Chapter 23
Corinna’s POV
“I saw that.”
“Saw what?” I asked, casting Jessica a sideways glance as we walked away from the Zipper and headed towards where the guys were, throwing softballs at a stack of bottles trying to prove which of them was manlier.
“Your smile.” She grinned huge and nudged me with her shoulder. “You’re having fun, aren’t you?”
“That wasn’t a smile,” I denied. “It was a grimace. That thing is a death trap.”
She shook her head. “Nope, I was grimacing. You, my dear, were grinning like a kid on Christmas.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled, hoping she got the hint that I was ending the subject. Honestly though, she was right. This was fun. The rides were rusted and made ominous creaking noises but it added to the thrill and it had been a long time since I did anything for fun.
In fact, even if I wracked my brain, I could come up with pretty much nothing. Aside from my pillow fights with Jake, fun hadn’t been much of a factor in my life lately.
So yeah, I was having fun and it felt incredible, normal.
This isn’t your life, Cory.
I winced and stuffed the voice in my head into a far corner of my mind. Just for tonight, I was going to pretend, at least inwardly, that I was normal and then I could go back to the usual me. Only a bit different because I would have a memory of this one night where I was just...Cory.
“There it is again.”
I whipped my head over to Jessica and hastily wiped the smile off my face. “Another grimace,” I said flatly.
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Yeah right.” With a light chuckle she turned her gaze towards the guys. “Aaron has a pretty major thing for you.”
“He’ll get over it.”
She grinned and jabbed me with her elbow. “You’re not even thinking about it? He’s pretty cute with those warm chocolate eyes. You have admit, he fills out a t-shirt nicely.”
“He’s not my type.”
“Who is your type? Flynn?”
My spine stiffened and my heart skipped several beats but I managed to keep my voice steady when I said, “Definitely not.”
“You sure? Because I think you might be Flynn’s type.”
“No,” I snapped. “I’m not.”
She was silent for a moment, then in a quiet voice she said, “You know, just because you say that doesn’t mean it’s true. His feelings aren’t up to you, you know?”
I cast a glare in her direction but kept my mouth closed because we were close to the guys now and anything I said, they’d probably hear.
She just quirked an eyebrow at me and sent me a wink before her gaze was drawn to my brother. In fact, her gaze had softened a little when she looked at my brother.
I made a mental note to bring it up to her later in the hopes of distracting her from talking about me.
“Cory!” Aaron said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “You’re just in time! Will you be my good luck charm?” he grinned down at me and I felt my lips twitch with the need to grin back but instead, I quirked and eyebrow and gave him a cold look.
“No,” I said flatly, shrugging my shoulders in a hint to get him to let me go.
“Oh c’mon,” he said, not removing his arm. “It’ll just take one minute. I’ll win you a bear.”
“Really?” I asked, my voice an octave higher than usual. “You’ll win me a lame stuffed animal? Really pulling out the big guns with this one, aren’t you Aaron?”
Unfazed, he just grinned at me before handing the guy his money. “So you want me to pull out the big guns?” he cast a cheeky glance over his shoulder at me, tossing a softball up and down in his hand.
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I said.”
“That’s how it sounded.”
I glared at him and decided it was probably best if I didn’t speak to him anymore. He seemed to take any form of conversation as encouragement.
“Dude, how many times do you need to be shot down before you get the hint?” Dave asked, sending a wink in my direction.
Aaron shrugged and tossed the first ball, knocking two bottles down. “What if she says yes to me eventually? Can’t hurt to try.”
Flynn mumbled something that sounded like, “I could make it hurt,” but I couldn’t be sure. My eyes widened when I noticed his gaze was fixed on Aaron as if he was contemplating shoving him in front of the nearest moving vehicle.
“You’re a glutton for punishment, man,” Dave said, smacking his friend on the back with his overlarge hand, sending Aaron stumbling into the booth slightly.
Aaron just chuckled and shook his head. “It’s not so bad,” he said, his eyes slicing over to me and softening. “It makes her laugh.”
“Are you going to throw the ball, or what?” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at him.
“Yes ma’am!” Aaron replied, saluting me before turning to face his target with extreme focus. “This one’s for you, Cory,” he said dramatically, doing a huge wind up and flinging the ball as hard as he could towards the bottles.
He missed completely.
There was a beat of silence then everyone burst out laughing. I wrapped my arm around my waist when my abs started to hurt from the chuckles and Jessica was leaning against my brother as she wiped her eyes. I didn’t miss the way Jesse draped his arm around her waist.
I was still chuckling lightly when my eyes turned towards Flynn but he wasn’t laughing.
No, he was looking at me with a dark expression on his face, his eyes unreadable as he clenched his jaw so hard that a muscle in his cheek jumped.
My laughter died and before I knew what I was doing, I’d taken a step in his direction, ready to ask him what was wrong but I stopped when Aaron’s arm wrapped once again around my shoulders.
“This game is rigged,” he said, chuckling easily. “Let’s go on a ride.”
He applied pressure to my shoulders until we were moving, everyone still chuckling lightly but my mind was on Flynn and the expression on his face, trying to figure out what he’d been feeling. He’d looked angry but there was something else there too. Something like...hurt?
That didn’t make any sense.
I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn’t even pay attention to where we were going. I just let Aaron steer me until we were in a line-up, waiting for our turn to board the ride. I glanced up, only half interested in which death trap we were about to get on when I froze.
The Ferris Wheel.
He wanted me to get on the Ferris Wheel? Oh hell no.
“Um, I have to go...wash my hands,” I mumbled, ducking out from under Aaron’s arm and bumping right into Flynn.
“Still afraid of heights, Cory?” Flynn said, his arm wrapping around my waist to steady me.
I felt my heart calm but when I looked up to meet his eyes, it stuttered in my chest. “No,” I blurted.
