“Why are you doing this?” he murmured against my shoulder. “I’m a monster, a fucking bad guy.”“Even bad guys deserve a shoulder to cry on,” I replied , smiling gently.He leaned back. “I don’t want to. I want to scream.”“Then scream,” I said, shrugging.And he does. So loud that the birds fly out of the rustling trees. The sound was like that of a wounded lion roaring in pain. His chest deflated slowly, and I watched the energy dissipate.“Feels good, right?” I said.I do that sometimes.”“When?” he asked.“After my dad left.” I sucked in a breath and tucked my hair behind my ear. “When he met another woman. He never came back to us.”The silence following my words was deafening.“I’m sorry,” he said after a while.“Don’t be. I’ve made my peace,” I said.“Besides, he’s still living his life out there, somewhere, even though it’s without me and my mom.”Noah nodded. “Must be hard.”“It’s fine… It’s not as hard as what you must be going through right now,” I said, cocking my head.
Noah rubbed his forehead again, then glanced at the beer cans littered across the ground near his mother’s grave.“Leave them,” I said. “Someone else will pick them up.”“I …” he murmured.I placed a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. I’m not mad.”He looked at me with disdain in his eyes. “You should be. I’m not good for you.”“You aren’t,” I said, smiling. “But I don’t care.”“Why? I don’t understand,” he said.But I don’t know the answer to that question either. All I know is that I’m looking at a boy who’s not ready for the world he created, a boy who can’t face his own sins. A boy whose youth was taken from him too soon, whether by force or by choice. Even if the thing brewing between us is so wrong, I couldn’t help it. He’s just a boy in need of a girl to help him out.“You’re not the only one with secrets,” I muttered. “I guess we’re all bad guys in our own story. And… I’m sorry I talked about your mom.”“I get it.” He nodded a few times. “I’m sorry about everything. The pictures,
My head snapped toward him.Sleep with me? What the fuck did he mean by that? Did he expect me to just say oh okay, come sleep with me like some mindless doll?"I mean lay with you on the bed and go to sleep… not fuck you, Rosalie."I relaxed—then immediately hated the pang of disappointment that followed.You can’t be hoping to fuck your freaking stepbrother. Snap out of it.“Oh, but we can’t risk that again. Mom still wants to talk about it. Her instinct is telling her I was hiding a guy.”“But you were hiding a guy,” he said grinning.“Not just any guy,”The grin on his lips slowly faded. “Of course.”I stared at him, waiting for more, but he stayed silent. Fed up, I turned toward my room—only to hear footsteps behind me. Before I could react, Noah shoved me inside and shut the door behind us.“What is wrong with you?”“Well, I’ve had a shitty day, and I need to relax.”“Okay, but you can do that in your room.”“I can’t relax there… I need you to relax.”“Since when do you need me
I jolted awake to violent banging on my door.Shit. Not this again.My hand flew to the other side of the bed before my brain fully processed I was awake. It was cold sheets. Noah was gone.Thank fucking God.The door swung open before I could respond. Mom marched in and perched on the edge of my mattress. Her floral perfume clashed with the lingering scent of... him."Time for the attic," she announced, like a prison warden delivering a sentence.I squinted at my alarm clock through crusty eyes. "Isn't it too early for this shit?""It's nine.""Nine?" I shot upright, the sheet pooling at my waist. Had we really stayed up until—Mom's gaze turned razor-sharp. "You look exhausted. Stay up all night?""No." I cleared my throat. I got up from the bed then started walking over to the door. I rubbed sleep from my eyes as I trudged up the attic stairs behind Mom. The wooden steps creaked under our weight with the smell of dust thick in the air."Aren't you going to have breakfast first?
The lake was my escape.It always has been. The crisp air, and the glitter of the moon shadow shining on the water always had a way of filling in that emptiness I feel inside. When the world felt too loud, too crowded, too much, I’d grab my camera and slip away to the water’s edge. I gripped my camera, positioning it perfectly to capture the way the moonlight danced on the water, the way the trees swayed in the breeze, the way the world felt alive even when I didn’t.The sound of a tree branch break hit my ears. I froze. It sounded sharp, like something heavy stepped on it. My eyes scan the area, looking for the source of the noise. Nothing. I dropped my eyes back to my camera, absorbing the view of nature till a figure passed. My heart stopped. I took in a sharp breath as my eyes widened trying to spot the figure. A shadow shifted at the edge of the trees, and my finger paused on the record button.I took another sharp breath as the figure stepped into the moonlight. My breathing p
The door burst open making me fidget in my seat. I am still jumpy from what happened yesterday. It was my mom.“Rosalie! Sweetheart, I have news!” Her voice was too loud, too bright, like she was trying to make up for the fact that she’d been gone for days. Again.I didn’t look up from my desk, where I’d been pretending to study for the past hour. “What is it this time? Did you win the lottery? Or did you finally remember you have a daughter?”She ignored the bite in my tone, which wasn’t surprising. She was used to it by now. Instead, she flopped onto my bed and dangled her heels off the edge. Shegrinned at me like she’d just discovered the secret to happiness.“Better,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “I got married!”I froze. The pen I’d been holding slipped from my fingers and rolled across the desk. “You… what?”“Got married!” she repeated, as if that made it any less insane. “In Vegas! Can you believe it? It was so spontaneous, so romantic. Oh, Rosalie, you’re going to love him.
