Page 41 of Hate So Deep
Dropped out of school when she learned she was pregnant, and rumors swirled that not only was she completely fucked but she couldn’t name the father.
When Dirk turns back to the road, his brows furrowed, I bow my head, considering the implications.
Did Colt fuck her or Dirk? Maybe both of them…?
Fuck me.
Resisting the urge to rub away the brutal ache in my chest, I laugh uneasily and say, “She was a bitch.”
When neither comment, the subject is dropped, and I gaze out the window.
Shewasa bitch and for whatever reason, she hated me, but I still felt a kernel of pity for her when all of her so-called friends dropped her.
Although not surprising it must have been a brutal blow. I know how it feels to lose your friends, even if I distanced myself before they could do it for me.
“You ever get in the ring?” Dirk asks, breaking the weird silence. “Paulson was asking about you.”
“Nope, don’t do that shit anymore. No need,” Colt says but I sense a dark undercurrent to his tone.
“S’pose not,” Dirk says, his brows flickering.
What ring? I heard rumors that the last time Colt and Buck fought it was in some illegal cage fighting scenario.
Of course, this was all gleaned from gossip and eavesdropping because no one would tell me to my face.
I’ll never forget how fucked up Buck was though, and I thought I had seen the worst of it, until he ended up in the hospital again.
What is Colt saying? Why is there no need?
Is it because my brother is dead?
The remainder of the ride is quiet and when we pull up to the Christmas bazaar, I exit without looking at anyone before I stalk away.
Unfortunately, this means I come upon the girls, and my throat burns when Kayla grabs Dirk’s arm, leading him toward the entrance.
Celia walks ahead with Cat bouncing beside her and I slow as Colt passes with Finn in tow.
She glances back, her brows furrowed but I avoid her gaze, my throat achingly dry.
Dirk
Stacey fucking Hughes.
Fuck but it feels like every time I turn around she pops up. She’s like a fucking ghost haunting my life despite having left her in the past a long time ago.
Her fine ass drew me in from the start but when we locked eyes and her hazel peepers blazed at me with greed, I fucked her in my bed that night and then went in for a repeat.
That’s where it should have ended though. She was Academy, which should have been my first warning, but I ignored everything in favor of the pretty, vivacious girl who made me feel alive for the first time that I could remember.
What I never saw coming was the lie. Stacey wasn’t a free spirit, unchained by rules or social mores. She didn’t do what she wanted when she wanted.
To this day, I don’t quite know who she was trying to convince…herself or the rest of us, but in all reality, she was still a pretty bird in a gilded cage.
The problem is, I swallowed her words as though they were gospel only to realize that in the end she was never going to be my savior.
The reminder leaves an ashy taste on my tongue especially now because when Lauren met my stare in the rearview mirror, she raised a condescending fucking brow.
Oh ho, the pretty princess was offended but she doesn’t understand a goddamn thing. I embrace the darkness. I’veplayed so many games with so many girls that I’ve lost count, and I always won.
