Eden High: Series 1 (Eden High 1-6)

I could hear her fighting for her breath now and vaguely remembered hearing that she suffered from asthma or some such crap.

“Of course your dad will be ruined and my dad will insist he goes to jail; then where will you and your mother be, not to mention that little brat she gave birth to not too long ago?”

She slammed the phone down in my ear. How dare she? I couldn’t let her go running her mouth, not now, not when I was so close.

Now that she knew, only half my plan was over. I still needed my money. I wasn’t worried about some snot nose brat finding out I was boffing daddy.

It’s the wife who he’d want to keep in the dark. From past experience, I know there are always ways around the offspring. But I have to move faster than expected now.

Couldn’t have her losing her damn mind and running to her weakling of a mother.

I finally calmed down enough to make the call I’d started to.

“Liz, tomorrow, before class, we need to have a little meeting just you and I. I think it’s time I took care of this little problem we’ve been having.”

“It’s about time, I’m getting tired of those fat freaks being thought of as the most popular girls.

All of a sudden everybody wants to be their friend, and that overgrown whale has the nerve to think she can have my Shane.”

I’m so not interested but can’t let her know that now can I? Liz is one of those things I picked up along the way in my travels.

I’ve been collecting people like her for a while now, ever since I realized the importance of having people to answer to me.

Liz’s family is like the typical middle child. Not quite as adorable as the baby and definitely not the heir.

They do okay, but nowhere near Howard’s level, in fact, none of the girls on my team come from families that are wealthier than Howard, or even in the same ballpark.

I think maybe that was a subconscious move on my part. I don’t like anything or anyone that challenges me, whether outright or implied.

That’s why me, and that Belle person never got along.

“Calm down. We all know this little farce is just a passing phase. Jace is just doing this to get back at me for some nonsense, but we both know Jace and I were meant for each other.”

“Uh Mandy, I know you told the others that but you do know that I know that’s not true, you’re not even Howard’s daughter and...”

My loud scream cut her off midstream.

“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t mean...”

“Shut, the fuck, up, I told you never to mention that, how dare you?” She thinks I don’t know that they all pity me, that their parents all look down on me and their mothers still talk about mine and how she stole another woman’s husband.

“Just be there tomorrow at our place, and don’t tell anyone, not even Kelly.”

I hung up the phone before she could ask any more questions. That last crack was gonna cost her too. Every time I think that enough time had passed so most people would forget that I wasn’t Howard’s biological daughter, some asshole has to go and remind me.

It probably didn’t help that the old son of a bitch refused to adopt me and now I’m almost too old.

It was still widely believed that I was at least in the will, and even a pittance from Howard Bellamy’s estate would still be a pretty penny.

So I knew that people wouldn’t outright snub me. Those who do are going to pay dearly once Jace and I take over this town.

I had one more call to make before it was bedtime. We had a big game tomorrow, and I wanted to be in tiptop shape.

“Hey what’s up? I wasn’t expecting to hear from you tonight.”

“Shut up and listen. You ready to get some of your own back?”

“You know I do.”

“Come over in half an hour, everyone should be asleep by then.”

“Am I coming up the window again?”

“No, I’ll let you in the backdoor this time. Bring a rubber.”

I hung up and rubbed myself between my legs. I was hot already and we hadn’t even started yet.

I know he would be perfect for what I had in mind. He’s a sick little puppy that one. Something else I’d found out through my little grapevine.

These days, I don’t even bother listening in at holes. I let my little spy-cams do all the work.

By the time he was through, all my problems would be over and no one would be the wiser.

Chapter 3

CASSANDRA

I can imagine why he didn’t show up to get me, but of course I couldn’t say anything to Sian about it. I can’t say anything to anyone.

I braced myself before entering the house. I know mom would be expecting him to come back with me, and I was running out of excuses to give her each time he pulled one of these stunts.

Pretty soon, she’s going to figure out that something’s going on; if she hasn’t already.

Sometimes I wonder; there’s no way she can be that blind, it’s obvious even to me, and I’m a novice at this relationship stuff.

I feel so torn lately, the father who I loved and adored my whole life, has become a stranger. Ever since mom gave birth to twins and one of them was a stillborn son.

It was subtle at first, the differences. First were the late nights when before he couldn’t wait to get home to us.

Then came the avoidance, where it got so I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen them both in the same room together.

Even their friends envied their closeness once. Then I noticed the secret phone calls late at night, but now they came at all hours, even at dinnertime.

I knew something was wrong when I started suffering from what the doctors call nervous stomach.

It was as if my body was warning me of the danger ahead, only when my dad left the house would I get these vicious attacks, so it didn’t take a scientist to figure out the cause.