Home is Where the Heart Is (Home #1) (36 page)

“Of course he’s special! He’s the greatest goddamned person I know, which means he’s too good for your manipulation and games. I don’t know what you’ve said or done that has him thinking he’s falling for you, but it ends today. Now.”

Kimberley’s eyes widened slightly. “He told you he’s falling for me?”

Isabelle rolled her eyes and clenched her fists. “Surprised your little plan worked so well?”

“I had every intention of finding a way to hurt you like you had hurt me,” Kimberley told her. “And I’ll admit I was prepared to be ruthless to do so. That changed about ten minutes in when he looked deep into my eyes, cut through every wall I put up, saw the real me I kept hidden … and then still wanted to know more.”

Isabelle had to hand it to her; she was a fantastic actress. Her usually sharp features were soft as she spoke of Tate, and the small smile that curved her lips was attractive and sweet.

“The more I got to know him, the more I inadvertently got to know about you too. We would talk for hours some nights and I would tell him all about the broken dreams I had as a child, and he would tell me about the dream childhood he had with you. I hated how warm his voice would be when he talked about you, all those loving memories he cherished so deeply because you gave them to him. I thought you were a selfish, cruel bitch for playing with his and Jace’s feelings but giving neither of them your own, but then he told me about Jason and what you went through. He told me his fears of losing you to yourself and the monster you never let free … and I began to understand you as the scared, broken little dove you are.”

“Tate would never betray my trust and tell you that,” Isabelle hissed. “You’re lying.”

There was no smug smile or malice in Kimberley’s eyes, only sadness and understanding - which served to only fuel Isabelle’s rage.

“Tate told me you refused help and you wouldn’t tell your parents or speak to anyone about what was eating you up. He was so worried, so desperate and sad that I couldn’t stand it; so I decided to help. I manipulated you into the poetry contest and then I tried to have you forced into counselling - but obviously that backfired on me.”

Isabelle’s head was spinning with all this information. No, not information, but lies - because there was no way Kimberley would ever do anything to benefit anyone but herself. They were all just pawns in Kimberley’s chess board. Sitting ducks, as they waited for her to sacrifice one of them for her own gain.

“I don’t believe you. You have been nothing but a heartless bitch to me from day one.”

“Have I?” Kimberley pressed. “Who made sure you actually made it into school on your first day when you were having a freak out? Who gave you a pep talk about Jace and tried to wake you up from the self-destructive path you’re on? We’re not ever going to be besties, Barbie, but after the last confrontation at Ben’s party I have been the only consistent person here who has had your back. I didn’t coddle you and tell you what a precious princess you are, but I sure as fuck didn’t do anything to harm you or ruin your life. But, then again, you did a good enough job on your own.”

“Screw you!” Isabelle snapped, her bag falling to the ground with a thump. “I’m not going to stand here and listen to the poison dribble out of your mouth. I came here to tell you to stay away from Tate and crawl back into whatever hole you came from. You will never deserve him. You will never be enough for him, and eventually your shadows are going to swallow his sun and he will be just as ruined as you!”

Kimberley scrambled to her feet, her eyes flashing with annoyance.

“Are you kidding me? Are you jealous that the attention isn’t all on you? Or are you that screwed in the head you’ve actually deluded yourself into thinking you’re doing the right thing here? I know how amazing Tate is, I know that he could do better and I know that I am the kind of damaged he doesn’t need in his life - but that’s
his
choice to make. Think back on the last couple of months - did he seem depressed to you? Conflicted or broody?”

Isabelle refused to answer because the truth was not what she wanted to admit to herself. Tate had been happier than she had seen him in years. Excited, playful and in a perpetually good mood. There were no awkward pauses or hidden meanings behind his words anymore, he was just free to be her best friend without any longing attached.

“That’s irrelevant if it wasn’t real,” she responded. “Maybe if you cared so much about him, you would do him a favour and let him go.”

