Bruised Angel (River of Lies #2) (9 page)

“I’ve got your back Chels” Mason said.

She turned her head to look at him.

“How do you read my mind?” she said.

Mason laughed again and shook his head, sitting up and swinging his legs to the side of the bed. She watched as he walked into the bathroom, leaving the door open, she could hear him at the toilet, on one hand this level of intimacy felt strange because she had never experienced it before but at the same time it felt so comfortable. She lifted her hand and saw the goo that was still mingled between her fingers, grabbing the tissues from the bedside table and cleaning it off. She heard the shower start up when she sat up and got out of bed, rummaging through her bag for her school uniform.  Chelsea’s eyes widened when Mason wandered into the bedroom completely naked. He stopped and looked at her with that crooked smile.

“Why do you look shocked now? You just saw me” he said shaking his head.

Chelsea smiled and laughed.

“It’s just going to take a bit to get used to” she said as she went to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Chelsea wasn’t quite ready for Mason to see her naked yet. She knew that seemed ridiculous after what they had done that morning, but there were some things she wasn’t willing to share with him just yet. Chelsea stood under the hot water feeling it trickle over  her head and body trying to think about every scenario that could happen at school.  She didn’t want to face Mason’s friends, she knew that Lincoln will have already told everyone, including Maddison. She was grateful to have art up first, her favourite subject, however her stomach churned at the thought of having to face Dylan. He had no idea what was going on with her and Mason. She knew he hated Mason, a little like how she felt about Maddison and although she knew she couldn’t take Dylan’s feelings into account when it came to her love life, she didn’t want to hurt him. She would be hurt if Dylan hooked up with Maddison, so how could she expect Dylan to feel any different?

Chelsea sighed and soaped up her body. When she got dried and dressed she went into the bedroom, pulling her hair into a messy bun, Mason wasn’t in the room. She gathered up her school bag and art book and went into the living area looking for him. As she rounded the corner she bumped into Duggar.

“Sorry I wasn’t watching where I was going” Chelsea said with a smile to hide her repulsion.

He smiled back at her, a smile that sent a shiver through her body. It wasn’t the fact that what teeth he did have in his head were rotten and almost mouldy in colour, or the stinking breath which oozed from that rotten mouth, but it was the look on his face, the same look that Carl watched her with. Chelsea felt a shiver run through her body as her blood suddenly turned ice cold. Duggar reached out and put his hand on her hip. Chelsea stiffened under his touch as she stepped back, but felt the wall against her back. She felt panic quickly rising and risking to take over. She didn’t want to offend Knox but Chelsea knew that if Duggar was to try anything she was going to knee him in the balls.

“That’s alright, Chelsea is it?” he sneered at her.

Chelsea nodded her head and tried to step to the side out of his grasp, but he quickly put his other hand on the wall beside her head blocking her in. Chelsea felt her heart begin to beat faster and beads of sweat break out on her forehead as she tried to meld into the wall behind her.

“Do you need help with something Duggar?” Mason’s voice spoke threateningly deep behind them.

Duggar spun around and lost all colour in face. Chelsea still pushed hard against the wall and let out a shaky breath.

“I didn’t think so now fuck off” Mason growled.

Duggar quickly scuttled past Chelsea sneering and winking at her as he went past. She felt her knees buckle as she began to slide down the wall, trembling. Mason stepped forward and caught her before she hit the floor.

“I’m sorry Chels, I didn’t know he was here. I’ll talk to my Dad” Mason said holding her close and kissing her hair.

Chelsea stood shaking, clinging to Mason for protection. She resolved to be careful not to be alone around Duggar, she didn’t trust him at all.

“Mason do you want a lift to school before I go to work?” a woman’s voice spoke from the other room.

Mason turned and Chelsea could see a beautiful redhead standing in the doorway. The woman stepped forward and smiled warmly at Chelsea, extending her hand.

“Hi I’m Kelly” she said.

Chelsea smiled, forcing her body to stop shaking as she took Kelly’s hand.

“Hello, I’m Chelsea, thank you for lending me your clothes” she said.

Kelly smiled again and nodded her head, looking between Chelsea and Mason.

“That’s alright. Mason said he took you shopping to get some new clothes” Kelly said.

Chelsea nodded and told Kelly the things she had bought. Mason ran his hand across Chelsea’s backside as he went back into the other room, while Kelly and Chelsea talked. When he came back he had a sandwich wrapped up and some fruit which he handed to Chelsea. She looked at him and smiled.

