What You Deserve : A Gem Stone Book Read online

  After two years of dating my sister, Riley Landers convinced her to finally give him her virginity. He’d been drunk, he hadn’t been kind or gentle, and she’d found him the very next morning balls-deep in her bimbo best friend. Neither knew she’d witnessed them in the act. She’d gotten the heck out of there before they spotted her and called me crying hysterically as she told me everything and spilled her guts.

  Two horrible days later while drunk off her ass and stumbling around, she fell down a flight of stairs and broke her neck, dying instantly.

  Our mother had come home and found her lifeless body in a pool of her own blood.

  No one could understand why she’d been drinking by herself at home when she never drank or did drugs. She had been a good girl, the very best. She got dressed up and went to parties with her friends, but she always remained the clearheaded one, the sober one, the DD.

  Nobody knew why she’d been drinking or upset, but I did.

  I didn’t tell a single soul, not even Franklin. I didn’t think she would want people to know. If it were me, I wouldn’t have wanted people to know. They might say she threw herself down those stairs on purpose and killed herself.

  I knew better. I knew her death to be the accident it was.

  She’d never have left me on purpose. We’d had big plans for our freedom after we turned eighteen when we could finally live our lives together how we were always meant to. She absolutely would not have left me when we were so close to getting everything we’d always wanted.

  No. Fucking. Way.

  The newcomers were all beautiful people and looked like they’d just walked off the set of some high school teen drama television show.

  My hands curled into fists in my lap as I thought about the small container of lighter fluid and the gold zippo lighter in my bag on the ground at my feet. Why did they get to stand there looking beautiful and fucking breathe while Gin was lying dead in a box, albeit a fancy as fuck box that cost a fortune, not ten feet away? It didn’t seem fair to me.

  Nothing about today seemed fair and nothing had since that horrible day she’d died.

  The boyfriend, while I guess he wasn’t really a boyfriend anymore, locked eyes with me and his feet stuttered to a stop. His clear blue eyes widened, and he raked his shaking hand through his short, thick, dirty blond hair. You could tell from the way he filled out his suit that he worked out and had some serious muscles under his modestly priced suit.

  A quick glance at the small crowd of teenagers behind him told me all I needed to know about these people. None of them were dressed in designer clothes like the rest of my family and myself. Which said it all, didn’t it? Seeing as you usually wore your best to a funeral or you went out and bought something new that looked just right and you spared no expense on it. And, given how they dutifully followed along behind Riley like baby ducks, they clearly enjoyed playing follow the leader.

  Riley looked like a beefed up version of a Ken doll.

  He was pretty, if you were into that sort of thing, like Gin had been.

  Like I most certainly was not into. But I could pretend to be if the situation called for it and it got me what I wanted.

  The bimbo BFF behind Riley missed the memo to pump the brakes and slammed right into his back with an audible oomph. Her hands immediately rested obscenely low on Riley’s hips, and for the life of me, I couldn’t keep my lip from curling up in a sneer. That touch was far too familiar for my liking.

  Just how long had their repulsive affair been going on?

  Of their own accord, my eyes drifted to the man in the folding metal chair beside me and narrowed to dangerous slits. I hated cheaters. All they did was hurt and break the people around them. People who usually loved them.

  My father was the worst.

  And clearly Gin had found his likeness in this Ken doll look-a-like.

  How disturbing.

  “Gin,” Riley whisper shouted as his eyes raked me over from head to toe. His head jerked weirdly as he took in my dark, mint colored hair that was very different than the so dark brown it was almost black natural hair color that Gin had worn every day of her life.

  We were identical until our personalities came out to play.

  Riley hadn’t been expecting me. Gin really had kept her mouth shut about me all this time. Some small, obscure part of me actually felt bad for having been so honest with Franklin. If Gin was alive and had found out, would she have seen it as a betrayal or would she have once again praised me for my defiant nature?

  The sad truth was, I would never know.

