Forever Branded (Billionaire Love Series #1) (28 page)

“All right,” I agreed as we hunkered down and got to work.

At about six o’clock, we finished studying and headed over to Stacy’s house to get dressed. She insisted I wear one of her hot pink mini-skirts and white blousy tank tops that hardly covered my belly button. She donned almost the same outfit, except her skirt was lime green. We both wore white bobby socks with black heels.

I let Stacy do my makeup and it was bold. I had rainbow colored lids and bright pink lipstick hugging my mouth. We each put on a pair of hoop earrings and ratted our hair out for all it was worth, leaving it very poofy thanks to gobs of hairspray.

We were completely in style and I had never looked wilder. But I went with it, determined to look good for my party debut. We got into Stacy’s little Rabbit convertible and took off for Chad’s.

We pulled up in front of a Tudor style house, complete with TP in the trees. It looked like it had been there for a few days. Apparently, his parents didn’t care or weren’t there. I wondered if I was entering into the wacky world of
Weird Science
or
Sixteen Candles
.

We were greeted by loud music and a ton of people getting trashed. I tried to ignore how awkward and uncomfortable I felt as we walked through the front hallway.

There were too many people at this party for my taste.

I liked more intimate gatherings. I was better one on one.

Here, I could barely think above the noise of the crowd and music blaring out of subwoofer speakers in the massive living room.

My whole class seemed to be partying it up, even though I didn’t know many of them.

“Isn’t this great?” Stacy asked in my ear, drinking some kind of beer out of a plastic cup as we stood in the hallway.

I shrugged. “Um...it’s okay.”

“Come on, loosen up. Let’s have some fun.”

“I’ll try,” I said, smoothing down my mini skirt as far it would go.

My outfit was attracting a lot of attention. Almost every guy there shot me a hungry look that made me feel like I was the special of the day.

I didn’t like it and I tried to blend into the wood paneled wall behind me.

It wasn’t working.

“You look hot tonight. Enjoy it. Make those boys pay,” Stacy said, sensing my hesitation to test out my new look.

“Why would I do that?” I asked.

“You can have any guy you want tonight. Make them work for your attention,” she encouraged as she flipped her blonde hair off her shoulder.

I balked. “Oh, no. I’m not really interested in that.”

“I’m sure your boy, Beau, is here tonight. Let him see you with other guys. Nothin’ like a little jealously to get him movin’ in the right direction.”

She had a point.

Bravely, I pushed away from the wall and made my way into kitchen, keeping an eye out for Beau.

“Want a drink?” some guy asked me, trying to hand me a red plastic cup with some kind of foul smelling liquid in it.

“No, thanks,” I said, pushing his hand away.

I wasn’t interested in getting drunk. I still wasn’t sure what I was doing there.

“Marla Matthews! Looking good!” I heard from the other side of the white tiled island.

I turned to see Dave Kawaski making his way toward me. We had trigonometry together. Smart kid, bad dresser.

“Thanks,” I said, taking in his red plaid shirt and hunter green and navy striped pants.

He was a big kid, but he had confidence out the wazoo.

He shot me an appreciative stare as he stopped in front of me. “Never seen you at a party before. Wanna dance?” he asked as “Groove is in the Heart” belted out across the house.

“Uh...sure,” I agreed, trying to follow Stacy’s advice.

He grabbed my hand and hauled me into the living room, where a bunch of other kids were dancing. We started out normally as Dave bounced awkwardly up and down, offbeat to the music as I swayed from side to side.

From there, things took a weird turn as he transitioned into bending his knees low and thrusting his bent arms back and forth with his fists clenched, like he was directing traffic while jazzercising.

I kinda stood there, not sure what to do.

“I’m feelin’ the beat, Marla,” he said like it explained what he was doing.

“I can tell,” I said, trying not to laugh.

He winked, knowing his dance was bizarre. It got weirder still as he stuck his elbows out, moving his hands front to back, as if he were a Maori warrior performing some kind of mating ritual.

“Oh my,” I said as I watched him go full throttle with his tribal dance. Every eye in the room was on his strange little performance.

“Way to go, Davy!” A booming voice praised from the back of the room as the song finished.

“Thank you, thank you! I’ll be giving out autographs for the next five minutes,” he called as he swung his hips around as if there was an invisible hula-hoop around his waist.

Laughing, I suddenly locked eyes with Beau, who seemed to be holding court in the back corner of the room. He came toward me, fire in his eyes.

“What are you doing here?” he asked as he met me on the dance floor.

“Just having a good time,” I answered with a smile.

“Seriously, why are you here, Sunshine?” he asked more defensively.

Mild irritation ran through me. “Why? Am I not supposed to hang out with the cool kids?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I just don’t like seeing you dance with other guys. You’re dressed way too sexy tonight,” he admonished.

