Wicked Mercy Read online

  “Rosita, I’ve been ready for you since the first time I saw you.” He grabbed a condom from his pants pocket and slipped it on before grabbing me by the hips. “You can control the speed, so just tell me if something doesn’t feel good, okay?”

  He lifted me and centered me over him before slowly lowering me down. I gasped as he entered me, my eyes shutting as he filled me. Jackie felt amazing, and I rocked on him, my nails digging into his chest.

  “Jackie,” I moaned out, his name like honey on my lips. There was nothing more amazing than that moment, right then. It’s like all of the drama and problems with Amelia and the harpies fell away and it was just the two of us, together, enjoying what we were building.

  Being with Jackie made me whole. He was funny, yes, but also loving and kind. His body was heaven under my fingers and I ran my hands down his arms and chest, feeling his muscles twist and turn under my touch.

  He was heaven.

  “I love you, Rosita.” Jackie’s words cut through my thoughts and brought me back to him. Locking my eyes on his, I rocked, feeling the pressure build up inside of me. He felt amazing, and being connected to him like this was enough to put me over the edge. “Come for me, love.”

  Jackie’s soft voice and his kind words were enough to throw me over the edge. I was already there, dangling, holding onto him, but the way he loved me was enough to push me over. I screamed out his name, throwing my head back, breathing hard as I shattered, taking him with me.

  When I could catch my breath again, he gently slipped me off of him and curled up next to me, draping his arm over my shoulder. I could feel his breath on my bare back, and I snuggled back into him.

  “Rosita?” His voice was quiet and thoughtful, and even though I was tired enough to fall asleep, I forced myself awake by shaking my head. “Are you okay?”

  “Am I okay?” I pushed away from him and turned over so that I could look him in the eyes. “Why in the world would I not be okay?”

  Jackie stared at me for a moment before answering, but then he smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. I could have gotten lost in his blue eyes without any problem, especially when he looked at me like that, and I felt myself relax.

  “I just want everything to be perfect for you, love.”

  We didn’t say anything else for a while after that. I was snuggled in his arms, trying to decide if I should tell him the mental list I had of people I wanted to bring down. They’d all worked together to make my life a living hell, and I wasn’t going to stop until I had gotten them back.

  Yes, I had my rogues and my friends, but I wasn’t going to be really happy until I had brought down the people who had tormented me all last year.

  And now that they obviously had my boys in their sights, I really couldn’t let my guard down. I knew that my rogues would do anything to protect me, but I felt the same way about them.

  Chapter 9

  “How was last night?” Harper leaned on my bed while I pulled on one sneaker and tied it as quickly as possible. After Jackie left last night, I’d forgotten to set my alarm and it was only because she’d come up and banged on my door that I was going to make it to breakfast at all. Maggie had gone on ahead to save us some seats, leaving me with my best friend and nowhere to hide from her questions.

  “Last night?” I tried to look innocent, but she just laughed and smacked me on the shoulder.

  “Puh-lease! Like you don’t know what I’m talking about. You know that you and your harem are the talk of the school, right?”

  “Ye-p.” I popped the ‘p’ and stood up, gratefully taking her hand to pull me to a stand. My bad ankle was still swollen and aching and there wasn’t any chance of me getting a shoe on it. All I could hope was that nobody accidentally ran into it when we were all walking to class, because it would probably hurt like hell.

  “Well? Details?” She grabbed my backpack from off of the floor and followed me out of my room, pulling the door shut behind her and jiggling the handle to make sure that it was locked. Even though I was fairly confident that nobody would come to my room to ruin anything, I certainly wasn’t taking any chances.

  Laughing, I turned to her at the top of the stairs. “I don’t kiss and tell, Harper, but let’s just say that if I did…I’d tell you that he is very gentle. And very good.”

  She grinned and gave me a high-five before I had to make my way down the stairs. I’d never taken living on the first floor for granted before, but now I would give almost anything to have my old room back. Every step meant that I had to twist my body to the side to avoid pitching forward and falling face-first down the stairs.

