[ Valentine ]
"You guys need to give me the space I need. Trust has to be rebuilt with all of you. I don't know what to believe anymore and I'm tired of all of the secrets," Anaela said from the driver's seat as we turned towards our most recent hotel.
"I feel like...we've all been hurt emotionally in some sort of way, and that the best thing we can do as a group moving forward is to heal ourselves before we try to...be with another person," Teece advised. I bit my lip, looking at Anaela. From an outside perspective, I could see that I've been a pretty bad person but from mine, I've tried only my hardest to be the perfect girlfriend.
Keris was one of my only serious relationships, I like to think, and she didn't set a good example for me. I thought girls wanted overprotective, but then that was too much for Anaela. I thought they wanted rude girlfriends with a soft heart only towards their girl. I thought they wanted a troublemaker and a criminal, but someone who would still spoil them.
Obviously I was spending too much time being what other people wanted, and not being myself. "I think I owe you guys an apology," I started. Anaela lowered the volume of the radio even more. The car was silent, waiting for the words I had to say.
"I've been pretending a lot. I do that as a defense mechanism because the way I grew up. I'm tough, and I'm mean, and I've made a lot of bad mistakes to fit in- to stand out. I shouldn't have treated you guys the way I have. I've done some really fucked up shit. I've never imagined myself killing people, breaking someone's legs, almost hurting my girlfriend. When I was a kid, I thought I'd be a princess like every other little girl. Believe it or not."
"Valentine," Teece said softly.
"My past has made me hard but that doesn't mean that I can't be molded, it'll just take a little bit of something. I know your trust has to be regained but I'm willing to change for the better and start being myself."
"Valentine, that's all that I ever wanted. I never wanted you to be this stereotypical stud, or this mean person. I just wanted someone to protect me and love me and stay loyal to me."
"That's harder than you think. That's all I've ever asked from my family, and they seemed to always fall short," Dom said on the phone speaker connected to the car. "I think that Valentine is really trying. We have to be understanding, no matter how much she's hurt us. I'm not saying to let her hurt us again though."
"I also owe you guys an apology," Anaela cut in. "Yes, I'm helping you all, but we wouldn't have to be on the run if I could just keep my old friend group together and maybe if I had been a better friend to Pouty."
"That's not your fault, Anaela. Teenagers will be teenagers. Friend groups come together and fall apart, quite honestly, most don't stick," Teece squeezed my girlfriend's hand affectionately. I controlled my temper. I was so quick to get irritated nowadays. Teece was just being comforting. If I want Anaela's trust, I have to earn it.
"I know why Pouty wrote that letter that Mayah found," Dom said quietly.
Anaela softly pressed her brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. "What?"
I looked out the window, listening to Dom breathing on the line. "Sissy told Pouty...Sissy told Pouty that she didn't like you and that she'd tell the friend group secrets about you if she didn't write that letter. Sissy forced Pouty to write the letter and planted the letter in Pouty's room. She planned to befriend anybody that moved in after Pouty, kid or adult, so that it'd eventually be found. Pouty was trying to protect you. They had been planning it for weeks before school. That was another reason why Pouty wanted to leave so bad. She could have stayed another month but I'm sure she couldn't handle seeing all of the hate Sissy would cause."
"What..."
I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned forward to take my girlfriend's hand. Her eyes were welling up with tears. Teece awkwardly watched on, reaching out to rub Anaela's shoulder. "How long have you known this Dom? How do you know this?"
"I've known since they planned this," Dominique gulped, avoiding my girlfriend's first question. "Alright, but how do you know?" I asked a bit more aggressively. "I was there when they planned it," Dom blurted out, sounding overwhelmed. Anaela sat back in her seat, pulling away from me as if I had been there too.
"So is that why you and Sissy were MIA at the beginning of the year?" she demanded.
"Partly. I didn't want to...see you guys so soon."
"So all of this was because Sissy didn't like me. No one even thought to tell me this? Dominique, do you realize this is something important my mother could be using right now. This is something important that's cost us all our lives."
"I know. I'm wrong. It's just that you don't understand what Sissy knows."
"What the fuck does she know that warrants all of this?"
"I- Are you sure you want me to tell you...while everyone can hear?"