“You didn’t have to make me lunch, but thank you” she said.

He kissed her on the cheek before brushing past her again, this time giving her backside a squeeze as he went past. Kelly watched the goings on with an amused look on her face.

“Are you Mason’s sister?” Chelsea asked.

Kelly nodded.

“Sorta. I came to live here when Mason was eight, my parents were part of the club and when they were both killed, Knox took me in” she said as her eyes flicked with sadness.

Chelsea nodded. It had completely slipped her mind that she was standing in a bikie compound. That Mason’s Dad wasn’t some peachy keen Dad. He was a bikie. Someone she had been warned by Carl to stay away from. Yet here she was. Chelsea hadn’t seen or heard from her Mum since the day that she had come to Mason’s, she wasn’t holding her breath that she would ever hear from her again. Chelsea didn’t know who her Mum was as a person, she certainly wasn’t the woman she had grown up thinking she was. Hell, she had been to prison. Admittedly it was for a crime that she hadn’t personally committed, but that has to have changed a person.

“So are you Mason’s girlfriend?” Kelly asked.

Chelsea didn’t know how to answer her and was relieved when Mason came back into the room.

“Yes she is” he said from behind Chelsea.

His girlfriend. She had never had a boyfriend before, she hadn’t even given a thought to having one. It wasn’t that she wanted to be single for her whole life, but with everything that was going on, the thought of opening up to a boy sent fear through her. Mason stepped up beside Chelsea and rested his hand on her backside.

“Well he is definitely an arse man it seems” Kelly said with a raised eyebrow.

Chelsea snorted out a laugh. Mason shrugged his shoulder.

“She has a great arse, who wouldn’t want to touch it” he said with a grin.

Kelly shook her head and chuckled.

“So can you bare to let go of that great arse long enough to get a lift or are you going to walk?” Kelly asked with a grin.

Mason looked down at Chelsea.

“She drives like a crazy woman, but do you want a lift?” Mason asked.

“Hey. I drive better than you do” Kelly said punching Mason in the arm.

Chelsea laughed. These are the things she missed out on not having any siblings. She loved watching the banter.

“We can get a lift if you want. I’m sure she will drive fine” Chelsea said.

Kelly folded her arms across her chest and nodded her head.

“See even your girlfriend has a better eye for excellence than you do” she laughed.

Mason barked out a laugh.

“That’ll change when she actually gets in the car with you” he said through laughter.

Kelly punched him in the arm again, before looking down at Chelsea’s bag and art book that sat against the wall, where she had dropped it after her run in with Duggar.

“Do you do art Chelsea?” Kelly said pointing to the book.

“Hey what makes you think it’s not mine?” Mason asked with a raised brow.

“Seriously, even your stick figures don’t look realistic” Kelly said shaking her head.

Mason poked out his tongue and Kelly looked to Chelsea for a response.

“Yes I do, this is just some of the stuff I’ve done” she said nervously.

The book didn’t just contain pretty pictures. They contained pictures of her pain, spelling out how she felt, how she wanted and wished death upon herself every day.

“Oh can I see?” Kelly asked.

Chelsea nodded with uncertainty, she wasn’t sure she wanted to share the pictures with others. A new life, Chelsea thought to herself as she went to the book and picked it up.

“Sure, some are just rough sketches” she said handing the book to Kelly who sat on the couch.

Kelly started flicking slowly through the book and Mason leaned over the back of the couch looking at the pictures. If Kelly was shocked by what she saw she was good at hiding it, she didn’t raise an eyebrow or even change her expression. Finally they reached the last picture, which was a sketch Chelsea had made of Mason on the night she had come to his house. Chelsea hadn’t been able to sleep and Mason was softly snoring, while she sketched him. Both Kelly and Mason looked up at her at the same time. Chelsea suddenly felt ashamed of drawing Mason when he didn’t realise.

“Wow Chels this is amazing” Mason said.

“Yeah, you are really talented” Kelly said.

Chelsea felt her face begin to redden. She knew that she was good at art, she never felt unsure of that, probably because she had never shown Carl her drawings so it wasn’t something he could break in her. She had sold some of her paintings which gave her some money that she saved at the bottom of her school bag. Carl never checked her bag, so she knew it was safe there. She had managed to amass quite a bit of money off her art and felt that if she was going to stay longer with Knox that she would offer him some of it to cover her cost of living.