  The thought of someone coming up behind me and pushing me down the stairs was terrifying. No matter how far-fetched it sounded, I didn’t put it past the harpies.

  We finally made it to the bottom and Harper walked next to me to the dining hall. She kept up a constant chatter as we walked, but I tuned her out.

  It’s not that I didn’t want to hear what my friend had to say.

  It’s that I couldn’t stop thinking about my list. There were people that at Taylor Prep that I wanted to take down for the way they had treated me and I had to stay focused.

  ***

  I knew exactly how I wanted to get Sara back. She was the captain of the dance team and known for her amazing ballet. Even though part of me wanted to start at the top of the harpies, with Amelia, the other part of me wanted to watch her squirm when she knew that I was coming for her.

  Friday night was the first dance competition of the semester and everyone had already assumed that Sara would win it. She was a shoo-in, no doubt, thanks to her classical training that started when she was two and the fact that she worked so hard her feet bled on a regular basis.

  In fact, she was the only harpy I’d ever seen not wearing high heels around campus. Her feet hurt all the time, everyone knew that, which is why she had custom orthotics shipped in from her home every month. They ensured that she could walk without pain and allowed her to dance to the best of her ability.

  But I wasn’t going to steal her orthotics. I knew how bad it hurt when you couldn’t walk correctly, thanks to her and Amelia. I’d considered it, of course, since it would have been one of the easiest ways to get back at her, but I had a better idea.

  The night of the competition I made sure that my friends and the rogues were all going. Our group was sitting outside in the quad before dinner. Brett had his arm around me and I was leaned back, my head on his shoulder, while we all talked.

  “What’s the plan for tonight?” I tried to keep my voice light, but Kaleb shot me a look that told me he had an idea that I was up to something. “I was thinking that maybe we all go and check out the dance competition. I heard there are some cute guys from other schools coming to compete.”

  “Hey, that’s not nice.” Brett dropped a kiss on my forehead and then pinched my arm, causing me to yelp and sit up. “You can’t just add more people to our group without permission, you know.”

  I grinned at him. “I know, don’t worry. The three of you are perfect for me. I just thought that it might be fun to go and see what kind of dancing the other schools can do. What do you guys think?”

  “I think you’re crazy.” Jackie plucked a head of clover and tossed it at me. “Why you’d want to go anywhere when you know the harpies are looking for you is beyond me.”

  “Yeah, I thought we’d snuggle up in my room and watch a movie.” Maggie’s mom had sent her a care package and although Mr. Taylor had taken all of the snacks out of it, he’d left the movies. We’d been talking about a movie night for a while, but tonight was not the best option, so I shook my head.

  “Not tonight. Tomorrow is good for me, though. Tonight I really want to go to the competition. Nobody wants to go with me?”

  I caught the looks between my friends and my rogues. They obviously knew that I was up to something, but I sincerely doubted that any of them would call me on it. Someone would volunteer to go with me, or I’d sim
ply have to go alone.

  That wasn’t ideal, but I was sure that I could make it work.

  “I’ll go.” My head whipped around at Brett’s voice. His dark eyes were boring into me, but when I caught his gaze, he smiled a little. “I’ll go with you, Rose, since it’s apparently that important to you.”

  “Us too.” Kaleb and Jackie were nodding. “You want to go that badly, Rosita, and we’re not going to let you go by yourself. The three of us will take you, okay?”

  Okay. I breathed a sigh of relief. Just having my rogues with me would make the evening less stressful and would also make sure that I was able to take Sara down a few notches. I didn’t want to hurt her – besides the fact that I thought it was wrong, I didn’t want to get kicked out of school – but I didn’t mind the thought of teaching her a lesson and making her regret the way she treated me.

  “Then we’d better go.” I stood up and the rogues followed, but Harper and Maggie shook their heads. “No offense, Rose, but we’re going to pass. That just does not sound like a good night to me.” Harper grinned up at me while she spoke. “But if anything good happens, you make sure to tell us right away, okay?”

