• S I X T E E N •

"I never had a chance to be soft. I was always bloody knuckles and broken shards of glass. I wanted people to be afraid of hurting me."

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Rage's POV

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With each word he says, the angrier I get.

"I'm gonna go to your home, drag your parents out to the shed by their fucking ear, rip them limb from limb, slowly burn them and then leave their dead bodies out there to rot," I hiss angrily.

Boaz's eyes widen comically.

"You got a problem with my plan?" I demand, eyeing him.

"Umm, yeah! You'd go to prison! You can't kill people!"

Too late...

"Oh? And why is that?" I question.

"Because we just got you!" Yells Boaz. "We can't lose you over my stupid parents!"

I blink, taken aback. I lean back and try to process that.

"Okay," I whisper.

"Okay?" Boaz repeats.

"Okay," I nod. "I won't kill them. Let's go back to the others now."

Standing up, I stick a hand out to help him to his feet. Boaz stands up but doesn't release my hand. We walk together in a comfortable silence as we make our way back to the others.

I open the door to the cabin and take an empty seat on the couch.

"So?" Gage asks, looking between the two of us.

"She knows," Boaz mutters, staring at the floor.

"She knows?!" William exclaims, his eyes wide.

"About my parents," He continues.

"Oh, thank goodness," William says, sighing with relief.

I narrow my eyes when I am distracted by Asher saying, "I have to know Rage. Why do you wear those contacts?"

Biting my lip, I hesitate before answering, "They aren't contacts. My eyes really are yellow."

Gage leaned forward, the familiar spark of curiosity blazing in his hazel eyes. "Do you know why?"

"Did you get it from your parents?" Darkon asks.

"I don't know to both of you," I sigh. "I was born with these eyes and I never knew my biological father."

Asher places a comforting hand on my shoulder. I look up at his understanding eyes and offer him a grateful smile.

"Huh. I always assumed they were contacts," William remarks with a shrug.

I nod. "I prefer it that way. Most of my life, I have been... hurt. My freakish eyes only give people another reason to hurt me."

Looking up, I see that they are all wearing angry expressions, but I can tell it is aimed at those who hurt me. I instantly grin, thankful they don't think I'm a freak. It actually feels nice to have people who care enough about me to get angry when they think I have been pained.

When I got hit, my brothers used to care. After all, they were my older brothers. They felt protective. Over time, though, they just got used to it. Our fathers brainwashed us all into thinking that they weren't doing anything wrong.

I bite my lip using the pain to distract myself from my thoughts. My family is all dead, thanks to me. No sense in thinking about them any longer.

"So what do we do now?" I ask, feeling the need to switch topics.

Gage looks at me With a gleam in his eye, "Do you play chess?"

"Say no!" Kolton yells with a terrified look on his face.

"We don't even have a chess board out here," Nekoda points out coolly.

"Oh, yeah," Gage recalls. "I forgot that Kolton shot it up in the air."

"Shot it up in the air?" I repeat.

Kolton chuckles, "Yup. Somewhere, there is a chess set floating around in space."

Nekoda snorts, amusement on his normally blank face. " Yeah, the aliens are going to be super thankful now, huh? "

"Absolutely," Kolton agrees. "So thankful that when they're done killing half the population, they'll make me the king of earth."

"I can see that," I respond. "You do look like a king."

Kolton beams and my thought is cemented. With his golden hair, tanned skin, bright blue eyes, and muscular build, he could easily pass as a king or a sun god. He just has that golden boy look to him.

Honestly, though, they all look like they could be male models.

"She said I look like a king," Kolton repeats triumphantly, a smug grin on his face.

"Don't let it go to your head," William snorts. "See what you've done, Rage? Now you have to compliment all of us."

"Oh, really?" I say, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup."

"Fine," I agree, shocking them all.

I think I decided to most of all because it would shock them. Plus, Kolton already has a big head...

"Asher, you have beautiful, curly hair. Nekoda, your eyes make me miss the ice. Boaz, I wish I could pull off singed hair like yours. It only makes you look cooler. Darkon, your quiet strength is remarkable. William, your eyes are the most incredible shade of green I have seen. Gage, the way you think before you act is kinda inspiring," I start sincerely, looking to each one.

Was it out of character for me to say that? Probably.

Could I have helped it? Probably.

Did I want to say it? Definitely.

The more I know these boys, the closer I feel to them. If be stupid to think they could actually like a monster like me. However, they don't know what I've done. If they never find out, I might just have a chance with them.

"Thanks, Flames," Boaz says with a grin, causing a chorus of thanks.

I study him. "Is Flames supposed to be an insult? I mean, I know I get angry sometimes but..."

"No, it's not an insult," Boaz chuckles.

"I need to get home," Nekoda announces suddenly, bursting up, a panicked look in his eyes as he races out.

I look at the others and ask, "Should I even ask...?"

"Nope," Kolton replies smoothly.

"And now it's time for us all to leave ," Gage says.

Standing up, I ask, "How come you guys do that? Leave all at once?"