“Mom, please,” I begged, my voice trembling. “I’m not ready to move in with them. Can’t we at least stay here until the rent expires?” Mom sighed, running a hand through her hair like she was already exhausted. “Rosalie, this is a good thing. David is offering us stability. A fresh start.The sooner the better! Don’t ruin this for us.” ““I’m not ruining anything,” I shot back, “I know all these, but I need time to process it all! You can’t just ghost for three weeks and come back with a wedding ring and tell me to move in with them! This is psycho behavior!”“Are you calling me a psycho?” My mom shot.“I’m doing this for us Rosalie.”“I know but do something for me. Please mom, do this to make up for when you forgot my birthday.”My mom glared at me. She knew she couldn’t say no now.“Fine, the rent expires in three weeks. But you have to promise you’ll be coming home for dinner.”I nodded.“And also you need to be nice to Noah.”A lump grew in my throat.“I am, it’s Noah who’s
I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. All the hairs in my neck stood and every nerve in my body was on edge. Why did he sit behind me? Is he trying to intimidate me?The teacher started talking, but I couldn’t focus. I could feel his gaze piercing the back of my head. And for some reason, my finger began to tap repeatedly on the desk. I felt Noah’s breath draw closer, till I could feel the heat of his breath in my neck.“Stop it,” he growled through his teeth. His mouth was dangerously close to my ear lobe.I snapped my head back, then I realized what a big mistake I made. His face was so close, I could see his creases in his skin where his once cheerful smile had now turned into a bitter scowl. I turned my body so I’m now facing him fully.“Stop what?” I said, hiding the fear underneath.“Tapping your finger on the table.”“Or what? You seem to be the only one complaining.”My eyes dropped to his lips as it twitched, then back to his eyes. His eyes dropped to my chest, the
I jolted awake to violent banging on my door.Shit. Not this again.My hand flew to the other side of the bed before my brain fully processed I was awake. It was cold sheets. Noah was gone.Thank fucking God.The door swung open before I could respond. Mom marched in and perched on the edge of my mattress. Her floral perfume clashed with the lingering scent of... him."Time for the attic," she announced, like a prison warden delivering a sentence.I squinted at my alarm clock through crusty eyes. "Isn't it too early for this shit?""It's nine.""Nine?" I shot upright, the sheet pooling at my waist. Had we really stayed up until—Mom's gaze turned razor-sharp. "You look exhausted. Stay up all night?""No." I cleared my throat. I got up from the bed then started walking over to the door. I rubbed sleep from my eyes as I trudged up the attic stairs behind Mom. The wooden steps creaked under our weight with the smell of dust thick in the air."Aren't you going to have breakfast first?
My head snapped toward him.Sleep with me? What the fuck did he mean by that? Did he expect me to just say oh okay, come sleep with me like some mindless doll?"I mean lay with you on the bed and go to sleep… not fuck you, Rosalie."I relaxed—then immediately hated the pang of disappointment that followed.You can’t be hoping to fuck your freaking stepbrother. Snap out of it.“Oh, but we can’t risk that again. Mom still wants to talk about it. Her instinct is telling her I was hiding a guy.”“But you were hiding a guy,” he said grinning.“Not just any guy,”The grin on his lips slowly faded. “Of course.”I stared at him, waiting for more, but he stayed silent. Fed up, I turned toward my room—only to hear footsteps behind me. Before I could react, Noah shoved me inside and shut the door behind us.“What is wrong with you?”“Well, I’ve had a shitty day, and I need to relax.”“Okay, but you can do that in your room.”“I can’t relax there… I need you to relax.”“Since when do you need me
Noah rubbed his forehead again, then glanced at the beer cans littered across the ground near his mother’s grave.“Leave them,” I said. “Someone else will pick them up.”“I …” he murmured.I placed a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. I’m not mad.”He looked at me with disdain in his eyes. “You should be. I’m not good for you.”“You aren’t,” I said, smiling. “But I don’t care.”“Why? I don’t understand,” he said.But I don’t know the answer to that question either. All I know is that I’m looking at a boy who’s not ready for the world he created, a boy who can’t face his own sins. A boy whose youth was taken from him too soon, whether by force or by choice. Even if the thing brewing between us is so wrong, I couldn’t help it. He’s just a boy in need of a girl to help him out.“You’re not the only one with secrets,” I muttered. “I guess we’re all bad guys in our own story. And… I’m sorry I talked about your mom.”“I get it.” He nodded a few times. “I’m sorry about everything. The pictures,
“Why are you doing this?” he murmured against my shoulder. “I’m a monster, a fucking bad guy.”“Even bad guys deserve a shoulder to cry on,” I replied , smiling gently.He leaned back. “I don’t want to. I want to scream.”“Then scream,” I said, shrugging.And he does. So loud that the birds fly out of the rustling trees. The sound was like that of a wounded lion roaring in pain. His chest deflated slowly, and I watched the energy dissipate.“Feels good, right?” I said.I do that sometimes.”“When?” he asked.“After my dad left.” I sucked in a breath and tucked my hair behind my ear. “When he met another woman. He never came back to us.”The silence following my words was deafening.“I’m sorry,” he said after a while.“Don’t be. I’ve made my peace,” I said.“Besides, he’s still living his life out there, somewhere, even though it’s without me and my mom.”Noah nodded. “Must be hard.”“It’s fine… It’s not as hard as what you must be going through right now,” I said, cocking my head.
