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Twenty-Eight
Jessie surfaced first, and I could tell he was laughing even though I was still underwater. When I surfaced, I went up, so the water pushed the hair out of my face. The food was residual food was floating all around us. I started laughing when I realized that all the others had taken off their shirts to jump in too. They started to run toward us.
"Freeze!" That all too familiar voice said. I turned to see my mother in the doorway to the backyard. The boys stopped right where they were. I swam to the wall closest to my mother. A strange man walked up to me and grabbed my elbow, yanking me out of the pool. I groaned and grabbed my shoulder.
"You dirty little slut! Six men?" I turned to my mom, and the male joined her. "You are not worth the air you breathe! Get your fat ass in there and make that room spotless!" My mind blanked, and I couldn't process that I still had friends over witnessing this. All I knew was that I needed to do as she asked to lessen my punishment
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KNOCKOUT Twenty-Nine
The darkness that pulled me under turned into the night sky. I was lying on the beach as the water would come up and play with my toes, then run and hide back in the ocean. My head was against the sand, and I was staring up at the night sky. The stars have always been one of my favorite things. It was so serene and beautiful. I knew exactly where I was because I had been there before the few times I had gotten severely hurt. It was where my mind took me to heal. The stars would flicker in and out with my breathing. They grew brighter with every inhale and dimmed with every exhale. The longer I watched them, the more sure I was that I needed to let my heart keep beating. If only to keep the stars in the sky for a little longer. The warm water danced to the rhythm of my heartbeat. Every time a wave came in, it beat once more. So many times in my life, I've had the option to make the waves stop crashing on the shore or the stars stop twinkling, but I had
KNOCKOUT Thirty
"Oh, thank God that you're awake! They said you wouldn't wake up for another week." I reached up and touched his cheek. The muscles in my arm feeling weak. "You're trying to change the subject." He didn't deny it. Instead, he smiled a heartwarming smile. "You just woke up in the hospital, and you're still as pushy as ever." He let out a chuckle as he pressed his face deeper into my palm. "She really didn't come to the trial?" He pulled the chair, so it was right next to my bed. "No." He let out a deep breath. "Surprisingly, your mother was still alive when the ambulance showed up, but the alcohol she had in her system didn't help her case. It thinned out her blood too much, and they couldn't stop the bleeding. She didn't make it. I'm so sorry Julie. I wish that never happened." He looked up at me again. "You saved your sister's life, you know that?" I smiled and nodded. "Where is she?" "She's was already sent to the family hous
KNOCKOUT Thirty-One
My mouth was partly open as I stared at the house we were pulling up to in shock. It was huge, and I could see movement from the front curtain. Houses like this, I had only ever seen in movies. "Don't tell me that you're pulling an Annie on me," I said to Jennifer as she pulled into the rounded driveway. There were several cars parked along the side of the house, and I had to wonder if they were having a party of some kind. "Not really. You actually got really lucky. This family saw your file, and they pulled a lot of strings to get you assigned to them. They tried for your sister too, but that didn't work out." I turned to stare at her as she explained, watching the fascinating lack of emotion as she spoke. "I've worked with them one time before, and they were just a family who had too much money seemed to be taking on too much. They have heart. I'll give them that. I was surprised they were allowed to take in another kid. It seems even after their foster kids turn
KNOCKOUT Thirty-Two
The next morning, I discovered Terry hadn't been kidding when she said she got up early. I had sent a text to Jessie asking him to break me out of my most recent prison and was just waiting for him to wake up and respond when she found me on the couch fully dressed to make a break for it. I wasn't running away. I just wanted to get away from the strange house with its strange people inside. There were too many things happening in my life, and I felt like I was going to explode if I didn't take a break from them. "Okay, so here is the living room, this is the dining room.." I nodded at her with each room as she took me around the ground floor. There was only one bedroom downstairs, and I wondered why but she didn't explain. "This is Liam and Bri's room, everyone else lives upstairs. You'll meet the whole gang later." She glanced at the gold watch on her wrist before clicking her tongue to the roof of her mouth. "It's about time for everyone to start waking up
KNOCKOUT Thirty-Three
Meeting Liam was interesting. He walked in, placed the plate of food down on the dresser with a quick, "Terry said you need to finish this before you can take your pain meds." And then he was gone before I could say hi. I didn't mind as I was in the middle of a good, snot-running cry, but I did have a talk with Terry after she got back from running errands to confirm that he wasn't a threat. He was big and deadly-looking but didn't seem too interested in me, or Jessie. He wanted to get in and out as quick as possible. I did convince Terry to apply for an exception to let me finish out the year at my old school. It was a bit of a drive, but it would be worth it to stay with Jessie. I wasn't ready to be the new girl all on my own yet. After school, Jessie came with me to my old house. Nothing had changed since my visit there a couple days ago, but I did my best not to look at the blood on the floor. It gave Jessie a bit of a pause when he saw it. I pick
KNOCKOUT Thirty-Four
I left and waited outside for only a minute before the guys showed up. They 'oh'd and awe'd' at Julie's new living situation, but moved past it as soon as the club was brought up again. I was shoved into the back seat of the car, and we were off. We ended up driving downtown to an old warehouse. We parked a block away and walked in. There was a huge crowd of people yelling and cheering around a fighting cage. Adrenaline started pumping through my veins, and I wasn't even fighting. This was my kind of place. I loved being here and enjoying the rush of the crowd, the loud music, and the show of aggression. It all just worked without being too much. I could watch this kind of shit and not have to think about anything else. Julie would so not approve of this. She was just talking about needing anger management help before everything happened at her house. Coming to a place like this would probably fuel her. Wait! Snap out of it! This is guy's time.
KNOCKOUT Thirty-Five
Jessie wasn't in third hour either, so I just laid my head down on the desk and closed my eyes. About five minutes after the bell rang, something hit my head and my head snapped up off the desk. I looked around but no one was even looking at me. I was about to put my head back down when I saw the ball of paper on the floor by my desk and curiosity got the better of me. I reached down and picked it up. Quietly unfolding it, I tried to straighten the paper so it was readable. Julie, Congratulations! Even God hates you! Why else would he let what happened to your family happen? I really hope that your foster family hates you as much as your birth family did. You don't deserve Jessie, and he doesn't want you anymore. By the way, I heard that you were the reason your mother was murdered. How do you sleep at night? Love, anonymous. I stood up quickly and grabbed my bag ignoring the tears that were threatening to spill over. "And, whe
KNOCKOUT Thirty-Six
It was only a couple hours later when my phone started ringing. I was surprised because everyone should have been in school still. I looked down at the collar I.D. and saw it was Mike. "Hello?" "Hey, Julie. I heard something happened at school. You holding up okay?" He sounded nervous, and I wasn't sure if it was because of the topic he was approaching or if it was something else. It was weird enough that he was calling me for the first time. We were friendly because of Jessie, but we weren't direct friends. "I'm doing fine. I just had a lot to deal with and wanted to get away from it all. Have you heard from Jessie?" I said calmly. "Yeah, we had a guys' night last night, and uh, he got a little drunker than we expected. He is really hungover today." He spit the last part out in a rush, but the waver in his voice and the tone he was using didn't sit well with me. "Mike? Why do I have the feeling that there's something you are hiding from me? I
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