Page 17 of Hidden Truths

“I don’t have anything to say to a single one of you. You’ve made your stance on our friendship extremely clear over the last nine years. I was the stupid one who thought you were truly my friends and that wasn’t ever the case,” I tell him, keeping my voice soft so no one can overhear me.

“There’s more at play here, Sunshine. We don’t even know all of the details about what’s goin’ on,” Dante speaks up from his seat at the end of the booth closest to me. “What we do know is Kash found an important document concernin’ you and we need to talk to you about it. There are things you need to know and we can be there to help you process the information we have.”

“None of you should have any information pertaining to me. Kash, please stop looking into me for any reason. If we were friends still, it might be different. You have stayed away from me for nine years. You’ve let your friends and betrothed bully me and beat the hell out of me. Not a single one of you has stepped up to be there for me in any capacity. Now, if you aren’t going to order something to eat or drink, I have other tables that I need to take care of,” I say, getting bumped from behind as Josie makes her way to the table full of guys.

“I can take your order,” she purrs, batting her fake lashes as she looks from one guy to the next around the booth.

“Get the fuck away from us,” Dante barks out, making me jump from the pure venom filling his voice. “If we wanted you to wait on us, we’d have sat in your section. Arabella will be the one to take our order and bring our food out to us.”

“She’s really busy, I don’t think you guys wanna wait for her to get to you,” Josie tries again as Fallon turns his cold, hard eyes on her.

“Dante told you to get the fuck outta here. If one of us has to say it again, we’ll make sure you leave us alone for good. Do you fuckin’ understand me?” Fallon says, his voice low, lethal, and colder than I’ve ever heard it before.

Josie doesn’t say another word as she retreats to the other side of the floor without looking back. Her steps are quick as hell and I’d laugh if I weren’t scared of Fallon and Dante. They can crush me without even truly trying and I’m not about to help them prove that theory.

“What happened to your hair?” Kash asks me, finally saying something for the first time since they walked in the door.

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter,” I tell him, keeping my gaze locked on the table in front of me.

“It does matter, Song Bird. If someone cut your beautiful hair, tell us and we’ll deal with it,” he says, making me look up at him as laughter explodes from me.

I’m laughing so hard, I bend over and rest my hands on the edge of their table. The thought of a single one of them doing anything to deal with who did this to me is the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard in my life. It takes me a few minutes to get myself under control while the guys look at one another in confusion.

“You’ve had nine years to deal with the people hurting me. It hasn’t happened yet and I’m not going to turn into a snitch now. I’ve got more secrets than a single one of you can even begin to understand. No one knows anything about me and I don’t let anyone else in. Ever. You all had your chance to be my friend and it was thrown in my face on my tenth birthday. You broke something deep inside of me and it won’t ever be repaired,” I tell them as I keep my eyes on Kash and only him.

Kash’s face turns a deep shade of red as he listens to my words. He knows exactly what I’m talking about and it’s making him hurt. Well, no matter how much he hurts right now, it’s nothing compared to how much they hurt me and the pain I feel on a regular basis because of my mother and the men she brings into our house. The pain Karmen and her minions inflict on me at school. These five guys live a privileged life and there’s no way in hell they’ll ever understand what it takes to get through each day in my world.

The guys finally give me their order and I leave them behind. The second I’m behind the counter, I take a deep breath and blow it out very slowly.

“You okay, sweetheart?” Sal questions me as I put the ticket up for him to prepare their food.

“Yeah. It’s been a long day. It’s almost over though,” I answer even though I’m not okay at all.

Every single time I see these guys they seem to get closer and closer to me. They unnerve me and make me wish for things I know will never happen again. These five guys have the power to completely destroy me and leave me in pieces that will never be able to go back together again. Each of them calls to a different part of me and that’s how it’s always been. They are all so different but have been best friends for longer than they remember. I’ve heard all the stories about them so many times and witnessed them as they grew and changed over the years because I couldn’t get away from them. If only my mother had moved us completely out of High Point altogether instead of keeping us here.

Brock and the guys don’t leave Slice of Heaven for the rest of my shift. When it’s time to close the doors and lock up so I can clean and finish taking care of things, I have to force them all out the door. Brock tries to wait for me to get done so he can take me home, but I refuse his offer as usual. I’m not going to bring anyone to the poor section who doesn’t already live there. Hell, I don’t want to go in that area of town and associate with anyone and I do live there. Brock doesn’t deserve to be there because he’s too good and nice for that part of High Point. If I’m being honest, he probably deserves to be with the guys behind the gate that separates them from everything, and everyone, else.

Sal ends up firing Josie the second the guys are out of the pizzeria. She gathers her things and stomps out the back door since it’s the only one unlocked. I look out through the front windows to see Brock waiting inside his car. Dante is still here too. He’s got his motorcycle as he sits on it and keeps his gaze locked on the windows of the pizzeria. I go through my routine for closing and it doesn’t take me long to get everything ready for Sal and the others to open tomorrow. By the time I leave after taking out the garbage, I’m dead on my feet and don’t want to deal with Dante or Brock. So, I keep to the shadows and make my way away from Slice of Heaven.

I walk home completely alone in the dark. As usual, the sounds of the creatures inhabiting the woods on either side of the road creep me out and my steps are faster than usual since it’s so much later than I anticipated. I constantly look around my surroundings to ensure that no one’s following me or trying to sneak up on me as I hear one noise after another in the woods. By the time I get to Mrs. Andrews’ house, I’m jumping at every single shadow and my body is in so much pain. Mrs. Andrews lets me into her house and I hand over the food that Sal gave me before I left for the night. Bidding her a good night and thanking her for watching after Vinnie, I make my way into the small bedroom and check on my brother before sliding into the bed and letting sleep claim me immediately from the pure exhaustion filling me.