He raised his brows. “No? So then you won’t mind riding the Ferris Wheel?”
“Why should I mind?” I asked breezily.
“Perfect,” he said, using his hand on my waist to propel me past Aaron and onto the swinging chair/bucket of death that the carnie was holding steady for us.
When the barricade clanged down across our laps, my heart stopped for a full five seconds.
“Breathe, Cory,” Flynn whispered in my ear.
“I’m breathing,” I croaked but I totally wasn’t.
I tried to covertly gasp in a giant gulp of air but his chuckle informed me that I hadn’t succeeded in the covert part.
When the ride lurched into motion, I sucked in a deep breath. “Oh god,” I mumbled.
“You’re okay, Cory,” Flynn said, his voice shaking slightly.
“Are you laughing at me?”
“No,” he said and his voice was lower, serious with a hint of anger in it that grabbed my attention.
He was scowling at the seat swinging in front of us. “Why are you─” I broke off with a gasp when we lurched into motion again then stopped, allowing for other riders to get on. It took me a moment to realize that the rocking of the bucket didn’t mean we were going to die before I could focus again. “Why are you scowling?” I tried again.
He shook his head slightly, his eyes far away. “He really does make you laugh,” he said after a moment.
“What?” I asked, frowning at his profile, trying go figure him out.
“Aaron,” he said and a muscle in his jaw started ticking. “He makes you laugh.”
I shrugged. “He’s an idiot. It’s funny.”
“You like him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snapped, barely even noticing when the Ferris Wheel lurched into motion again.
“It means, you like him, Cory,” Flynn said, turning slightly in his seat to face me fully, his eyes dark with that same look he’d leveled at me earlier. “You let him put his arm around you, you laugh at his jokes...It makes me wonder if you’re interested in him.”
I quirked an eyebrow at him, keeping my expression blank even as my gut clenched painfully. “Not that it’s any of your business, Flynn, but no, I’m not interested in him. I’ve said it before but you obviously weren’t listening so I’ll say it again, I’m not here to date, Flynn. I’m here to pass school so I can move on from the last four years. The reason why I find Aaron so funny is because he isn’t threatening, because I know he doesn’t stand a chance and I think he knows that too. God,” I hissed, my mask slipping as anger overtook my nonchalance. “I can’t believe I’m defending myself for laughing at someone’s joke.” I gritted my teeth and crossed my arms over my chest, staring down at the bar keeping us in our seats. “Why do you even care if I...” I trailed off when I realized that there were no swinging chairs ahead of us and none behind. We were right at the top of the ride and we’d stopped. I breathed in a shaky, ragged breath, my heart fluttering wildly in my chest as panic settled in my stomach.
“Cory?” Flynn said, shifting slightly and making the chair rock.
“Don’t!” I shouted, going stiff as a board, slamming my eyes shut so I didn’t have to see just how far the ground was from us. “Don’t move,” I said, my voice shaky.
“Cory, we’re fine,” he said softly, moving ever so slowly until his shoulder was touching mine. “You’re really scared, aren’t you?” he asked, his hand encircling mine, our fingers tangling and I was pretty sure my hold on him was hard enough to hurt.
“Yeah,” I whispered, unable to lie or come up with a witty retort because my brain was too filled with images of us plunging to our deaths.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his thumb stroking the back of my hand, sending tingles through my body that managed to chase away some of the fear.
“You’re sorry that I’m scared of heights?” I asked, my lips turning up in a tiny, tiny smile.
“No,” he said, chuckling lightly. “I’m sorry I made you come on this thing when I knew you were afraid.” He paused for a second. “And I’m sorry I was being such an asshole about you and Aaron. He’s a decent guy,” he said kind of grudgingly.
“Then why don’t you like him?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady but the wind was blowing and making our chair rock.
“I like him,” Flynn said defensively.
“You’ve been glaring at him all night, Flynn,” I pointed out and breathed a sigh of relief when we started moving again, this time without the stopping and starting.
“He just gets on my nerves when he clings to you like that.”
I opened my mouth to reply but snapped it shut again when we moved upwards, heading towards the top of the ride once more. “I hate this part,” I groaned, clutching Flynn’s hand even tighter and pressing my body closer to his.
“I think this is my favourite ride,” Flynn said, his voice rumbling out of his chest, his breath close to my ear.
“You’re nuts,” I mumbled, not opening my eyes.
We were silent for a bit and I felt myself relaxing against Flynn, my heart rate still fast but I wasn’t entirely focused on the motion of the ride. No, my mind kept wandering to the way it felt to have my hand in his, the way his shoulder felt beneath my cheek and the way the right side of my body felt kind of left out because it wasn’t pressed against him.
I kept thinking that if I were a normal girl, if I wasn’t leaving soon, then I’d want this. I’d want to be this close to Flynn, all the time because he was warm and his touch sent tingles up my spine and he made me feel like I wasn’t such a screw up.
You can’t have this.
I pushed the voice back to its cage that I’d locked it in for the night, squeezing Flynn’s hand in mine and letting myself pretend that this was okay, that I could fake being normal for just this one night.
After tonight, I’d spend the next couple days preparing, then I’d be gone.
The thought sent a stabbing pain into my heart and my eyes burned with tears I refused to shed until I was out of city limits.
“Still scared?” Flynn asked a little while later when the ride had begun to slow down.
I nodded, the lump in my throat making it hard to speak.
He lightly brushed a strand of my hair off my forehead with his free hand. “I’m not used to seeing you scared. You’re always so brave.”
I snorted, finally opening my eyes, my heart skipping a beat when I realized how close my face was to his. “I’m not brave, Tyler.”
“You’re the bravest girl I’ve ever met, Cory.”
