Chapter 4

I clocked out of work after making quite a bit of money from tips alone. It would definitely help replenish some of the money I had spent on clothes and necessities.

While I was happy to be free from work, going home was another situation entirely.

When Tori dropped me off, Melissa was still at work for another hour. That left me alone with Frank.

I knew he was completely shit-faced the second I walked through the front door.

He sat in the recliner watching some fuzzy football match on the TV. His face contorted in anger and I sighed.

"Where the fuck have you been?" He spat, struggling to lift himself off the recliner.

I tried not to roll my eyes, knowing it only pissed him off more.

"Working, Frank." I repeated myself for the hundredth time.

I turned to walk up the stairs and escape his drunken tirade when something he said had me turning back around.

"Working?" He scoffed, wobbling as he stood from the recliner. "You were out whoring around like your fucking mother."

This time I did roll my eyes. If he wasn't drunk all of the time he'd remember that Melissa made me pay for everything myself. I didn't have time to 'whore around' when I was busy supporting myself and going to high school.

"Melissa isn't my mother." I snapped, turning to walk up the stairs.

His hand wrapped around my wrist and yanked me backwards.

While I didn't fall, I did stumble back a few steps.

"Get off of me, Frank." I mumbled, my body tensing in fear.

The few times he had managed to get this close to me weren't pretty. Frank was always handsy when he was drunk, whether it be abusive or sexual.

"Fucking whore." He spat, his alcohol tinged breath invading my sensitive nose. He yanked me closer to him and I nearly gagged at the sight of his sweat stained shirt.

My entire body felt cold with fear. He was much too close for comfort.

I grimaced at the disgusting smell of stale beer and body odor.

His grip was tightening around my wrist, and I gritted my teeth against the pain.

"I said get off!" I screeched, bringing my knee up in between his stubby legs.

Frank let out a hiss of pain as his hand dropped my wrist. I could hear his drunken yelling as I ran to my bedroom and slammed the door behind me.

I fumbled with the lock through the tears that had sprung up in my eyes.

Once the door was successfully locked, I flopped down on my bed and let a few tears trail down my face.

Some days were harder than others, but it would all be worth it when I left this place.

Over the years, I had quickly lost hope that Melissa would treat me like her own daughter and instead looked forward to escaping the moment I turned 18.

I sat on the bed for hours, not daring to move until I heard the front door open and Melissa come inside.

It was then I pulled myself off the bed and trudged into the shower. The steaming water hid the tears as they fell from my eyes, and I gave up and let them run freely.

I was always extremely aware of Frank's movements in the house, and always needed to be on guard around him. That fact alone was tiring and put me in a perpetual state of paranoia.

I hopped out of the shower feeling completely exhausted, and fell into bed.

The morning came around much too quickly. After a few hours of restless sleep, I woke up and changed for school.

I put on one of the outfits I had recently bought, a pair of skinny jeans and an off-shoulder long sleeve shirt.

I grimaced down at the handprint bruise left on my porcelain skin and yanked my sleeve down over it.

As usual, my first and second class of the day was with Tori. We sat and talked while working on our assignments. My next class was the one I was worried about.

Kade's comment about cologne at the restaurant had me confused, but I let it flit from my mind shortly after it had happened. Apparently the two of them did not.

Kade and Alec both looked equally irresistible. Both of the twins' hair were tousled and had that messy look that other guys struggled to achieve. Kade wore a dark blue button down shirt, while Alec had on a simple black t-shirt.

Kade and Alec sat at our normal table, only this time Alec sat across from Kade. I grimaced to myself, realizing I'd have to sit next to one of them.

Kade seemed to be more serious than Alec and sometimes scarier, so I plopped down in the seat beside Alec.

Alec smirked at Kade, as if he had won some bet. I kept my eyes averted from the sinfully attractive twins and pretended to be interested in what the teacher was saying.

"Did the little doll finish our group project?" Alec teased, his hot breath curling around my ear.

A shudder wracked through my body and Alec snickered. I clamped my lips shut and ignored him. Of course I finished the project. I couldn't let the troublesome twins ruin my grade.

When I didn't answer Alec's fingers danced over my shoulder and tickled my collar bone. I sucked in a sharp breath at the tingles that bubbled against my skin under his touch.

"Stop." I hissed, keeping my gaze on the teacher.

I could hear a weird rumbling sound coming from Alec, and the urge to look became overwhelming.

My eyes flickered over to Alec who had a strange glint hidden in his dark orbs.

I couldn't understand these insanely gorgeous twins. First, the two of them chose me to pick on. Second, they wanted a reaction from me. Third, when they finally got a reaction, they seemed pissed.

"Why don't you make me stop, doll?" Alec gave me a sly grin, his thick fingers running along my exposed collar bone.

Just then, the teacher walked around the room collecting the group project we were supposed to complete.

Alec's wandering hand retreated to his own body and I rifled through my binder in search of the project.

After handing our project to the teacher, I nearly jumped from my seat as a large hand grasped my thigh.

Alec smirked down at me and I felt my body stiffen.

"Where's that feisty little attitude, doll?" His gruff voice was quiet and much too close to my ear.

I clamped my teeth down on the side of my cheek, determined not to feed into their bullshit. I wasn't sure if they got off on acting this way, but I wasn't planning on encouraging it.

And that's how I sat for the remainder of class.

Sucking in sharp breaths when Alec's hand traveled where it shouldn't. At one point his fingers found a strand of my hair and tugged playfully.

I had to turn my head to hide the aggressive blush that formed on my cheeks.

I quickly noticed that Kade was the quiet one of the two. His eyes were glued on me the entire class.

When his blank stare wasn't on me, his eyes flickered to his brother. I swore I could see jealousy burning in his eyes.

Such a shame, they wanted to take turns tormenting me.