“Thank you” she said quietly.

“I reckon you should frame this one Chelsea.” Kelly said.

Knox came into the room and went to the couch to see what they were looking at.

“Frame what?” he asked.

Kelly held up the drawing of Mason and Knox looked up at Chelsea.

“You did this?” he asked with a smile pointing to Chelsea.

Chelsea nodded her head.

“It’s fantastic. I agree with Kelly, you should frame it” he said.

Chelsea smiled, feeling embarrassed suddenly by all the attention. Mason continued to watch her with a goofy smile on his face.

“Actually I don’t know if this is too forward, but can I have this picture to frame?” Kelly asked.

Chelsea was shocked, it wasn’t even her best work. It had only been a rough sketch that she did because she couldn’t sleep. She nodded her head and took the book from Kelly, tearing out the picture carefully. Kelly took the picture and held it up.

“Thank you so much. It’s awesome. Do you do drawings from a photo?” Kelly asked.

“Yes I can do that” Chelsea said with a nod.

Kelly smiled and sat back looking at the picture. Mason looked at his phone and grabbed his bag.

“We better get going Kel.” he said quietly.

Chelsea held her book and picked up her bag, following Kelly and Mason to the car.

Chapter Ten

Mason wasn’t wrong about Kelly’s driving, she was a maniac. Not only did she drive at break neck speed, she swerved in and out of traffic, sat way too close to the car in front of her and left braking until the last minute. Chelsea didn’t have time to panic about what was going to happen that day at school, for fear of her life. However, when they arrived in front of the school, Chelsea’s stomach began to churn.  She watched Kelly speed off down the road wishing she could have climbed back in the car and go wherever Kelly was going.

Chelsea felt Mason slip his hand into hers and she turned to look at him.

“It’s going to be alright, I’ve got you remember” he said leaning into her ear and kissing her cheek.

Chelsea sucked in a shaky breath and squared her shoulders. She glanced around and could see other kids starting to take notice of them as they entered the school and down the hall to their lockers. She was convinced that she heard whispers asking whether it was really her and was she really with Mason.

Any other girl would have been flaunting that Mason Knox was on their hand, but Chelsea wanted to run and hide. The extra attention was making her uncomfortable. As she reached her locker she saw Maddison heading towards them. Chelsea’s heart sunk and she secretly wished the floor would open up and swallow her. Maddison caught Chelsea’s eye and she gave her an evil smile. It looked outwardly friendly but underneath Chelsea knew Maddison was plotting some sort of scathing attack.

“So it is true. Mason Knox is fucking the freak” she said.

“Don’t do that Maddison” Mason said stepping between her and Chelsea.

Maddison snorted a laugh and looked around his arm.

“So what happened Mason? She suck your cock better than I did?”

Chelsea sensed Mason’s body stiffen and a low growl formed in his throat.

“Fuck off Maddison. Leave me alone and leave Chelsea alone” he said through gritted teeth.

“Or what? What are you going to do about  it? You keep going out with her and you will soon be the joke of the school. Fuck people are already talking” she said waving her arm around the hall.

People were stopping to stare. Chelsea knew they weren’t staring because she was there with Mason, they were staring because Maddison was shouting and drawing the attention. However, Chelsea couldn’t shake the embarrassment. Her face was growing red and she wanted the day to be over. She had started to wish that she had never ran, Chelsea started to wish that she had just waited for the cops. At least then she wouldn’t hear them talk, she wouldn’t have to face Maddison Hartley.

Maddison stepped around Mason and stood in front of Chelsea staring her in the eye with anger and malice.

“Well enjoy my sloppy seconds bitch” she spat before pushing past her, knocking Chelsea’s shoulder.

Chelsea felt tears beginning to well in her eyes. She didn’t want to fight, she didn’t want to have to face this. Mason put his arms around Chelsea and pulled her into his chest. Chelsea instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist and let out a shaky breath, willing the tears to go away. Mason stepped back, still with his arms on her waist and looked down at Chelsea.

“She will calm down, she is just jealous. After all I have the hottest girl in school, it’s only natural” he said with a crooked smile and a wink.

Chelsea shook her head and smiled up at him. She didn’t know about the hottest girl in school, the most timid and shy, the darkest, the most broken, but she didn’t quite believe she was the hottest, if everyone believed school gossip that award would have been given to Maddison, hands down. The bell chimed through the hall and Mason left Chelsea with a lingering kiss on her lips.

