“Where were they when you overheard the conversation.”
“In the kitchen.”
Just then a car pulled up alongside Peyton. She looked to her side and saw that it was her mother.
Before her mother could get out of her vehicle, Peyton opened her door and said, “Stay here. I’m going to make it to the house before my mom does.” She hurriedly got out of her sedan and ran for the front door.
Her father was resting on the sofa in the living room when she stormed into the home and nearly scared him to death. “What is going on here?” he said, rubbing his eyes. “Peyton, honey, why aren’t you in school?”
She didn’t say anything. She didn’t know where she should begin.
“You better have a good excuse for playing hooky.”
“This isn’t hooky, Dad,” Peyton said with her arms crossed.
“Wait!” her mother, Mia, yelled as she jogged into the home. Cole looked from his soon-to-be-ex-wife to his daughter.
“What is going on here? Why are you both here? You’re supposed to be at school.”
“And you’re normally at work this time of day,” Peyton added.
“Do not sass me young lady,” her father said, pointing a finger at her. “Why aren’t you in school?”
“Don’t worry,” her mother spoke up. “She’s going back right now.” She reached out to grab her daughter’s arm but Peyton backed away from her. “Do not touch me,” she yelled angrily. “After what you did, I can’t go back to school.” Her father sat up on the sofa.
Her mother was on the verge of shedding tears. “Peyton, don’t.”
“Then, tell him. Tell him what happened at school this morning. What everyone heard over the loud speaker.”
Her mother opened her mouth but no words came out.
“A recording of Uncle Davie and Mom having sex was played over the loud speaker at school this morning,” Peyton admitted without taking her eyes off her mother.
Without another word her father jumped to his feet and grabbed his coat from the coat rack.
“Where are you going?” Mia questioned, with tears running down her cheeks.
“Why the hell do you care? You’ve been sleeping with my brother this entire time.” He didn’t even bother to look at her. He’d caught her cheating before with a man he’d never met. Even though that hurt him deeply, this one hit below the belt.
“I’m staying with Dad at his condo. I just can’t be here tonight,” Peyton said.
“Honey, go to your room and get your things that you want to take with you,” her father told her.
Peyton walked up the spiral staircase to her room. She could hear her mother yelling at her father. She grabbed what she could and threw everything into her pink suitcase before she walked back downstairs.
She walked pass her mother without speaking and set her suitcase inside her trunk. She was going to stay with her father for some time now. She wasn’t sure if or when she’d come back to the home to see her mother. Right now she wanted to be as far away from her as possible.
“Are you going back to school?” her father asked her outside after she shut the trunk of the car.
“I’m driving Sailor back to school and then I’ll come over to the condo…I mean, home—my new home.”
He nodded. “Okay. Drive carefully,” he said to her before he got into his own vehicle.
Sailor didn’t bother to say anything to Peyton once she sat in the driver’s seat. She thought it was best that way.
“I’m going to stay with my dad for the time being. I’m not sure how long that’s going to be. But I’m not coming back to this house,” she said referring to the house that was once a home filled with love with her parents and herself.
Sailor nodded. “So where are we off to now?”
“I’m taking you back to school. And then I’m going home to my dad’s condo.”
Sailor glanced over at her and watched her fight back tears as she drove. “I’m really sorry,” she said in a low voice to Peyton.
Peyton didn’t respond instead she turned the radio on and neither she nor Sailor spoke the entire ride to school.
Chapter 26
Sailor got out of Peyton’s sedan without saying anything to her. And Peyton didn’t bother to speak either. Sailor went into the building and walked to her first class of the day. As soon as she entered the classroom her eyes landed on Leighton who gave her an eye roll. She was happy to return it. Then, she spotted Gigi whose eager eyes met hers.
“Where’s Peyton?” Gigi whispered when Sailor took a seat next to her.
Sailor took her time responding. “She wasn’t feeling up to coming to school today.”
“By the way, did you know that Peyton’s dad gave your mom a check for your college tuition?”
“No, he wouldn’t do that. My mom would’ve told me.” Sailor turned away from her. She wanted to believe that Gigi had known all along but she could tell that she didn’t know. The bitch was telling the truth.
“Stay with me in this classroom after the bell rings. I want to tell you something important.”
“Okay,” Gigi answered not giving it much thought.
Nearly twenty minutes later the bell rang and everyone exited the classroom including the teacher, leaving only Sailor and Gigi inside.
Sailor turned the light off in the room and shut the door. “What is it that you wanted to tell me?” Gigi said.
“Stay away from Peyton,” Sailor ordered.
Gigi chuckled lightly. “You always thought that I was trying to replace you.”
“I’m not going to let that happen. I’ve known Peyton since we were kids…”
“I have no interest in replacing you.”
“I don’t care what your interests are. Stay away from her or else,” Sailor barked.
“I would be very careful who I threatened,” an unfamiliar voice said from inside the classroom. “Or else your life may be turned upside down like Peyton’s.”
The light switch was flipped on by a student.