I balked as my mouth flew open. “You’re not my dad, Beau. I can dress any way I want. Besides, aren’t you the one who’s always telling me to have fun? So that’s what I’m doing...just having a little harmless fun. Nothing wrong with that.”

He shook his head as he grinned at me. “What am I gonna do with you, Sunshine?”

His charm wasn’t going to work on me. “You don’t have to do anything,” I said, as we stared fiercely at one another.

“There you are!” Ashley gushed, grabbing onto Beau’s arm. “I missed you, baby,” she said, grabbing his face and bringing it to hers as she kissed him right there in front of me.

That’s what he didn’t want me to see.

He was dating Ashley.

The worst, possible girl ever.

Crushed, I ran from the room. I rushed upstairs, trying to find a quiet space to lick my wounds in private. It took a couple of tries, but I finally found an empty room at the end of the hall.

As I turned on the light, I was greeted by a sea of purple flowers from the wallpaper to dainty little flowers on the comforter. The layout was simple. A twin bed in the middle of the far wall and a dresser on the same side as the door.

Clearly a little girl’s room.

Emma would love it.

Wandering over to the dresser, I noticed a jewelry box sitting on top. Delicate purple flowers covered the rectangular box. As I opened it, a ballerina popped up and a song started to play as she twirled in a circle.

The little melancholy song made me sad.

Beau wasn’t mine.

I had no right to feel what I was feeling.

Possessive

Jealous.

Hurt.

A single tear meandered down my cheek as I tried to deny the pain of seeing him kiss nasty Ashley DeGraw. Granted, she had made it happen, but he hadn’t stopped it. He would never be serious about me.

I just needed to remember that kissing was sport for Beau.

Damn it, I knew better.

Boys were not to be trusted.

The depressing notes of the music made my watery eyes spill over as more tears slid down my cheeks.

I was embarrassed and humiliated.

How could he do that to me?

“Well, well, well.” The door slammed open as Jeremy Brockman filled the space between me and freedom. “So poor little Marla runs away after Beau kisses some other whore.” He laughed maliciously, a demented look filling his dark, hooded eyes as he closed the door.

Uh-oh. I was in trouble.

I knew why he was here. He didn’t take too kindly to a girl getting the best of him. He slowly removed his green Army jacket as he stared hungrily at me. He undressed me with his eyes, making the pit of my stomach lurch with danger warnings.

Get out!

Get out!

He stalked me as I gauged the distance to the door. “I bet Beau’s doin’ you real good. Maybe I need some of what he’s gettin'. Maybe it’ll make me sweet on you.”

I swallowed down my fear. “Now, Jeremy, there’s no reason to talk like that. All I did was stop you from beating up a special needs kid.” I moved slowly toward the door, trying not to spook the grizzly bear of a boy in front of me.

“He deserved it. He wouldn’t give me a pop.”

“He shouldn’t have to give you a pop. You can pay like everyone else. He was just doing his job,” I said, getting a few steps closer to freedom.

“Don’t care. He disrespected me.”

I tried to keep my voice calm as my eyes darted in his direction. “I can understand that you felt disrespected. But Jonathan loves everyone. You didn’t need to hurt him.”

“Maybe if I hurt you, I’ll feel better.”

More fear raced down my spine. “That’s not going to solve any of your problems, Jeremy. It’s just going to make new ones.”

He seemed to think about that as I crept toward the door.

I was so close, just a few more feet to go.

He continued to track my movements as he stood at the foot of the bed, still between me and the door. It would be a fight to get out, but I was gonna give it everything I had.

Moving quickly, I sprinted toward the door and got there just as Jeremy did. As I pulled on the handle, his arms wrapped around me, pulling my body violently away as if I were a rag doll.

He laughed in my ear. “You thought you were going to get away. But we’re just getting started.”

I screamed at the top of my lungs as he put his hand over my mouth.

I bit his big mitt as hard as I could, which made him even madder. “Ow! You bitch!” he snarled as he let me go.

I scrambled toward the door again, but his big hand popped me across the back of the head and I crumpled to the ground, hitting my forehead against the doorframe.

He picked me up like a sack of potatoes and dropped me onto the bed. I was dazed, seeing stars. But my survival instinct kicked in and I struggled to get up.

“NO!” I shouted as he climbed on top of me.

He grabbed my arms and twisted them above my head.

Oh, my god, this wasn’t really happening!

I continued to fight him, twisting and turning in his firm grip.

His brown eyes shadowed with a twisted malice that made my blood curdle. “Oh yeah, get feisty. I like a feisty girl, so much more fun to break.”

“NO! NO! NO!” I struggled against his bigger bulk, clawing at his hands.

