49: Icing Part 3
Luci
“To all of our guests, please give a big round of applause for our grand marshal for tonight’s
parade, Marshall Soames.”
Sydney, Banning and I all refrain from clapping. Banning eyes him with malice. Easton and
Jackson also skip it. Disgust is the only feeling I can muster as I see him ride by on the back
of a convertible waving to everyone as he opens the parade.
“We missed that on the flyer.” Syd observes.
“You think?!” Banning says with irritation.
The parade is a big hit with the boys as they exclaim excitedly over the floats and lights. After
it’s over, we walk around to look at more lights and then grab something else to eat. I go to throw away some trash as I wait for them to return with the food.
“Hi cutie.” I freeze when I hear that voice behind me. Naturally, if it’s not one cockroach, it’s his
brother….
“You going to turn around, Luci because I know that’s you? You can’t ignore me.‘
I slowly turn as my brain hyperfocuses on what I already want to say. “Sorry I don’t answer to anything other than Luci. And I truly assure you, I can.” It might not always be intentional, but
doesn’t matter to me.
He steps closer and I back up. “You seem to have grown a backbone, Luci.”
“And you still lack integrity.” I am as shocked as he is that I managed to fire that insult off.
Now his face contorts into that rage I saw once I knew the real Marshall. “Here I thought
maybe we could try again.”
Which absolutely infuriates me. He threatened me physically once everything was said and done and thinks he’ll find me pining for him. “That’s never going to happen. Been there and it wasn’t that great.I got the t–shirt which was worth a lot more than my time with you. I met someone else and discovered exactly how lacking you were in every department. So slink
back to whatever sewer you crawled out of for tonight.”
“Timid Luci now has a hot attitude. Who did you tell about our relationship?” He says angrily.
“No one. I’m as ashamed of it as you are desperate to cover it up.”
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+8 Poin
49: Icing Part 3
He goes to open his mouth again, but I hear Banning call my name angrily. Marshall, in his true coward form, turns and leaves. Sydney grabs my arm and leads me to the table.
“What did he want?” Banning asks furiously.
“To see if I told someone about us. And he offered that we could maybe try again.” I roll my
eyes.
“Easton needs to know about him, Luci.” Banning tells me sincerely. Banning wanted to go kill him after what happened between us, but I warned him that he had a young son as a single
father and couldn’t survive if the Soames family went after him for assault.
“Planning to this week. I promised him.” Banning nods approvingly.
“Did someone hit Marshall? Thought I saw a bruise on his disgusting face.” Sydney comments
thoughtfully.
“You did. Right on his jawline.” I add, watching his back disappear.
“Well that was the icing on the cupcake for me tonight. The only thing better would be if his
right hand was horribly mangled leaving no sad faces among us on Christmas.” She imitates
with a Grinchy grin. I chuckle at that. I dismiss all thoughts of him after that.
It’s way past Cole and Barrett’s bedtimes by the time we leave. I tell Cole goodbye after Easton
buckles him in. “Dream about firetrucks that dance to Christmas music.”
Jackson tells me goodbye quietly.
Easton walks me over to my car. “Text me when you get home. Maybe you’ll call me too.”
“I will.”
He leans down to kiss me. “We’ll pick another night for a date this week. Bye.”
I follow Syd home. When I park, my lights flash over my tiny porch. A guy sits there slumped
down and raises his head slightly at the lights.
“Syd, I need you to come over. Like now.” I call her. She immediately hangs up and I know she’s
already running.
I step out and approach my door, swallowing hard. Syd’s footsteps are not far behind.
“Did we flash some kind of Soames beacon or something tonight?” Syd mutters.
“We need to disable it for sure. What are you doing here, Julian?”
“Need to talk to you.” His eyes are red like he’s been crying.
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49: Icing Part 3
“About what?”
“About how you need to exact revenge on two coaches and my motherfucking brother.” He
stands up to face us. “Why didn’t you out him that he lied to everyone? It wasn’t a one–night stand. You thought you were dating him. You never knew about Brooklyn.”
My whole body sags with his admission. “How did you find out?”
“My mother…. Brooklyn sent her everything the night of… the night she died. All the messages, the photos you gave her, photos of five or six other girls over the years, a recording of her
confrontation with him where he finally admitted it all. The f*****g asshole even told her he
was going to spend the night with you, when she broke things off. She threw his ring at him
and he got pissed. Said you were coming to pick him up and he was glad he could be with
you.”
Syd gasps as I stare at him horrified. “That’s why she…..I wondered why she did that.”
“I’m sorry Luci. So f*****g sorry for how I treated you.” A tear runs down his cheek. “I believed
him. I mean what kind of asshole would lie about that?”
“Your brother.” I say bluntly.
Syd scoffs too. “A conceited dickhead.”
