10
Rylee ignored me on Monday and she was never alone. She looked worried and her eyes looked sad and something else I couldn’t place. She ignored my texts too and I was close to losing my temper. We were sitting in the cafeteria having lunch and I couldn’t help but stare at her.
“Lucas, I have to talk to you about something,” Jax said as I sat down.
“What’s up Jax?” I asked him still looking at Rylee.
“I’ve found the one,” he said to me.
“The one what?” I asked not really listening to him.
“My bonded half… it’s Chris… her smell is intoxicating and I know you’re protective but I’m not going to reject this bond,” he said to me and my head snapped to his.
“What?” I asked him thinking I didn’t hear him correctly.
“Chris and I have been bonded,” he said to me.
“No,” I said to him.
“It’s not your call Lucas, it’s meant to be,” he said to me.
“Keep your hands off my sister,” I said to him.
“She’s already recognized the bond man,” he said and I stood up slowly as I glared at him.
“You touched her?” I asked him as I rounded the table and he stood up backing away from me.
“It wasn’t like that, it just happened,” he said to me.
I looked over at Chris and the hand she held over her neck, right where Jax’s mark would be and I looked back at him.
“You son of a bitch,” I said to him and lunged blinded by pure rage.
We slid over the smooth floor of the cafeteria as he held his arms in front of his face. I didn’t see Jax as my best friend at that stage. I saw him as a horny teen boy that had put his hands on my sister. I had started hitting him as we hit the floor and everyone was watching us.
Preston and Rev were trying to pull me off Jax but I was seeing red. I wanted to kill him. The mark on my sister’s neck meant he slept with her which meant that after midnight he’d waken up and found my sister and defiled her.
“Lucas, I’m sorry,” he yelled at me as I kept hitting him.
“She’s fucking sixteen!” I yelled back as Preston and Rev each grabbed an arm and pulled me backwards.
“It’s not what you think,” he said to me wiping blood from his face. Chris was standing next to her table looking at us with wide eyes.
“Fuck you Jax,” I said as I grabbed my backpack and walked out of the cafeteria.
“Lucas!” Chris yelled but I ignored her as she stopped next to Jax and I could see their reflection in the glass doors in front of me. She was hugging him so I just kept walking.
Rev followed me but I told him to watch Jax. He simply nodded and turned back as I kept walking to the parking lot. I didn’t care about staying at school and I certainly didn’t care that I might have hurt Jax. I should’ve been more in tune with what was going on around me. I knew he didn’t just see her as a sister and now she was marked, stuck in this lifestyle where I didn’t want her.
I climbed in my car and I saw Rylee as she stood by the front door of the school building looking at me. I started the car, drove up to the entrance, and stopped. Rylee looked back once and then she ran to my car and climbed in. I had no idea why she would follow me or get in my car, I thought she hated me.
“Are you okay?” she asked me after a while.
“Why are you here?” I asked her.
“I didn’t think you should be alone,” she said to me.
“I thought you didn’t care,” I said.
“Can you slow down?” she asked me.
I drove towards our house but took the small dirt road opposite it. It led outside of the town borders to the forest where I parked the car. I climbed out of the car and leaned against the bonnet as I closed my eyes. I knew that people were paired together for a reason and that a bond was not to be disrespected but it’s different when it’s your little sister and suddenly you don’t think of her as a little girl anymore but as a young woman.
“What happened with you and Jax?” she asked me as she stood in front of me.
“It’s complicated,” I said to her and I opened my eyes when she put her hand on my arm.
“That I can see,” she said and sighed.
“Rylee, I’m sorry,” I said to her and she looked at me. I could feel that bond flowing through me and I wondered if she felt anything at all.
“Sorry for what?” she asked me.
“Last year when we slept together…” I began to say but she cut me off.
“You don’t have to explain anything. I was an idiot, I never should’ve gone with you to that room. It was a mistake,” she said to me and I looked at her with a frown.
“And last weekend?” I asked her.
“That was a mistake too,” she said as she looked down.