He let my arms go as his legs urgently pressed mine apart. He brutally pushed against me as I beat against his chest, trying to get him off of me.

I shut my eyes as I screamed and fought, hoping against hope he wasn’t really pushing up my skirt and reaching for my panties.

His weight held me down, smothering me, making it hard to breathe. The familiar smell of his Old Spice deodorant, coupled with the stinky odor of beer on his breath and the foulness of his spirit almost made me vomit. I pushed with all my might, hoping for a miracle.

I couldn’t believe this was happening.

I bucked even harder, determined to get him off me as he fiddled with his pants.

“NO!” I screamed again at the top of my lungs, desperate for someone to hear me.

Suddenly I could breathe, Jeremy’s heavy bulk gone.

I sucked in air, thankful for the oxygen filling my lungs. I breathed in big over and over, trying to get my bearings again as I sat up.

“What the fuck, dude?” Beau hollered as he wrestled Jeremy away from the bed toward the dresser.

Jeremy smirked. “She deserved it, man. I wanted a piece of the pussy that’s got you so whipped up.”

“You son of a bitch!” Beau shouted as he walloped Jeremy in the face. “Don’t you fuckin’ talk about Marla that way!”

Jeremy staggered back as Beau hit him again, unleashing his fury on Jeremy’s face and body. They crashed to the floor as the-would-be-rapist tried to put up a fight, getting in a few jabs here and there, but it was no use. Beau continued to wail on him, his fists moving quickly as he unloaded punch after punch on Jeremy’s sadistic body.

I’m not gonna lie. It was a beautiful thing to watch Beau beat the living shit out of Jeremy.

But I wasn’t about to stick around to see how it ended as my survival instinct warned me to get out of that room. I pulled up my panties and tore out of there, wide-eyed in fear, my body in fight or flight mode, my hair wild from thrashing about on the bed.

I only had one shoe on as I shot down the hallway. My only objective was to get somewhere safe. I searched for a familiar face, someone to help me. I saw Stacy in the crowd which had gathered at the top of the stairs.

“What’s going on?” she asked, coming forward to meet me.

“Stacy, I need your help!” I begged.

“Oh, my God, Marla...what happened?” she asked in a panic, taking in the gash on my forehead and my ripped skirt.

“Uh...Jeremy attacked me,” I answered quietly in a daze, shock overtaking me.

Her gaze burned with rage. “That son of a bitch! I’m gonna kill him!”

“Don’t worry, Beau is already taking care of it,” I said, trying to stay upright.

“All right, Beau,” she said with admiration in her eyes.

“Can you take me home?”

“Absolutely.”

“What happened?” Ashley asked with her hands on her little hips, her aquamarine glance wide with feigned innocence.

“Did you have something to do with this?” Stacy asked icily as she turned toward her.

Ashley shot me a devious smirk. “We all know Marla gives it up. What’s one more guy?”

“Fuck off!” Stacy shouted, reaching for her.

Ashley’s talons came out as she glared at me. “I told you not to mess with me! He’s mine!” she screeched like a deranged demon.

I plastered myself against the wall, already in overload as I watched this showdown.

“Stupid bitch!” Stacy slapped her so hard, the crack vibrated down the hallway.

Angry, Ashley tried to hit Stacy, who moved out of the way before she grabbed Ashley by her hair and brought her to her knees.

“Nooo!” Ashley screamed as she tried to stand back up.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Stacy asked, twisting Ashley’s hair, making her head pull tight to the left.

“He’s mine,” Ashley meowed.

“No, he isn’t, you worthless cunt,” Stacy said, scratching her nails across Ashley’s face.

“Ow!” she whined as her cheek dripped with blood.

Stacy got in her face. “Stop your complaining, you malicious twat! You deserve a lot worse! If you ever bother my friend again, I will do a lot more to mess you up. Now, leave Marla alone.”

Ashley nodded meekly as Stacy left her there, cowering on the ground, the threat to do more damage sufficient to keep her quiet.

“Come on, Marla,” Stacy said gently, helping me down the stairs.

Onlookers and gawkers stared at me, feeding their fuel for gossip as we walked down the front hallway. That’s all I needed, more people speculating about what happened to the girl whose mom died.

God, what a nightmare.

Once in Stacy’s car, I curled up on her front seat, my legs tucked against the front of me as I wrapped my hands around my calves.

I couldn’t stop shaking.

We didn’t talk much on the ride over to my apartment as I shook like a leaf, wondering how I was ever going to trust anyone again.

Stacy kept glancing at me, worry in her alarmed gaze. I put my forehead against my knees, just willing the fresh memory of Jeremy attacking me to go away. We pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex and I lifted my head slowly, looking around in a daze.

Stacy turned toward me, concern etched across her pretty features. “I’m so sorry, Marla. I had no idea.”