Page 3 of Mask and the Magnolia

Mom huffs at my sarcasm but I can see the vein in her forehead starting to swell, the way it protrudes just enough to know if we were at home she’d slap me for that. She’ll play it cool while we’re here. I bet she’ll even laugh at my bullshit in an attempt to make like I’mjust being funny,but Larissa Severe will envision beating my ass the entire time.

She won’t, though.

The bitch doesn’t even try anymore.

The most she does these days is slap me because alpha or not, my mother knows I’m not someone to fuck around with, and an open palm against my face is all I’ll give her.

Why does Alpha Larissa pee a little every time I get pissed?

Mostly because I had a growth spurt last summer and I’m still fucking growing. Which means I’m bigger than both my parents now so, by the time I graduate high school I’ll probably be pushing six foot five, give or take.

Aside from my newly developed size?

She saw the aftermath of the fight I got into three weeks ago.

I almost beat a teacher to death. One from my old school who, we knew but couldn’t prove, was peeping on the cheerleaders in the locker rooms, some of whom were possibly forced to participate in someextracurricular activitiesbased on the way they’ve been acting recently. It wasn’t until the head bimbo squealed when she thought she spotted a camera in oneof the showers that they took the female’s claims seriously, and it was almost like the heat was on, so Mr. Brighton made some last ditch effort to do what he’d been escalating toward.

That fucker decided to try his luck with the lower classmen.

Namely, my sister.

Needless to say, it didn’t go as he planned and after he walked into the dark locker rooms to find me waiting instead of Maisie, that bastard got a hell of a lot more than he bargained for.

I surprised him with the lead pipe that connected the shower head to the wall, shoved the metal up his ass, then proceeded to bash his skull in with my fists. He lasted all of twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes, and Mr. Brighton was dead as a doornail.

When my dad came to see why the hell I was taking so long he took one look at my naked ass—we’d just finished varsity practice and I was changing when my sister gave me the heads up about the sick fuck—covered in blood and letting loose, he just shook his head and quickly walked his ass out to the parking lot where my mom was waiting for us.

I’m assuming I never faced any legal trouble and only switched to a private school because Larissa let everyone from the chief of police to the dean of admissions run a train on her, but I can’t say for sure.

Knowing how she operates, and the fact that we don’t have enough money to buy anyone off, I don’t doubt I’m right.

Gotta save face, after all.

She doesn’t fuck with me anymore after what she saw, though, and it’s made pushing her buttons a lot more fun because of it.

“You will call memotherwhile we’re here, Korvin or so help me I will?— “

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Fix your hair,” Mom whispers just before she spins on her heel to face the source of the voice behind her. “Oh my, it’s no trouble at all.”

Quietly scoffing to myself, I keep a grip on Maisie’s hand while I do as she said with the other, pushing my fingers back through my dirty blond waves while I watch my parents don their own masks.

My father tries, and fails, to act like some big tough bastard, puffing out his chest and dropping his voice a few octaves while they exchange introductions. Mom basically hangs ayou can fuck me if you wantsign off of her tits as she pushes them up, wiggling around awkwardly while shoving them in this guy’s face.

And that’s when it hits me.

Watching their exchange, the way my mother takes the lead while my dad looks like he’s never met this asshole in a two-thousand-dollar suit before. That’s when it clicks that she’s not just running the show because she’s an alpha and always does.

No, my cunt of a mother knows this guy, she’s the one who set this all up, and she’s the one with the ulterior motive. One beyond getting railed by some rich dude who looks old enough to be her father.

The emphasis she’s placed on Maisie is even more unsettling now and I can only hope that feeling of dread is unwarranted. Maybe we’re here to get my sister into some Ivy League high school next year so she doesn’t have to associate with me or some shit, and the only way for that to happen is a meet and greet cover so Larissa can work out her alternate payment.

We should be so lucky.

Leaning back in my chair,I roll the toothpick over my teeth, my tongue pushing it back and forth as I watch the worst fucking show I have ever seen.