ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʜᴏɴᴇ|ʙɪʟʟʏ ʜᴀʀɢʀᴏᴠᴇ

☥𝟢𝟢𝟨☥

⇰ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕊𝕚𝕩.
-𝔹𝕣𝕒𝕤𝕤 𝕜𝕟𝕦𝕔𝕜𝕝𝕖𝕤.

"Turn the music down, fuck face!" Anthony was blasting his music again. Ashton and Cassidy had gone to work, and when there was finally peace and quiet for me to study, Anthony just had to ruin it. I kicked his door in before giving up. Someone was knocking on the door upstairs. I ran up and opened it. "French lesson already?" I looked back to the clock, noting that I had lost track of time.
"Yeah, but the boys followed me here." They all smiled and waved from the driveway. "Bikes in the garage, food in your stomachs," I instructed. They hurriedly put their bikes away before running to the kitchen.

"You guys are acting like you've never eaten before." Uh oh. They all stared at her dumbfounded. "This is Bex's cooking, Max. She's like a five-star chef, do you get that? Five stars," Mike said. "Not four," Will chimed in, "Five."
"Maybe even six," Dusty said. "Now you're taking it too far." Max and I just laughed as we walked up to my room. "Prêt pour votre prochaine leçon?" I asked. She stammered for a moment, putting the words together in her head before answering. "Aussi prêt que je le serai jamais." Her pronunciation was a little off but I praised her anyway. "What's on the agenda for today?" She asked.

"Greetings."

She perched up. "Oh, I know a few!" She grinned. "Really?"
She nodded her head. "I heard you talking on the phone in French a few times," She answered. "Alright, lay one on me."
She hummed to herself a little, putting on her iconic thinking face. "Hé, comment vas-tu?"
"Nice job, Max! But do you know what it means?" I asked. "How've you been?" She answered my question with her own. "Precisely. Alright, let's keep rollin'."

Max and I were at it for an hour before someone started pounding on the door. "Get the door, assholes!" Max laughed from next to me. I held up a flash card for her. We were going over the greetings she had learned and working on her pronunciation. "c'est bon de te voir," she smiled. Dusty appeared at the door. "Billy's here," He said. When Max began to pack her stuff up, he stopped her. "For Bex."

I slipped on my jacket and my boots before trotting down the steps. I shoed the kids away from the window. "Go geek out or something, mind your business." They all rolled their eyes before heading back to the living room. I stepped out and met with the blond-haired boy. "What do you want?" I questioned. "Why did you react like that? I mean, yeah, I was beng an asshole but I- I don't know, I didn't expect you to act like that."
His voice was softer than usual, putting me on edge. Billy was in control when away from his dad, so why was he giving it up right now?

"Doesn't matter," I answered. "It does, Bex. It matters, so tell me so I can never do it again." Again. "You shouldn't have done it in the first place," I hissed. He let go of a shaky breath. "I know... Just, please."
My throat burned hot as I tried to put the words together. "My mom and dad moved back to New York a few years after they got married, said they wanted us to be around our own kind." And by own kind, dad meant rich, entitled assholes. Something Cass, Ant, Ash, and I would never be. "That's where we were all born." I took a seat on the steps, him following after me.
"We went to visit one winter so we could help coordinate the tree at Rockefeller."

He laughed, "Of course you did."
I could only offer him just the ghost of a smile. "There was this kid we all grew up with -- Luther... He was possessive, did the same thing to me that you did one day. He didn't stop and leave though, not until he was done with me." I pulled down the collar of my shirt, showing him the scar tracing my collar bone. "He was brutal, wouldn't let up until I gave him what he wanted and at first, I thought It worked, thought It was... But I told Cassidy about it and he told me it wasn't, told me I didn't really let him."

As if it was instinct, Billy brought me close to him with a tight grip. Almost as if he was scared to let me go. "So when you did that, I just... Fuck. I just froze up because I didn't know what to do." I wiped away any tears that were stinging my eyes. "So much for being tough, right? I should've told you."
He shook his head. "You told me when you were ready, not because I forced it out of you. I'm sorry." He hugged me tighter. "I'd never do that to you, or let anyone do that to you. I'd kill them." I let out a rough chuckle. "Of course, you would."
I backed away, looking up at him.

His eyes were icier than the wind cutting through my jacket. It was oddly cold today. "If you want me to still stay away I will if it makes you feel better." I could see the doubt and worry in his eyes. That fire that I had seen the other night was completely gone, and it was replaced with something else, something I couldn't put my finger on.
I shook my head. "You know too much now, you're stuck with me, Hargrove." The smile that grew quickly washed away when the door from his house slammed shut.
"That's it." He tried to pull me back as I opened the front door, sending a whistle through the house. Anthony came running up with his brass knuckles, tossing me my old ones.

"We're dealing with your deadbeat once and for all, either you're in or out." Billy was scared to stand up for himself when it came to his dad, I knew that for a fact. So when he sat there with pleading eyes, I knew this was Anthony and I's fight now. We stepped down the steps, meeting Neil halfway before I threw a right hook to his jaw. "Fuck!" He screamed. He went to grab me but Anthony pushed him back, hitting him in his jaw the same way I did.
Neil fell to the group, so I took the liberty of getting on top of him. I hit him once, then again, and again, and I kept going until my knuckles were bloodied and bruised.

Anthony pulled me off, sending a kick straight to Neil's stomach before spitting on him. I crouched down next to the almost lifeless man. "Touch him, or Max, or even your wife and you're fucking dead, got it? I beat you to an inch of your life but next time you'll stop breathing." As the sirens in the background grew louder, I sent a right hook to his temple, knocking him out cold.
I felt those cold cuffs swing around my wrists with ease as I placed my hands behind my back. I slipped the brass knuckles into Anthony's hand, turning my attention to the people on my porch. "I'll be back in a few hours."

Max and Billy shared a look before he ushered them into the house.