The Other Princess Read online

  “Baby girl, you have to tell me what happened.” And so I did. I blubbered out the entire story to my step-mom and she sat rocking me on the couch the entire time. Once I was finished she hugged me close again.

  “I don’t know what to do, Momma-Luce. I never did those things. I wouldn’t. How could he think that? How could he say that about me being fucked in the head? He did it in front of the whole school!” I was wailing again as I asked her the questions that were on repeat in my head. Jay thought he’d been angry when he’d been led to believe I betrayed him, but I was heartsick and devastated. I hadn’t gotten to the anger portion of my feelings yet. It would come. It just wasn’t going to be today.

  Before Lucy could answer any of my questions the front door was flung open and both my dad and my brother came rushing through, gunning for me. “You know better than to mess with a man’s…” the angry tirade on my father’s lips was silenced as Lucy stood like the angry momma bear she was, put herself in between where I sat cowering and where my dad stood shouting and she smacked him right in the face. His eyes went wide with shock, and he actually took a step back from his old lady before glancing back and forth between her and me.

  “Don’t you fuckin’ dare come in here screaming your shit in my daughter’s face when you know fuck all about what just happened to her today.”

  “Oh I know what…” he started to say, and my mother’s hand went up, not to slap him again, but to stop him from speaking.

  “We aren’t at the clubhouse. We are at home. You will listen before you pretend to know something simply because a brother – a prospect actually – told you so.” Lucy then turned to Toby, who was just as tense with anger as my father. “Where in the hell were you today? Why weren’t you there to stop this from happening?”

  “I sure as fuck couldn’t be in the girl’s bathroom where she was running her mouth. What do you want?” My brewed spewed out his angry, venom-laced words in such a disrespectful manner that it was shocking. He must have truly believed what Jay had said to mouth off like that to his own mother. I think that hurt worse than standing in front of the entire school while Jay yelled about how I would never ride his dick.

  “You stupid little shit! I raised you better than this. I know I did. That girl has had your protection and love since before I was too messed up to give it to her, and you think this is something she would do? You think she has a conniving bone in her damn body? Dig deep, son of mine, and tell me you believe that she has personally set out to destroy every bullshit relationship your friend has attempted to start with a girl. Jay runs through girls like water runs through the creek out back, and that’s no fault of your sister’s. It has more to do with the fact that he can’t keep his dick in his pants for every new shiny thing that pops up to catch his attention.”

  At that my dad actually chuckled. My brother looked between our mom and me, but he still didn’t trust what she was saying. That just stabbed the knife of betrayal a little deeper.

  “Do you have any idea what your best friend…” she stopped mid question and turned her attention from Toby to my dad before continuing. “What your future club brother, said to her today in front of everyone?”

  “Yeah, he chewed her out for running her mouth to his girlfriend,” Toby told her.

  “Were you there?” Our mom asked only to have Toby shake his head. “I was in the locker room,” he mumbled.

  “I don’t even want to know why,” Lucy stated. Dad chuckled again. “Well, let me set the two of you straight, because what he said had that girl so upset she ran all the way home from school.” At that news my dad bristled.

  “Joker’s territory is between here and there.” My dad sputtered out, angry once again. The Jokers were a start-up MC that was made up of pure thugs. I knew better than to go through there on foot, and especially by myself, but I honestly hadn’t been thinking.

  “Yeah, she was so upset it didn’t even occur to her how much danger she was in. Let that sink in while you’re busy judging her based on what some jealous high school cunt told your brother.” Lucy huffed. “I don’t care how mad Jay was. I don’t care if Ever did say something to try to sabotage his relationship. What he said to her…” Lucy was shaking. Literally shaking with anger. “He told her she was fucked in the head from seeing her mom die. He told her she would never ride his dick. He screamed it in her face in front of the whole fucking school, and here you two are running in to yell at her some more.”

  “What the fuck did you just say?” My dad roared then he turned to Toby. “Get that little prick over here now.”

  “No!” I demanded. “It’s done. I don’t want him here today. I don’t ever want to see his face again, actually. I didn’t do any of the things he accused me of. Not that either of you will ever believe me over him. He’s a brother, and I’m just your daughter and sister. I’m not even supposed to be either of things, as I’ve been so kindly reminded by the rest of your MC family ever since I was brought here.” I laughed humorlessly. “I know I don’t matter in this scenario. Jay made that painfully clear earlier when he told me he was going to have you spank me and ban me from the club forever if I ever fucked with his life again. Message received by my entire school and me.” With that, I moved to go upstairs to my room.

  “Ever,” my dad croaked out to stop me. I didn’t bother turning to look back at the people who were supposed to be my family. These were the same people who had once professed how they’d always protect me. Jay hadn’t just broken my friendship with him. He’d managed to break my family today, because I would never have faith in the men who were supposed to have my back again.

  “I can’t do this anymore today. Please, just leave me the hell alone. Give me that, because if you don’t…” I sighed out. “I have nothing. I had nothing. Now, it seems like I have less than that. I have no threats for what will happen other than my heart breaking even more than it already has today, if that’s possible. If you have any mercy in you at all, you’ll just leave me alone. Please,” the last word was a plea even as it came out on a whisper.