Noah steered me toward the girls' bathroom with his grip like iron around my wrist. The hallway buzzed with laughter and whispers that crawled under my skin. Then the principal's voice crackled through the speakers,"Noah Blackwood, please report to the office immediately. I repeat, Noah Blackwood to the office now."His head snapped up with confusion flashing across his face. Every eye in the hallway locked onto him."What do they want you for?" I whispered."No clue. Come with me."I obeyed.We rounded the corner—and froze.Two police officers stood outside the principal's office. My stomach dropped. Oh god. Did they finally catch him? Is this an arrest?One officer gestured Noah inside and followed him in. The door clicked shut.The warning bell screeched overhead. Fuck. I needed to get to class, but I had to know what was happening.Five minutes passed. Then ten. The door stayed closed.Shit. I have to get to class.I sprinted to class, sliding into my seat just as the teacher
I woke to pounding on my door."Rosalie! Mommy's back!"My eyes flew open. Shit. Mom had this habit of vanishing for days, then reappearing like some jet-setting ghost.The doorknob rattled. "Locked again? Rosalie?"I shot up from the bed. Next to me, Noah stirred with his bare chest glinting in the morning light.Fuck."Rosalie? You're late for school!" My mom screamed.Noah was on his feet in an instant, yanking his shirt over his head. He mouthed "Bathroom" and disappeared inside just as I swung the door open.My mom was dressed in a short skirt and a top with a bag in her hand.“Rosalie, why are you locking your doors?”“I dunno, security reasons?”I said try to be as calm as possible. I know my mom can definitely tell when a girl is hiding a man in her room. She has lots of experience in hiding and being hidden.“Really? Even when you were living in that crackhouse in a dangerous neighborhood… Even when you’re in the house alone, you never lock your room door. So why now? Thi
I stared at him, words clotting in my throat.The realization hit like a sucker punch—he’d been protecting me. It made no sense. This was the same boy who’d made my life hell, who’d smirked while I cried.“Why?”He swallowed hard, then dropped his hand.“I don’t know Rosalie, I can’t help it.”“But you bullied me…”“That was in the beginning…” He turned away, raking his fingers through his hair.“It’s fucked up, I’m fucked up.”Then my eyes squinted. I can’t believe him. The memory of how he deceived me to take those pictures flooded my mind.“I can’t believe you. Is this another of your plans? To make me vulnerable so you can take something else to manipulate me?”“Manipulate you? I’m not manipulating you.”“That’s what I thought till you took those pictures of me. Why did you take them then? Wasn’t it to bend me to your will?“His Adam apple bobbed down again.“I took them…” he swallows again.“I took them became I needed them”“To do what?”“What do guys use girls' naked pictures
“You can’t run Rosalie.”Shit he’s right. I can’t run away from him. Even if I do, it won't last. My mom would want to know why I’m away from the house. It’s bringing more problems than solving the current one. If you can’t run from your problems, you face them. “Is that what you told her before you killed her?” I shot. I know the last thing I should be doing right now is provoking him. But I can’t let him believe he has the upper hand.Noah kicked the door. “Open the fucking door and say it to my face.”“I can’t hide from you right? Break through it.”I heard him laugh. “You either open this door or I tear it down.”“Then you’ll have to explain to our parents what happened to the door.”“Our parents? Last time I recall, I only have a dad, and you only have a mom.”“Still doesn’t change the fact that you’ll have to explain.”He let out a dark chuckle.“You push me Rosalie, you push me.”I heard him go into his room, then he came out.“You forget that his house used to belong to
The first thing I noticed was the weight of Noah’s arm draped over my waist and his warm breath against the back of my neck. The second thing? The clock on his nightstand glowed 3:17 AM in blood-red digits.Perfect.I held my breath as I lifted his arm away from me slowly and slid out from under the sheets. The mattress creaked and Noah stirred. I froze, my pulse hammering in my throat until his breathing evened out again.Clothes first. My top was crumpled on the floor where I’d tossed it hours ago. I got dressed quickly.The bedside drawer yielded nothing but condoms and a switchblade. Classic Noah. His desk was next—neat, controlled, just like him. Laptop closed. Notes stacked with military precision. No phone.Then a glint of light caught my eye on glass atop his closet. There. I climbed onto his chair with my bare feet sinking into the leather, and stretched. My fingertips brushed cool metal. Got it. The phone was ice-cold in my palm, like it had been waiting for me.Now for th