Page 3 of Unspoken Lies

“It felt wrong the moment she was covered up by the dirt,” he confesses brokenly. “It was all we could do to keep from immediately trying to get her out.”

I don’t want to know, do I? My eyes fill with tears without falling, and I gaze unseeingly at the asphalt in front of me.

“I’m not saying it was right?—”

Taking a deep breath, I lose my fight with being the bigger person. Whirling around, my fist is already flying at his stupid, lying face before I’m able to register doing it, only to be caught by another equally stupid boy.

“That’s enough,” Jared grunts, squeezing my fist tightly. I hide the wince because it hurts, but lose the battle with my tears.

I hope their dicks rot off. A few tears trail down my cheeks, and Jared stares at them for seconds too long.

“This is over,” he whispers. “Go home. Our time at this school is done, and our chapter within it is closed.”

“May the chapter where we exist in each other’s spaces also close,” I mutter. “I’m done. I have to go home to pack.”

“Want to tell us what school you’re planning to go to?” Jared asks.

Huh. I thought that Theo would have been all over that.

“Nope. Maybe I won’t go to college,” I say, glaring at Elijah when he opens his mouth. That’s a lie, it’s all I seem to be able to do with them.

The flow of information only moves if they feel comfortable sharing. I guess I’ll be damn sure to make it really uncomfortable for them.

“Whatever you want, Lili,” Jared says. “Don’t forget to actually live your life.”

As he releases my fist, I sigh. I’m so mixed up and turned around. What will I even do at Princeton anyway? It’s a school that was on my bucket list, one that I was excited for until Rachelle left the world.

I was even trying to get her to apply there so we could go together. Her grades were good enough for it, even with the fuck up on her transcript because of the boys.

They have always been trying to ruin her life. Until they finally took it.

“I feel sorry for you,” I murmur, aware that we’ve been talking far too long. The rumor mill will be rife with fodder soon. “I don’t have a life now, and you’re the cause of it. Ask your boy here, as there will be hell to pay for it.”

“We miss him too,” Jared begins, but I shake my head.

“Then you’d never have let him take the fall for this,” I remind him. “He didn’t kill her.”

“How do you know?” he asks, eyes turning cold and mean. “Maybe he did.”

Elijah has told me too much already, and the rest of the pieces I’ve filled in my mind. It may not be perfect, but it’s what makes the most sense. If Ignacio was playing Rachelle and I, he wouldn’t have taken her to the hospital. No, in fact, I know he used the bracelet’s app to find her. It alerted my phone that night, even though I was sleeping.

There’s no reason he’d have needed it if he had been in the loop. Ignacio was distancing himself from them on purpose.

“Go fuck yourself,” I say, twisting to walk away.

“Very classy,” Jared calls out as I throw up my two middle fingers.

Now he can say that. He can sit on them and spin for all I care. They’re useless Kings who don’t even have a throne anymore.

I’d much rather be a queen of my own making, so I can watch the world burn.

“Mija,do you really want to go down to the basement tonight?” Dad asks, lips pursed in worry.

I’ve been spiraling for the past three days since I saw Jared and Elijah, and it’s made me volatile and destructive. My skin is red from dry brushing it to remove any layers of skin where they touched me, my arms are covered in long sleeves to hide it despite the heat of the summer.

I fucking hate them so much. I don’t know what’s up or down anymore, everything is just awful. I need blood to run that doesn’t belong to me, need to hear screams that aren’t mine. I’m not quite a masochist yet, but I do enjoy other people’s pain.

“I need it, Daddy. Please?” I ask, biting my lip. He won’t respect begging. I need him to agree.