  “Go ahead, but we will be talking tomorrow,” my dad informed me. It was obvious from his tone that he still didn’t believe me, even if he might have been pissed about the things Jay said in front of an entire assembly of people. I wondered if he would care if Jay had said those things in front of just the club? I wondered if he would have joined in, or laughed with his brothers at my expense. In that moment, I felt like he would have, because he clearly wasn’t thinking of me at all. He clearly never knew me at all since he believed this nonsense to begin with.

  I spent the rest of the night in my room ignoring everyone. Not that there was a lot to ignore from my household. My little sister was clueless about the drama. Neither my father nor my brother bothered to check on me. Whether it was them honoring my wishes or because they didn’t care since I was apparently a disloyal bitch to their brother in everyone’s eyes, I didn’t know. Lucy came to try to get me for dinner. I refused. I didn’t want to be around anyone else in this house. Besides that, I didn’t have an appetite to speak of. Who could really think of eating when their whole world just fell out from beneath them again? The first time, I’d managed to make it eight years before my mom died and my life was turned upside down. Now, it had been almost another eight. Maybe I was doomed to repeat horrible events every eight years?

  All I knew was that I was done with Jay. Things would never, could never, be the same again; because the trust I’d had in him was broken. The things he said couldn’t be unsaid, and I was not the only one to hear them. I had no doubt that I would walk into a brand new fresh hell when I got to school tomorrow. So, even if he saw the error of his ways overnight, things would never be the same for me. I was also done with my father and brother. I’d forgive them all eventually, but our relationships would never be what they once were, or what I’d hoped they could be. The fact that they both came in, storming the castle, fire in their eyes, and righteous indignation burning from th
eir pores without a concern for obtaining my side of the situation first… Yeah, that spoke volumes to me. The brother by club was more important than the daughter or sister by blood. Actually, that wasn’t entirely true either, because I had zero doubt the same scenario would have gone vastly different if it had been Anna instead of me. She would have received the benefit of their doubt where I didn’t deserve it. The fact that they all believed I was a person of such abysmal character without even stopping to question it stamped my soul with a taint that I didn’t think I could ever scrub off. The taint they manufactured themselves, even while they apparently all thought I’d carried it with me from birth.

  I’ve learned a lot about where I came from since I moved in with my father and his family. My mom apparently cheated on her husband with my dad while at a wild MC party one night. Then she tried to pass me off as her husband’s baby. He didn’t fall for it, because he had been sterile since before they got married. He’d never bothered to tell her that, and let her think that they just had reproductive issues every time she cried about wanting a baby. In the end, her husband had moved her two states away before finding out she was pregnant, and since my mom was already so far from the man who had actually knocked her up, she chose to keep me a secret so she wouldn’t have to share me. She’d wanted a baby for so long, and was already in her mid-40s by the time she got pregnant, that she didn’t want to deal with shared custody or another man trying to tell her how to be parent, or possibly trying to take her child from her.

  I get it. The entire club thinks my mom was an evil, conniving, cheating whore. They’ve said as much around me. Only one of them had said it to my face in a mean way, but the rest of them never bothered to filter their opinion when I was around either. Now, I understood why they were always more than a little standoffish with me. I was literally known as “the other princess” meaning my little sister had the official title of the “MC Princess” out of all the kids who had been born to the older brothers. She had been the only girl before I came around. That left me obtaining the title as “the other princess”. It had always left me feeling less than, of course that was probably because the words were never said with kindness.

  I would lift my sister up above myself any day of the week, but knowing that everyone else felt I was beneath her, or thought that I was going to turn out like my mom – or their opinion of her – that was a hurt I could never wrap my head around. I hadn’t done anything to earn that sentiment other than being born to the wrong woman. Yet, my own family’s reactions today proved they’d been waiting for the proof that my mom’s DNA had tainted me just as surely as they thought I had been. Never mind I was half my dad too, and that I’d had Lucy raising me almost as long as my own mom had. They were waiting for me to become my mom, and now Jay’s lying-ass girlfriend, and their willingness to believe the worst of me, painted me as the person they always thought I was.

  Everyone except Momma-Luce thought so anyway. She had believed me right away. She had held me, stood up for me, and if my heart weren’t so damn broken right now it would swell to bursting with the love and appreciation I had for her.

  Before I knew it my alarm was blaring from beside my bed, rousing me for a fresh new school day. I had never, in my entire life, dreaded going to school. Even after my mom died, and I moved to a new town and a new school, I looked forward to the structure and mind-numbing work to keep me occupied. Today though… It was the first day that I didn’t want to crawl out of bed and go be a student.

  Lucy had an ice pack ready for my still cry-swollen face when I went downstairs. I gladly threw it over my messy red-tinged cheeks and puffy eyes as I drank the protein shake she’d made me after I declined breakfast. “You missed dinner last night, and I know you’re stomach is probably knotted with tension still, but you need something to help get you through the day,” Lucy had explained while she made it for me. “Are you sure you don’t want to take the day off? We could go to Savannah for the day or something, and walk around, do some retail therapy?”

