Don't give up on me ✓

[12] How you don't like me

And it would destroy me to have you just a little - Rae Carson

Chapter 12: How you don't like me

My first instinct when we arrived at Maythorne Manor was to take Jesper to my room and lock the door from all the evil outside. But we weren't five years old anymore.

He went to a chair in the hallway and sat down. Then he faced the front door and willfully watched everything that happened next.

Emily came out of the living room with a feather duster and mop. She saw the chaos we were bringing home and said:

"I'm going to need a bigger mop."

Nate opened both double doors wide open and kept them open with door stoppers. It gave us a glorious view of the lawn outside and the car parked in front. The two other cars drove up soon after.

Emily returned to the entrance hall with mops and heaps of towels. She lay them out on the floor as Hugo helped push the furniture to the side. 

As the others came up to the front door, Emily ran outside waving at them, "Shoes off! All your dirty shoes off before you come in here."

My mouth dried as we watched ten bodies laid out in front of us. The Maythornes and their accomplices emptied the deads' pockets and put all the wallets, watches and phones into a bucket that Emily then brought inside. 

Mohan drove up to the house in a red farm truck and they loaded the back with bodies for him to dispose of.

The accomplices were three new people I hadn't seen before today. They took their shoes off and walked through the front door. They stood on the towels, waiting for instructions. They were skinny and worn. The two men were unshaven, and the girl had knots in her unkempt hair.

"Emily, please take our guests to the spare rooms to wash up. You can give them some of our clothes to change into."

The guests thanked Mrs Maythorne and followed Emily upstairs. Mrs Maythorne took a deep sigh before she faced Jesper and me. She knew this conversation wasn't going to be easy. And we weren't going to make it any easier.

She started, "I know you think we're bad people."

"You haven't done any good," I answered.

"Are you going to kill us?"

Jesper coming in with the heavy questions. I hadn't even thought of that.

"Of course not. Soon you'll understand why we had to do what we did. We're a family here. We all have one cause we're fighting for."

"Why are you keeping us here then?" he asked, "We're not family and we don't share the same cause."

"No, you don't." She said to him, but she was looking at me. I did?

Jesper looked at me as well, like I was different... I shut my eyes.

"Georgia, you can't hide. We're going to have to talk about what happened," Mrs Maythorne said, "But I also understand that today's been a traumatizing day. You should get some rest."

Mrs Maythorne went to her room. The guests were already in theirs. Emily brought down a laundry basket full of everyone's dirty and bloody clothes. She pulled all the towels off the floor and closed the big double doors.

All the commotion suddenly died down. The house was eerily quiet.

Jesper and I sat there long after everyone else had gone. We didn't feel safe in our rooms. We didn't know what this place was anymore. And we didn't know what to say to each other.

Then, the front doors banged open and Nathaniel appeared, dirt on his clothes and a shovel in his hand. His dark hair was in a ruffled mess but his eyes shone brightly and they landed on me. He walked towards me.

I immediately got up, backing up against the wall.

"You," Nathaniel pointed his shovel at me and cornered me, "We told you to stay in the car."

Jesper jumped up to my defense, but Mohan kept him back. I faced Nathaniel and I couldn't help but be reminded of a fallen angel again. His face was so beautiful and yet he was capable of so much pain. 

"I told you not to move," Nathaniel glared at me, "You almost got killed."

"But I didn't," I said as if it would make a difference.

"Not good enough. You don't know how to protect yourself."

"My mistakes are mine to be made. You have no right telling me what to do."

"I don't need to be right," his voice sent tremors through me.

His eyes had a way of undressing me. I felt vulnerable in front of him but, at the same time, empowered. Like being stripped to the core and all you have left is who you are.

"Is that a threat?" 

Or a promise.

Mohan intervened and tried to pull Nate back. His efforts amounted to nothing. As much as he tugged at Nathaniel's shoulder, Nate was strong enough not to budge. Not even an inch. He continued to stare at me and then his fingers slowly released its grip on the shovel.

The metal clanged against the floor, the sound reverberating against the walls. I jumped.

"You don't want to test me," he said.

I kind of do.

Nathaniel walked away and I could finally breathe again. It took a minute for me to collect myself. I turned to Jesper and began to apologize.

"We should talk about everything-" But then I stopped mid-sentence and realized what I had to do. I said, "Sorry, excuse me for one second."

I ran out the front door and chased after Nathaniel. He had walked around the side of the house, on his way to the stables.  He was on the grass when I caught up with him, the wind blowing against him. I grabbed him by his shoulder.

"You don't know me," I said.

I was done playing the mouse in this cat chase. We were walking on egg shells around these boys and I was so done with it.

"Do you want me to?" 

"Don't even go there."

"I didn't. You chased after me."

"You tried to intimidate me! I can..." 

He smirked, "Go on. What can you do to me?"

I gritted my teeth. He's infuriating.

"You're turning red in the face," he watched me, "Do I make you that mad, Red?"

"Don't call me that. I have a name."

"So you want me to say your name?"

Oh I fell into that one.

My hand was still on his arm and I didn't pull it away. "You're the worst."

"You're pretty damn annoying yourself," he stepped closer, bridging the gap between us.

"You twist-"

He cut me off with his lips on mine.

I didn't register it immediately. Then he took a grip of my jacket and pulled me against him. Our bodies pressed against each other, his lips against mine. He softened the kiss, his tongue lightly brushing mine. My hand went into his hair, something I'd been wanting to do since we met. And just as I was about to wrap my arm around him, he stepped back.

"Tell me again how you don't like me."

I slapped him across the cheek. I gasped at my own reaction. I never expected to do that – I just felt like he was toying with me, the jerk.

"That's for the kiss."

He rubbed his cheek slowly where my hand had been. "Was it worth it?"

What a mind f*ck.