Not to be outargued by Wyatt, Wes begins to make his own points for why Ariah should be on the list.
“Samantha is being handled. I have her under control. You all know what we need from her and until we get it she has to be dealt with accordingly. So, she’s not an issue. You all need to see what’s right in front of you. Our fathers are up to something.”
At the mention of our fathers, the air in the car gets suffocatingly thick. It’s not that our dads are heartless and uncaring, it’s more that they are unyielding. Since we were kids, they’ve pushed and molded us into the monsters we are today. They made us, in their words, ‘ruthless in ruling, unflappable in a crisis, and savage when taking what we want.’ They just didn’t know that in doing so they didn’t create beasts, they created the monsters that ate beasts for breakfast.
My finger moves to the power button to wind down the window, letting some of the stifling air escape. When the cool breeze of the late summer night wraps around me, the pressure anchoring my chest begins to lift in time to digest the rest of what Wes is saying.
“Why else would that family be able to move into our town when no one moves into our town? Not to mention being able to move into one of our properties. There’s no chance that this is coincidental. This has our dads all over it and you’d all agree with me if everyone would just take one minute to think about it.”
Again we hum in agreement. This time everyone but Wyatt, who is absolutely sold on Ariah. I’m not sure what he knows, but I know Wy. Once he’s locked in, Ariah will have to shoot him in the heart to keep him away and even then he’d come back as a ghost just to be with her.
It’s not because he’s blindly loyal. It has more to do with his instincts. The man is rarely wrong about people. So, when he takes to you, and I mean really takes to you, it means he sees something deeper than anything at the physical level. Something we’re obviously not privy to.
This doesn’t take away from Wes’s points, but he’s far more hot-headed than any of us, and is oftentimes led by his emotions and slights to his ego. Ariah has dinged both in her short time here in Edgewood.
The glowing sign in front of the diner signals we’re just about there and thank fuck. I think I can only take so much more of this topic. Ariah is hot, but all this bickering over her is unnecessary. We don’t know enough to make a decision. Not to mention she’s not a local. So, Wyatt’s crush can only be that. Once we choose, we can’t mess with anyone that isn’t one of the selected.
“Look,” Owen begins, with what I’m hoping are words of reason. “You both are making valid points. Wes, yes it’s odd that Ariah moved here during this time and we’re going to look into it but,” he turns him, “even if that’s the case there is no way she would know what our dads are up to. So, it would be stupid for us to take it out on her or her family.”
Wes grits his teeth at this comment and Wyatt smiles, but the smile quickly disappears once Owen makes his next point.
“And Wy, we get it. You like the girl. You have a feeling in your gut that she’s our girl. But come on dude, it hasn’t even been a full forty-eight hours since she’s been in this school. Give us some time to get to know her before you have us proposing, marching down the aisle, and putting babies in the poor unsuspecting girl.”
At least Wyatt looks sheepish for five seconds. That’s a new record for how long he allows himself to look reprimanded.
“Yeah yeah yeah, I’ll give you all time. Just enough for me to be able to say I told you so,” Wyatt replies.
“Great, now that Thing One and Thing Two are done wreaking chaos, can we go get some food?” I cajole.
Chuckles cut the remainder of tension from the air as we all move to get out of the car.
Just as we all step around the car to head toward the front door of the diner, a nondescript black four-door sedan pulls into view. My nerve endings begin to rapid fire, an alarm of pending danger shoots up my spine, making the hairs on the back of my neck rise like they’re standing at attention. My mind threatens to lock me in place, but instincts trounce any debilitating memories.
Before the passenger side window can begin to roll down I spring into action and start pushing Wyatt to the ground and shout, “Get down!”
Wyatt’s body hits the paved ground with a smack, causing him to grunt out in surprise. I don’t take the time to see if he’s hurt. He’s safe. We can deal with bruises and scrapes later. I look up to make sure Wes and Owen got down in time. Instead, I’m greeted with Samantha freaking Davenport’s smirking face peering at me from the car window while waving.
“Hey boys. I didn’t mean to startle you all like that.” That fake concern in her voice is only magnified by a slight lift to her top lip before morphing into a smarmy smile.
I hop up from the ground ready to attack, but Owen hops in front of me and whispers in my ear.
“Calm down, she’s not worth it. She’ll get hers soon enough.”
His calm voice can’t settle the fire growing in my veins straining to rise to the surface and lash out on the hateful bitch sitting in the car that resembles the kidnappers’ car. I don’t know how Owen isn’t attacking. The guilt from that day haunts me and somehow this bitch knows.
I grit out through clenched teeth, only loud enough for him to hear, “Owen, get the fuck out of my way.” My chest is heaving, no bone in my body leashing the rage emanating from me. My body is coiled tight, ready to pounce on its intended target. “The stupid bitch did that shit on purpose,” I growl, pushing out of his hold only to be dragged back. Sam giggles and waves from the front seat like she’s pulled off the world’s greatest prank, but it’s far from funny and she knows it. Fuck just about everyone in this damn town knows it.
Owen, trying to be the voice of reason, reaffirms his earlier sentiments, “She’s not worth it. She’s trying to get a rise out of you. Out of all us. She’s mad because she was embarrassed not only by the new girl but then by us. She’s trying to reassert her place. Don’t give it to her. She’ll get hers when she’s not chosen for the selection.”
With that last sentence he calms my thirst for blood, but not before I look the she-devil in the eyes and promise her retribution.
13
ARIAH
I'm home comfortably resting in my bed, but I keep thinking back to what that idiot Wes said when he had me by my throat in the damn janitor’s closet. My hand instinctively goes to my throat, feeling at the now yellowing hand prints around my neck. What did he mean by a selection not being able to save me from him?
It’s been a hell of a first week at Edgewood and I’m happy that it’s finally Friday. Now, I won’t have to see the assholian or his skank’s face for two days. But now that my brain has finally had time to process the week, I keep going back to our little closet interlude. More like closet assault, but no one in the office would hear of the school’s namesake accosting a girl. Those were the exact words of the bitchy administrative assistant when I went to report him.Stupid ass elitist town.