Fight Club

Dante

TODAY IS FUCKING huge for me. For the first time since we all learned about The Faction, I’m going to step in front of our fathers as the ruling body and present an idea of mine to them. Something I’ve been wanting to do for the longest time but never thought I’d see it happen. Today is the day that my dream hopefully comes true and I can get this idea off the ground and started. Other than hockey and the training I do for that, I don’t have an outlet for all the aggression and rage coursing through me. I want to start an underground fighting ring for myself and guys like me who want to beat the shit out of others. This is one way I can get what I want and help others at the same time. Yes, I’m a complete fucking asshole, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to help others if I can. There are a ton of guys out there who need some kind of outlet before they start turning to drugs and other shit. I want to keep them off the nasty drugs that are sold in the poor section since most of it’s tainted and will kill them.

The guys and I worked hard on putting a business plan together for this meeting tonight. If I’m going to go in front of our fathers, I need to have all of my research done and a complete business plan. It’s the only way they’ll ever give me the approval to start this underground fighting ring. At the end of the day, it won’t just be the fighting ring. I want to have a gym attached to it as well so that fighters can train and have somewhere to get out of the streets. No one will know the location of anything until I invite them there. I’ve already got a list of names I plan on extending an invitation to. These guys are ones I’ve come across over the years as we’ve hidden anywhere we could find for a few rounds with someone else.

Fallon was the last one to read through all the work I’ve put into this business plan. He’s going for a business degree and has already put a few business plans together for various projects. Kash helped me research and find the numbers I needed in order to make our fathers impressed and even entertain the idea of letting me get this started. Dash and Braxtyn also helped me work on everything. The three of us went out and canvassed the area to see if we could get a general number of guys who would be interested in something like this. So far, there seems to be a huge want for this shit. The only ones we didn’t fucking get a chance to talk to are those in the Grand Ridge area. I would kill to fucking talk to those fuckers. Especially Hendrix. He’s a fucking beast and I know he’s a legend in his own right. The man has won every fight he’s ever been in. Though, from what I hear, he’s backing away from fighting and getting out of the ring permanently. Something about a girl he’s interested in or some shit like that.

When Kash hasn’t been helping me, he’s still been digging into everything because we can’t seem to get close enough to having what we need to take our fathers out of the equation. We’ve also been trying to get to Arabella. The last two weeks have proven that she knows how to fucking hide when she wants to. I haven’t even seen her walking around campus and have talked to the guys on the hockey team about the situation. They’ll be watching over her. Tyler and a few others are out constantly searching for her and will report to me where she’s been hanging out. Brock knows. There’s no doubt in my mind about that shit because he’s never too far from her side. If I didn’t know any better, I’d believe the two of them were together. However, I know for a fact he’s single and hasn’t been with any girl here on campus. Plenty have tried with no success. Maybe he does have a thing for my Sunshine. It doesn’t mean he’ll get close to her, but I can’t blame him for wanting to be with her. Arabella is an amazing girl and anyone with her would be the luckiest bastard in the world.

Anyway, after showering and taking care of my business in the bathroom, I make my way into my bedroom here on campus. I’m not nervous about the meeting tonight. It’s more of the fact that my future depends on this happening and I want it to be approved more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life with one exception. The only thing I will always want more is having Arabella in my life. That’s not something I see happening after we abandoned her because of our fucking parents. She doesn’t know the hell we’ve been through and how horrible I feel on a daily basis. Especially the days when she can’t hide what’s being done to her by someone. Arabella is guarding her secrets close and I don’t know if she’ll ever open up to anyone about what’s truly going on in her life. Not even Brock who she’s fucking close as hell to.

Going to my closet, I pull out one of my many suits. We all have suits that have been tailored to our individual sizes and preferences. Tonight, as usual, I’ll be wearing black on black. I hate wearing any fucking color other than black. Fallon and the rest of the guys all wear various colors depending on their moods. I will always wear black because it’s the only color that ever fits my mood and how I feel on a daily basis. With my suit pulled out, I lay it out on the bed and choose what shoes I’ll be wearing for the meeting. I won’t be alone for tonight and that makes this meeting easier to get through. All the guys will be there with me. I’m sure they’re all getting ready right now. I just hope the girls aren’t there tonight. They’ve only been to a few meetings when our fathers wanted to discuss the marriage contracts. If that’s on the agenda tonight, I refuse to present my business plan to our fathers because they don’t need to know anything about my business.

Yeah, I fuck girls on a regular basis. I fuck to get Arabella off my mind and don’t fucking believe in letting them in. There’s only one girl my heart beats for and she’s always on my mind no matter what I do. Arabella fucking consumes me and it hurts more than I’ll ever be able to put into words. So, I play my role and let girls hang all over me and fuck them for one night. That’s all they’ll ever get from me. It sucks when Arabella sees one of them hanging all over me, but there’s no way I can change how I’ve been for the last few years. It started shortly after we had to leave her alone and cut her from our lives with no warning or reason why. I was the first of my friends to lose my virginity and the guys all soon followed because to them they weren’t ever going to have the girl they truly wanted. Kash is the only one who hasn’t turned into a man whore like the rest of us.

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