“Harper?” Sailor said in confusion.
“As in Harper from advanced anatomy and physiology with Dill,” Gigi added.
Harper smiled at the recognition. She quickly performed a one-eighty and frowned when she glanced back at Sailor.
Then, she turned away and walked out of the classroom. “What the hell was that about?” She looked at Gigi for an answer.
“Oh, you didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Exactly,” Gigi snapped and walked out of the classroom.
Chapter 27
Peyton knew that she told her father she’d go to his condo after dropping Sailor off at school. But she was going to return back to her mother’s house first and retrieve her credit card. She couldn’t believe that it wasn’t in her wallet. Because of what her father was going through, she didn’t want to ask him for another credit card. And she definitely was not going to ask her mother for anything.
She was pleased when she arrived to her destination. The garage wasn’t open and she was certain her mother wasn’t home because her car wasn’t in the drive way. She rarely used the garage. Peyton parked her car behind the home so that it could be hidden from the street. She didn’t want one of her parents to drive by and see it.
She unlocked the front door with her house key. The house was silent. She let out a breath she’d been holding in as she closed the front door behind her and walked upstairs to her room. She searched frantically for her credit card but couldn’t find it. She searched the nightstand and her desk; she even looked underneath her bed until a thought occurred to her.
What if she’d lost it? She closed her eyes and sighed as she got up from her knees and dusted them off with her hands. She didn’t want to but she was going to ask her dad for another credit card. After everything that had happened with her mother, she didn’t want to speak to her about anything. She didn’t understand how her mother could betray her father like that. How cou
ld she sleep with his younger brother? She wasn’t even sure if she ever wanted to speak to Uncle Davie again. What he and her mother did to her father was unforgiveable.
Her thoughts were disrupted when she heard her bedroom door slam shut suddenly. She tried to open the door but it wouldn’t open. “Mom! Dad!” she called out still trying to open the door. She continued to twist the knob but it wouldn’t turn to open. Something had to be jamming the door. She was becoming more and more alarmed by the second. Then, she heard what sounded like another door being slammed shut in the house and footsteps running down the stairs. “Help!”
Smoke slowly began to creep into her bedroom, making the air thick.
“Oh, my God,” Peyton said filled with fear. She ran to her bedroom window and her breath caught in her throat. The garage was fully engulfed in flames and her car was next in the line of fire.
Her eyes were beginning to sting from the smoke. She covered her mouth with her hand and coughed uncontrollably. She couldn’t believe this was happening. The house was on fire. Peyton tried to open the window with all her strength but it wouldn’t budge.
“Dammit!” she screamed wishing that she hadn’t left her cell phone in the car. She felt sick and light-headed as if she was going to faint. Tears tickled her cheeks. She couldn’t believe it was going to end like this.
Chapter 28
By the end of the school day, Leighton was ready to leave so she could visit Aunt Lola, Sage, and Ariana. She saw Aidan walking to his vehicle and decided to speak to him before he left. She had some time to cool off so she wasn’t angry. She knew that what she did to Peyton was out of character for her, but she was angry that Sage and Ariana had been suspended.
“Hey,” she spoke to Aidan before he stepped inside his vehicle.
He tucked his hands into his pockets. “Hey.”
“I didn’t mean to snap on you earlier. I was just so angry and…” She looked away from him, her eyes suddenly growing sad.
“You have every right to feel the way you do. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks,” she said in almost a whisper.
“No, it’s not okay.” He removed his hands from his pockets. “Sometimes when I think about it…” He gave a nervous laugh. “…I regret not giving my old man a taste of his own medicine when he hit my mother.”
“When did this happen?”
And just like that she’d forgotten about her own problems. He looked into her eyes, noticing concern there. He reached for her hand and laced his fingers with hers, immediately feeling a calming effect. “This happened when my parents were still living together.”
“But it hasn’t happened since?”
“No.”
She sighed. “Good.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. He’d never object to having her close. In fact, he wanted it to happen more often. When they pulled apart, her hands gently caressed his arms which felt more muscular than she’d remembered.
“What are you doing this weekend?” he asked her.
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“How about a movie?”
“Okay.” She blushed.
He gently kissed her on the cheek. Then, he pulled away and put an arm around her shoulders. “Now I’m going to walk you to your car.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know,” he admitted. “But I want to.”
She flashed him another smile warming his heart.
Chapter 29
Leighton was surprised to see her mother’s car parked in the drive way when she and Zayley arrived home. Normally she was at work this time of day. The front door was open so the girls didn’t have to bother unlocking it. And once they entered the living room, they both set their sights on their mother who was sitting on the sofa with her arms folded. And on the coffee table in front of her was a bottle of sleeping pills. Leighton’s body stiffened.
“Does someone want to tell me why nearly half of this bottle is missing?”
Zayley avoided making eye contact with her mother. Leighton, on the other hand, looked at her directly in the eyes—even though she felt as if her nerves were about to get the best of her.
“I was the one who was taking your sleeping pills,” she confessed.