  “Gin!” Riley called out in a voice that cracked halfway through the dead girl’s name.

  My face went blank as I watched him impassively. I couldn’t afford to allow my feelings to show in front of Riley just yet. Or any of these people.

  Riley shrugged off the bimbo BFF, Belinda was her name, and he started running toward me. Not jogging. Not sprinting. Running.

  “Gin!” he screamed in a ragged voice, sounding as if he was dying on the inside or something. Both my mother and my father stood up at the same time, shifting until they blocked me from Riley.

  He skidded to a halt in front of my parents, nearly toppling over. “Step aside,” he gritted out toward my parents while never taking his eyes off me. “She told me you were dead, and she refused to let me come to the house to check on you. I know how she lies and how much you despise her, and I didn’t understand until she left me outside at the gate, screaming and pounding against the bars. She still wouldn’t let me inside. I just wanted to see you or...”

  He trailed off as tears began gliding down his cheeks. His eyes slammed shut momentarily, and he sucked in a long, shuddering breath before opening them back up again and immediately zeroing right back in on me. He looked genuinely heartbroken. I enjoyed that for my sister. Until Belinda stepped up behind him and wrapped her arm around his middle possessively. She laid her head on his shoulder and whispered something too quiet for me to hear.

  I stood up from my chair and tossed my mint green hair back behind my shoulder. My hands fisted at my sides as my eyes leveled with the bimbo’s hazel stare. She didn’t break eye contact and she didn’t even look guilty.

  She was undeniably pretty with pink bubble gum lips, dark tanned skin kissed by the sun, and long white-blonde hair that fell down past her shoulders in luscious soft waves. She was short and incredibly thin, but had large breasts that looked unnatural on her thin, small frame. I’d say they might be fake if I thought she might have been able to afford them.

  I so badly wanted to call them out for the horrible people they were to my sister and point out to everyone what they’d been doing behind her back while pretending to love her to her face. I hated two-faced people almost as much as I hated cheaters. They were all their own brand of assholes.

  I straightened my shoulders and moved to walk around my father’s side of the barricade my parents made in front of me. A hand, gentle in its touch, grabbed hold of my wrist, and my head swiveled around hurriedly to see who had the audacity to put their hands on me. I gasped and whipped back around. He tugged roughly this time on my wrist, and I stumbled into him forcefully. He let go of my wrist and his arms wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me into the warmth of his body. He smelled like cigarettes, coffee, and home.

  “Franks,” I whispered, as the tears finally hit me and broke free. I had been holding them back since the day she died, unwilling to allow myself to show that much emotion again in front of others. Seeing Franklin now and being held in the safety of his arms brought it all back to the surface. I shoved my face in his neck and cried softly.

  I hadn’t had the chance to see him since it all went down. My father had practically locked me in the house. We’d been able to talk though, which we’d done every single night until I fell asleep listening to the sound of his soothing voice. He gave me that without complaint and texted me what felt like every five minutes just to check in with me. Anyone else and his need for constant c
ontact would have annoyed me, but with Franklin I didn’t usually get annoyed with him ever. I was the only person he ever openly showed affection with and it made me love him even more.

  Franklin wrapped his arms around my back and held me tightly to him, as if he never wanted to let me go.

  “She would have loved you,” I whispered brokenly, quiet enough I knew only he would be able to hear me. “She did love you, at least as much of you as I was able to share with her. I can’t believe you’re here with me.” I pulled my face out of his neck and looked up at him. I probably looked like a mess with my mascara running down my face in black lines mixed liberally with my tears, but I didn’t have it in me to care. My mother would care enough for the both of us. “What are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to come.”

  I wanted him here with me so badly, but my mother had told me no, that it wasn’t my funeral and I didn’t get to decide who attended and who didn’t. She’d then told me to grow up and that I didn’t need anyone to hold my hand like a child.

  My mother was a bitch, it really was just that simple.