  I nodded and started to hobble across the quad with my rogues. Before we even made it twenty feet, Brett was next to me, his hand on my shoulder. “You want to tell us what’s really going on, Rose? It can’t possibly be that you suddenly want to go see Sara dance, right?”

  Ducking my head, I tried to ignore him, but he was right. He deserved to know the truth, so I nodded but kept walking. “I have a list, Brett.” Even though I tried to keep my voice quiet, all of the rogues heard me.

  “A list? And when were you going to tell us about this list?” Kaleb sounded worried and walked on my other side. “You want to fill us in on the details now, Rose?” He was the one that I had been most concerned about telling. Not only was Kaleb sensitive and thoughtful, but part of me worried that he wouldn’t want me to go through with my plans.

  Nothing, not even my rogues, would be able to stop me from having my revenge. I loved them. There was no doubt about that, but I couldn’t let the harpies get away with all they had done to me.

  Turning to face them, I threw my hands down and sighed. “I’m sorry. I just knew that if I told you guys or my friends what was going on that you may try to stop me, and I can’t let that happen. You have no idea what hell I’ve lived through and I’m not going to let them get away with it any longer.”

  They didn’t answer, so I turned away. I was walking faster now, not wanting to get to the competition any quicker, but not wanting to continue this discussion.

  “We know what they’ve done to you, Rosita. We’re here to make it better. Tell us what we can do.” Jackie’s response surprised me, but I didn’t slow down. It was easy for them to think that they were willing to do what I needed them to, but I honestly wasn’t sure if they would really go through with it.

  When I didn’t stop or turn around, Brett stopped me, his hand firmer on my shoulder. “Rose, we need to talk before we go in there. You have to give us a clue of what we’re walking into. We’ll stand by you, no matter what you do, but it would be nice to have an idea of what’s coming, okay?”

  They were right. I turned around slowly, not wanting to see the looks on their faces. Brett looked fierce, his dark eyes squinting as he searched my face. Jackie looked tired, and Kaleb looked…worried. The look on his face almost broke my heart and I reached for his hand, pulling him to me.

  “Don’t worry, you guys, I promise I’m not going to put myself in any danger with the harpies. I just need to teach them a lesson. I need to make them see that they can’t hurt people they way they have been. If it’s not me, then it’s going to be someone else, and you guys know that. These girls are never going to stop and I have to be the one to show them that their way isn’t right. It’s not fair.”

  “We stopped.” Kaleb’s voice was quiet but we all heard what he said, and my breath caught in my throat. “When we realized that what we were doing was wrong, Rose, we stopped. Don’t you think that they can do the same?”

  “Amelia tried to kill me when she put kiwi in my water. They shaved my head and broke my nose. They’ve hurt me, you guys. You have no idea how much they’ve physically and mentally hurt me.” I was begging my rogues to listen, and I hated every single word that came out of my mouth. “Then, when that didn’t work, they turned on Harper and Maggie. I don’t think that there’s any good in any of the harpies. They’re all rotten to the core.”

  My heart pounded while I waited for my boys to respond. I needed them to understand how important this was to me or I’d be facing whatever came on my own. After a moment, Jackie nodded. “We’re with you, Rosita. We just needed to make sure that you knew what you were doing, but it sounds like you do.”

  With his words, my heart rose. “Good. Thanks, guys. Now, you ready to go see some dancing?”

  “Are you sure that you don’t want to tell us what you’re planning? We can take care of it for you so that you don’t have to worry about being hurt, Rose. Just let us handle the harpies for you, okay?”

  I thought for a moment, chewing on my lower lip. The idea of them handling my revenge so that I didn’t have to worry about any backlash was tempting, but it wouldn’t accomplish what I wanted it to, so I shook my head.

  “No, thanks. This one is mine. If you guys want to help out in the future, then you can. I just…I need to do this, okay? Besides, it’s done already. All we have to do is go and enjoy it, okay? I just need to enjoy this one, then we can talk.”

