I'm arrested for Jace’s death.

Chapter 2:

Sienna’s POV

I knew I was my father’s daughter. An offspring from him. We were both short-tempered, dangerous, and reckless.

When I learnt of this I tried earnestly to not be him, not work in his shadow, but sometimes my father’s spirit snapped into me and I lost every sense of reasoning.

In a hot ball of fury, I’d thrashed Jace’s house, destroyed his gadgets, and landed a punch squarely to his face. “Why can’t you just leave me alone!” I’d yelled at him and he’d chased after me still.

I was so angry at the world. All the fury from my father hitting me, taking my money, and using me every time as his punching bag rolled out without a stop. He lost a bet and vented it on me, got drunk, and vented on me. Why did I always get to be used like a rag, why? And Jace did that as well.

With this anger searing inside of me, I’d destroyed Jace’s house with the bat. I had just wanted revenge, to get back at the world for once. If only I had known.

After venting, I went back home, I stopped as I found the house scattered, broken bottles scattered across the carpet. That was the usual, father would often take three days in a row out, gambling, drinking, and incurring debts, and then he’d return with no money and take his anger out on me.

He had returned this afternoon and hadn’t seen me. He was angry, the broken bottles were a confirmation. I stilled as a chill gripping fear kissed my spine. I bolted up the stairs at a deadly speed.

If I wasn’t here, had he taken his anger out on my sisters? Beth? Amy?

There it was, the dread of my horror sprawled on the ground. Amy. She had her saving box on her thighs. The money she’d been saving for tuition into college. It was empty and she looked like she would cry herself to death.

Slowly, her eyes craned to meet me. I flinched from the hollow look in them. She was empty like a shell, an empty vessel and I could see her stare right into me with a fierce burning hatred.

I should have been here. If I was here he would have taken his anger out on me. He wouldn’t have taken the college money that she had spent years saving, to leave this city, this town, to get a chance at life. I took all those away, I might as well have killed her with my father.

The box was empty.

It wasn’t just the box that received the impact from the father. She did as well. Her face was bruised, swollen eyes and busted lips.

But all that money gone was like an acid to the cut on her lips.

I made to step closer and offer some sort of comfort but she snapped up like a spring, lashing out. “Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare take a step closer!” She boomed. Her eyes were blazing hot like a furnace. They looked murderous

“I’m sorry that——“

“No, you are not! You are not sorry! You like it. You’ve always loathed me for wanting to be someone. Someone more than a school dropout like you and now you’ve had your chance at that!” She was vicious, angry, and mad. She was a whirlwind of anger and rage.

I stayed quiet, absorbing her words with a wince like salt to an open wound.

“You think this will stop me? You thought wrong. I will go to college, I will leave this city. I will make it and not be a school dropout working shifts in a bar as a whore! Entertaining men for money. I will not end up like a low-bottom feeder like you, I’ll be great!” With that, she shoved me away with a leaping limb.

I stared unblinkingly for what seemed like the end of the world. Unshed tears pooled at the base of my eyes. Her words were what I’d said to myself time without numbers. I was a low-bottom feeder, a school dropout, and a blind artist. The words I’d churned in my head like a mantra. Now hearing it from her was like a jab at a bruised infected wound.

No one was meaner to me than me. The voices in my head quickly capitalized on those words and they said it to me like I wasn’t a person.

With tears in my eyes, I broke into a run. The night had settled in and with it a day wasted from making money for mother’s hospital bills.

My heart ripped into tiny little pieces. I was drowned in an acid of life. I didn’t get a break to heal, to breathe. Why? Why was my own life the most difficult?

I walked into a bar. Went to the counter. I wanted to drown the voice out. The voices whisper harsh, heart-wrenching words to their person. My voice were betraying me.

“Vodka please,” I mumbled to the bar attendant. I needed something strong, stronger than the hurt in my chest. I would skip work today. Just today I would shut out the voices in my head.

The bar attendant passed me a shot and I downed it. I had one after another, continuously till I lost count of how many I had.

There was a thin line between my sorrow and joy. My eyes felt heavy but I was energized. Ironic.

Then out of the corner of the bar, I caught sight of an empty soul like mine. He stalked towards me with an empty bottle of vodka as well. Cladded in a suit, his tie was loose and his hair was a ruffled mess. I wanted to put my hand through it and pull him against me. Us two against the world.

He had been drinking but his eyes looked like he could go for a couple more. When we locked eyes, my body jerked to life like a signal went off inside me.

His eyes were a captivating color of grey and mist. Up close with him, my breath hitched. It was as though he sucked in the air in the bar. Grey eyes like ice held me with want.

Good, somebody wanted me at least.

My body tingled with desire and my thighs clenched as my eyes roamed his face down to his lips. He was an uptight man, I could tell that. He wouldn’t do messy, messy girls like me.

But I wanted what I couldn’t have. Just for the night. Something different, for the first time. Something that was above me, that was too good for a broken girl like me. Something refined and luxurious just like his stare, his aura, his clothes…..his body…..his touch.

The alcohol in my system gave me some sort of power and confidence and I stood up without an inkling of hesitation. Without a ponder and crashed my lips on his.

God! The moment our lips met, it was like a match to a forest. But he didn’t reciprocate it. My body was still burning with fire, pulse-quickening, and blood rushing. The moment I leaned away, he grabbed me by the waist with inhuman strength and pulled me back into his body. I felt him hardening.

Fuck.

My heart stopped, my body chilled and everything went silently still. Then as though the alarms went off, everything kicked back in sync. My heart restarted, my body flooded with brimstone fire and all my cells roared to life.

I could feel fear snaking its ugly head, but I instantly shoved it aside and kissed him like he was the only good thing out of the bizarre day today.

Because he was.

I would regret this, but I didn't care for the world. Bigger emotions had to be subdued by even greater emotions and for me, this was it. Him.

*****

I woke up with a pounding headache, searing from the back of my head to my forehead. I pinched my brows and forced my eyes open.

The stranger I slept with was dressing up. I remembered last night because I wasn’t completely out. Something he said last night that made me feel like dirt before him. Permission, he’d asked for permission even in his drunken state.

He didn’t spare me a glance. I didn’t want him to either. I shot up and began to wear my clothes. After he was done wearing his well-tailored suit, he walked out the door, stopped like he wanted to say something, but then decided against it and continued on his way.

A hot fierce pain jabbed at my chest, my heart grew tight as I blinked back a tear. I looked down at the bedsheets and cursed.

After cleaning up, more tears glided down my cheeks. Pathetic. I picked my things and as I stared back at the city through the pane of the window, I was reminded of my mother in the hospital, my sister’s college money, mortgage payments, and life.

‘One step at a time, Sienna.’ I whispered to myself even as a tear slipped out.

Going down, sirens were blasting outside, and cops were in the bar. I spotted my one-night stand and as I made to check out I heard a command that had my blood running chill.

“You are under arrest, Sienna Hopper for the murder of Jace Wright!”

What?

A bolt of nerves surged through me in a chilling horror.

“No, no, no!” I writhed under their grip, but they easily twisted my hand and cuffed my hand behind me.