“I confronted him last night. He tried to deny it until I showed him the video Brooklyn took.
Then he laughed. That fucker laughed about you being blamed. He said you deserve whatever you get because Brooklyn is dead and you lived. He only cares about himself. Said if the truth
were out he might not be as successful. Humphries has always acted like his daughter was
some kind of f*****g princess saint. She could have killed you!”
“Sounds like she had a different motive: your brother’s life. I would have been icing on the cake, I’m guessing. Do you want to know why he treats me so badly? Your coach. Did he ever tell you before you accepted his mantle of bullying?” He shakes his head. “Because he knew Brooklyn would be painted badly. You’ve given me the last piece of the puzzle. She was drunk and tried to commit murder or manslaughter, whatever legal term they’d give it. He told me
that it wasn’t fair his daughter was gone because her boyfriend took up with a piece of
nothing like me. That I ruined things for her and Marshall. Never mind Marshall lied and used me. I was the other woman, but I had no idea I was. Neither did some of the other girls. I wonder if Humphries knew he had so many affairs. And once people found out what happened, they would talk badly about Brooklyn and she wasn’t here to defend herself or
redeem her actions. It was better if people didn’t like me because I was still breathing. He actually said that. I became a pariah for his team and anyone his brother can influence while
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+8 Points
49: Icing Part 3
she is the golden girl martyr. Irony is more bitter than truth I swear. And your brother threatened to ruin my life more if I said anything. I was in the hospital for two weeks, severely injured, and he came by once I was conscious, threatening to hurt me again. Such an upstanding guy.”
He hangs his head as tears drip down. I soften only slightly. “He fooled me too. I believed his words once. He’s your brother, Julian. You honestly had no reason to believe me over him if I’d said anything. I didn’t though knowing he was Marshall Soames, the star quarterback and I’m, how did he phrase it….oh yeah, the throwaway foster kid that no one wants or will believe.”
Julian winces hard. “You called me that too. I get why you thought he was telling you the truth. I could even forgive you for that and I do. You should be able to trust your brother. What I
don’t understand or forgive is why that meant you had to be such a cruel bastard to me. Pouring cold water on me after your friend tripped me. Constantly trying to intimidate me. Do you know what it feels like to be thought of as less than a real person? As a throwaway, merely because you have no family? I guess that’s beside the point. Whether or not I’m worth
the paper my birth certificate is printed on, doesn’t mean you should treat me like trash. And
you did that on your own. You could have supported your brother by simply ignoring me. Not
being my friend. Instead, you liked to torment me and did it at the request of an adult. Your
coach, someone who is supposed to inspire you to be a good role model. I doubt he knows the
definition. I’d watch myself if I were you. You are going to be led into something that might
cause you harm with your blatant lack of using your brain for yourself instead of what
someone else tells you.
He reaches into his pocket for a flash drive. “Here. I brought you this. Could help you.”
“What is it?”
“The video of me confronting him. Along with all the things Brooklyn sent my mother that night. Which is going to be even bigger drama at my house once I blow this up in their faces. My dad has no idea. He abhors cheating and thinks my brother is still dedicated to Brooklyn’s painful memory. My mother covered up this psycho nonsense. I think you should blast all of it.
Your friend works at the paper.”
“They’d spin it as I was some kind of obsessed crazy person who he rejected for his one true love. Your family has enough money, Julian to make anything like this go away.”
“I am sorry, Luci.”
“Don’t be. Be better for the next mistreated person you come across.” I don’t tell him, I forgive him because I don’t. I’m all out of forgiveness at this point. Maybe later after I process this.
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49: Icing Part 3
“I’ll do better than that Luci. They won’t get away with this. I can make sure it’s believed.” I halt and turn at that seeing his eyes filled with determination.
“No Julian, they will bury you and your future career. They’ll paint you as the jealous brother.
They aren’t worth blowing up another life, one who’s been manipulated too.”
“Don’t you want them to pay for what they’ve done to you, Luci? Don’t you want revenge, justice?” He gestures wildly, caught up in the overwhelming betrayal he feels.
“Revenge isn’t what you think, Julian. It doesn’t always help. And justice is a joke. People like
me get burned by justice. Your coaches would get a slap on the wrist. They could deny they ever said anything about me. All hearsay. Your brother would continue to play, make millions
of dollars and women will line up at his doorstep. There is no scenario with you releasing all of this that harms them for your revenge. And right now you are seeking revenge for your
betrayal by him and the shame for believing his lies. This isn’t about doing something for me
so don’t try to paint it that way. Go home and take some time to process what happened.”
“I
Ivory Row
Hmm Julian sounds like he might realize he was wrong. He needs to make up for being an extreme ass which is tall order. Luci hasn’t forgiven him yet.
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