We were all pushed into a cell very aggressively. It was dark outside already, so the first thing that happened was everyone fighting over the benches to sleep on. I grabbed the last one that was free in the women's cell. It shared a wall of metal bars with the men's cell, but I wasn't concerned about that.
For some reason, the tall stranger leaning against the back wall made me feel safe.
"Move, bitch! That's my bench." I looked over and saw two guys the size of Liam, arguing for the bench on the other side of the bars from me.
"Fuck off! You don't want to mess with me. Walk away!" I chuckled at his comeback. What are they, three?
I laughed from where I was stretched out on the bench against the bars to the men's holding cell.
"You could just share." My sarcasm dripped from every word. Compared to the three women in my cell who each got their own bench, their cell had at least a dozen guys. Both men looked at me like I was crazy, then they laughed
When we got home, they dragged me into the living room, yelling for everyone else to clear out and for Liam to join me as I sat down on the couch. As tense as I was, a small sigh of comfort came out of my mouth as I sank into the soft cushion of the couch. My back was sore from the night in the holding cell, and the cushions were heaven. "Do one of you want to explain this?" Ryan said quietly but with a firm voice that let me know he was at his breaking point. His voice raised to a yell as he continued, and I flinched back into the couch. "Do you want to tell me why two of my kids went out last night to go to a friend's house and only one came home? Then, this morning…" He let out a bitter laugh as he stood over us. Terry was sitting on the couch across the coffee table with her elbow on her knees. One hand curled in, her thumb holding her chin up with the knuckles on her fingers pressed against her mouth. "This morning, I received a call that the kid that wa
Do you know how hard it is to say goodbye to the only family you have left after everyone else died or left you? I held onto Bri as she cried into my shirt. "It's okay." I cooed while rubbing her back. "Julie! You can't leave!" She rubbed her face into my shirt as she cried. "I will come to visit you every chance I get, but I'm going to need you to take care of Liam for me." I heard Liam chuckle, and we both looked over at him. He shook his head sadly before gesturing for Bri to go over to him. When she didn't let go, I picked her up in my arms and walked over to him. He was surprised at first when I wrapped my free arm around him, but then he returned the gesture and placed his arms around me too. He whispered in my ear, "I will get you back for taking the blame." I smiled into his shoulder. I would miss him. "Not happening." He chuckled and patted my back. "Stay away from boys, or I'll come down there and lock you away in you
I walked into my room and looked around. It was huge. There were three beds spread out around the room. It had its own little, I mean really little, kitchen, plus a bathroom and three small closets. I walked over to the bed with nothing on it and dropped all of my stuff. Opening the closet door next to my bed, I started unpacking. My speakers were taken out first. I set them on my tall, skinny dresser and connected my phone. The music blasted through the speakers, helping to take my mind off of everything. So far, the school didn't seem too bad, but I wasn't happy about having to start over again. It was a new place to live, new people to meet, and a family I had to leave behind. It wasn't like I would never see them again, but it wouldn't nearly be as often. I started to sing the chorus as I bounced around, taking everything out of my bag and finding a home for it. I heard the door open, so I stopped singing and turned towards the entrance to the room once it was closed. She had
"Well, Cheyenne," I said as I pushed my empty tray forward an inch and leaned back with my hand on my stomach. "What are your plans today? Want to go on a tour of campus? I'll need one, or I'll get lost." "I'm free for the rest of the day. I only had two classes today. A tour would be good. I can walk off all this food. Plus, I can see you as the type to get lost all the time." She laughed, and I shrugged because it was true. "What about you?" I nudged Mark's side with my elbow, still loving that he was close enough to me that I barely had to move to touch him. He turned to look down at me. There was silence between us as I got lost in his green eyes. In just the right light, I could see the flecks of yellow and blue in them. They were mesmerizing, and I didn't want to look away. "I could hang out for a little bit." Turning away, so he didn't see my blush, I stood and grabbed my empty tray. Cheyenne lifted her eyebrows at me as we walked to the trashc
I won the first game, and so she challenged me to another. She racked this time, and I went to break. I leaned over the table and lined up the cue ball. I pulled my arm back to take my shot when someone came up from behind and placed their hands on my waist. "Hey, baby. How you doin'?" I groaned in disgust, and Cheyenne heard and saw my face. My tongue ran over the front of my top teeth as I tried to hold back my anger. I stood up straight, and he turned me around, pushing my butt against the table. "It would be wise for you and your balls to walk away." I looked up at him and glared. He smirked down at me. "Sounds like you like to get rough. I can get down with that." He smirked bigger and added a wink. "Seriously, Trent? You have no clue what she can do. You're going to want to walk away now." He smiled at Cheyenne over my shoulder as I lifted the pool stick, ready to skewer it through his foot if he didn't let me go. "I like a girl with ski
"Cheyenne, how many times do I have to tell you? I don't know!" I turned over in my bed and pulled my blanket up and over my head. She was silent before she started talking again. I groaned. "All I'm saying is that I think you guys would be cute together." She laughed at my annoyance. I was over the embarrassment of my obvious crush and had moved on to the frustration of being pushed to do something about it. "Cheyenne, I get it. You think I should go out with him, but I don't know him that well, and I don't even know how he feels. Can we please just drop it?" I grabbed my phone off of the top of my dresser next to my bed and began to scroll through social media. "You're just like, Deidra. It took her months to man up and approach her boyfriend." I looked at her, eyebrows pulled together. Deidra and I hadn't met yet. She ended up spending the night in her boyfriend's room and hadn't been back to the dorm. "It's only been a week for me. Calm do
I tensed, expecting to see Jessie. There was something about my past that just seemed to stick with me like a curse. I could sense the train coming, but I couldn't get out of its way. It was a separate life. I wanted to keep it far, far away from my current one. Jessie was an immature relationship, to say the least. Him, his friends, our school… everything about it was toxic, and I wanted to rid myself of that history and those memories. The man who approached wasn't who I thought, but I knew he was friends with Jessie. That association immediately made me dislike him more than before. Alex. He was the man who had covered for Jessie one time at The Shack and was a complete asshole when I was grieving the loss of my best friend. He had treated me like trash and made me feel unwanted and unwelcome. "Hey, do I know you?" He tilted his head to the side, looking at me. I licked my lips, nodding as I tried to hold back my anger. The dark chuckle tha
"I'm always ready. Bring it." He smiled at my enthusiasm. I turned to face my opponent, and my confidence was obliterated. In the ring was a huge monster of a man, and it looked like he was all muscle. He rivaled the majority of WWE fighters and was on the verge of being cast by Hollywood to play a giant. A nervous look back to Mark, and I noticed that everyone had gathered to watch me get squished like a grape. I turned back quickly before meeting Mark's gaze, not wanting him to see the terror on my face. Although, he was also in the prime position to witness me shit my pants, so that wasn't good either. I tried to focus. I pulled on every memory that I ever had that made me angry to fuel my fire and get me mentally prepared to take down the beast before me. Hans announced my competition as the Crusher, and I could only assume it was because he liked to crush people between the tree trucks he called thighs. Either that or he just took them to the ground until they s