Darkon shrugs. "We're all brothers. It feels strange to be together and have one of us missing."

"Like we're excluding them," Asher explains.

I nod slowly. They must be remarkably close to one another. My brothers weren't ever like that. Not with me at least.

I file out with them and we all begin to go out separate ways.

"Well, I should get home," I declare, despite having no intentions of going home.

No, tonight is a night for myself. Instead of sleeping, I intend on having some fun.

I have the perfect idea. I know exactly who I need. Someone who is fun. Someone who already thrives on the night. Someone I already know and like.

Victoria Hayes.

Grinning, I thumbed the green button on my phone.

"Rage?" Victoria asks.

"Yeah. I need your help. A girl's night out kinda thing," I say hesitantly.

Victoria starts squealing and I can feel the excitement through the phone.

"Yuss!" She exclaims. "You came to the right person!"

I laugh, "So where do you want to meet then?"

"Meet me at the corner of 6E and 12B!" Victoria shouts over some voices before hanging up on me.

Shaking my head at her behavior, I close my phone and slip it into my backpack. Shrugging on my backpack, I make my way down to the street that Victoria directed and wait for a couple minutes. Before long, a car pulls up and a window rolls down.

"Get in!" Victoria yells. "You're wasting moonlight!"

Not needing to be told twice, I throw open the door to the dark car and hop in the passenger seat.

Victoria races out of there, turning up the radio until a loud, pulsating music fills the car. I can't help but nod my head to the beat. Victoria is full on dancing to the music, worrying me slightly. I swear, I have a heart attack every time she lifts her hands off the wheel or closed her eyes.

"So what are we doing?" I ask, biting my lip.

"First, shopping. Then we'll head to my place and get ready."

"Ready for what? What's wrong with What I'm wearing?" I ask.

Victoria laughs, "You can't wear that to the club, darling."

"The club?" I echo, remembering when I would spend all my nights at the club, dancing it all away.

"Don't worry, Rage," Victoria teases. "Just one for dancing. We won't even need fake ID's so it'll be perfectly legal unless you plan on drinking."

"I don't," I inform her with a wrinkled nose.

My father's drank. Some more than others, but none of them were pleasant, especially when they were drunk. Then they grew incredibly violent.

"Good idea," Victoria agrees with a nod of her head. "I drank once. Never again. I don't understand how others can drink, but whatever."

I can understand the drive to drink, though. The feeling of needing to numb everything. My understanding scares me. I can't ever go down that path because I know that, if I did, I would never come back. How would I be able to go from numb to this?

We pull up at the mall and the sky isn't even dark yet. It is around six and we have twelve hours to ourselves and our night out. Victoria hurries inside the mall, leading the way.

Adjusting the strap of my backpack, I follow closely behind as she enters a large store and leads me into a section full of dresses.

Victoria immediately plunged her hands into the racks and starts pulling out dresses in her size. Taking it as a cue, I do the same. I pull out several in my size that I like the color of, not really paying attention to the style. After all, everything looks different when you try it on.

I follow a sign to the changing rooms and quickly duck into one. Stripping, I slip on the first dress and look in the mirror. Too long. The next is completely backless and almost completely frontless too. The third one fits well and I stick it off to the side to hold on to. I go through the pile, dividing them up. Finally, I slide on my clothes and return the dresses I didn't like to a rack.

I make several visits to the changing room until I have ten dresses that I like. Then, I begin to narrow my choices down. That one would show too many scars. One wrong move in this one and people are going to see way too much... This one is a little tight around the arms. Too expensive. Finally, I decide on a violet dress. It is a sweetheart neckline with lace sleeves that start at the shoulders and delicately cover my arms and open back. The skirt falls at about mid thigh.

Putting the others away, I go in search of shoes. I find a simple pair of silver heels that are within my miniscule budget.

When everything is paid for, I hang out by the entrance and don't have to wait very long at all for Victoria.

"Let's go!" She orders cheerfully. "Now it's time to get ready!"

I sigh slightly. I'm sure it'll be fun later, but this feels like a ton of work.

We drive to a nice neighborhood and Victoria pulls into the driveway of a large house.

"Come on. This is my house here," She calls. "We can get ready downstairs."

I enter the house and head down a staircase to a basement that has been turned into a giant bedroom.

"Go ahead and change in the bathroom," Victoria directs, pointing the way.

I change as quickly as possible and come out. Victoria is wearing a golden dress that makes her skin glow and hugs her in all the right places.

I run a brush through my hair and get it slightly damp so it can curl on its own while Victoria goes through the long process of straightening her thick hair.

"Here's the makeup," Victoria informs me. "Go crazy."

I since slightly, planning on not going crazy with it at all. I darken my eyes and lips and apply some mascara before slipping on my shoes.

I'm all the way ready and Victoria is still straightening her hair.

With a laugh, I pull out my terrible book and start reading as Victoria finished getting ready.

• • •

Q: What is your favorite color to wear?

A: I prefer red or green. Red fits my overall coloring, but green makes my green eyes stand out. But, above all, rests comfort.