O Crossed Out Novels & Stories

When I tried to write out everything that had happened, it only made things worse. [Still trying to clear your name? Shameless.] [Ban him permanently. He's a disgrace.] [Feel bad for Mr. Lowell. Feel bad for his fiancée. How did they end up with someone like this?] Someone even edited a fake memorial photo of me, with the caption: [Those who send 'OK' deserve to die.] It spread through every social group like wildfire.

I grabbed it and unfolded it. I had to blink back the tears as I saw it. A giant basketball was drawn on it with glitter that was getting all over me, but I didn't care. "Finny, I never for a second doubted you would go number one tonight. I am proud of you and enjoy the night you deserve it. Love, Colt"

There was nothing special about room 3c–except that ‘He’ always locked the door behind him, even during lunch. I only noticed because I always passed by at exactly 12:04. Today, the door was open. He seemed to be in some kind of trance as he made his way past me into the busy hall way, clutching something under his jacket and checking over his shoulders, curiosity won over common sense and now here I was–in the woods–watching my crush of over a year dig a shallow hole in the frozen earth.

"Sir, give me a lottery ticket!" Patrick York darted past me into the convenience store like an arrow. When I heard him breathlessly rattle off that exact string of numbers I knew by heart, I instantly understood: he had been reborn, too. Clutching the ticket, Patrick turned toward me with a smug grin. "Oliver Hutchinson. Sorry, this one's mine." I shrugged, completely unfazed. "I wasn't planning on buying it anyway." He clearly did not believe me. With a sharp scoff, he shoved the ticket into his bag.

I howled and tried to suppress the tears that escaped me. “It's not true. You will not die if they decide you can not stay, and it's not final either.” Rosset grimaced hopefully. “But of course it is.” I stared at her, she would not dare lie to me if she looked me in the eye. “I do not need to remind you what's going to happen, you are a good student. The wolves will say I am the weakest omega in the pack, and that will mean my expulsion. Because that's what I am, the weakest.”

And Elliot was ornamental at best. So I cut the cord. I ripped Harrington Global from his soft, manicured hands and made sure the world watched. I didn’t hide behind shell companies. I signed the papers myself. Nathan Cross Acquires Harrington Global. Harrington Legacy Ends in Ruin. Cross Dominates the Market. The press had a field day. I let them. I wanted Elliot to feel it. The humiliation. The loss. The irreversible fall. But that wasn’t enough. I wanted him to understand.

He walked over to Lucas and raised his cane, bringing it down hard. Caught completely off guard, Lucas staggered and ended up dropping straight to his knees in front of me. The force of the blow even snapped Nathan's cane in half. "You unfilial brat!" Nathan roared. "Look at the disaster you've caused! Apologize to Sabrina right now!" Lucas glared angrily. He immediately turned his head and shouted at his father, "Dad! Grandpa's gone senile! He actually wants me to apologize to some slut!"

I had plans of bringing Meadow here, bending her over and fucking her from behind. But maybe… maybe this wasn’t so bad. I’d have a new one made. And we would christen that one. This bastard already ruined it with his fucking shoes anyway. “You were only trying to—” “To what? Impress me?” I scoffed. “You’ve been trying a little too hard lately, Cross. Haven’t you?” He blinked twice, looking to the side as if there was someone there who could help him. Save him. “I t-thought… I thought it was cleared. The confirmation came through.”

XO ***

And the knowledge that I’d lost a game I was never actually playing. Because Gavin Cross didn’t play games with people beneath his notice. He simply erased them. The way he’d just erased me.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​