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Catch Me 37
“He hurts you?” Malcolm asks, his face slightly twisted.“They all do.”He shakes his head, turning briefly to the driver’s side window with his lips pursed before refocusing on the road. “That’s not like him. I know it’s going to be hard to convince you…but anything he’s doing is just out of fear. He didn’t ask to be born into that fucked up family of his. He’s just as much of a pawn as the rest of us.”I stare at him as he drives, searching for some sign of an ulterior motive. Doubt. Anything that tells me he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. But he’s filled with resolve. Completely confident that Emmett is somehow different than his flock of abusers.My head flings back against my seat. I can’t handle this right now. The last thing I need is another gnawing voice in my ear trying to convince me that Emmett’s behavior is excusable.I’ve watched him dump trash on Lily’s head. He manhandled me in front of his asshole Elite friends. He’s verbally abused me. Humiliated me. Threatene
Catch Me 38
As soon as I have the thought of gratitude, his arms wrap around me tightly, one hand wriggling down to unbuckle my seatbelt before he drags me into his lap.“What the fuck are you doing!?” I shout, kicking and squirming to get away.“We’re gonna take a little drive,” he explains in a hauntingly snide tone. “And I want you close to me.”All I can think of is the last time these fuckers took me for a drive, and the time after that when Emmett tried again to lure me away in his car. My hands and arms flail frantically for escape, but he quickly grips onto me in every direction. He holds me down long enough to secure his stretched seat belt over the both of us. With one arm held firmly across my chest, holding my arms down, a black cloth falls over my eyes.“No!” I yell hopelessly, not wanting to be blindfolded. But the cloth ties tight across my vision, blocking out the outside world. “Emmett, please…don’t do that!”Vincent and Trey cackle. They love it when I’m struggling.I finally gi
Catch Me 39
“I’m going as fast as I can,” I whine back, trying to hurry.He huffs over, slinging back the curtain and reaching in to turn the faucets off.“What are you doing!?” I cry, looking at him in shock. “I’m almost done. Just give me a minute.”“You’re out of time, princess,” he sneers, throwing a towel at me, but not until after he takes a good long slow look at my wet and naked body. I’m quick to cover up from his gaze, figuring if he can’t even have the decency to give me a full five minutes in the shower, he doesn’t get to see me naked.Anger sparks in his eyes as I cover up, robbing him of his eye candy. His hand grips my elbow tightly as he yanks me out, banging my arm harshly against the sink countertop.“Shit!” I shout, looking down to see fresh red blood pooling out into the beads of water still dripping across my skin. Just another reminder of who he really is, making me kick myself for every moment of weakness I had last night.“We don’t have time for all of this,” he moans impa
Catch Me 40
He plops into a chair in the corner as his leg starts bobbing up and down. He presses his palm to his mouth and looks anxiously around the room, fighting hard not to let my words affect him.“I can’t believe I let you,” I mused. “Something about the way you commanded me…I just couldn’t refuse. I guess you still have that power over me somehow.”“I wasn’t expecting to feel like that when I kissed you,” he responds with a surprising tenderness.His recollection of it makes sense. The way he seemed confused and tormented as he grabbed at my body with an almost punishing touch. He hated me for the feelings I stirred up inside of him. He was just doing what he was told, scoping me out and luring me to WJ Prep. He never meant to feel anything for me.“I still never expect to feel that way when I kiss you,” he added in a disappointed mutter.“But you do,” I offer optimistically, thinking maybe I’ve found my way into him. “And I do too. There’s something between us, Emmett. Enough that…surely
Catch Me 41
I can’t take it anymore. I can’t stand here while she tries to make Emmett feel bad after everything she’s done. “Well, if you’ve been up Liam’s ass this whole time anyway, just waiting for your chance to run the company,” I chime in, “why do you care what Emmett did? You said you were glad Thomas was gone.”She shrugs cavalierly. “It doesn’t change the way things work around here. You can’t just take out the crown of the hierarchy around here and expect not to suffer the consequences.”“You people are all seriously fucked up,” I blurt out.“I knew what you did, Emmett,” Bernadette grunts resentfully. “I came and told Liam. He was the one who let Mom know.”“I thought you were smarter than that, Emmett,” Liam scolds. “You know what happens to people who mess with the Elites. You know a thing or two about that yourself, don’t you, Ophelia? So now you’ll walk away with nothing.”“And if I were you…I’d get out of town,” Malcolm adds. “Now the Elites will rise back to where we belong. And
Catch Me 42
“I don’t know.” I smile lightly. “Did they? You’re free now. You don’t have to play their games anymore, or walk around with the weight of your father’s legacy on your shoulders. You can live your life however you want to now.”He grins. “I can finally take you to that concert, that band I was telling you about. There’s nothing to worry about anymore but normal stuff like school and college. And us.”“The concert…sure.” I laugh. “But also Ritzville. The Ferris wheel at Ritzville.”“What?” He smirks and wrinkles his brow.“It’s a thing for me.” I shrug. “Just promise me we’ll go.”“I’ll take you anywhere you want to go,” he says before pulling my lips to his.“I don’t know about where I want to go…but I know I need to go home.” I look at the time on my phone. “My parents are going to be worried sick…again.”He nods and looks at me intently. “I think it’s time to tell them everything, Ophelia.”I have always known that anyone outside of Jameson would never be able to understand the full
Catch Me 43
Emmett and I race through the cold to the warmth of his car after school. A fresh snow has just fallen, and the campus has been transformed. The blinding, pure white glow all around brings me hope that maybe when we return in January, the Elites won’t come at us with the force we’re expecting. But mostly, I try not to think about any of it at all.The weather in Massachusetts is beautiful, especially in Jameson. It’s a small enough town with a historic square in the middle that gets decorated with lights, greenery, and bright red bows every November, and stands through the holidays. It all looks so beautiful with the snow and the sparkling salt on the cobblestone sidewalks. It’s so scenic that horse-drawn carriages park in wait for people who want to pay to ride around.The orange and red autumn leaves have shriveled to dried, brown, crunchy dead things that are frozen and buried deep beneath the snow. In some places where the snow has turned to slush from cars or foot traffic, you ca
Catch Me 44
“Well, it sounds like you’re about to find out,” he says ominously.I remember my father defending his decision to kidnap me if Emmett hadn’t stepped in. He claimed he just needed to ‘remove me from the game.’ Like I was just some kind of gambling chip in his mind, one that was swinging the odds out of his favor. At the time, I didn’t know if I was better off with Emmett or my dad. Now it seems I’m getting both, whether I like it or not.We’ve come so far since then. When everything about Emmett and my dad came out, I couldn’t imagine ever trusting Emmett again after everything he had put me through. I certainly never thought we’d be where we are today. But I can’t help but feel like the lingering presence of my father threatens what we have. I don’t know how, but I know it’s not good.“Do you think he still keeps tabs on my mom and me?” I ask Emmett nervously. “You remember what he said after everything happened with your father. About my mother belonging to him before anybody else.
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