Blurring Lines (17 page)

Cade

April 15
th
, 2006

“I want you to know that you are my only exception, Cade,” Mackenzie admitted, in a torn voice with her eyes clenched shut. “The only one. You always will be.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I asked, shaking my head in confusion.

And just like that Kenzie switched in front of my very eyes – morphed into some kind of creature.

Lifting the hem of her nightdress, she raised it over her head and tossed it on the floor between us.

Stark naked, Kenzie kept her vacant green eyes locked on my face as she walked over to her bed and dropped onto all fours.

“Kenzie?” I asked nervously, fucking disgusted with myself for the erection growing in my shorts. “What are you doing?”

She knelt on the middle of her bed with her hands planted on the mattress with her legs spread open. “I’m waiting for you to take control of me, Cade,” Kenzie replied softly, biting down on that swollen bottom lip. Her green eyes burned into my skull and my pulse skyrocketed. “For you to own me, fuck me, and take me in all the ways you want.”

Instantly I was hard as fucking die-cast metal, and my traitorous feet were moving towards her before she finished her damn sentence. Her plush pink nipples were strained and erect and my hands itched to touch her.

Damn it …

Forcing myself to stop just as I reached her, I shook my head and tried to clear my lust-filled thoughts.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?” Mackenzie’s hollow voice cut through the air.

I gestured in her direction and forced myself not to touch her.

“Behaving like this.”

“Because I’m a whore,” she replied softly. “This is all I know.” Rocking her hips back and forth, Kenzie moaned, “All I’m good for …”

“Stop it,” I groaned, rubbing my face with my hand. “I’m warning you …”

“Or what, Cade?” Chuckling she added, “You’ll get mad and beat me? You’ll hit me, spank me – fuck me?” She laughed humorlessly, as tears filled her eyes and my heart broke into pieces. “Do it,” she said. “I dare you. I can take it all …”

“We’re not doing this,” I told her quietly. “We’re worth more than this –
you
are worth more than this. Mackenzie, baby, I will be with you. Give me a couple of days. A week tops. I fucking love you!”

“You love
fucking
me,” she corrected, ignoring my pleas. “So get on with it already and fuck me.”

“Fucking and loving are very different things, Mackenzie,” I choked out. Shaking my head, I walked over to her door and unlocked it. “I’m not those men,” I whispered, before stepping into the hallway. “I want your heart and soul, baby, not just your body.”

“My body is all I’m offering now,” she sobbed, continuing to rock her hips. “Take it or leave it.”

Closing her door behind me, I pressed my forehead to the frame and let out a ragged breath.

“I love you.”

****

Mackenzie

April 21
st
, 2006

School was horrible on Wednesday.

As was the norm since I returned to school, I sat on my own at lunch in the shade underneath a small gathering of trees, and watched from a distance as Cade, Emily, and our old circle of friends all piled onto one picnic bench. I felt like I was living in the shadows, cast out from all civilization, from all humanity. Cade never once looked my direction during lunch. No, he was too busy acting as Emily’s personal fucking pillow to sit on.

Watching Cade with Emily was crippling. I felt shredded. God, I wanted her out of my life. Or else I wanted out of my life. I wasn’t sure which and right now either would do ...

“Do you mind if I join you, Mackenzie?”

I craned my neck up and saw that Ian was standing in front of me, holding an apple in his hand and grinning like an idiot. I briefly looked over his shoulder and saw Cade. He was watching me. He looked pissed.

Good.

“It’s a free country,” I replied, patting the grass beside me, keeping my eyes locked on Cade’s.

With a sigh of relief, Ian sank to the ground beside me and laughed nervously. “I’ve been wanting to catch up with you since you got back,” he told me, red-faced. “I’ve missed you, girl.”

“That’s nice,” I replied, not really knowing what else to say to that.

“So, Cade and Emily, huh?” Winking, Ian let out a chuckle and stretched his legs out on the grass in front of him. “That must have been a real shocker for you?”

