Fraud

Ivy

I brace myself against what’s happening.

Against the onslaught of memory.

Against the collision of the past and present in a violent explosion that’s knocking my feet out from under me.

The only reason I’m still standing is the car against my back and Gabriel’s body pi

But we can’t help ourselves.

And the truth is, we never could.

The first night we kissed was the same one when I’d stolen his truth. The same one he’d terrified me and punished me for something I didn’t do.

It was at another house party, just like any other. The gatherings were always the same mess of rowdy kids, the only difference was the locations.

On that night, everybody was at Gabriel’s house since his parents were out of town, a multi-million-dollar mansion filled wall to wall with practically the entire junior and senior classes.

As usual, the alcohol was flowing, red Solo cups in every hand, the air a giant smoke screen from all the pot being smoked.

It was pure chaos, and I’d snuck in because Gabriel had ba

If I hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t know the truth. And if I’d just stayed my butt home instead of trying to pull a prank, I wouldn’t have been terrified beyond measure.

We wouldn’t hate each other as much as we do if I’d made a different decision that night. But the past is clearly written, and there’s nothing I can do about it now.

After arriving at the party, I’d walked in like I owned the place, a bunch of kids laughing to see me because they knew some shit was about to go down. Gabriel and I never could be in close proximity of each other without a fight of epic proportions.

I was prepared for the fight.

Excited for it.

And I had enough glitter and soap on hand to turn his pools (both interior and exterior), hot tubs, multiple fountains spread over the property and any other moving water source into a massive bubble bath.

I often used glitter because the stuff is a nightmare and almost impossible to clean up. Imagining Gabriel angrily trying to fix it brought me immense satisfaction.

We were still young, our pranks were stupid, but also nothing permanent. At least until that night they weren’t. After what happened, we started going for the each other’s throats, and our pranks grew into cruelty.

It wasn’t until after I’d glitter soaped his pools, hot tubs and most of the garden fountains on one side of the house that I’d walked to the other.

A storm had rolled in while I was in the process of fucking things up, the sky opening with sheets of rain when I rounded a corner to the west garden to stumble on a horrible sight.

Gabriel was standing off near a private service driveway, a strip of cement that cut through the property but wasn’t seen from the main house. It was one of those roads that caretakers often use to keep from being burdensome on the property owners.

Two cars were parked near where he stood, and three men got out while I was watching. The rain had already soaked Gabriel to the bone, his wavy hair slick over his head, his clothes plastered to his body.

The men approaching him didn’t look much better, their faces revealed to me when a crack of lightning illuminated the garden around them.

I recognized them immediately as William Cross, Peter Black and Joshua Kesson.

All of us grew up around each other. All of our families somehow tied together. So it wasn’t difficult for me to recognize the fathers of the twins, Jase and Sawyer.

What I didn’t understand was why Gabriel was standing in the rain waiting for them.

At first, I thought they’d arrived to shut down the party since Mr. Dane wasn’t home, but that illusion was quickly destroyed when William Cross grabbed Gabriel by the throat and shoved him back toward the car.

Pi

The chaotic wind of the storm stole their words away, so all I could see was what they did to him.

I always thought the bruises on Gabriel’s face at school were from him fighting other kids.

I’d never guessed how they really happened.

After that night, I knew, and I wished for the next few years that I didn’t.

Once they stepped away, Gabe dropped to the ground, his face swollen and lip split open, his eyes narrowed on the three men as they got in their cars and drove off.

I should have left, too, should have snuck away without a word, but I was too upset. Too worried. All I could think about was the nine-year-old boy with the busted lip and bruised eyes. And I hated to realize what happened then as well.

Gabriel was on his knees when I ran over to him, his emerald green eyes lifting to mine, his expression twisting with hatred.

In that moment, we were small kids again.

“But you’re hurt...”

“You’re not supposed to see that...”

I was never supposed to see it.

I was never supposed to know what caused it.

Gabriel hated me for knowing he could be hurt, for seeing the truth of his life, and I hated him for holding in all his anger and pain to take it out on me.

He reached out before I could back away from him and pulled me to the ground. My back slammed down into a puddle as he crawled over to straddle me, his teeth clenched in anger and his stare narrowed on my face.

I thought he was going to hurt me. Punish me. Make me feel the same way as him.

He did.

All of it.

The words he said to me were razor sharp, the names he called me were vile. The way he gripped my throat like he would choke the life out of me stilled me in place with terror.

I saw the true Gabriel at that moment, and what I saw broke me.

But instead of hurting me physically, he stopped and stared down for what felt like forever. When he leaned forward and kissed me, it stole the breath from my lungs.

I didn’t care about the blood on his lip when his tongue slipped into my mouth. Didn’t care about the rain and wind when his hand moved between my legs. I didn’t give the first fuck about the lightning that was striking down when his fingers were forceful against my jeans, the rough fabric abusive to my clit.

I didn’t care.

I didn’t want him to stop.

But Mother Nature did.

A bolt slammed down fifty feet from us to shear a tree in half, the cracking wood so damn loud as the trunk fell our direction.

We didn’t move until the heavy weight of it slammed down and shook the ground, we didn’t break apart until the very end.

Maybe it was shock that kept us in place. Or maybe it was the truth that we didn’t want to let go of each other.

Even with how much we hated each other, we always refused to let go.

Not that it mattered. Not that it could. The scent of smoke blew past us a few seconds later, and we turned to his house to see the first flames rolling off the roof.

“What did you do?”

I shook my head. Tears leaking from my eyes from the brutal way he’d kissed me.

“I didn’t do anything.”