It's Not Perfect

Chapter 23

When everyone saw my shoulder no one moved. They couldn't look away from the name that had been carved into my once smooth skin. I hated Duke and what he did to me, but this scar was a reminder of how far I let things with him go. A reminder of how far I had lost myself. And I'd never let myself fall apart like that ever again. For anyone.

"I can't believe that brat." Ryder mumbled through clenched teeth, his eyes narrowing at my shoulder.

Brooklyn shuffled to my side and sat down next to me on the couch, "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

I shrugged, "It never came up. Besides, I still have nightmares from seeing this," I pointed to my back, "I didn't want anyone else to feel the same way I did."

"When are you going to realize that you're not in this alone anymore?" Brooklyn clasped her arms tightly around me, carefully avoiding the spot on my shoulder where the skin bulged. I leaned into her comforting grasp and sighed loudly. I really didn't know why I couldn't let anyone help me, I had just gotten used to doing things on my own I guess.

"We're going to make him pay for this, Emma." Ryder reassured me, his mind already spinning with a thousand different ways to humiliate my ex. And I wanted to believe that we could make Duke pay. But there was no way we were going to get through this without someone getting hurt and I refused to let anyone else take the hits for me, "I only wish we could make Anita pay as well."

Anita. The girl who single-handedly obliterated any chance I had at having a happy life by calling Duke and telling him where I was. She wanted to keep Ryder safe, I understood that. She had good intentions, but there was a very important lesson I had learned from Jurassic Park:

Some of the worse things imaginable have been done with the best intentions.

"She's not worth it." I finally decided, shaking my head, "Besides we've got bigger things to worry about now."

"You're right, we've got to figure out a way to get Miguel to go after Duke. And I think I know the perfect place to put our plan into action... the masquerade ball." Ryder smiled triumphantly as if he had won the noble prize.

"What's that?" I questioned him but it was Maria who answered me as she plopped down beside me, squealing in excitement.

"The masquerade ball is a dance Miguel throws every year on his birthday. He crowns his top fighter, which is usually Ryder, and Ryder gets to pick a girl to share the first dance with. It's the most magical night of the entire year, all the girls get to buy beautiful dresses and the guys get all dressed up in tuxedos. Oh Emma, you're going to love it." Maria rushed out, her eyes widening the more she talked about it. And soon Julie was screeching about it as well.

But while Maria and Julie explained last years ball to me and Brooklyn, I saw the boys meeting on the other side of the room. They spoke in hushed tones but I could tell it was a heated discussion. Xavier was shaking his head though his wasn't saying anything and Will, Cody, and Aaron were looking back and forth between Ryder and Chase whom seemed to be arguing. Ryder would say something and before Ryder could actually finish I saw Chase counter with something else. The two boys kept at it for a while before Chase finally sighed and nodded.

It wasn't hard to guess what they were talking about, clearly some of the guys disagreed with Ryder's plan and to be totally honest, I didn't blame them. We literally came up with this plan only minutes ago and I didn't even want to go through with it. But telling Miguel about Duke at a party for his own birthday, probably wasn't the best idea. And I didn't want him getting angrier at Ryder for bringing it up at his party either.

But I was running out of options.

And time.

"Maria." Ryder called out, silencing the girls gossip as we all turned to look at Ryder, "When the sun comes up you're going to take the girls into town and spend the whole day shopping for dresses. The whole day. The guys and I are going to find Miguel and talk to him about this before the ball, that way he has time to deal with it."