I shook my head and my lips twisted into a wry smile. “I’m scared of everything. Not just heights. I was terrified of coming home. I stood outside of our house, shaking so hard that I felt like I’d fall down if I took one step forward. I’m scared that my mom’s going to get out of jail.” I gave a short laugh and shot a glance out towards the darkening sky. “Strangely, I’m afraid she’s going to stay in jail. I’m scared that if she does get out, she’s going to hook up with Joey again.” I swallowed hard, telling myself to shut the hell up but I wasn’t listening. “I’m scared of graduating. I’m scared of not graduating. I’m scared of school because I’m scared of what they might write on my locker. I’m afraid that Jake will one day look at me the way my dad does. I’m scared that my dad will never look at me the way he used to. And I’m so, so scared of leaving this place,” I finished, my voice sounding like it was torn out of me, like I was close to tears.
Flynn’s forehead was wrinkled and his eyes were dark as they traveled over my face, his finger lightly tracing my cheekbone before sifting into my hair and dragging me a bit closer to him, until our foreheads were almost touching. “Just because you’re afraid of things doesn’t mean you aren’t brave, Cor. You face all that shit with your spine straight and a “don’t fuck with me” glare. Being afraid makes you even braver. You were scared to come home and even though you were shaking, you did it and every single day you face Donald and the way he looks at you. When anyone else would’ve crumbled, you stood tall.”
“You make me sound so good,” I said, giving him a small, sad smile. “I’m not, you know.
He scowled. “You are─”
“I’m not,” I said in a stern voice, finally gaining some of my composure back as I straightened from him, realizing that we had not only slowed down but were in the process of unloading. I also realized that the bucket right in front of ours was occupied with Jessica and my brother who was staring back at us with a hard expression on his face.
I frowned, then followed his gaze to where my hand was locked with Flynn’s, our bodies pressed so tightly together that I felt like we were fused that way. Hastily, I pulled my hand from his and shifted over until we weren’t touching.
“We need to talk,” Flynn said, reaching out to grab my hand again and my lips curved in a gentle smile as I squeezed back before letting him go, feeling oddly like I was being torn in two at the loss of contact.
“We’ll talk later,” I lied.
“I’m serious,” he growled as our chair stopped at the unloading station and the carnie lifted the bar.
“I know,” I said softly as I stepped down and headed towards where Dave and Aaron were waiting for us.
“Dude,” Aaron said, shifting past me to punch Flynn in the arm, “you sniped my date.”
“She’s not your date,” Flynn said in a low voice and even though I wasn’t looking at him, I could tell he was scowling.
“I was pretending she was. We were going to end our night with a kiss at the top of the Ferris Wheel, then you swooped in and stole my girl─”
“She is not your girl,” Flynn snapped, enunciating each word carefully. My eyes widened when I looked over my shoulder to see the two boys nose to nose, Flynn definitely invading Aaron’s space, that muscle in his jaw ticking wildly as he glared just slightly down at Aaron.
“Flynn,” Jesse said, placing a hand on his shoulder and jerking his head towards the parking lot.
Flynn’s eyes shifted to my brother and for a second, they were still hard, still filled with anger before they softened slightly, replaced with a look of mild irritation.
Flynn shrugged and with one look in my direction, he started walking towards the parking lot.
“Why don’t you guys go grab some cotton candy then meet us at the cars?” Jesse said, walking backwards for a second before turning and running to catch up with Flynn.
“Screw cotton candy,” Aaron said, his eyes following Flynn’s back until he was out of sight. “I’m getting a corn dog. Anyone else want one?” We all shook our heads and he shrugged. “I’ll meet you guys at the cars then.”
“What’s with all the tension?” Dave said once Aaron was out of earshot and the three of us were walking towards the cotton candy booth. “I thought tonight was supposed to be fun.”
“That was the idea,” Jessica said, giving a long sigh.
“Oh c’mon, Jess. You were having fun on the Ferris Wheel. Don’t think I didn’t notice the game of tonsil hockey you were playing with Corinna’s big brother.”
“Gross,” I muttered, sending a glance over to Jessica who was blushing profusely.
“W-we weren’t...” she trailed off and winced. “Okay, we were. Are you mad?” she asked, her pleading eyes locked on me.
“Why would I be mad?” I asked with a shrug. “It’s his life. He can date whoever he wants.”
“Yeah but I mean, he’s your brother and I’m your friend, if it’s going to be weird for you─”
“It won’t be weird,” I interrupted. I won’t even be here.
“You’re sure?”
“Jessica, you might be a little irritating but otherwise, you’re pretty alright. Jesse could do far worse.”
She blinked and her mouth fell open in an o. “Was that...Did you just...give me a compliment?”
God, did she have to be that surprised? Was I that much of a heinous bitch?
Yes.
I shrugged. “Call it whatever you want. Just don’t break his heart or I’ll hunt you down, got it?” I said, giving her a sweet smile.
Her mouth snapped shut and she swallowed hard. “Okay,” she said kind of softly before a wide smile spread across her face. “Can I give you a hug?”
“No.”
“But─”
“Not happening.”
“Fine,” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Next!” the cotton candy vendor called and before I could step forward, I felt Jessica’s arms wrap around me and squeeze.
“You’re pretty cool, you know that?” she said close to my ear, giving me another squeeze then releasing me. “I’m glad we’re friends.”
“We’re not friends,” I reminded her, quirking an eyebrow in response to her wide grin.
“Yes we are.”
“You’re delusional.”
She shook her head and grinned up at the attendant. “I’ll take two,” she said, jerking her thumb in my direction. “One for my best friend and one for me.”
“What about me?” Dave grumbled.
“You’re on your own, bud,” Jessica replied cheerfully.
My lips twitched and Dave chuckled giving his head a slight shake before casting a speculative look at me. “What about you, Cor? Are you on your own?”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Things looked pretty cozy for you and Flynn on the Ferris Wheel. You two going out?”
