I give him a slow raking once over and deem him worthy of the terms I want to lay out.
“The winner gets head.” I smirk.
The anger is still all consuming but now it holds something else. I hate to fucking admit it, but Ivy Greene is fucking hot, and I can’t seem to get those eyes and her voice out of my head. I can still fucking smell her, that lingering citrus fragrance, and something close to vanilla.
After she left the elevator earlier today, the scent wafted around me, and instead of getting the fuck out, I stayed in there until it slowly faded away. She always smelled like vanilla when we were kids and the second I smelled her in the elevator, I knew who it was.
My insides ripped apart when the first thing my heart remembered was the feelings I had attached to that scent, and then my brain kicked in to remind us that I fucking hated her. She killed Charlotte.
Now she had Amelia wrapped around her finger and all I want to do is wrap my hand around her throat and strangle her, or kiss her, maybe fucking both. It’s hard to separate shit in my head when I see her because on one hand, she’s my first real crush from when we were kids and on the other, she took something so important away from me.
“Ivy is back.” I hear a few chicks murmuring.
“I heard she went to a reform school for wayward teens.”
“What the fuck is a wayward?” A dumb fucking chick asks.
“Like bad kids.”
“Oh, because she was the reason that girl died a few years ago, right?” Another chimes in.
“Yeah, my dad thinks she should’ve gone to juvie for that but her parents paid off the judge.” Fucking right she should have.
Her parents didn’t pay off fucking anyone, my traitor father didn’t press charges, and I don’t think I will ever see him the same again.
“Is she racing tonight?”
“Should she even be driving?” Great fucking question.
“I saw her race last year and she’s good, she came in first.” Huh.
“I think your boyfriend is over there talking to her, Riley.”
“What?” A tall blonde whips her head around to look.
She’s wearing a small tube dress in a loud pink colour and tottering on heels tall enough to call stilts.
“You should go over there,” a girl pipes up. “I’ve heard about her venom.”
Venom.
If that ain’t the fucking truth, Ivy’s venom is potent, and the smallest amount draws you in... then kills you.
The girl on stilts stumbles her way back over towards Ivy with her band of girls behind her for back up, and I follow far enough behind not to be seen but close enough that I can hear what’s going down.
“Pat,” Stilt girl shouts, “what’s going on?”
“Just some friendly wagering.” The boyfriend answers.
“Is this your girlfriend, Pat?” Her voice is like smoke and ice.
“Yes, I am.” Stilts exclaims.
“Nice.” Ivy replies and I look around the girl to see her hop off her hood.
She rounds the front of her car and motions to the two guys with her to back up. She gets in and rolls the window down as her car rumbles loudly to life.
“Pat,” she calls out as the guy heads for his car, “we’ll discuss details when you catch up to me at the finish line.”
Cocky little bitch. I hope this fucking guy smokes her.
She drives up to the starting line and revs her engine as she waits for this Pat dude to pull up beside her. I stand transfixed, watching her car, and waiting with bated breath for her to move.
“She’s misunderstood.” Amelia’s voice comes from behind me.
“She killed our sister.” I growl without taking my eyes off the snake in her car.
“Dad believes otherwise, Neil. He says Charlotte wasn’t acting right for a while.” Amelia’s words only push me to further anger.
“Are you kidding me?” I turn on her. “What could you possibly know? You were a fucking kid!”
“I remember her!” She screams at me. “Charlotte wasn’t perfect!”
I close my eyes and exhale, trying to breathe out the anger and inhale calm energy. I don’t want people to witness anymore shit from the Jones family, we’ve given them enough to talk about over the years.
“This isn’t the place, Amelia.” I tug her over and under my arm. “I love you.” I kiss her temple and hug her in close.
I refuse to lose another sister to the Greenes. I hear the roar of engines and the burning of tires and look up in time to see the back end of both vehicles disappear into the night, only the red tail lights visible.
“You need to forgive her.” She whispers to me. “You need to let go of that anger inside of you.”
I don’t argue with her and I’m saved by the sound of squealing tires as the two cars come veering back. Ivy is in the lead and in the last hundred feet, she pulls it home. I guess the bitch taught herself how to fucking drive in the last two years.
Her cousin Carmelo-the one that tried to step up to me earlier-rushes her car screaming excitedly and pulling open her door to haul her out. Ivy’s face is thrown back and pure pleasure radiates from her features. She’s so beautiful and it hits you like a ton of bricks, if only her insides matched the outside.
Amelia screams and runs over, only to be scooped up by Ivy’s other boy Cameron, and my teeth clench when I realize my last living sister is chilling in the jaws of a croc. I need to pull her out and fast.
“You won, Ivy.” The guy Ivy raced steps out of his car, “and now for your prize.”
What the fuck did they wager?
Ivy grins and licks her plush lips, like the fucking croc going in for the kill.
“How do you want it?”
