Filed To Story: Pretty Poisoned Novel by Elle Mitchell
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Brady cautions. “Just let it go.”
I don’t listen, looking from the hand to Brady before continuing toward the staircase. Quietly, I climb just about halfway, stopping when I’m within earshot of their hushed voices.
“I’m sorry,” Layla sobs. “I just I feel like he’s trying to get rid of me.”
“No, Layla,” Hazel says. “No one is going to get rid of you. You’re family.”
“But he’s still so mad at me. He barely looks at me. I don’t know what to do; I can’t take it. And now I think he’s trying to replace me. With her.”
“Layla, that’s not true,” River says. “You just need to be patient. Declan’s just testing you. You know how he is.”
“Is she part of the test?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” River tells her. “I don’t think so. I think she’s a test for Luca. But you know the house rules, Layla. We’re all free. You can’t react to her like this.”
“I know,” she says. “And I know it’s not her fault. It’s mine. And Alana”
“No,” Hazel stops her. “Alana didn’t do anything, either. This is on you. You have to stop this. Go back downstairs and be nice. Smile tonight. Start living again. Remind him who you are and why he picked you. Maybe that’s how you get through this; maybe that’s what he wants.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“Well you have to try,” Hazel says. “It’s the only thing you haven’t tried.”
“Yeah,” Layla says. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“Can we go back downstairs now?” Hazel asks.
I take that as my cue and backtrack down the staircase. I sit next to Brady, who looks at me and shakes his head. Across from me, two girls I haven’t met light another joint.
“Hi,” I say to them. “I’m Teag”
“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Brady stops me.
The girls laugh a little, although I’m not sure why. I’m not sure they know why, either, but they go back to what they were doing and don’t seem to care.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“You don’t need to know who they are,” he explains. “They aren’t family. We picked them up in L.A., and Declan has a strict two-stop rule for non-family members. They’ll be hitchhiking home or doing who the fuck knows what after tonight. They definitely won’t be coming home with us.”
I wonder if this counts as my first or second stop on the tour. I drove my own ass up here, so surely, it’s the first. But
“Home?”
He nods. “The next stop on the tour isn’t until Thursday night in Seattle. After the show, we’re going home to Coeur d’Alene. It’s about a fifteen-hour drive, so we’ll probably get there in the evening, depending on when we leave.”
“Are they going to take me?”
He raises an eyebrow. “He took your blood, didn’t he?”
“Yeah ”
“I’d say yes, then,” Brady says. “But get ready. Home isn’t for the weak.”
“What does that mean?”
“We’re back,” River interrupts before he can answer. “You can put your stuff in our room, Teagan. Come on.”
I follow her to a cabin on the first floor near the end of the bus. There’s a full-sized bed and just enough room to walk around. Everything inside is red, black, and gold, just like the main living area of the cabin.
“You can throw your bag wherever,” she says, then points to the back corner of the room. “There’s a teeny tiny bathroom and shower behind that door, an overflowing closet behind that one, and that’s pretty much the whole tour. We’re going to be nice and cozy in here.”
“It’s fine,” I tell her. “I’m used to small spaces.”
“We need to go in, Riv,” Hazel says from the doorway. “They’re going to be taking the stage soon.”
“Oh, shit,” River says, then looks back to me. “Let’s go.”
Hazel takes River’s hand, lacing their fingers together before pulling her into her body. “I missed you today,” she tells her.
“I missed you, too,” River says.
Then, she backs her into the door frame, pressing her body against hers. I watch as she leans in, her pierced tongue running along River’s lower lip before she opens, letting her into her mouth. Hazel moans, gripping River by the hips as she tugs on her lip with her teeth.
The pink-haired girl leans in and whispers something into River’s ear, sliding her hand up the back of her skirt. She smiles and laughs before she breaks away.
“Come on, Teagan.”
With her free hand, she takes mine, and the three of us walk past a security guard and through the back door of the dark venue.
At the end of the hall, we slip into a small lounge just as Luca walks out.
“Hey, no way,” he says when he sees me. “You made it.”
“Yeah, I”
“Nope,” River says, stepping between us. Though slightly taller than me, her very thin build makes her seem much smaller. It’s almost comical watching her scold the 6’1″ tattooed giant, even putting her hand over his mouth. “Don’t talk to her. Declan said she’s not allowed to talk to you or touch you, or she has to go. I don’t want that, and neither do you, so go away.”
“Whaaat?” he says, shaking her off. “That’s bullshit.”
She shrugs. “I don’t make the rules.”
“Whatever. We’ll see about that. A little taste never hurt anyone, right?” he says, winking at me.
So, he did read my message. I smile and give him a slight nod.
“I’m serious, Luca,” River says. “I wouldn’t test him right now.”
“I wasn’t talking to her; I was talking to you,” he says. “Teagan looks very sexy tonight, River. I’d rip her clothes off with my teeth if I could. I bet you would, too, wouldn’t you?”
“I’m not answering that,” she says, ushering me further into the room. “Go away.”
Inside the small room, there’s a minibar and some dark leather furniture. Layla sits on a sofa next to the two girls whose names I was told I don’t need to know. She’s talking with themperhaps trying her best to be happybut I can see in her eyes that she’s still upset. I make a mental note to try to get close to her, to try to get her alone and figure out what she did that upset Declan so much and why he would be punishing her.
Punishments, tests, timeouts. Is this what Declan does to his family? Is that what really happened to those girls?
Alana, the girl Declan was with last nightthe one that he cut during the showlies across the loveseat with her feet in Brady’s lap while he massages her legs. She has bandages around both of her wrists and a cocktail of some sort in her other hand.
“Hey! Teagan!” she says cheerfully enough to make me think she must already be drunk. “Welcome to the mother fucking party.”
“Thanks. Alana, right?”
“The one and only,” she says, draining the contents of her glass.
“Do you want a drink?” River asks. “I can make you something. We have maybe fifteen minutes.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.