Page 9 of Sour Lollipops and Sweet Nightmares (The Society #1)

Georgia

I did everything I could to avoid drama in my life, but I was addicted to the drama in telenovelas. Curling up on the couch with mom to watch some-over-the-top, never-happen-in-real-life storylines was one of my guilty pleasures—those and drama shorts.

I would scroll for hours, eager to see how the billionaire would react when he found out the love of his life wasn’t dead, seconds before he married her evil sister, who was keeping her prisoner in the cellar.

I could always tell when moments like those were coming because a dun, dun, dun played in the background as if the people watching wouldn’t understand the monumental moment without the ominous music.

But everything was so over-exaggerated in those shows that it made me roll my eyes, yet want to know more at the same time. Perhaps that was what made them so entertaining. Things like that never happened in real life.

At least that’s what I thought, until I found myself staring back at four guys who had anger and murder in their eyes. I suppose this was what Mom meant when she said life had its own plot twists. The dun, dun, dun even rang through my head, mingling with the growl in Sandy Hair’s tone.

“Hello, Georgia. Did you miss me?”

And how did I respond to his obvious threat? I smiled and said, “Hello,” back.

Because that’s what people did when someone greeted them. However, I did wonder how he knew my name. I don’t remember introducing myself, and I was fairly sure they were the same guys from last night. Then again…

I tipped my head and eyed the three standing behind Sandy Hair, two of whom stood out.

Identical twins weren’t something one commonly saw, and they were identical in every way.

The same hate-filled glint in their hazel eyes, and a sinister curl at the corner of their mouths.

They even had the same short on the sides and longer on the top cut in their auburn hair, which gave them a messy yet not styled look.

If it weren’t for the tattoos on one and the different clothes they were wearing, I would’ve thought it was one guy standing next to a mirror.

Surely I would remember meeting them, right? Maybe they weren’t there last night? Mind you, it was hard to recall faces when a penis became seared into my brain. I couldn’t even be sure which one of the back three I’d seen exposed.

Not that I wanted to know—that thing between his legs was scary. How could something that big fit into something so small? Painfully, that’s how, which was another reason for me to avoid sex. But I did find my eyes drifting downward.

“Hello. That’s all you have to say for yourself?”

Was I supposed to say something else? Not that I could if I wanted to. I was too stunned to speak.

My eyes had wandered into forbidden territory.

One would think denim—being a heavy fabric—would hide certain things.

It, in fact, did not. Bulges were visible.

Some more so than others. The guy with the man bun and bright blue eyes was either erect, or he had a weapon of mass destruction in his pants.

“I’m talking to you.” If the distinct anger in Sandy Hair’s voice wasn’t enough to make me snap my attention back up to their faces, then the fingers snapping in front of me sure were.

Clearly, his feelings towards me didn’t improve any overnight. He really didn’t like me. Anyone could tell that just by looking at him. Hate was written all over his face. Given our interaction last night, I wasn’t surprised by his animosity.

“You said hello. The proper response is to say it back.” The explanation was unneeded, but what else was I going to say? I didn’t ask to talk to you? Go away? Fuck off? Somehow, I didn’t think any of those would alter that look on his face. Although I did confuse him, and he wasn’t the only one.

Man bun also lifted a brow. “Is she getting smart with us?”

Great, now my palms were sweaty again. Why did people insist on talking to me today? Was there some cosmic being up there making fun of my self-made promise? One thing was for sure. I was never going to tell myself to talk to someone again.

“It’s called being polite.” I sneered at Man Bun.

Sandy hair thrust his finger out at me, “Don’t try to get out of this by being cute.”

How was that cute?

“I told you this wasn’t over, Peaches.”

Peaches? I guess originality wasn’t one of his skills.

There were only a few things that people could use to make fun of a name like Georgia.

One of which was the classic Georgia peach, the other was a ‘hello Georgie’ in reference to a clown that lived in the sewer. Neither of which I found insulting.

“You walked into the wrong room.”

I walked into the wrong room? “The next time you want to do something nefarious, you might want to try locking the door. It only takes a second.”

A simple click would’ve solved all his problems.

“You barged in on us.”

“No,” I shook my head. “I opened a door that you could’ve easily locked.”

When the four of them all looked down at me with the same dark glint in their eye, a slow clap began to echo in the back of my head.