  “If Mr. Taylor finds out that it’s you…” Kaleb began, but I cut him off.

  “I’m honestly more afraid of what will happen if Amelia and the other harpies find out that it’s me. So…let’s just go in there, see what we’re dealing with, and I’m going to handle this. There’s no way that they’re going to make the rest of my time here hell like they did last year, okay?”

  What I didn’t tell them, but what I was thinking about, was that I was also doing this for someone else. My mom would never have approved of me carrying out revenge, especially in her name, but I couldn’t worry about that. I had to make sure that these girls learned that you can’t mess with someone else the way that they had and that hurting people’s families was never an option.

  Chapter 10

  The lights were starting to dim in the auditorium by the time we got our playbills and found seats in the back. The boys wanted me to sit in the middle of them so they could keep me safe and keep an eye on me, but I took the seat on the aisle, wanting to make sure that I not only had a great view, but also that I could easily sneak out if I needed to.

  What I hadn’t told them was that I was only here to see how everything played out. They were worried that I was going to do something drastic during the middle of Sara’s performance, but everything was already planned out.

  I’d told them that all I had to do was sit back and enjoy the show. Had I not told them that, they would have been more worried about me and what was going to happen, but I also had a sneaking feeling that they wouldn’t have been as willing to come to the competition in the first place. There wasn’t any way that I was missing this, however.

  Not when I’d worked so hard all week to make sure that everything was going to go off without a hitch. The great thing about being in voice classes was that I had easy access to the dance studio. Once I got a copy of Sara’s performance music, it was easy enough to use my computer to speed it up.

  I was sure that she was going to catch on, but she didn’t. I started the project as soon as the semester began, increasing the speed of her song just a little each time. She never noticed because she preferred to practice by herself without any pressure or judgement from someone watching.

  So, by then, I estimated that she had gone from 115 beats per minute up to 135. That didn’t seem like a huge difference, but it really was. For tonight, though, I’d made sure that she had her original music again. Even tho
ugh she was now prepared and trained to dance fast, her music was going to be much slower, with a beat that was smooth and calm, not frenzied.

  It was enough to throw anyone off their game, no matter how great a dancer they were.

  Sara wasn’t scheduled to compete until halfway through the competition, so I settled back in my seat to watch. Brett slung his arm around my shoulders, pulling me to him for a snuggle.

  “You need to go anywhere? How can we help?” His breath was hot on my ear and made me shiver. Immediately, my mind raced to what else he and I could be doing, but I shook my head, keeping my eyes on the stage.

  “I’m good,” I whispered back, trying to keep my voice as low as possible. “I’m just here to watch the show, I promise.” Even though I wasn’t looking at him, I felt him nod and then felt the brush of his lips against the curve of my ear.

  “Let me know if something’s about to go down. Tell me if we need to get you out of here, okay, Rose? We just want to make sure that you’re safe.”

  Reaching up, I squeezed the hand that he had rested on my shoulder. I was perfectly safe here, especially with my rogues at my side, but there wasn’t any way that I was going to miss this.

  Dancers came from schools all around the area to compete against Taylor Prep. We were known for not only producing students perfectly capable and ready to run their own international businesses, but also some of the top performers in the creative world. Winning here, at this competition, was a huge honor, and one that I already knew Sara thought she had locked down.

  The dancers were amazing, with incredible costumes. Ballerinas in tight buns flitted and floated across the stage while some jazz dancers flashed in shiny costumes. Everyone knew that a ballerina was going to take home the prize today, but I enjoyed seeing all of the costumes and clapped hard for everyone.

  When Sara’s name was called, I sat up a little straighter. She walked out on stage, her gorgeous ballerina costume on point. She looked amazing, and what was more, she knew it. Sara knew how to command a stage and how to get everyone looking at her. I wasn’t the only person in the audience holding my breath, but I was pretty sure that I was the only one holding it because I couldn’t wait to see her completely mess up and make a fool of herself.