Kimberley shoved Isabelle once with her palm. “And maybe you need to wake up to yourself and stop projecting your insecurities and issues onto me and Tate. I’m not perfect and I’ll own that, but at least I’m brave enough to open my heart to someone amazing and give them the choice to cherish it or not. You’re so locked in your little world of madness and monsters that you can’t even see what’s right in front of you. Everyone has choices in life and you’re actively choosing to be a victim- destroying yourself and anyone who dares to care about you in the process. It’s fucking pathetic.”

“I don’t have to listen to this,” Isabelle hissed. “You stay away from Tate or I’ll
make
you.”

She left before Kimberley could retort and jogged down the street to her car, pulling the keys out of her pocket and hopping inside, without paying much attention to anything around her. Pulling out of the street, she was still seething about Kimberley’s words.

At a red light she tried to calm her breathing and relax so she wouldn’t be in an accident while her mind was elsewhere. She was going to have to call Tate and tell him about this before Kimberley had a chance to spin the story to turn him against her. The calm, factual way in which Kimberley had spoken to her was bothering Isabelle. There was no crazy in Kimberley’s eyes and she wasn’t spitting venom or throwing punches.

It wasn’t until Isabelle was nearly home that she realised why she couldn’t calm down. For the first time in her life, Isabelle was confronted with the truth; that she had been coddled and treated with kid gloves for most of her life.

Kimberley had - in her own uniquely annoying way, been looking out for Isabelle. Which also meant that Kimberley had been the only person to recognise her as the selfish, careless monster that she had become.

Kimberley had been right about everything. And Isabelle hated her for it.

She had also left her damn bag at Kimberley’s place, with her wallet and phone, and all her school work.

Resting her head on the steering wheel as she contemplated her next move, Isabelle finally sighed in defeat and then turned the car around back the way she had just come.

*

The sun was starting to set as Isabelle drove back into Kimberley’s street. The sky was a beautiful massacre of reds, pinks and oranges, bleeding across the blue in gorgeous, vivid colours.

Parking in the same spot, Isabelle locked the car and was again struck by the eerie feeling creeping relentlessly up her spine. She didn’t like this neighbourhood, didn’t like how quiet this street was, and she certainly didn’t like the warning bells shrieking in her gut.

Ignoring it once more, Isabelle moved slowly towards Kimberley’s unit but stopped at the front lawn when she heard angry voices.

Did Kimberley have friends visiting? God, like this wouldn’t be awkward enough. Unsure about whether to approach, Isabelle stayed still and just listened.

“- don’t you touch me! How are you even here right now?” Kimberley growled.

“You weren’t easy to track down, and you were never left alone. Always with that Jace boy, or at parties being a whore. I finally caught a break with your little blonde friend. I’ve been watching you both for months, but you always slipped away before I could get a lock on you. Little blondie lead me right to you today, but she didn’t seem too pleased with you. What did you do? Fuck the pretty one’s boyfriend?”

The male voice was dark and sleazy. With horror, Isabelle realised that it must have been her who had lead this creepy man to Kimberley today.

“This can’t be happening,” Kimberley said in a high voice. “You were in prison, and they would have called to warn us if you were being released.”

“Good behaviour,” he cooed. “I’ve been out for a couple of months now. You’re not eighteen yet so they would notify your Mother instead. Oops! Did she forget to tell you? Or maybe she was too high when they called and forgot all about it. Never matter, I’m here now and I’m going to take care of you.”

“Let me go!” Kimberley yelled. “You’re hurting me!”

“You look even prettier than I remember. You waste it on all those boys though. Do you like it? When they run their hands over you and treat you like the whore you are?”

“Get off me, I won’t let you do it again, I won’t live through this again!” The unbridled fear in Kimberley’s voice shot right through Isabelle’s heart.

“I’m the parent,” he sneered. “So you’ll do as I say. Now, be a good girl and give your Daddy a proper welcome home.”

