Page 21 of Bane's Beginning

I looked up at Bane and we made eye contact. I turned my eyes back to Anna and said, “Sure. I’m not watching some girly shit though. Letting you know that right now.”

Anna cackled at me. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.” Bullet handed me my drink and we started to move away from the bar when Bane stopped me by grabbing my arm. Once again, we made eye contact and it felt like the whole room just flipped on its axis. The way his blue eyes looked in mine made me feel like I was the only person in the room that he wanted to look at.

“If anyone gives you trouble, you let me know,” he said. I bit my lip as I nodded my head at him. I didn’t know it was possible for a few little words to light me on fire, but there I was standing in the flames.

As Anna and I made it to a booth in the back, she looked at me dumbfounded.

“Damn, is it always that hot between you two?”

We both busted out laughing as I nodded my head yes. It was definitely always hot between us and I didn’t know how much more of it I could take.

Chapter 10: Thea

I hadn’t seen Bridgette this entire week. It had been three and a half weeks since she met Matteo, and I couldn’t be around him anymore after the first two. I told her about how uncomfortable he made me feel, and she would always tell me that I was overreacting and he was trying to make conversation, but we had one week before the semester ended and she wanted to make the most of it. I still couldn’t ignore that I always felt watched when Matteo was around, like someone was lurking in the shadows waiting to jump on me.

We had only been communicating over the phone and I had to check on her to make sure she was okay, so I decided to go to his house. The maid answered the door and immediately recognized me and let me in. She went upstairs to get Bridgette for me while I waited. The first time we visited, we were shocked at how beautiful it was. It was a large villa-style house with low-hanging roofs and vines that clung down from the walls. Stone tile covered the floors and the ceilings and the walls were covered in aged paintings that reminded me of the Renaissance era. Matteo also had a taste for stone-carved statues and he had them all over. My favorite was a statue of a woman dressed in a gown with a spear and shield by her side that sat in his living room. Her face looked fierce and determined, like she had just led her army back from war.

Matteo had caught me staring at it the first time we had come over. “That’s the goddess Athena,” he had told me, startling me. “She’s beautiful,” I said bluntly, trying not to give him the attention he wanted. “Indeed, she is,” he said, and I waspainfully aware of how close he was to my ear. A shiver ran through my body as I remembered how uncomfortable he made me and I finally heard Bridgette walk into the room.

“Where have you been?” I asked her as I walked up to her to get a closer look at her. She looked tired, but not like she had just woken up. She looked like she had spent the last few days not sleeping. Her eyes were swollen and glassy and as I got closer, I noticed that she looked busted up with handprints on her neck. “Did he do this to you, B?” I asked, pulling her in for a hug. She began to cry uncontrollably. “Come on, let’s go before he gets back.”

“I don’t want you here,” she spit at me. “Leave.”

“What do you mean?” I scoffed. “You can’t stay here!”

“Get out now,” she said. “You’ll ruin everything!” From the moment I met Bridgette, I never imagined her to ever cry over a man. Nonetheless, one who was putting his hands on her. She looked so scared but also disgusted, like she truly didn’t want me there. Though I could hear the words she was saying, I knew I couldn’t just leave her here.

“I’m not going anywhere without you,” I said to her. “Let’s go,” I said, pulling her arm out. “We can go somewhere and disappear together.”

“If it isn’t my dea,” I heard the voice of Matteo say. I turned around, meeting his eyes, which seemed like they were darker than before. “I knew you’d come.”

“Thea! Wake up,” a voice called out to me. I felt someone shaking my body and I jerked away. Blinking my eyes clear, I saw the outline of Anna sitting above me.

“Thank god,” she said as she put her hand over her heart. “You scared the daylights out of me. You were screaming in your sleep.”

Looking around the room, the realization hit me. “Did anyone else hear me?”

“No. I’m a light sleeper so I think I woke you up before anyone else could hear you,” she said.

I sat up on her bed and realized that I must have fallen asleep while we were watching a movie. Anna’s eyes looked over me as if she could see the truth I was hiding. “Did something happen to you? Whose Francesca?”

I sighed as I got up out of her bed. “What did I say?”

“You kept saying ‘It’s Francesca’ over and over.”

“That’s weird. I don’t know a Francesca,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. She gave me another glance that told me that she didn’t believe me, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t about to spill my heart out to a stranger at three in the morning.

“Don’t tell anyone,” I pleaded as I shut her bedroom door to head to my own. Loud noises could still be heard all over the clubhouse. The party from earlier was still in full swing. I decided to check to just look around for a moment since I wouldn’t be able to get any sleep any time soon.

As I walked down the stairs, I quickly realized that the earlier party had virtually nothing on the current one. There were bodies everywhere. The women were no longer wearing proper attire, if any at all. I looked toward the pool tables and saw Bullet and Ace leaning against one as a girl appeared to be sucking them both off. Looking around the room some more, Isaw girls getting railed all over the clubhouse. All I could hear was the sound of Airborne blasting through the speakers and moans. Too much was right, I thought, as a shiver ran down my spine. I glanced over and saw Bane staring at me as he took a sip of his beer. He gave me a soft, knowing smirk that I returned.

“Go the fuck upstairs,” I heard a voice growl from behind me. I didn’t even have to look to know that it was Davien. I scoffed, crossing my arms, making my way upstairs.

***

It’s almost been one week since I arrived in Haven Hills, and the days seemed to go by pretty much the same. I spent most of my time in my room unless Anna and Serena invited me somewhere or the occasional time I’d catch Bane outside on the porch. Though we didn’t do much talking, I always found reasons to bail pretty soon after. I was getting comfortable at the clubhouse, around Bane, and I knew I needed to leave town soon. My brother said I’d stay here for a few days so we could work shit out but we’d barely said ten words to each other this week.

It was Friday morning, and I was scrolling through my social media. Clicking on my own profile, I paused on a picture of me and Marcus. We had just gotten back from seeing the Dirty Heads and had taken the photo in a parking garage. He looked at me with a dopey smile as I was laughing at something Chase said while taking the photo. That was the night I told him I was pregnant, and we had one of our worst fights yet. It wasn’t that he pressured me into having an abortion or that he was trying to force me into keeping it. It was how he said I was a terrible person for coming to the conclusion so quickly, because it didn’t seem to bother me and that I hadn’t even consideredhis feelings. Though in the end, he ended up agreeing with me anyway. He just didn’t want to be the dick who said it first.