“You're lying,” I said to her.
“I’m not lying, you and me, it’ll never work,” she said.
“Why not?” I asked her.
“It’s complicated. I’m with JD,” she said.
“JD’s a dick,” I said to her.
“He says the same thing about you,” she said softly.
“Just tell her the truth Lucas,” Baz said to me.
“Rylee, I overheard JD and Carson talking. JD promised you to Carson if you’re not his bonded half,” I said to her.
“Seriously Lucas, you’re such an asshole!” she said angrily.
“It’s the truth!” I yelled at her, “why would I make this up?”
“I don’t know! Why do you do anything? Why did you ignore me for a whole year?” she yelled back.
“I got a phone call right after. That phone call ruined my life, it was my Uncle Jesse telling me that my parents had been in an accident. The only thing that mattered was getting to the hospital to see them but I was too late, they had already died,” I said to her.
“I didn’t know,” she said.
Even though people knew that my parents had died Rylee had joined Carson’s lair a month before that incident so it was no surprise that she didn’t know about it.
“My whole life changed that night. I had to grow up and look after my sisters, the lair, and everything else in my life just took a backseat and I didn’t remember. Every time I thought back to that night that’s what I remembered, my parents dying,” I said.
“I’m sorry,” she said and now she was looking at me.
“I know that makes me sound like an even bigger asshole, not remembering that we slept together but that’s the truth of what happened,” I said as I rubbed my hands over my face.
“It’s okay, I forgive you,” she said.
“Maybe you’re right and you should stay far away from me,” I said to her.
“Why did you bring me to your house on Friday night? I was wasted yes but I remember what happened and Tessa walking in, you stopped, so what changed that next morning? Why didn’t you stop then?” she asked me blushing like crazy.
“Yeah you were pretty wasted that’s why I stopped. The next morning though we were both sober and we both knew what we were doing and honestly I didn’t want to stop,” I said to her.
“Tessa’s your girlfriend,” she said to me as her blush subsided.
“Tessa was … convenient, yeah I know I’m an asshole, but she’s definitely not my girlfriend and she knows that,” I said.
I don’t think I had ever had a conversation in my life as honest as this one with a girl. It felt scary. I was afraid that at any moment she would run or tell me what an asshole I was but it was also refreshing to tell her the truth.
“That is … you do sound like an asshole,” she said and I laughed.
“So what are your plans when you realize that JD is not your bonded half?” I asked her.
“You seem very certain that he’s not,” she replied.
“He isn’t,” I said to her.
“It doesn’t matter, our parents want us to become chosen halves if we’re not bonded,” she said.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked angrily.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with you anyway,” she said and I bit my tongue.
“You’re right, I’m sorry I ignored you for a year but I’m not sorry about last weekend,” I said after a while.
“Don’t complicate things please,” she said to me.
“I can’t promise that, I don’t want you to get hurt because I do care about you, contrary to belief,” I said and opened the car door for her.
I drove back to town and she just stared out of the window neither of us saying anything. I pulled up to the curb and she opened her door and turned back to look at me.
“Take care of yourself Lucas, don’t be too hard on Jax whatever it is he did,” she said.
“He bonded with Chris,” I said to her and she started laughing.
“I don’t know who I feel sorrier for, Jax or Chris,” she said as she climbed out.
“Why?” I asked her.
“They both have you to deal with,” she said and closed the door.
I stared at her as she made her way to the parking lot and climbed into her car. She raised her hand in a wave and then showed me her middle finger again as I laughed and watched her drive down the street.
I drove home slowly knowing that Chris would be waiting for me but she had a lot of explaining to do. My anger bubbled to the surface as I thought about it again, her hand hiding his mark, him apologizing, it was too much.
Chris was sitting on the steps as I drove up the driveway and she stood up as I parked my car. I watched her as she folded her arms across her chest and I sighed. I knew she wouldn’t be happy that I hit him but that’s how I react to things. I fight.
“I’m so glad I’m not you right now,” Baz said.
“Asshole,” I muttered as he laughed.
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