“I wasn’t expecting it,” I replied flatly, as I watched Ian edge closer to me.

“Well, screw them,” Ian drawled, leaning his face towards me. “I would love to take you out on a date, gorgeous.”

And then it dawned on me. Ian thought he was going to get his dick sucked. Ian had heard stories about me – the stories that had been going around the school courtesy of Emily. I didn’t care. It didn’t bother me anymore, but my body still shivered involuntarily.

“Like I was saying,” Ian drawled. Shifting closer, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “I would love to take you out sometime, baby girl.”

The way Ian called me ‘baby girl’ physically repulsed me, and I shuddered in disgust.

“You okay there, Kenz?” I heard Cade ask as he stalked towards us. Cade looked hot today in jeans, a black button-down shirt and leather jacket. “You cold or something?”

Wrapping my arms around myself, I glanced at Cade’s mutinous expression briefly. “I’m fine.”

Without another word, Cade shrugged his jacket off and placed it over my shoulders. His fingers lingered on the label …

“About that date,” Ian started to say, but he was interrupted by Cade’s deathly-cold voice.

“‘No.
’”

Ian climbed to his feet and squared up to Cade. “What’s your problem, man?” There wasn’t much between the boys in height, but Cade had Ian beat in the muscles department. “You playing the big brother role now or something?”

“You’re my problem, fuck-face,” Cade snarled, pressing his chest to Ian’s. “Honing in on an abused girl like a fucking predator.” Shoving Ian backwards, Cade stalked him with a look of fury etched on his face. “I already told you, Keller, Mackenzie is off-limits to you and every other piece of shit at this school.”

“Oh, yeah?” Ian taunted. “And why’s that, Cade? Could it be the fact that you want her for yourself? You’re fucking hard for your own stepsister—”

Ian didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence, because Cade planted his fist in his face, knocking him flat out on his ass.

“Walk away now,” Cade snarled. “Or I’ll beat your ass so damn hard, you’ll be eating and pissing through a tube.”

“Cade,” Emily hissed, grabbing hold of Cade’s arm. “That’s enough.”

Keeping his eyes locked on Ian’s face, Cade allowed Emily to walk him back to their table.

“Asshole,” Ian muttered as he climbed to his feet, holding his nose with his hand. “Fucking lunatic,” he muttered before stalking off.

“Ian,” I called out, as I quickly climbed to my feet. “About that date …”

“Mackenzie,” Cade snapped. Striding towards me, he grabbed my arm and dragged me roughly against him. His chest was heaving. The muscles on his arms were bunched tight and coiled.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“You don’t want me,” I told Cade, jerking free from his grasp. “He does.”

Without another word, I stalked past Cade in the direction of Ian.

“Don’t do this, Kenzie,” I heard Cade call out in a gruff tone.

When I reached Ian, I took the hand he was offering and turned. Cade was still standing by the tree with his eyes locked on me.

“Go back to your girlfriend,” I told him, before turning my attention to Ian. Plastering a bright smile on my face, I said, “You can pick me up at seven.”

****

Cade

April 21
st
, 2006

“What the hell was that?” Emily hissed, when we reached our table. I could tell by the sound of her voice that she was pissed, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Keller.

I watched the dick until he walked back into school –
with Mackenzie.

“Cade, I am talking to you …”

“I’m not fucking deaf, Emily. I
can
hear you,” I snapped. Exhaling heavily, I forced myself to calm down. “Ems,” I said in a placating tone of voice. “You’ve been through hell, and I get that – I do.”

“But?” Emily stood in front of me, pouting her lips with her arm crossed.

“I had to do that,” I said, defending myself. Letting out a string of curse words, I ran a hand roughly through my hair before sinking onto the bench. “She’s in no fit state to be dating. Keller’s taking advantage of her. Ems, wait …” My words trailed off as Emily turned around and stalked off.

“That girl represents nothing but trouble for you, Cade,” Rita told me, and I automatically tensed.