“I’ll meet you here at recess alright?” he said, patting her backside before leaving for his first class.

As he stepped away Chelsea caught the eye of Dylan who was standing watching the show. He curled his lip and turned away stomping off to class. Chelsea sighed again. This wasn’t what she had wanted. She didn’t want to become the most talked about girl at school, make an enemy of Maddison and lose her best friend all in the one day. Chelsea rubbed her head as she wondered whether this was worth all the trouble it seemed to be causing her. Her old life was a fucked up one, but it was at least an anonymous and quiet one. She slowly shuffled off to class her mind on the turmoil that she now called living.

During art Dylan refused to look at Chelsea, he sat seething and attacked his canvas with angry brush strokes. Chelsea didn’t know what to say to him. She didn’t know how to make it better. Her art teacher Brenda came and stood beside Chelsea. She looked at Chelsea and gave her a smile, nodding her head towards her office. Chelsea liked Brenda; she was the only teacher that Chelsea had been able to be open with to an extent, of course she had never told her about what was going on at home. Chelsea wasn’t willing to open that can of worms. Brenda was what Chelsea thought a hippie to be. She wore her hair down over her shoulders which was greying. She always wore floral loose fitting dresses with roman sandals, she smelt of patchouli and flowers.

Chelsea put her charcoal that she was drawing with on the easel and followed Brenda into office. Brenda pointed at the soft chair that sat in the corner, as she sat in her desk chair. Chelsea flopped into the chair with a sigh.

“Does Dylan’s angry brushstrokes have something to do with a certain boy I saw you with this morning?” Brenda asked with a slight smile.

Chelsea sighed again and nodded her head.

“Yes. I don’t know what to say to him” Chelsea said sadly.

“I didn’t know you and Mason were a couple” Brenda said leaning forward with her eyebrow raised.

Chelsea shook her head, she could read the shock on Brenda’s face, had anyone told Chelsea she would be Mason’s girlfriend weeks ago, she would have laughed in their faces.

“It’s a long story, but the short of it is that we weren’t until yesterday” Chelsea said with another sigh.

Chelsea didn’t want to regret her decision to start dating Mason, but life just seemed to get a lot harder with him on her arm.

“Well I’m happy to hear the long version, if you want to tell it” Brenda said.

Chelsea forced a smile as she looked up at Brenda who was watching Chelsea with interest.

“Maybe one day; but I don’t know if it’s going to even work. Maddison Hartley hates my guts and now I’ve lost my best friend.” she said as the tears began to well up again.

“Oh Chelsea. Maddison is jealous because she follows Mason around like a sick lost puppy and he isn’t interested. As for Dylan, I think  he might have had a little crush on you, but I know that he will get over it” Brenda said as she gently tapped Chelsea on her knee.

“I hope so. If my Mum doesn’t come through for a place to stay I might have to ask Dylan, but right now I might get told where to go if I did” she said.

Brenda frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Why aren’t you staying at home? Where are you staying for that matter?” Brenda asked.

Chelsea sighed shakily and fought back tears as she ran her trembling hands through her hair.

“I had an issue with my father, the short of it is that I can’t go back home, but Mason’s Dad has taken me in, I don’t want to stay there and mooch off them, I don’t feel right. My Mum said that she was going to try and get me somewhere to stay but I haven’t seen or heard from her again since she came back into my life two days ago” Chelsea explained.

Brenda shook her head and frowned again leaning forward in her chair and putting her hand in Chelsea’s.

“I knew that your Mum wasn’t in your life. So she has popped back in?”

Chelsea nodded and wiped the tear that fell down her cheek. Brenda reached for a box of tissues and put them on Chelsea’s lap. Chelsea smiled a grateful smile and took one of the tissues dabbing at her eyes, sighing a shaky breath again.

“Brenda I can trust you can’t I?” Chelsea asked.

Brenda sat back in her chair and nodded.

“Of course you can. But Chelsea I need to remind you that I’m still a teacher and I still have a duty of care, so if you tell me something I may have to report it” Brenda said with a frown.

Chelsea nodded and closed her eyes, tipping her head back.

“I know. My father got shot Saturday afternoon” Chelsea said.

Brenda sucked in a breath and sat back in her chair.

“Oh I see. Are the police involved?” Brenda asked.