He almost growled as he gripped his hands in his hair looking really frustrated. "That was an accident! I'd been drinking, I didn't actually mean to hurt you it just happened!" he cried clearly annoyed with my comment.
Shit I needed to just change the subject because this was just making him madder at me! "I know it was. It's fine, let's just forget it." I said putting on a fake smile and sniffing through my semi-blocked nose. "Why don't you show me around or something?"
His face softened and he broke out the heartbreaking smile that he first caught my attention with when I met him. "Yeah, I'd like that. Let's start in the kitchen and I can make drinks and stuff. You hungry?" he asked as he took my hand and immediately tugged me up the hallway.
How long had I been here now? Were the police almost here? Oh God please let them get here before Clay does! I desperately tried not to think of Clay bursting in here on his own and beating Blake to a pulp and then being towed away in handcuffs or something.
"Jailbait? I said are you hungry." He squeezed my hand a little and I quickly snapped back into myself, I needed to stop spacing out and stay in the moment so I could keep him calm! Relax Riley everything's fine, and tonight Clay will kiss everything better and hold you when you wake up screaming because of this whole waking nightmare.
"Umm not right now, but after we've looked around then maybe we could make dinner together or something?" I suggested. That would kill some time!
He smiled happily as he grabbed two cans of coke from the fridge passing me one and gesturing around the room. "Kitchen." he stated before pulling me back out of the room, I didn't even get a chance to look around before we were back out of the door. "Lounge." he stated waving his hand at the room. He pulled me back out again and I groaned internally, this was going to be the quickest house tour in history. So much for my great killing time plan!
Probably less than a minute later he stopped outside another door, "And this.... this one's my room." he smirked at me as he pushed a key into the door unlocking it.
I felt my body jerk at the thought of going in his room, why didn't I think this through? Why did I ask for a tour? Shit maybe he completely read something into it thinking I wanted to see his room or something! Damn it Riley you're so freaking stupid sometimes.
He smiled at me and I felt so sick I wondered if I was going to actually throw up all over him. He pushed the door open and gestured for me to go in first. I swallowed my sob and forced myself to walk over the threshold. I just prayed that he would wave his hand around again like he did for every other room and then we could go and make dinner or something. My eyes flicked to his bed and I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood willing myself not to panic and pass out or something leaving myself completely exposed and vulnerable to him.
His room was a typical boys room, just plain and painted a royal blue, a little messy but not unlike what Clay's room used to look like at his parents house.
"Like it?" he asked, I tried not to flinch as his hand rubbed the small of my back softly.
I nodded and put on a fake smile, "Yeah it's nice."
He grinned happily and I noticed that his eyes flicked to the bed too as he stepped closer to me, oh God here it comes. "You didn't see my favourite part yet." he murmured looking at me so intently that it made my heart stop at the passion on his face. His favourite part? I looked around the room again wondering what it would be, maybe a games console or something probably in typical boy fashion.
He laughed and took hold of my shoulders turning me around facing the wall behind me, the one that the door was on. I felt my heart stop as my blood ran cold, this was so much worse than I thought! I was in some serious trouble and I needed to make sure that Clay didn't come anywhere near Blake, because this guy was crazier than both of us gave him credit for.
Chapter 26
I couldn't take my eyes off of the wall. There were pictures everywhere of me, not just me though that was the scary thing, Clay was there as well. There were pictures of us together laughing or hugging, but in every picture Clay's face had either been scratched out leaving it white, or burned out leaving a ragged hole. I knew it was him because of his clothes and where we were. These weren't pictures of us as kids, these were pictures of things we'd done recently. Us at the football game, us at the store, at the movies, damn there was even one of us loading paint cans into Clay's trunk so I knew that one was less than a week old.
How long had he been following me, taking these pictures? Why hadn't I seen him, he literally must have been following me all the time. The ones that scared me the most were the ones of me or Clay at our apartment, there was even one taken from the street outside where Clay was closing the drapes in just his boxers so he must have been ready for bed. That meant that Blake was camping outside our apartment at night with a damn camera just waiting and knew that we lived together.
I felt lightheaded and my lungs were starting to burn because I just couldn't remember how to breathe. Every inch of the wall was covered in photo's, but why would he take Clay out of the pictures? And in such a violent way too, did he want to hurt Clay? Oh God what if he comes here without the police and Blake goes crazy? He has totally lost his mind so he could literally do anything.