“No!” Kimberley’s shriek of pain tore something inside Isabelle and her fight or flight instincts kicked in.

She had to act fast if she had any hope of preventing a kidnapping, or something even worse. Calling the police was out of the question because her damn phone was in her bag in Kimberley’s unit. Desperately, Isabelle considered her limited options.

A chilling breeze swept Isabelle’s hair across her face as she heard Kimberley let out an agonised sob. Isabelle heard a noisy struggle, bottles breaking and heavy thuds.
There were really only two choices, Isabelle decided. She could run for help, praying they arrived in time to prevent something terrible from happening. Or she could take matters into her own hands and attempt to help Kimberley in any way she could.

“Please!” Kimberley shrieked. “Don’t do this!”

“Shut your mouth!” the man yelled, and then Isabelle heard the sickening sound of a body being smashed onto the hard floor.

No one deserved this.
No one.
And Isabelle couldn’t just stand idly by while Kimberley took another blow to her body and to her soul.

Picking up the huge scotch bottle and gripping it tightly in her hand, Isabelle crept towards the back of the house, praying a door was open so she had a shot at sneaking up on Kimberley’s assailant.

Luck was on her side tonight. A big window at the back was already wide open, and low enough for her to climb up. Scrambling through, Isabelle raced towards the front of the house and saw a heavy, red haired man pinned on top of Kimberley - much like Isabelle had been under Jason. She saw with alarm that Kimberley wasn’t moving or struggling and there was a large pool of blood under her head, a broken mug smashed in many pieces beside her.

It was the blood; dark and soaking into the yellowed carpet, that snapped something inside Isabelle. With a burst of adrenaline she sprinted over and smashed the bottle against the man’s head, completely shattering it and raining glass everywhere. He rolled away, clutching his head in pain, revealing an unconscious Kimberley with her shorts halfway down her thighs, her shirt ripped to expose her black bra, and an already swelling eye.  There was blood everywhere.

“Kimberley? Kimberley, you need to wake up!” Isabelle checked for a pulse and, while she could detect a beat, it was also very faint.

Shit. He must have repeatedly bashed her head against the carpet and then cracked the mug against her head when she kept struggling. Jesus! Isabelle was pretty sure she was going to be sick.

“You bitch!” the man roared as he clumsily rose to his feet, one hand still holding the bleeding back of his head.

Isabelle scrambled to her feet, standing guard in front of Kimberley.

“You need to leave,” Isabelle stated, in what she hoped was a firm voice. “There’s nothing for you here but more prison time.”

He bared his teeth in a sick version of a smile. “You’re a stupid little girl. You should never have come back here because now I’m going to have to take care of you too. Don’t worry, I’ll try and make it quick.”

Fear was a strange thing. It had the ability to completely shut your body down, rendering you useless; or it could wake you up in the most intense way. Everything seemed razor clear to Isabelle as he lurched forward to grab her. Quicker than she thought she was capable of, she kicked him in the gut and dashed out of his reach.

He growled in pain, stumbling toward her with terrifying intent. Isabelle backed away slowly, trying to draw him away from Kimberley and keep his focus on her. Truthfully, she didn’t have any clue how she was going to get them both out of this unharmed, but she was too pumped with adrenaline to stop and think it through.

His black eyes watched her with a predatory gleam, without a hint of mercy or compassion.

“That’s your daughter,” Isabelle said without thinking. “How could you hurt your own daughter?”

“I gave her life,” he sneered. “So I choose what she does with it.”

He faked a lunge to her right, and Isabelle stupidly jumped right into the trap he had set. His beefy arms enclosed her like a vice as she struggled pointlessly against him. Grabbing the back of her hair, he yanked her closer, ripping out chunks of hair and stretching her neck uncomfortably.

His hot breath tickled her neck as he rubbed his nose against her. “This is a family matter that doesn’t concern you. You should have just stayed away, but now you get the pleasure of joining in the fun with Kimberley.”