“You know the answer to that,” I said flatly.
“I’ll admit, it goes against your plans,” he said with a shrug. “But plans change.”
“Not mine.”
He was silent for a moment and I met his eyes dead on, not giving an inch. Finally, he nodded. “Good. It’s better this way.” He leaned closer to me and placed his hand on my shoulder, making sure Jessica couldn’t hear when he said, “Easier to leave when you’re not leaving anything behind. And Cor, you can’t stay. Joey was here once, he’ll come again.”
I shut my eyes, feeling a sharp bolt of panic pierce my insides. “Yeah, I know.”
He nodded again and gave my shoulder another squeeze just as my phone started ringing.
I pulled it out of my pocket and frowned at the screen, seeing my home number flashing across it. “I’ll be right back,” I mumbled, frowning at the loud ride just off to my left before heading in the other direction, looking for a place that was a bit quieter.
“Hello?” I said as I walked, plugging my ear with my free hand, heading towards the House of Horrors which was apart from the mechanised rides.
“Corinna. It’s Sandra.”
“What’s up, step mommy,” I asked, my tone completely unaffected as I leaned casually against the side of the black trailer/building that was home to the House of Horrors.
“I just wanted to know...well, I was hoping...are you coming home tonight?” she sniffled and my heart panged that I’d made her cry again.
I gave an easy chuckle. “Do you miss me?” I asked, despising myself for being such a bitch to a woman who had pretty much raised me.
“I-I was hoping to talk to you about last night. I want you to know that I believe you, Cory. I believe that you didn’t burn down that─”
“That’s very sweet of you, Sandra, really it is, but this isn’t an episode of Dr. Phil. I don’t need you to believe me. In fact, I don’t need anything from you.”
I heard the sound of a choked sob and winced, my shoulders slumping at the sound of her pain. “I’m so sorry, Cory.”
“Sorry? For what? For sending me away? Are you forgetting about all the lies, all the nights I came home smelling like pot or liquor? Am I an angel now? Completely absolved of all my guilt because you got one little thing wrong? What about all the things you got right?” I lowered my voice, mentally shutting out the sound of her tears. “What about all the things I’ve done that you don’t know about, Sandra? Do you want to cry about those things too? Should I give you a list?”
“I don’t want a list,” she said, frustration creeping into her voice. “I just want to talk to you.”
“I’m afraid I’m all talked out.”
“We need to discuss this.”
“Oh c’mon, you can’t be that naive, can you?”
“Don’t speak to me like that,” she snapped, her anger outweighing her pain, making her voice stronger and making my spine stiffen. Good, anger I could handle, pity and understanding...
Yeah, I didn’t do so well with those.
“Why not? It’s not like you’re my mother.”
She was silent for a beat and I let the after affects of my words sink into my pours, poisoning my blood. The truth was, before everything went down, before I was sent away, Sandra hadn’t just been my mother, she’d been a great mother. I’d loved her. Still did.
“To me, you were always my daughter, Corinna.”
My gut clenched. “Really? I couldn’t tell.” Cold. I was so cold. My voice, my skin...my heart. “Maybe try a little harder with Jake?”
I listened to her breathe for a moment and stayed silent wanting to suck the words back into me, to take them back because they were so wrong.
I flinched when I heard the phone click, telling me she’d disconnected. Relief and overwhelming sadness mingled with a healthy dose of guilt had me leaning against the building hard, each breath burning in my lungs, making my eyes water and my throat tighten.
When the dial tone started beeping in my ear, I lowered my phone and tucked it into my pocket with a shaking hand. “You did good,” I muttered to myself as I leaned my head back, letting it drop hard against the wall of the House of Horrors.
A choked sob broke through my tight throat and I ran a hand over my face, looking to the sky for answers, for a sign, for goddamn fireworks, anything but the contempt that was rolling through me in powerful waves. What kind of person could do that? What kind of person could say something like that without even a hitch in her voice?
I let out a long breath, letting the world I’d carefully built around myself for the day come crashing down. It was time to stop pretending I was a normal girl, that I felt things the way any other eighteen year old felt them. From this moment on, I was back to being that girl who’d lived with her drunk mom, who’d done whatever she needed to do in order to survive.
Using what was left of my willpower, I straightened from the building and took one step forward before freezing completely, my insides going still and my breath vanishing from my lungs as my eyes landed on Joey.
Flynn’s POV
I leaned against my truck, my mind stuck on the memory of Cory’s hand in mine, her fingers holding mine so tightly that I’d lost circulation but I wouldn’t have moved for the world. My lips tugged into a small smile as I thought of the way she’d leaned against me, her blonde head fitting perfectly on my shoulder, her long body meant to be close to mine.
If only I could make her see that.
My smile vanished as I thought of the way she’d tried to back up from me at school that day. That damn look in her eyes, like she was embarrassed for me. My hands fisted.
“Okay,” Jesse said, finally catching up to me and beginning to pace, casting furtive glances in my direction as he seemed to consider his words. “Okay,” he nodded and stopped pacing, facing me fully. “Do you like my sister?”
“Yeah,” I replied easily.
Jesse winced and ran a hand through his hair. “Reconsider.”
I gave a short laugh. “No.”
“Come on, man, you’re family. She’s my sister and she doesn’t plan on sticking around. Do you really think this is going to end well?”
“Why were you so gung ho about her and Aaron but you can’t stand the idea of me with her?” I asked, straightening from the truck, anger pooling in my gut at the thought of Aaron with his arm around her shoulders, his eyes lit with admiration as they moved from the top of her head to her feet and back again.
I clenched my jaw so hard that it made a popping noise.
“He doesn’t practically live with us!” Jesse half shouted, pacing once more. “Aaron is a good guy who goes to university and he likes Cory for who she is.”