He was looking at me, obviously waiting for some sort of reaction and I didn't know what to do. How could I pretend this was normal? How could I put on a fake smile and pretend like this didn't make my blood run cold in my veins? I couldn't, my reaction was already starting and I had no control over it at all.
I felt the scream trying to force its way out so I clamped my jaw tight so all that came out was a little whimper. Oh crap, oh crap, OH CRAP! My hands were shaking, my legs felt weak and all I wanted to do was run from the house screaming for Clay to run as far away from here as possible so Blake didn't do anything to him.
"This one's my favourite." He moved me forward, closer to the sick shrine on the wall as he rubbed his hands up and down my arms softly, making bile rise in my throat. He pointed to a picture of me sitting on the bleachers on a game night, I was laughing at something, you could see I was wearing Clay's jersey but I had a jacket over the top so that's probably why he didn't scratch off Clay's number or something. There was another photo of me overlapping this one, obviously cutting off who I was sitting with but I knew it would be Rachel, I always sat with her at the games.
"You look so happy here, I love it when you smile. It lights your whole face, makes you look so damn hot. Actually I love all the pictures, but that one's special." he whispered, his breath blowing down my neck as he pressed his chest against my back.
"Because Clay isn't in it?" My voice broke when I said his name as I tried desperately not to have a full blown panic attack. As soon as I said the words, I immediately wanted to punch myself for mentioning his name. Why? Why did I say that? Wow I'm so stupid!
His hands immediately tightened on my arms, his fingers digging into my skin making me wince. He made an angry snort. "That f*cker ruins all the pictures; I never get a nice one of you on your own. Little $hit. You need to stop hanging around with him Jailbait!" he ordered looking at me hard and accusing.
How long had I been here now? It was literally only a few minutes since I'd called Clay, how long would it be before the police turned up? Surely they hadn't seen this freaking shrine on his wall otherwise they would be taking my complaint more seriously.
The pain in my upper arms started to get worse as his grip tightened on me. "Blake you're hurting me," I whispered as my eyes filled with tears.
He frowned angrily and let me go running a hand through his hair, his eyes not leaving mine. "Why do you have to hang around with that asshole? Why not someone else? A girl? Any other guy than Preston!" he growled angrily.
Wow he had such a problem with Clay, what one earth is this about? "Blake, why do you hate him so much?" I whispered as I turned away from the wall of photo's, I couldn't look at it anymore it was making me feel lightheaded and I didn't want to pass out with him here and leave myself vulnerable.
"He took everything from me! He took the only things I've ever cared about, he's living my f*cking life!" he shouted, making me flinch from his anger.
What? What had Clay done to him? "What do you mean?" I asked trying to keep my voice calm hoping to calm him down.
He growled in frustration and slammed his hand down on the dresser. "When my parents died the only thing I had left was football," he stated.
I nodded, he'd told me that before that he got injured and Clay took his spot while he recovered and then when Blake came back they had to share the running back position.
"So when he took my spot on the team I had nothing, I was in such a bad place and that was the only thing keeping me sane and grounded, but that as**ole stole it from me! I missed the talent scouts because coach decided to play Preston instead of me on the day they came, so I didn't get any college offers. I got stuck in a dead end job, earning $hit money and no hopes for anything because of him. Everything's his fault and now he's trying to steal you! You're the only girl I've ever liked and he wants to take you away from me too!" he shouted, he was clenching his jaw so tight I'm surprised his teeth hadn't cracked and broken from the pressure.
"Blake, none of that is Clay's fault! He didn't ask to take your spot, he didn't ask to be played on those games when the scouts were there!" I cried, swiping at the tear that fell down my face. How could he hold Clay responsible for that?
"I don't give a $hit if he asked for it or not! Everything he has should be mine, he has everything and he takes it for granted. He doesn't even care what I went through, not once did he say sorry to me, not once!" he stepped closer to me and I instantly flinched back from the anger on his face. "Well he's not taking you away from me. You and I are meant to be together Riley and I won't let him ruin it." he stated matter of factly as he brushed his hand across my cheek, wiping my tears. I pressed back against the wall trying to squirm away from him.