“What’s it got to do with you, Rita?” I shot back angrily, glaring at the pretty redhead sitting opposite me.

“It’s got nothing to do with me,” Rita replied in a calm tone. “But I have eyes, Cade. And I’m not blind. You need to sort your shit out.”

Climbing to her feet, Rita grabbed her bottle of water from the table and said, “There’s more happening here than you think. Talk to Emily – reassure her and maybe then she’ll confide in you.”

I couldn’t talk to Emily.

I was too fucking busy losing my mind over Mackenzie.

****

Mackenzie

April 21
st
, 2006

“Emily,” I acknowledged later that afternoon, when I tried to enter one of the bathroom stalls. She, along with her four of her buddies, blocked my way.

“Can you please step aside?” Shrugging awkwardly, I placed my hands in my jeans pockets and shifted around from foot to foot.

“I really need to pee,” I added, but neither Emily nor any of the others made a move to get out of the way.

The look of detestation in Emily’s eyes was obvious and clearly directed at me. She made no secret of how she felt.

“You’re a disease to this town,” she finally said, towering over me. Her voice was gentle, soft even, but her words were venomous.

“Spreading your poison like cancer,” she sneered. “Making my boyfriend worry about your filthy whoring ass,” she spat, “you should have stayed in Mexico where you belonged.”

You have no idea how often I wish I had …

“Look, all I want is to use the bathroom,” I told her flatly.

“You’re ruining everything by breathing, you selfish bitch.” I took a step back when Emily stepped towards me, backing me up against the wall. “Ian and Cade have been friends their entire lives.” Anger bubbled in her eyes. “You got between them.
You
!”

“Guard the door,” Emily told her friends and I didn’t have time to defend myself before she reached out and grabbed me by the hair.

Dragging me towards the toilet cubicle, Emily shoved me inside and forced me onto my hands and knees. For some strange reason I didn’t fight back. I just let her hurt me. I let her push my face into the toilet bowl, hold my face under the water, and, for an even sicker reason, I wished she wouldn’t let me back up for air.

When she finally released my head, I gasped for air, but I couldn’t breathe. Kneeling on the cold tiles, I leaned forward and vomited all of the water I had swallowed as I drew painful breaths into my lungs.

“Oh, that’s just lovely,” Emily sneered, and I knew her tongue was coiled like a cobra, waiting to strike. “A round of applause for Mackenzie
Whore
.”

I didn’t react to Emily’s comment. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that nickname. Besides, she wasn’t lying. I was a whore; which sucked for her, considering I was her boyfriend’s whore.

Pushing my drenched hair back off my face, I slowly stood and inhaled a deep, calming breath. I was probably going to get the shit kicked out of myself for what I was about to do, but I really didn’t care anymore.

“I’m going to enjoy taking your boyfriend away from you,” I told Emily, reveling when I saw the pain in her eyes. “I’m going to enjoy taking him hard and deep and he’ll love every second of being inside me.”

Silence fell around us. You could have heard a needle drop it was so quiet, as I stared defiantly at Emily McAllister.

“You slut,” she spluttered. She let out a scream and shoved me so hard my back hit the stall door. “You fucking slut. Cade wouldn’t touch a whore like you. He loves me.”

“Wouldn’t he?” I laughed humorlessly. “You just said it yourself – I’m a whore. What eighteen year old boy wouldn’t want his own personal whore?”

Emily’s face caved in, and then she did something I wasn’t expecting her to do.

She dropped to the floor, buried her face in her hands and started to cry.

“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you now?” I tossed out angrily. “Tell you I’m sorry?”

“Get lost, Mackenzie.” Rita, who had just arrived into the bathroom, pushed her way into the stall and hissed. “Permanently.”

“Rita,” I whispered. Pain soared through me from her hurtful words. “I thought we were …”

“Friends?” Rita offered in a flat tone, as she dropped her knees and wrapped her arms around Emily.

“I was friends with the old Mackenzie,” she added. “Not the whore standing in front of me.”

****