Heartless Savage by Ivy Blake
Chapter Two
Austin
“You’re going out again?” I stopped on the stairs as I saw my stepdad standing at the bottom of them. Motherfucker. It would be smarter to go back into my room, but I needed to get out of this damn house.
“You’re in my business again?” I growled, tired of this dude’s shit. Ever since the day he put the ring on my mom’s finger he’d become progressively shittier.
“You better not disrespect me, boy. I’ll tell your mom and she’ll be very disappointed in you.”
“Okay then.” I shrugged. I was only able to keep my cool because I’d had a joint earlier to calm me down, because I knew this bound to happen. Steven always had to try something, especially when Mom wasn’t home. It’s like he purposely waited until she was out so that he could antagonise me. I tried to push past him, using my height as an advantage but his firm hand pushed into my chest forcing me to stop, causing my heart to beat really fast.
“Look at you,” Steven spat in my ear. “Pathetic, little boy. Smoking and going to stupid parties as if you’re not flunking school.”
“I’m not flunking,” I murmured through the haze. There were only two more steps to the door, but his hand kept me in place. He wasn’t even pushing, but it took every effort in me to shrug him off.
“That’s not what your last report card said,” he chuckled cruelly. “You’re as stupid as they come.” I swallowed hard in an attempt to calm myself further, but the anger was too much. Like an idiot I raised my fist, only for Steve to catch it in his own before I could do any damage. His eyes flashed with menace and as quick as a flash, his fist connected with my jaw.
“Piece of shit,” he spat at me as he left me to cradle my jaw in my hand.
I had a party to get to, I didn’t have time for this shit. I stood up and checked myself out in the hallway mirror. My jaw was getting redder and I knew there would be probably be some light bruising. Fucking dick. Lucky for me, this wasn’t the first time this had happened, and double lucky for me, I’d ‘borrowed’ my mom’s concealer from her dresser one day and she still hadn’t noticed it had gone. This was unsurprising because she was constantly returning with new things from her various shopping trips. I lightly applied some to the affected area and prayed that the lighting at the party would be low enough to conceal my secret and that my friends would be too fucked up to notice.
I heard Steven pacing in the living room and ducked out without saying a word. He’d scream at me when I returned, but I wasn’t planning to do that for a good few hours. My phone buzzed in my pocket, it was three missed calls from Ross. As I fumbled with the phone in the dark, a car honked its horn from the other side of the road. I looked up to see Ross and Nate waving furiously at me from the convertible, a girl in each of their laps.
“Over here, fucker!” yelled Nate. As I neared the car, a smile broke across my face. Just by looking at their eyes and faces I could tell that tonight was going to be a good night, which is exactly what I needed.
“Move over,” I said to Nate’s girl, who was taking temporary residence in the passenger’s seat that belonged to me.
“Oops, sorry,” she squealed nervously as she stumbled into the back with Ross and his date, who welcomed her with open arms.
“Why were you so late, bro?” asked Nate as he revved the engine and did a U-turn in the road. Before I could answer, Ross interrupted.
“I bet Steven was being a jackass,” he slurred.
“Total jackass,” I said forcing a laugh before I cracked open my hip flask and took a swig of the strong liquor inside it.
“Fuck that prick!” yelled Nate as he pumped up the music. The girls echoed him in chanting ‘fuck that prick’ to the beat of the rap song blasting from the radio. I chanted along, but as we pulled away from my house, I couldn’t help but notice the silhouette of Steven’s hulking figure in the window.
* * *“Hey, don ‘t we need to be in homeroom,” I opened my eyes to the sound of a feminine voice beside me.
“What the…” my voice trailed off as I took in my surroundings. I was in a room adorned with lots of pink and fluffy things. I had stayed the night. Shit.
“My mom can drive us to school after you get out the shower, she won’t mind.” I turned to the blonde girl sitting beside me, already dressed up in her school uniform. Granted she had a great figure so it looked really great on her, but I couldn’t pretend to remember her name. I needed to leave, stat.
“I’m good, I can get there myself,” I muttered, reaching for my clothes. Her face fell, she was clearly disappointed that her night with Austin Hunter had amassed to nothing. In the grand scheme of things, she was a nobody to me and things would probably continue to be that way.
“Are you sure?” she stammered, a sweet expression on her face, clearly in the hopes that she could persuade me with the flutter of her fake eyelashes.
“Never been more sure,” I said bluntly as I stood up. Tucking my hip flask into my pocket, I nodded at the girl before sneaking down the stairs and out the house as my head began to twinge with pain.
I was smart enough to keep a spare uniform in my sports locker at school, which was perfect for times like these. Looking at the time, I decided that I had to up the pace and decided to jog to school on the path that allowed me to avoid everyone. I didn’t care about being late to class, but I did care about being late to meet my friends. Every day since middle school, we’d walked in together and nothing would ever change that. It was our school and people were constantly reminded of that every time they saw us together.
When I got to school, I snuck into the locker room and got myself ready, popping some painkillers for my headache, which had gotten even worse and was now threatening to split my head open. I couldn’t be bothered for school, but Steve was working from home today and I wasn’t going to be around him any longer than I had to be. Mom wasn’t due to be back for a few more days. How could she just leave me with that piece of shit? My eyes seemed to ask me as I looked at my reflection. My hands curled into fists and I wished that Steven’s face was in front of me so I could pummel the shit out of him and give him a taste of his own medicine. I shook away the thought and after reapplying some concealer to my bruised jaw, I texted Ross and Nate to meet me in the courtyard for the morning festivities.