  “Fuck your family,” Franklin whispered back fiercely. His hands came to my face and he swiped my makeup and tears away with the pads of his thumbs. “They aren’t my parents, so I don’t really give a shit what they want or don’t want. I’m staying with you until I think it’s okay to leave you on your own again, and they can both eat a bag of dicks as far as I’m concerned.”

  I smiled sadly at him, so happy to have him here with me it wasn’t even funny. I’d also missed his smart mouth like crazy.

  “Get your filthy hands off of her!” Riley screamed harshly from behind me, and I tensed in Franklin’s arms, my fingers digging into the material of his suit jacket at his shoulders.

  Franklin scowled dangerously over my shoulder. “Who the fuck is that and why is he looking at us and screaming?” His lip curled in disgust as he sneered. “Jesus, Gems, please tell me you aren’t sleeping with this jacked up version of a male barbie. I thought you had better taste than that. But I guess it’s like what they say, grief really does do strange things to a person.”

  I closed my eyes briefly as the ghost of a smile flitted across my face. He’d made sure to say all of that loud enough to hear and in a tone that left no question as to whether the whole thing was meant to be insulting or not. One look at Riley, and Franklin already appeared to hate him. I was impressed.

  “Gin,” the bimbo BFF called out softly. “I don’t know what kind of games you’re playing here, but this really isn’t funny. We’ve all been heartbroken and grieving for you, and you’re standing there just fine at your own freaking funeral. How messed up is that? What kind of person does something like this? How could you do this to me of all people? To us? Why are you doing this?” She ended her stupid little hypocritical speech on a loud wail before collapsing against Riley’s back and sobbing loudly.

  How dare she talk to me about doing something messed up? I wanted to accuse her of her past crimes and call her out for her dirty deeds. I kept my mouth shut by grinding my teeth so hard I feared I’d get an instant toothache.

  And those tears were fake, I could tell. She had just been waiting for the time where she felt it was appropriate to start weeping so everyone would turn to look at her with sympathy in their eyes. My eyes held nothing but contempt and disgust.

  I shrugged out of Franklin’s loving hold and stepped up beside my father. The smile on my face was mean at best and downright cruel at worst. Riley’s face twisted and filled with confusion upon seeing my smile. I bet he’d never seen anything like it on Gin and didn’t know what to make of seeing it on me.

  My father grabbed me by the arm and tried to drag me back to my seat, but I dug my heels in and refused to move. “Sit down, daughter, and do not make a scene.”

  I thought it was a little late for all of that, but whatever. I wasn’t sitting down, and I wasn’t going to allow either him or my mother to boss me around ever again.

  “Gin, please.” Riley held his hand out to me pleadingly. “Come over here, baby girl. I need to hold you and make sure you’re real.”

  I almost threw up in my mouth. Almost.

  “Stop calling me that,” I said in a clear, calm voice I was incredibly proud of because it didn’t shake in the slightest.

  “Calling you what?” he asked, sounding confused and looking it.

  “A dead girl’s name.”

  He flinched as if I’d physically struck him, and the bimbo clung to him, wailing even louder. Her entire body began to visibly shake, and I’d bet one of my trust funds she was going to pretend to faint soon or something equally as ridiculous.

  “My name is Gem.” I turned to my parents and grinned at them maniacally. “Tell me, Mother, why was it okay for these people to be here in attendance but you refused to allow me to invite my one friend to come with me?”

  She glared at me as she crossed her arms over her chest. Her nostrils flared, and I just knew that if we didn’t have an audience right now, she would be screaming at me like a banshee and throwing the world’s greatest hissy fit. “It’s not like it matters,” she snarled at me. “It looks like you got exactly what you wanted in the end, so I don’t know what you think you have to complain about right now. And, I already told you, you ungrateful little brat, this isn’t your funeral, it’s Gin’s, and you will show some damn respect for your sister.”