"Sure. I don't even care," Anaela rolled her eyes. "Sissy knows something," Dominique hesitated, "about the Meyerland deal and the family there. She told me she overheard a conversation in the streets when she was hanging with Ria. At first she didn't know it had anything to do with you until she heard your name being mentioned about you coming into your title I guess," Dominique told us. "Until Valentine showed up, she hadn't fully put everything together."
"What the fuck are you saying?" Anaela asked. I quietly listened. Did I even know Dominique or Teece at this point? What did I have to do with any of this? "Sissy just knew the Meyerland deal had something to do with Valentine. And that Valentine was some well known petty criminal. So she learned, you know, who your mother was."
"No I don't know. All this time," Anaela said slowly, "this big ass secret was that my mother issa thug. Do you think that all of this was worth it? Shit, maybe it would even make me seem cooler to the other kids. It wasn't worth it to break up my other friendships, but I guess everyone showed me their true colors with all of this."
"I know you don't wanna talk to me anymore. Or see me. Think about me. Look at me," Dominique said quietly, obviously getting done with crying. "So I'm going to leave the hotel with all of my stuff and move on. I really appreciate all of you've done."
"Stay Dominique," Anaela sighed, suddenly calm. "We're friends. We have to smooth shit over. I'm not mad at you. But stay for goodness sake."
"Are you sure?" Dominique asked tentatively.
"Sure as I'll ever be," Anaela shrugged.
"Well, I'll order up some food for us when you guys get here."
"We're right across the street from the hotel. Literally," Anaela chuckled. "Well...bet then," Dom sounded a bit more cheerful now that all was in the air. As soon as Dominique hung up, Anaela turned to me. "If you want to gain back my trust. Show me that you can be a good girlfriend and protect me, stand by me, be loyal, and love me."
I nodded.
Anaela looked back before pulling off into the traffic. We entered the hotel parking lot and found a spot luckily in the front. "Leave all of our stuff in the car. We can come back and get it later when my mother tells us our next location. I guess whenever she calls I'll give her the new info. I kind of don't wanna talk to her right now," Anaela admitted.
"Teece, wanna stay in the car?" Anaela asked. "I just gotta run upstairs and pee."
Teece shrugged, pulling out my phone.
I peeked over at her. Me and her haven't even had the conversation that we need. "I'm going to stay with Teece."
Anaela traced her finger along my jawline. "I wanna talk to you too." I gulped, and sent Teece an "I'm sorry" smile. Teece rolled her eyes and Anaela and I got out. She walked quickly into the hotel and asked for our room number. I glanced at her. "What? Who knows how often they clean the public bathrooms. Why not use the one in our room. Plus I should give Dom a hug," she said innocently.
I followed behind her as we climbed the stairs. She was slightly sagging and each time she stepped up her plump little booty poked out. We finally made it to our room at the end of the hall and Anaela knocked. Dominique answered in a hotel robe, scratching the back of her neck.
"Hey...that was quick."
Anaela offered her a quick smile, then punched her dead in her shit. Dominique fell and Anaela held Dom's arms down as she stomped on her stomach. I thought quick, grabbing a towel and shoving it into Dominique's mouth.
Anaela swung punch after punch to her body, each hit connecting as Dominique trembled. I couldn't bear to watch, having flashbacks to how terrible I had been to Teece. Punch after punch I heard bones snap and I couldn't tell if they were Anaela's or Dominique's.
She stripped her of her robe and snatched it off, exposing a semi dry body. I froze, momentarily moving the towel from Dom's mouth on accident. "Ahh," she croaked out quietly. Anaela pulled out a lighter and started flicking it. I shoved the towel back into Dominique's mouth and held her down, unsure and panicked about what my girlfriend was about to do.
What was she about to do?
Anaela moved the lighter to Dominique's nipples, smiling sickly as her body started to catch fire.
She stomped across Dominique's chest to get out the flames and looked at the broken girl. "You deserved everything that your family did to you," she whispered. "Go run back to Texas and tell Sissy this could be her."
She kicked Dominique in the side and pushed her trembling body out of the room with her foot. Anaela put back up the lighter and looked over at me, "I still gotta pee, but we can make use of that bed for a second or two. Teece is waiting."