“And I don’t?”
“That’s not what I meant.” Jesse sighed, his shoulders slumping as he focused on the ground. “I’m not saying you don’t genuinely like her, it’s just that, it’s more complicated with you. My dad treats you like a son but he barely tolerates her. If the two of you got together, it would make things even more awkward between them and it might damage something between you and my dad.” Jesse shook his head and lifted his gaze to mine, his blue eyes troubled. A part of me felt bad for stressing him out.
But there wasn’t a single part of me willing to give up on Cory.
“You’re my brother, Flynn. I don’t want to see you get hurt and Cory’s been through enough.” His eyes shadowed and his mouth set into a grim line. “She just...doesn’t need anything else that’s complicated in her life right now.”
I sighed, the anger draining out of me because this was Jesse, trying to do the right thing for his sister.
I couldn’t blame him for trying but it didn’t change anything.
“I love her, Jess. Complicated or not, it’s not going away and if she feels the same way, even just a tiny bit, I’m not letting her go just because you asked me to.”
“You love her?” Jesse asked softly, his face stunned.
I couldn’t stop my grin. “Yeah.”
“Like a sister?”
“Not a chance.”
Jesse’s eyes narrowed. “Isn’t that against the bro code or something? Falling for your best friend’s sister?”
“I don’t care.”
A small smile flitted across Jesse’s lips before it was replaced with a harder look, his eyes locked on mine. “Okay, fine. You love her, I can handle that. But if you hurt her, I’ll kill you, brother or not. Got it?”
I nodded, half glad that he was threatening me for her sake and half pissed off that he thought I’d hurt her.
“I still don’t think it’s a good idea,” he said after a moment, his tone flat, serious. “You see where I’m coming from don’t you? Now that she’s away from our mother and whatever hell she’s lived through these past four years, she deserves to have a stress free relationship, a stress free life.” He frowned when I just continued to look at him straight on, not giving an inch. With a sigh, he said, “Just...think about it, okay?”
I didn’t get the chance to respond as the sound of gravel crunching alerted us to the arrival of the rest of the troop.
Only Cory wasn’t with them.
“Where’s Cory?” Jesse asked.
“She got a phone call,” Tank said. “She needed to find somewhere quieter to take it.”
I relaxed slightly, telling myself the uneasiness I was feeling was misplaced. She’d be there in a second. I could handle being apart from her for a couple minutes.
But when the lights on the Ferris Wheel started shutting off, my uneasiness grew.
And then Tank, who was leaning against the truck next to me stiffened, his eyes focused on a guy across the parking lot as he got into a car and drove away.
“Who was that?” I asked, my eyes narrowed on Tank’s pale profile.
He shook his head and straightened away from the truck. “I’m going to find Cory.”
“Me too,” I mumbled, heading back towards the park, Tank and I splitting up to search faster.
Corinna’s POV
“Hey Corinna,” Joey said, grinning his broad, white smile at me, his light brown hair was shifting lightly in the breeze and his black eyes were focused entirely on me.
My stomach flipped uncomfortably and I had to fight the urge to dodge to the left and run. There was no point anyway, I’d tried that before only to find out that Joey was faster than me.
When my lungs started to burn, I managed to pull in a much needed breath. “What are you doing here?”
“You know,” he began, his tone light and friendly, his expression open and honest, “I expected you home last night. I waited for you to walk through the door until I fell asleep at the kitchen table.” He stepped closer to me, his forehead wrinkled in a fake frown of concern as he reached out and touched a finger to my cheek. I snapped my head to the side, avoiding the contact and sending my blackest glare up at him. “Weren’t you scared at the police station yesterday? Didn’t you wonder if they’d found something on you that could send you to jail? Just like your mama?”
“You’re the one who should be in jail,” I hissed, glancing over his shoulder, silently begging someone, anyone to notice us, to realize that Joey was not as friendly as he looked and that I was terrified.
The park was beginning to shut down and we were in a typically deserted area. There was no one.
Yeah well, what else is new?
“I’m sorry about that, Cor. You know I was just trying to scare some sense into you. I just...miss you. You know that right?” He brought his face closer to mine, his breath fanning across my lips making me feel ill.
“Get away from me,” I said, hating myself for the way my voice shook slightly.
“You know, right? That I sent in the anonymous tip. It was just a little reminder that this...cute place has no room for you in it. No one here understands you like I do. No one here would ever understand what you’re capable of.” His lips tilted up into a smile that sent shivers down my spine. “It’s admirable that you would even try, Cory. Truly, it is.” His voice lowered and there was a flash of something dangerous in his eyes when he said, “Not many people have the guts to go against me.”
My hands curled into fists as I tried to stay calm, telling myself that curling up into a ball and bursting into tears would only make it worse for me. I’d survived thus far because Joey hated weakness and that mask I wore all the time, the one that kept people out, did a nice job of hiding all the weak parts of me.
So instead of collapsing into a heap, I quirked an eyebrow and faced him squarely, swallowing back the nausea that the sight of his black eyes caused. “Did you get a haircut?” I crinkled my nose and gave my head a slight shake. “It looks pretty...boy band if you ask me.”
His lips tightened before they stretched back into his usual charming grin. “Focus, Cory. We were discussing when you’re going to come home.”
“No, you were discussing it. I was discussing your new feathered hairstyle.” I cast a swift glance down the length of his body, my heart rate ratcheting up when I noticed his hands clenched into fists. I was getting to him. So I should probably stop goading him...right? “Not to mention those jeans. Are they flared? And the ‘artsy’ fading looks way too Nick Carter. I mean, c’mon Joey, how are you supposed to intimidate people when it looks like you might break into song at any moment?”
