Devil on the Rooftop [Book 1]

Chapter 25 - Arisa

Tomasia crossed her arms. Her brother was being childish and it seemed like she had no patience for it. Join the club, I wanted to say. I couldn't imagine what he put his sister through growing up, but I hoped she had learned to handle his strong personality over the years. I was always wanted an older brother, but after meeting the rooftop losers, I felt better off. Their alpha complexes were annoying to say the least, and I hated how every single one of them talked down to me.

"Matilda, you can head home," Tomasia said.

Matilda didn't argue with her. She gave me a sympathetic smile and glared daggers at Loyal before squeezing past us. She opened the door and was greeted by Zander, who gently pushed her behind him. "I'm here, I'm here—" he stopped talking the moment his eyes met Tomasia. "Yeah, nope. I'll be out here." he said, kicking the door shut.

"Just date him already," Loyal told his sister.

"That's a hard no," she replied, her stern eyes meeting mine. "I thought I warned you to stay away from the rooftop?"

"Yeah," I said, upset. "Thanks for that. If you hadn't said anything then I wouldn't have had the pleasure of meeting your delightful brother."

"I was trying to protect you," she replied. "And it's hard to attend this school and not hear about what goes on up there."

I rolled my eyes, frustrated by the truth. If she didn't tell me about the rooftop losers then someone else would have. It wasn't hard to pick up information about the human lie detector either, not while his clients loitered the school halls. "Let's assume you were trying to protect her," Loyal said, showing no signs of freeing me. "Why did you ask me to stay away from her, Tommy?"

"Don't call me that!" she yelled. It was my first time seeing her lose her composure but she was quick to regain it. "I thought you would be smart enough to listen if I personally asked you to stay away."

I looked up at my captor. "She asked you to stay away from me?" I asked. "Why would she do that? Why would you do that, Tomasia?"

"You keep forgetting that I have access to your file."

My eyebrows furrowed in confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I know what happened at Oakville High, between you and Wade Cainan."

That hit a sensitive nerve.

"And?" I asked.

I tried to play it cool but my fists clenched on their own. The more I thought about it, the more I disliked her having access to my records, and right now she was acting like she found some dirt on me. Dirt that she was prepared to use if I didn't do as she said. The door to the student council opened again. I didn't bother to look at the intruder. I was too busy waiting for an explanation from Tomasia.

"What did we miss?" Khaleel asked.

Loyal let his guard down. Maybe seeing his counterpart made him feel more at ease about stepping into his sister's domain. Khaleel did say that if I joined the student council, it would mean I was challenging Loyal. I didn't quite understand what he meant by that but it couldn't be anything good. I took the opportunity to break out of the jerk's hold and took a few steps back.

"So, after I told you what school I went to, you dug up information on me?" I asked Tomasia.

"Yes."

At least she was honest. "Why do you care about my relationship with Wade?" I asked.

"He's the reason I wanted to meet with both of you," Tomasia said. "I'm sure you're unaware of this fact, Arisa, but Loyal and I used to be friends with Wade when we were kids."

Loyal shook his head as if trying to suppress a bad memory from resurfacing. "Wait, back up!" he exclaimed. He looked angry all of a sudden, and I couldn't help notice how he flinched at the mention of Wade. "How does she know him?"

Tomasia gave me a side-eye. "Do you want to tell him or should I?"

Hino and Zander came to stand on either side of Khaleel. Great, I thought. Just great. It was annoying enough to learn that Tomasia and Loyal used to be friends with my ex-boyfriend, but now the rooftop losers looked like they were ready to start a fight over my relationship? What did Wade do to get such a bitter reaction? I wanted to know but at the same time I felt like I shouldn't pry any further. The whole day was turning into a real headache.

"I'm not in the mood to talk about it," I said as calmly as I could. "And frankly, I'm still having a hard time understanding how it's any of your business."

"I'm trying to be transparent with my brother," Tomasia answered. "So, maybe you should get in the mood to talk about it."

"If you force me to talk about it then you're no better than him," I glared. "I didn't come to this school to be judged or ridiculed, but most of all, I didn't come here to be underestimated. I don't question your messed up relationships so don't question mine."

"How do you know Wade?" Loyal asked, his voice booming.

The room fell silent and tension followed.

I whipped around to face the jerk. "I just said I didn't want to talk about it," I retorted. "Are you deaf? No, you're just used to getting your way. You're used to people fearing you which means you're used to having control."

Loyal inched closer to me. "Where do you get off assuming anything about me?" he asked livid.

"Where do you get off assuming anything about me?" I clapped back. "I'm not yours to boss around and intimidate. You think because you're the human lie detector you can demand truths out of me? After the shit you pulled on the rooftop? Seriously? It's no wonder they call you the devil."

I didn't realize the severity of my words until I found Hino, Zander, and Khaleel scowling at me. They looked like a pack of wild dogs, ready to devour me, not out of hunger but pure retribution. Shivers crawled down my arms and legs and my heart panicked. This was bad. Really bad. They were a formidable group for a reason and this was the first time I truly felt afraid of them. I didn't want to feel guilty for speaking my mind but their daunting expression assured me that I should.

"You're such an annoying girl," Khaleel said, breaking the tension. He grabbed a hold of my wrist and dragged me out of room.