Rise (Colton Dixon)

Chapter 23

Alexis
The OBB boys don’t push too hard on the way back to my house in their tour bus, for the most part settling for my short answers to their questions, and I have to admit that it wouldn’t have been fun to walk home in this cold.
Finally, as the GPS marks that we’re close to my house, Nich pulls out his phone and turns to me.
“What’s your last name?” he asks.
“Greggors,” I murmur back.
“Sweet.” And he types in something to his phone, taps a few more times, and grins. “There you are.”
A long moment, and my phone chimes with a notification.
I glance down at it to see that I have a new Instagram follower. Well, isn’t that just ******* amazing? Whatever. I’ll deal with it later.
“Oh, hey, good idea,” Jacob says, glancing at his brother’s phone, and it isn’t long before I have two more. Yippee.
And, finally, we pull up in front of my park, and I rise to get out.
Nich goes to follow me, but I hold up a hand to stop him.
“I’m fine by myself.”
“I’d feel better if I walked with you, though,” he replies stubbornly.
I bite my lip. It is not going to be good if my parents see that I’ve been out with a guy, I don’t care if that guy is way older than me. And anyway, the tour bus doesn’t exactly blend in, and my parents know basically everyone in the park. If they find out about this, then it’s not long before they know I’ve been running around with a bunch of Christians.
“Look,” I say finally. “I’m way more afraid of my parents than I am of my neighbors. And if they see I’ve been out with you guys, I have no idea what they’re gonna do.”
He meets my eyes for a long moment before nodding slowly.
“That’s rough, girl, but I get it, and I don’t wanna be the reason you get hurt.”
“Thank you,” I reply quietly, and he just nods again.
“Hey, thank you. I know you didn’t exactly want to come tonight. But we’ll see you around.”
I mutter something of a reply to their called farewells, turn around, and slide out of the bus. And I don’t look back as I stride away from them. I mean, why would I? Seriously.

I can hear the music coming from my house from two rows away. You have got to be ******** kidding me.
Sure enough, as I approach the trailer, I can see the lights behind the closed curtains, and I can make out the words of the blasting music even though I’m not even inside yet. Isn’t this supposed to be the kind of thing that I do as a teenager, not my parents?
The door is unlocked, and I push it open gingerly. I just have to make it to my room.
The house wreaks of beer, weed, and too many bodies, and the noise is enough to give me a headache. And I’ve barely been standing here for five seconds.
I take a deep breath… and immediately regret it… and slip into the living room.
One step, and a drunken lady nearly trips over me. I hurriedly take another and have to duck past a dancing couple. Just another few yards, and I’m safe.
I keep walking. Almost there.
And one voice cuts above the others. “Greggors, you’ve been holding out on us.” The dude’s obviously drunk. “Is that you daughter?”
And, suddenly, everyone is staring at me.
**** it.
I edge another step towards the hallway.
“Why, yes it is…” My father stumbles out in front of me, taking hold of my arm before I can flinch away. “Alexis, Sweetheart, no need to go so fast.”
“Quite the pick you’ve got there,” the man who spoke before continues.
What is he talking about?
“How much would it take to get her for an hour?”
Oh, please no.
I try to jerk away, but my father’s grip holds as he considers me.
“You think she’s worth fifty?”
“Hmm…” The dude looks me up and down. “Is she fresh?”
“Not exactly,” he admits.
“In that case, would you take thirty?”
“It sounds like we have a deal.”
And I panic.
I slam my foot into Dad’s shin and sprint for the hallway. But another set of arm wrap around my waist and drag me backwards.
“Not so fast, Darlin’,” the man holding me sneers. “I get you next.”
He looks to my father.
“Where’s the room?”
“Take her back to ours,” he replies easily.
I open my mouth to scream, but I stop as the realization hits me. No matter what I do, there’s no one in the park that cares the slightest about me.
I desperately fight tears as the man holding me drags me back to my parents’ room and shoves me inside, slamming the door in my face. Several seconds and it opens again, revealing the man from the living room.
Thirty dollars. This is happening to me to give my father thirty dollars.