Wicked (Now Available on Amazon, Eden Books, Apple, B&N and Kobo!)

Chapter 12 💋

Aaliyah

In the weeks since Jacob had dumped me without even having the guts to inform me about it, I felt like I had died and risen up at least a dozen times. Some days it felt like I was existing in a kind of haze. Why would he do that to me? Jacob was good-looking and sexy and if he wanted, he could get any girl to sleep with him just like that but he'd chosen me to be a part of some cruel game. What else would it be? There was no other explanation for a guy spending time with you for months and then bailing the minute he got you to screw him.

Every time he walked into a room, it hurt. It hurt when he ignored me. It hurt when he pretended like there had never been anything between us. It hurt when he flaunted that blond in front of my face and even had the audacity to bring her to my home one night and take her inside my brother's room to fool around with her.

The nightmares got worse and some nights I forced myself to remain awake because I was afraid of what I'd dream about, afraid I'd wake up screaming and cold with no one to comfort me except Armaan. And then I'd have to deal with my inappropriate attraction or whatever the fuck it was I felt when he touched me or gave me his attention.

Over the years, he'd gotten me a bunch of therapists but then, rehashing the whole trauma of my childhood with different strangers wore me out until I began to use my sessions to misbehave with them, give them deliberately cheeky answers and make them feel as uncomfortable as they made me. I found myself enjoying the new persona I adopted to deal with discomfort and my unresolved issues. In the end, I had to rebel and tell my father that he could stop putting me through the torture known as therapy or watch me really lose my shit.

I hadn't liked putting him in that position at all but there was no other way to make it all stop. I just wanted them to leave me alone. Maybe there was no recovering from some things. Maybe that darkness was supposed to stay with me for life.

Darkness was a fitting theme for my life, especially tonight. It was Halloween and I was determined to get lost in the spirit of ot all. Being wicked and dark and tortured was all I had now.

But then he called me. My heart jammed inside my chest when I saw Jacob's number on my phone. It had been five weeks and this was the first time he was trying to reach out to me. I knew I should ignore it. I had every right to do so. The jerk deserved it. But my crazy, stupid heart wouldn't listen to my reasoning. I missed him every day.

"Hey," I said quietly as I stood in front of the mirror in my bedroom, getting ready to go to the Halloween party at the old church ruins. "What's up?"

I tried to sound as casual as possible even if my racing heart was a dead giveaway. I felt like he could almost hear it, it was so fucking loud.

"Aali. I need your help. I'm planning to prank your brother tonight, give him a little scare. You want to do it with me?"

I bit my lip, closing my eyes at the sound of his voice and feeling all kinds of emotions overwhelm me. I still loved him. So much. I should hate him for what he did to me but I couldn't bring myself to do so. He was my Jacob. Maybe he wanted to make it up to me. Maybe tonight, we'd be able to work things out. Maybe he missed me too and just needed an excuse to get close to me again. Another chance with him was not something I could just disregard. My love was too strong for that.

"Sure, Jacob," I said with a smile. "What do you want me to do?"

💋

I'd thrown aside my Cleopatra costume in favour of an outfit that made my brother's jaw drop. And not in a good way. It made me giggle because Zi was just so pure and so easily shocked. I wondered who his new girlfriend was because these days, he was secretive as hell. I noticed him holing up in his room more and laughing less, watching porn which had been a huge surprise and generally looking all angsty and lost. Whoever this girl was was making him more depressed than happy but it wasn't any of my business. Like I could talk. I was in love with a heartbreaker.

Jacob had texted me the details of what I had to tell Zi and it was brilliant. Ziad would totally fall for it. He already appeared so on edge tonight with going to the ruins and being responsible for me. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing and ruin the whole prank.

I felt happy again after so long and was excited to see Jacob. More excited for him to drop dead when he got an eyeful of me in my crop top, tight shorts and fishnet stockings. It wouldn't hurt to show him what he was missing.

When we reached the ruins and Ziad started to freak out more and more with every word we uttered, I ended up laughing anyway because it was just too much. My poor brother. He was super worried for no reason at all. The love and concern he felt for me was incredibly sweet but then, teaming up with Jacob had been so much fun. Zi left us alone then to go and sulk when he realised we were a couple of villains and it left Jacob alone with me.

The night felt darkly romantic which was pretty cool because dark romance was one of my favourite genres to write mixed up with high fantasy. Halloween was perfect for wicked souls like mine. Jacob actually brought me a beer after we were done laughing at Zi and told me I looked amazing. There were stars in my eyes once more after all the desolation I had faced. Stupid Aaliyah, I thought to myself. Didn't take you long to lose your head over him again.

I opened my mouth to tell him he didn't look too bad either even if he actually appeared very creepy having dressed up as the Joker, or maybe ask him to dance because I missed being in his arms. Then later we could lose my brother, find some dark corner and make out like we were starved for each other.

But then he jumped a little when a girl dressed like Harley Quinn suddenly hugged him from behind, shrieking loudly. My insides seemed to freeze as I watched Jacob turn to her. It didn't take them longer than five seconds to start eating each other's faces as Giselle pressed him against a wall and ravished him like some bitch in heat.

My heart broke all over again. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think. There was a roaring in my ears, the darkness beginning to consume me. Jacob. Didn't he care even one bit? Didn't he feel even an inch of what I felt? How can someone who snuggled with me in bed on cold nights, watched Batman movies with me, picked me up whenever I wanted and touch me all over suddenly act like I meant nothing to him at all? I treated the whole world to my loud mouth and unrestrained language but when it came to Jacob Wells, I went speechless. Powerless.

Zi was the one who saved me from making a complete fool of myself and crying my eyes out at a party which almost all the popular kids from school were present at. I was already the weirdo, the outcast, a sort of joke amongst my peers. This would have sealed my fate completely on where I stood in the popularity chain. Not that I cared much. Who needed people like them?

After a tense conversation with my brother where I almost told him about what was bugging me, I decided to lose myself to the music and get drunk out of my mind. The demons would be back tonight to torment me but right now, I was going to let go and try not to lose my sanity over someone whom I had always dreamed would become my knight in shining armor. But instead, he had turned out to be the villain he was dressed up as tonight.

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