Way to go, Georgia. Instead of defusing the situation, you poked the bear.

It couldn’t be that bad, could it?

The way Sandy Hair narrowed his eyes said otherwise. “That’s right, you opened a door. Then you took a fucking picture.”

That’s when the reality of my situation started to set in. They were all pissed, and I was largely outmatched, in both numbers and size. The shortest one of them was at least a foot taller than me. And here I was, pointing out the mistakes they made.

The smartest thing I could do would be to keep my mouth shut or apologize. But that would give them power. And once people like them thought they had influence over someone, they would never stop. One had to stand strong in the face of bullies.

So, I lifted my chin, rolled my shoulders back, and firmly stated, “You don’t intimidate me.”

That was a lie. The conversation alone intimidated me, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Oh, I think we do,” Sandy Hair growled in a tone so deep I could feel it in my racing pulse.

Damnit. So much for standing firm.

My eyes darted over to Rachel, who was too busy making out to be phased by this. Obviously, she wasn’t going to help, and I didn’t see Kash anywhere. As much as I wanted to avoid him and his sex appointments, having someone on my side would make me feel better. But there was no one. I was alone.

“Hey!” Sandy Hair’s hand slammed down on the table, causing me to jerk in my chair while my forgotten tray clattered. “I’m talking to you.”

I could hear that. Anyone within earshot could. A couple of people even looked our way, but did any of them come to help? No.

“Maybe I should go?” Running away seemed like my best option, but Sandy Hair wasn’t letting me go anywhere.

When I stood, he grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back down into the chair so hard that it screeched on the floor, and my butt ached.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

If I was leery before, I was starting to get scared now. Dealing with the jerks in high school when they did notice me was one thing. These guys were different. I was pretty sure they wanted to hurt me, but I was more concerned with the hand that was still on my shoulder.

Mom and I weren’t huggers or touchy-feely kind of people, and I didn’t have any friends, so I wasn’t used to being touched. His hand was heavy, uncomfortable, and way too much in my personal space.

I jerked out of Sandy Hair’s grasp. “Don’t touch me. I don’t like it.”

Something clicked in his eyes as a smirk curled the corners of his mouth. That was when I realized my mistake.

“Is that right? You hear that, boys?” he said over his shoulder to the other three. “Georgia doesn’t like being touched.”

One of the twins snorted. “Who would want to touch her?”

Okay, that kind of hurt.

“I’ll touch her,” the other twin said. “Bitch does owe me an orgasm.”

What?

Horror widened my eyes.

He wasn’t serious, was he? I made a mental note of the tattoos saying ‘EAT IT’ on that twin’s knuckles, so I could stay far away from him.

“That’s true. Georgia did interrupt us before you could finish.” Sandy Hair tipped his head. “What do you think, Levi?”

Could I make it to the door before they caught me?

The one with the man bun curled his mouth in a smirk that made his grey eyes look almost silver. “I think Georgia should suck Ravi’s dick.”

I was going to assume that the tattooed twin was Ravi, and the one with the man bun was Levi, who I definitely didn’t like, not that their names mattered right now. I had other things to worry about, like calming this situation down so I could get out of here.

“I think you guys are taking this a little too far.”

There was picking on someone, and there was assault.

Given what I walked in on last night, I didn’t think they would have a problem taking things further than simple taunting.

Luckily for me, we were in a room full of people.

So, they weren’t going to do anything too bad, not without attracting more attention than we already had. Besides…

“Besides, I still have that picture.”

I didn’t, not since I deleted it last night.

I didn’t want to keep that filth on my phone.

There was something fundamentally wrong with having an image of someone almost naked without their permission.

Just thinking about it made me feel nauseous.

It was a violation, which was why I never would’ve uploaded it.

But these guys didn’t need to know that.

A shadow moved across Sandy Hair’s face. “Did you just threaten us?”

It was more of a warning than a threat, and a fake one at that. But it was all I could think to do. I didn’t like most normal interactions. This irregular one had my heart beating so fast, I was sure they could hear it.

Steeling my nerves, I looked Sandy Hair in the eyes. “Leave me alone.” It was worth a shot.

“You hear that, Issac?” Levi slapped Sandy Hair’s chest. “Georgia wants us to leave her alone.”