His hand lashed out and gripped my wrist so hard that the bones felt like they were grinding together. Oh yeah, I should’ve stopped before the jeans thing. “When you come home, I’m going to teach you a lesson on how to talk to your superiors.”
I frowned. “Superiors? I don’t see any of those around here,” I said with a casual shrug, pretending that the pain in my wrist didn’t make me want to go to my knees and beg him to let me go.
He growled and squeezed even harder and it took all my concentration not to let my eyes cross. “Watch your mouth, bitch.”
“You know, you really need to work on your negotiation skills. If you really want me to come home, shouldn’t you promise me a new car? Or maybe a pony?”
He loosened his grip on me and I couldn’t hide the slight catch in my breath as blood started rushing to my fingers, filling up the veins that had been empty for too long. His lips tilted in a smile that chilled me because there was a look in his dark eyes that made me think I’d made a huge mistake. “I don’t need to offer you anything, Corinna. You’ll come back.”
“You’re delusional.”
“Am I?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as his grin widened. He didn’t look like he was worried, he didn’t look like this was even a question. He looked like he’d already won.
My body started to shake.
“You’ve made a nice little life for yourself here, Cor. You plan to leave, right? To go somewhere where I’ll never find you.” He shrugged and gave me a condescending look. “For the record, I would find you. No matter where you go, I would find you.” His eyes were steady and held a promise that filled me with dread. I felt like I was standing in quicksand and it was slowly taking me under, eating me up one inch at a time while Joey watched, laughing at my stupidity for walking right into his trap.
“Unfortunately,” he continued, “I don’t have time to play this game with you. You lost me two hundred thousand dollars and I’m starting to feel the pressure of that money. I need it but it seems wrong that you shouldn’t get it for me. Why should I go out of my way just because my fucking bitch of a step daughter decided to grow a conscious?” His control was slipping. I could hear it in his voice, see it in his eyes and feel it in the grip on my wrist as it tightened once again. “So, instead of chasing you across the country, I’m going to try my hand at...negotiation.” His smile slipped completely and the look in his eyes was so terrifying that I found myself taking a half step back before I could even think. I needed out, I needed far away because of all the times he’d done awful things, all the times he’d taken a swing at me or encouraged someone else to, he’d never once looked at me like that. “So here goes. Now, tell me if I’m doing this right, okay?
“Your older brother is in college, right? Jesse Evans. He looks like your mother, lives with your father and has been wearing rose coloured classes his entire life thanks to you.” I was shaking hard now, my feet barely holding me up as my body started to shudder uncontrollably.
“No,” I said softly, my heart cracking as the quick sand sucked me under a bit further, holding my legs tightly.
“Oh yes.” He moved closer to me, his lips next to my ear as he whispered, “I’ll pay him a visit first.”
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t move as his bone chilling words swept over me. This wasn’t right, it wasn’t supposed to go like this. Coming here wasn’t supposed to endanger my family. It was just a couple months. I just needed to graduate, that’s it.
Joey was supposed to lose interest once I was out of his hair. He was a fucking drug dealer. He dealt, he made money, he partied. He didn’t care about one teenage girl and her hopeless dreams to have a normal life.
But he did. He cared a lot more than I’d expected and now...
And now the quicksand was up to my neck.
“Oh wait, you have a little brother too, don’t you? Jake, was it? Sweet kid, really sweet. But, you know, sometimes accidents happen, things that leave scars, things that mark a person for life. He’s young, impressionable, maybe I’d make him watch while I beat the shit out of Jesse so he’d know what’s coming when I moved in on him.”
I let out a low, involuntary moan and tears gathered in my eyes. My throat locked up and I shook my head, my vision going blurry. I was ready to promise him anything, anything to get him to stay away from my family.
“Come on, Cor, don’t do that,” he swiped a finger beneath my eye and caught a tear, bringing it to his mouth to lick the moisture from his own skin. “I’m not so bad, am I? Please don’t cry, you know I can’t stand it when you cry.”
I sucked in a ragged breath, on the verge of hyperventilating. I was panicking, full blown panicking because that fucking quicksand was over my head now and I couldn’t breathe. I was trapped. Stuck in a cage I’d walked myself into. If I’d just gone somewhere else when Barb went to jail, if I’d just made it on my own for a bit, started over with nothing, then none of this would be happening.
Instead, I was locked into this game with Joey, stuck with him.
Forever.
“I told you to stop crying,” he snarled before his big hand was spread across the side of my face, shoving until my head connected hard with the side of the House of Horrors building.
I saw stars and the pain made me dizzy but in some way, it cleared things up for me. This was familiar, this, I was used to. Joey was cold, calculating and above all else, a businessman but I knew him, knew how to play him in order to stay under the radar as much as possible.
I could do this, I could live my life like this for them.
Of course, there was a part of me on the inside that was going to die. A piece of me that simply couldn’t survive going back there, not after seeing the way my life could’ve been, not after knowing what it felt like to have a real family again.
No, that part of me was already choking, gasping for air at the thought of leaving it behind and as soon as I walked away, it would die.
It was a small price to pay.
“Okay,” I said, keeping my head against the side of the building, my eyes staring sightlessly at the rest of the midway, the lights of the Ferris Wheel shutting down a row at a time. Had I really thought that was scary?
My lips quirked into a blank smile at the thought.
“I can’t go now,” I said, swinging my dead eyes over to Joey, seeing him but not really seeing him. No, I was looking through him, my mind in another place, a place I intended to live until the day I died because that place was numb and free of any emotion, not just pain but the ones that hurt more, like friendship, acceptance...love. “It’ll be weird if I just disappear. The cops will get involved and things will get messy. Sunday. I’ll be home on Sunday. Don’t forget to roll out the red carpet.”
