People sit around, food in their hands. “It’s dinner time, so everyone is in the main house,” Destiny speaks over the crowds of voices. She pulls me into the largest dining room I’ve ever seen. Multiple circle tables crowd the room, and people are seated at all of them. We walk to a window in the wall, the other side a kitchen.

Plates of food sit on the ledge, warming lamps above them. Spaghetti sits on all of them; meatballs and parmesan cheese sit on top of the pile of noodles. Destiny lets go of my hand and picks up two plates and two forks, looking back at me before leading me to a table full of people my age in the back of the room.