“So, Rolling Springs is all about money?” She smiles and glances around once more.
“Rolling Springs was built on money and darkness. The Alder’s own many billion-dollar companies. They dip into everything from aviation to banking. Their reach is far and their money is powerful, but with power comes the dark side of things. Once you cross them, you aren’t safe.”
“Do you know who I am?” I blurt the question out without second guessing it.
“You’re stepping into a world that I’m not sure you’re ready for. If you were smart, you’d walk away now.”
“I can’t,” I whisper, thinking of what Nathan had said, what Steele had said.
“I know. The Macron family… they had ties to people outside of Rolling Springs, other families. Their main goal was to take over Rolling Springs forcing the Alder family out.”
“What? How could they do that?” She shrugs.
“They had more pull, more money, more alliances. Carson Macron was a force to be reckoned with. He was powerful in his own right. There’s fear in the founding families. Fear that if just one Macron returns to Rolling Springs that the Alder’s will lose everything, including control of the town.”
“Why? What does one Macron have to do with anything? Surely they can fight one.” She smiles and shakes her head.
“This particular Macron isn’t just a Macron. She’s also a McLean. Which in turn makes her stronger than any other family here.” It all hits me, making me dizzy.
“Am… oh, my God.”
“Welcome to the world, Whisper Macron.” My heart leaps into my throat. She begins to stand when I reach out and grab her wrist.
“How do you know me?” Straightening her spine, she holds her head high and smiles.
“We’re half-sisters, Whisper. We share a father, although I was left as much as you were. I found my way back here many years ago under a new name, a new identity. I haven’t been found out yet and I’d appreciate it if it stayed that way,” she says, her tone turning cold. A sister? I have a sister?
“Why would you want to come back?”
“I don’t know how to answer that, Whisper. I never belonged anywhere else. I’m Crystal, by the way.”
“Why? Why were we dumped?”
“Don’t you get it? Don’t you listen?” she hisses, leaning down into my space. “We are nothing! We are bred between two of the most hated families in Rolling Springs, Whisper!” I open my mouth to say more but there is nothing. Everything I thought I knew about myself, my life, it’s all lies. It’s all fucking lies and now I’m being used by the ones I trusted, if only slightly. Closing the books, I stand and pick them up, passing them back to Crystal.
“No one will find out anything. Would you mind putting these back?” I ask her. She takes the books from my hands as I shrug my backpack over my shoulder and walk toward the door.
Who the hell do they think they are? They want to play games with me, I can play them just as well. They think they can break me? Let’s see how they like it when the tables are turned.
18
Steele
I’m afraid of what my dad has to say. I’m afraid of what might be happening now. We’ve kept him out of the loop and as far as he knows, we were still looking into things with Whisper. I can only imagine that he has heard more. It’s not like I was hiding the fact that I was with her.
“Where’s your head at, Steele?” Ray growls after I missed the last pass. I can’t think straight. My head is a complete mess with what might be going on and the words that Whisper said in the shower have burned deeply inside of me. They stung but she’s right. We will never be in the spotlight together because she’s better off on her own.
“Why don’t you go out there and play?” I roar before heading back onto the field. We run the play and when I’m hit, I get pissed. Pulling my helmet off, I storm at the other player. The crowd is screaming and so is the coach. Knox appears in front of me, shoving me back a step but I just brush him off and keep going. Grabbing the other guy by the front of his jersey, I’m ready to rip his head off. This isn’t the first time this game that I’ve gone off either. The ref comes over, waving his hands before I’m being grabbed and pulled back.
“You’re out, Alder!” he calls out. I flip him off, grab my helmet and storm off the field. No one follows me and I’m glad for that. Callan and Knox need to stay in and play if we’re going to win this one. As soon as I’m in the locker room, Shane appears.
“Care to make a statement?” she teases.
“Fuck off, Shane. Get the hell out of here.” I sneer. She takes a step back when I say more, “It wasn’t your fault you know?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You and Callan. He was doing what he was told to do. He didn’t want to hurt you.” What the hell am I doing? Digging myself deeper into the dark is what I’m doing. I’m fucking myself over and I only have her to blame. Fucking Whisper!
“I don’t care. He could have stood up to your dad, Steele. He didn’t have to hurt me in the process,” she snaps.
“Like hell he didn’t. If you believe that than you are stupider than I thought!”
“Go to hell, Steele. All of you! You all have choices!” I don’t mean to react, I just do. I have her pinned against the wall in seconds, breathing heavily.
“Let her go,” I hear Whisper call out. I grin at Shane before slowly releasing the hold I have on her. She doesn’t move, just stands there in shock of what I’ve just done to her. All the while, Whisper comes closer. I pull my pads and jersey off, tossing them onto the floor when she steps in front of me.
“What the hell is that about?” I want to snap at her too. I want to slam her against the wall and fuck her until she admits to being mine, but I can’t.
“Questions. It’s always about the questions isn’t it?” I ask, watching her closely.
“If you have something to ask me, Steele, just ask.” She’s different. Something is different with her, I can see it in her eyes.
“Where have you been the last few days?” I don’t know why I’m asking. I don’t know why I care. When that little smile tugs across her face, I can feel the air around us shift.
“Shane, you can go,” she says, dismissing her friend like she was never meant to be here. Shane hurries off out of the locker room, but my eyes stay locked with Whisper’s. “I thought we needed a little break from each other,” she adds.
“A break? Why?”
“Why not? Things were getting too heated, Steele. Too complicated,” she tells me. The only thing complicated is her.
“Is that right? So you ran from me?”
“No, it wasn’t like that. I’m here, aren’t I? I needed space. I needed to figure things out,” she admits.
“What things?” She sighs and runs her hand through her long dark hair as she thinks over what she’s about to say.
“Things Nathan said to me didn’t make a lot of sense. When he’d mention things…” she trails off.