I blinked, his grin looking like a hundred watt bulb shining right in my face, making my eyes burn. “Smart thinking, Cor. This is why I need you around. You’re quick, analytical. You see things that others miss.” If possible, his smile widened even further and I blinked again. “And you’re cold, Cory. You weren’t made for this cherry flavoured life. You were made to stand next to me, to see the real world and thrive in it.” He reached out and brushed his fingertips across my cheek. I didn’t even flinch, didn’t move, didn’t feel it at all. “See you Sunday.”
I watched his back until he disappeared around a carnival trailer and even then, I stayed standing against the House of Horrors, getting comfortable in my bed of quicksand.
You’re cold, Cory.
He was right. I was cold because warmth didn’t have a place in my world. Not until I came here. That spark that had grown when I’d seen my brothers, when Sandra had cried for me...
Whenever Flynn touched me.
That spark needed to die.
The only problem was, I liked that spark. I liked seeing people who didn’t look at me with calculation and if it were up to me, I’d fan that spark until it grew into a flame and then I’d wrap the heat around me and live there for the rest of my life.
“Cory?”
I blinked, Flynn’s voice cutting through the fog that was shrouding my mind, making my gaze swing over to him, focusing blankly on his handsome face.
“So different,” I muttered, my eyes running over his features that were every bit as handsome as Joey’s only there wasn’t an ounce of artifice in his expression. He didn’t have a game face, or a face he put on when he was lying or a mask he wore when he didn’t want others to see him, he was just...Tyler.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his hands gripping my biceps lightly, carefully, his eyes darkened with not only concern but fear as if he was scared for me.
I gave my head a light shake, amazed at the numbness spreading through me. Even Flynn couldn’t penetrate it. I was apart, just the way I needed to be.
“C’mon Cor,” he whispered raggedly, his hands sliding up my shoulders, over my neck and into my hair, tilting my head back so he could look me right in the eye. “Talk to me.”
I felt nothing. Nothing. Not even a little bit, just cold, so, so cold except...
Except for that one little tingle that ran down my spine when his thumb brushed against my cheek, wiping away the memory of Joey’s touch.
And then there was the electric feeling of heat that scoured my skin when he shifted closer and his breath fanned my lips, his eyes pushing the heat into me, beating the numbness back as if it had never even been there.
“What’s going on?” he whispered and the way his voice shook with barely restrained emotions made my knees weak until suddenly, the numbness was a faint outline at the edge of my mind leaving room for all that heat and electricity that I wanted so badly but couldn’t have.
“Please Cory, just tell me,” he whispered, his eyes drifting closed in frustration as he leaned his forehead against mine, his fingers shifting deeper into my hair.
I was halfway through sucking in a ragged breath when he went still, his eyes flying open and his left hand withdrawing from my hair as he pulled back slightly and shifted his gaze to his fingers.
His face paled slightly and I frowned, following his gaze to his hand.
Blood.
I blinked a couple times, unable to make sense of the image.
“You’re bleeding,” he said, his voice so low and hoarse that it was hardly recognizable. He wiped his hand on the hem of his shirt before raising it again and gently probing along my scalp, searching for my wound. “You have a bump on your head.” His eyes shot to mine and narrowed, his lips pressed into a thin line and a muscle in his jaw jumped as he tried to gain control. “What the fuck happened, Cory? Who fucking hurt you?”
I slipped. The words died before I even got them out. Instead I just looked at him, unwilling to lie to him because I’d lied enough. I only had a few more days and I was through lying. I just wanted to grab whatever warmth I could before I had to extinguish it.
His breathing was short and choppy and after a long moment, he let his eyes drift closed before he drew me into a tight embrace that felt so good, it made me forget everything. Even basic things like who I was, who my mother was, who Joey was...it made me forget that I was me and Flynn was more so when he shifted slightly and I felt his lips on my temple, I didn’t shift away. Instead, I kind of, tilted my head a little to give him better access in case he wanted to do it again.
He did. And this time he planted a kiss right next to my eye, right at the corner where tears would be falling if I’d been allowed to cry.
Then his lips were on my cheek and when he spoke, they were still sort of touching me, sending zings of sensation from that one point all the way down to my toes and back again. “I need you to be okay, Cory,” he whispered, his voice sounding just a bit...broken. “I need you to be okay and I need you to let me help you. Who hurt you?”
He shifted back to look me in the eye and I just shook my head slightly, giving him a small smile because really, I was okay. Better than okay because he was here.
He made a sound low in his throat and something like pain flashed in his eyes while he brushed his thumb across my cheekbone then placed a kiss there.
“You’re not getting it,” he said gruffly.
“Hm?” I replied, delirious, drunk off the feeling of his lips on my skin.
His lips brushed the corner of mine and whatever zing of electricity I had felt before had multiplied.
“Why I can’t just stand by while you get hurt,” he whispered, bringing his lips to the neglected corner of my mouth and planting another electrifying kiss there. “Why I not only don’t care who sees me with you at school or who talks about us, I want them to see us together. Why I hang out with you, tutor you in every single subject, why I pick you up after school and why I want to punch Donald in the face every time he says something hurtful to you. You’re just not getting it, Cory.”
My heart was pounding and my eyes were at half mast, locked on his as I tried to focus on his words but his lips were so close to mine and somehow my hands had found their way to his chest so I could feel the way his heart was beating beneath my palm. Its beat matched mine and something about that struck me in the gut.
For that one, delicious second, I was totally and completely not alone.
My lips stretched into a soft smile that I could feel all the way, right into my heart. Or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe the softness was coming from my heart and my lips were feeling it, either way, Flynn noticed and suddenly, his lips were directly on mine, his body wrapped tightly around me, hugging me to him like he’d never let me go and I wrapped my arms around him because I never wanted him to.