  “Momma-Luce, it will be bad enough going back to school today after what happened yesterday, but it will be far worse to skip out with everyone knowing why. The torment will still be waiting for me when I return anyway.”

  She hugged me tight to her side as I heard my brother’s distinctive clomping footsteps enter the kitchen. He must have grabbed something to take with him, because he mumbled out, “Gotta run by the clubhouse before school. Can you drive her?”

  I heard Lucy huff from above me, and felt her tense up. She was no doubt giving my brother a death glare, but she agreed to take me to school today as my brother retreated from the kitchen quickly. “If anyone gives you a hard time today I want you to tell me, you hear?” She whispered into my ear.

  I just laughed. “Sure, I’ll hand you the school directory when the day’s done.” I took the cool pack from my face in time to see the sympathy etched in her eyes. Momma-Luce wasn’t a dumb woman. She knew exactly how cruel people could be. The club whores had done a number on her years ago, and had driven her away with their antics. That’s why my dad didn’t know he had a son until Toby was three years old.

  Once we got to the school I took a deep breath, threw my shoulders back, slung my bag over my right side, and headed into my locker with my head held high. I wasn’t blind or stupid, I saw the people whispering about me as I passed them. I just chose to pretend it wasn’t happening. All of my pretending ended the moment I got to the hall my locker was on. I saw Toby standing in the hallway with his fists clenched at his sides. He looked ready to blow his top. Just down from him were Jay and his girlfriend. She looked happier than a clown being freed from the bottom of clown car pileup. Jay stood stone-faced beside her with one arm slung over her shoulder in a proprietary manor.

  Slowing my pace would only delay the inevitable. I moved quickly through the hall until I got to my locker. “Ev,” my brother started to say, but I ignored him and read the writing on the wall – or the locker in this case. “Homewreking Slut” was written there in bright red marker, most likely Sharpie so it wouldn’t be easy to get off.

  I sighed and turned to see a group of Tiffany’s bitchy cheerleading friends laughing. I plastered a smile on my face and looked each of them in the eye. “Do they only teach you how to spell out simple words for your cheers? One of you bitches spelled this shit wrong. I’m thinking you need to try harder next time.” With that, I turned and walked away. I’d just carry my little notebook that I kept tucked in my messenger bag with me all day, and transfer my notes where they needed to be tomorrow. It’s not like I did any homework to speak of last night anyway.

  “Did she really just try to make us look stupid?” One of the twats asked another.

  “Doesn’t she know she’s the home-wrecking slut?” The other asked. “I don’t get it. What does any of this have to do with the cheers we spell out?”

  “Way to prove her point, morons!” I heard my best friend, Erin call out as she ran to catch up with me. That was a testament to how rattled I really was. I hadn’t even noticed Erin was back there too.

  “You just slayed them with your zero fucks given attitude and the spelling jab. Sadly, they’re too stupid to realize that you made them look like bigger idiots.” Erin told me. I stopped, mid-step, causing her to run into my shoulder.

  “How bad is it, Erin? Locker insults aside…”

  She frowned at me. “Everyone believes it all, because Jay has never questioned you before or called you out like that publicly. So, they assume there was proof or something, and that you really were trying to break them up to get him to notice you. Of course, that has all the other bitches he’s dated feeling vindicated in the lies they told about you too. So, now everyone thinks you’re some lying, conniving whore.” She winced, so I knew there was more. “And after what Jay said about your mom, they’re repeating that too.”

  “Oh,” was all I said. What more could I possibly add? Nothing. Not one damn thing. We started walking again, head
ing towards my first period class.

  “Ev, wait,” I heard Toby call after me. I didn’t even bother looking back over my shoulder the way Erin did when she heard his voice. She had as big a crush on my brother as I’d had on Jay. Once upon a time ago, we fantasized about being true sisters one day when she married my brother and I married Jay. I laughed inwardly at that thought, and continued right on into my class where I sat in my seat in the back corner, took out my notebook, and proceeded to pretend my brother hadn’t followed me inside.

  “Mr. Brothers, do you have somewhere you’re supposed to be? I know for certain it is not in my classroom,” my U.S. History teacher scolded him.

  “I just need to talk to my sister real quick,” Toby explained.

  “It doesn’t appear as though your sister wishes to speak with you, and I will be starting class as soon as the tardy bell rings in about 45 seconds. Get going to class.”

  “We’re talking later, Evs.” Toby sighed as he left the room. Mr. Danvers knocked his knuckles against my desk, getting my attention.

  “I saw your locker this morning, Ever. I already put in a work order to have it cleaned off. Do you need to talk to someone?”

  “No, I’m fine.” My response was curt as Mr. Danvers wrapped his knuckles against my desk once more before moving to the front of the class.

  When someone coughed out an, “Ever the Whore” comment a minute later Mr. Danvers spun around and eyed the entire class. “One more outburst like that and this entire class will suffer the consequences.”