She watched her mother’s expression turn to pure shock as her mouth opened but no words came out. She stood up and then turned around to face her daughters several times, trying to make sense of this.
“How long has this been going on?”
“Since the beginning of fall semester.”
“Why?” Her mother gasp. “Why did you take them?”
Leighton turned her focus away from her mother and tried to hold back the tears. She didn’t want to cry any more tears because of Peyton Evers. “I took them so that I could sleep the entire night. Staying awake was just too painful. I’d think about Peyton and all the mean things she’d said to me.”
Her mother walked to her and wrapped her arms tightly around her oldest daughter. “I wish you would’ve told me.”
“No one can help me or anyone else who goes to that school. Peyton Evers runs Sentinel High along with Principal Evers.”
Her mother’s cell phone rang. She appeared alarmed before she answered it.
“Okay. We’ll be right there,” their mother said before hanging up.
“That didn’t sound good,” Zayley remarked.
“That’s because it wasn’t.” She sighed, not wanting to give her two daughters any more bad news. But what choice did she have? She couldn’t hide this from them. “Your Aunt Lola fainted. Now she’s in the hospital and Sage and Ariana are with her.”
Leighton covered her mouth with her hand while her tears spilled out. She’d already lost her uncle and almost lost herself. She couldn’t lose her aunt, too.
“Leighton,” her mother began, as she pulled her in for another embrace, “Aunt Lola is going to be okay.”
She wanted to believe her mother. But she knew that promises could be broken.
“I’m fine,” Aunt Lola said while Leighton squeezed her neck.
“Okay,” Leighton said, releasing her. Leighton, Zayley, and their mother, Irina, hadn’t wasted any time getting to the hospital.
“I’m just nervous is all.”
“Why are you nervous, Aunt Lola?” Zayley questioned curious.
“Because my surgery date is coming up.”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Sage said in a soothing voice. “You’ll be fine.”
“I’m so sorry to put through all of this, Irina,” Lola said, a tear slipping from her eye.
“I never thought that I’d be going through something like this in my life.”
Irina held on to one of Lola’s hands while Sage held the other. “Don’t be sorry. We’ll make it through this.”
Lola nodded.
“We’ll go and get some of your belongings and you and the girls can stay with us,” Irina continued.
Leighton, Zayley, Sage, and Ariana all glanced at each other. They loved each other’s company and being under one roof didn’t bother them at all.
The family had turned to leave when they saw Principal Evers frantically running down the hall. “Where’s my baby? Where’s Peyton Evers?” she said to a nurse who pointed to a room. She dashed inside the room like a mad woman and screamed at the top of lungs. She was later led out by two nurses into the hall where she collapsed to her knees with her hands covering her face.
The four girls and their mothers stared at each other in bewilderment. Nurses, people in the waiting room, and medical staff alike watched. Why was Peyton Evers in the hospital?
Just then their phones began to vibrate and they all knew what that meant. “A new message,” Ariana mumbled.
Students of Sentinel High the school will soon be yours to reclaim.
Chapter 30
The Evers residence had burned to the ground. The flames consumed the once loving home leaving behind only the foundation. A heavy cloud of smoke loome
d in the air. Shocked neighbors stood a safe distance away from where the Evers’ home once stood. No one could believe that the home had gone up in flames. But there was one person who could.
She did her best to conceal the smile that was tugging at her lips. No one in the crowd knew the secret she was hiding. No one needed to know that she was the one who’d started the fire. She’d followed Peyton to her home and waited until she was inside. If Peyton had locked the front door like most people, she never would’ve been able to enter the home. While inside, she was as quiet as a mouse, not wanting Peyton to come downstairs and discover her in the home. She could’ve doused the entire place with gasoline right then and there but she didn’t. She hadn’t come this far in her plans to see Peyton fail just to fail herself. As soon as she was certain Peyton was in her room, she carefully poured a trail of lighter fluid from the kitchen to the living room to outside of Peyton’s room. She could’ve reached out and touched Peyton; they were just that close to each other. Then, she grazed the door knob to Peyton’s room with her gloved hand and shut the door, knowing that the flames and smoke would somehow make it into Peyton’s room. She ran down the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her.
Once she’d made it safely downstairs to the front door she opened it and then lit a match and tossed it over her shoulder, not bothering to stay long enough to see where it landed.
She was pleased with her work. She’d burnt Peyton Evers’ house to the ground and now she was going to see to it that Principal Evers career went down the drain.
She turned away from the crowd and began to walk back to her own vehicle. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and pulled up a familiar number that belonged to Leighton.
It’s done. You can thank me later.
Peyton Evers started this mess and it still wasn’t over. She poured the gasoline and lit the flame with Peyton still inside the house and she wasn’t finished with Peyton Evers yet. She wondered how many more fires she’d ignite before this was all over.
~ ~ ~
***To my readers: I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please consider leaving an honest review at your favorite e-book retailer. If you’re anxious to know more about Leighton or other characters, please read the next page for a preview of the sequel, Flawed and Beautiful.