The feeling of his lips on mine shattered every electric zing I’d felt in the past because this transcended electricity. This was unlike anything I’d ever felt. My thoughts scattered, my body vanished until it was just this, just me and Flynn lost in a kiss that made the earth around us inconsequential.
When he tilted his head slightly and I felt his tongue brush against the seam of my lips, my body, which I thought had disappeared, burst into flames and I made an unfamiliar moaning sound in the back of my throat. My lips fell open and I felt his tongue against mine as I pressed my body closer to his, needing to feel him everywhere.
Closer. God, I need to be closer.
“Me too,” he whispered against my lips before diving back in, his heart beating hard against mine as he pressed me against the House of Horrors, his body feeling perfect against mine so when his hands drifted down my sides, over my hips and wrapped around the backs of my thighs, I took the opportunity to wrap my legs around him and hold him to me, possibly forever.
My left hand was in his hair, the smooth texture of it adding to the incredible, earth shattering sensations running through me. My right hand shifted over his shoulder and down his back, loving the way his muscles jumped beneath my touch.
“Cory,” his voice rumbled before his lips shifted and created a trail of fire down my jaw bone. When they reached my neck, I gasped, my legs tightening around him as a shudder rolled through me. Desire, white hot and undeniable raced under my skin, each part of me begging to be touched by him, needing to be touched by him to erase any other feeling that had ever been imprinted on me.
“We need to stop,” Flynn said against my neck before planting another kiss there, right where my pulse was beating madly and my eyes rolled back in my skull.
Stop? He wanted to stop?
Never.
“Cory.” He lifted his head and when his eyes met mine, they were glazed, his face a bit flushed and his lips looked kind of swollen. “I’m serious. We have to stop.” He paused for a moment, his breath ragged, his chest rising and falling quickly against mine and I couldn’t seem to look away from his lips. “Don’t look at me like that,” he said on a groan, his head dipping close once more, his lips brushing across my lips slowly, lingering as if he wanted to leave them there.
I wanted him to leave them there.
When he pulled back again, I made a sound in the back of my throat in protest and his mouth turned up in a small smile.
Something kicked me in the heart at the sight of his crooked grin mixed with his messy hair and kiss swollen lips. His eyes were a more vibrant green than I’d ever seen them and the way he was looking at me was making it hard to breathe.
When his mouth tilted up a little further, helplessly, my mouth mimicked the motion and I briefly wondered if that feeling of numbness had been a figment of my imagination. Had I seriously felt nothing when he’d touched me earlier?
“Beautiful,” he whispered, brushing the pad of his thumb over the corner of my mouth.
I blinked once, my smile falling as a memory tried to surface past the fog in my mind. I blinked again and I remembered one word: Sunday.
I gasped at the crushing pain in my heart and winced as the few minutes before Flynn had shown up washed over me in a terrible wave.
“You’re hurt,” he said as my feet dropped to the ground and only his arm wrapped around my waist kept me from crumpling into a heap.
I shook my head, struggling to take more of my weight on my own feet, needing to show him that I was fine but my protective numbness was gone, destroyed by a kiss that had rocked me to the core and my knees were shaking so hard that they were practically knocking together.
My eyes shot up to his and I realized something.
That kiss had been a mistake.
I had scars. Lots of them, but every single one of them would pale in comparison to the scar that that kiss was going to leave on me.
“Oh no,” I moaned, bringing a hand up to brush the back of it across my lips, wishing I could erase the memory of his mouth on mine.
His hand shot up and held my wrist, his eyes which had been vibrant a moment before were now dark and shadowed. “What are you doing?” he asked, his voice firm and restrained but I could hear the anger there.
“That shouldn’t have happened.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’m serious─”
“So am I.”
“Tyler─”
“Look, just let it go for a minute. You’re hurt and we need to take a look at that first. Then we’ll talk about this but don’t you dare try to tell me that kiss shouldn’t have happened. It was not a mistake and if you try to tell me it was, I’ll be forced to prove how wrong you are.”
“H-how?” I croaked, my heart jack-hammering at the heat in his eyes as they dipped down to my lips.
“I think you already know the answer to that, Cor.”
I did. I so did.
I swallowed hard and bit my tongue to keep from telling him it was a mistake just so he’d show me I was wrong.
“Cory?” Dave shouted, his big body moving kind of awkwardly as he ran towards us, his forehead wrinkled and his eyes darting around as if he was looking for something. “You good?” he asked, giving me a speculative look before raising an eyebrow at Flynn whose arm was still wrapped around my waist.
“Y-yeah,” I said, clearing my throat when my voice came out scratchy.
He nodded and I looked away from his knowing gaze. “We need to go, Cor. Now.”
My spine stiffened at the tone of his voice, the alarm in it immediately putting me on alert. “Yeah,” I said, my now steady legs taking all of my weight as I straightened away from Flynn, his arm dropping from around my waist, leaving me feeling cold and alone.
Get used to it.
“I think I saw Joey,” Dave said when I was next to him, his voice low enough that Flynn wouldn’t hear.
I turned to look at him and nodded. Dave’s expression tightened and his eyes lit with fury before they settled into his usual calmness.
“He touch you?” Dave asked, his voice a little too loud and I knew Flynn heard it because his body stiffened next to me and when I glanced over at him, his eyes were locked on mine, waiting for my answer.
I shrugged.
Flynn scowled. “He did. She has a bump on her head. I don’t think it’s serious but it’s bleeding a little.” His eyes lifted to Dave’s and his jaw was tight when he said, “Tell me who he is.”
“That’s not my decision, man,” Dave replied with a small shake of his head.
“Cory,” Flynn said, gripping my forearm and pulling me to a stop. “Tell me so I can help you. Please.”
“No,” I said, my heart lodged in my throat at the look of disappointment and worry in his eyes. “Come on,” I mumbled, pulling my arm gently out of his hold. “Let’s go home.”