  “Your...” Riley stammered. “Your sister? Gin didn’t... there was no sister. What sort of game are you trying to play here? Whatever it is, Gin, I’m begging you to stop it right now, it’s not like you to be cruel. This isn’t you.”

  He was right, of course, this wasn’t Gin and she had been far too kind to have ever been considered cruel. I, however, had no problem being cruel when the situation called for it.

  I shook my head and laughed humorously, the sound something that would have made the hair on the back of my neck rise if I’d heard it coming from anyone else.

  “That’s not Gin,” Bimbo Belinda whispered urgently. She began shaking her head frantically from side to side as she pushed herself away from Riley, almost stumbling over her feet in the outrageously high heels she wore. “It’s not, Riley, I swear it. Look at her face. She might look exactly like Gin, but that’s not Gin. There’s something wrong with this one. She’s not right.”

  How dare she.

  “Bitch,” I spat out.

  “How did she have a sister, a twin no less, all this time, and she kept it hidden from me?” Riley asked. “Kept it a secret? Why would she do that? Other people I could understand her keeping secrets from.” He shot the BFF a dark look. “But not me, and certainly not you.”

  My heart almost went out to him. None of this was easy and he was learning things that must have felt like a serious betrayal to him. If he tried to play the victim hard enough, I’d gouge his eyes out and claw up that pretty face of his, leaving wicked scars in the wake of my fingernails.

  Riley shook off Belinda and she fell into the open arms of one of the guys standing behind her. He eagerly snatched her up and clutched her tightly to his chest. He looked like he’d just won the lottery and I took note of his features, saving them to memory.

  “You’re... Gem?” Riley asked as he took a hesitant step forward.

  Immediately, I felt Franklin press up against my back. He placed one of his hands low on my hip and pulled me back until we were almost flush up against each other. Riley’s eyes dropped down to where Franklin’s hand rested on my hip and they narrowed to slits. He clearly didn’t like watching other people, other males, touching me.

  Good to know.

  I filed that little bit of information away for later, in case I might need to use it against him some day. I didn’t have a specific plan in mind when it came to Riley, I simply knew that I wasn’t willing to leave things as they were. For my sweet sister, I felt she deserved some type of justice, something better than this and these horrible people who’d betrayed her.

>   I nodded to Riley. “Yes, I am. It’s a long story, but we weren’t allowed to talk about each other so it’s not a surprise to me that you don’t know who I am. But I feel it’s only fair to tell you that Gin and I shared everything about our lives with each other, so I know exactly who you are.”

  My eyes shifted to my sister’s supposed BFF. “I know all about you too.” My voice had turned downright frosty when I addressed the girl who was still being held up by the male behind her. He held her to his chest tightly with both his arms wrapped around her middle just below her breasts. Her head rested on his broad shoulder, and they both watched me with narrowed eyes.

  I shook my head as I watched her as if she were a haughty little child in need of some structure and a good deal of punishment.

  “Can I—” Riley spoke in a rush, but stopped to clear his throat before continuing. “Can I hug you? I’d just like to... I think it would make me feel so much better if I could just put my arms around you and hold you tight. To just know that you’re safe and standing in my embrace. Just one more time.”

  I almost rolled my eyes but checked myself. My mother didn’t bother checking anything, and I heard the distinct sound of her snorting in disgust as daintily as possible, we were still in a public place. She didn’t like him or this display he was putting on, that was for sure.

  Franklin’s lips came to my ear. “Did the Ken doll just ask to hug you and tell you he wanted to hold you in his embrace?” He snickered. “What a fucking twat. If he touches you, I’ll snap each and every one of his fingers. You should warn him away from touching you.”

  A shiver raced down my spine. Franklin did not make idle threats, and he could be a little on the psychotic side when the mood struck him. It was one of the things I loved most about him, but it also terrified me when he let that side of him out to play.

  The pastor approached our merry little group with his hands folded together neatly in front of him and a bored expression on his face. The man had likely seen far worse spectacles than the one we were all taking part of.