Chapter 26: Bella – Part II

Friday Night Parties

At home, Zane watched the other cars pulling up to Julie’s house and who was getting out. Ashley, Sara, and Stephanie all arrived together. They had become fast friends in the last week. He saw Alexis, another of the juniors, arrive with another girl. He couldn’t see who that was. Then he saw a gaggle of about five girls, all sophomores and even a freshman or two. The only one he recognized was Chloe. There may have been more, but that’s all he saw before his own doorbell rang.

Zane stepped over and opened the door. As expected, he found Nikki with a big smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes. She was clearly proud of herself for delivering his prey. Zane smiled and snickered as he gave her a little hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. He pretty much ignored Bella, standing right there with her, then invited them in.

Bella offered Zane a weak smile as she stepped past. He smiled back as he checked her out from head to toe. She was wearing a light, loose-fitting top and a short little skirt that hugged her ass perfectly, hopefully with nothing else underneath. He was going to enjoy this.

Zane led the girls downstairs to the rec room off the pool deck and offered them drinks. Nothing alcoholic at the moment as his parents had locked up all the liquor. They had gone to the city to catch a play, so he didn’t expect them back until very late if they didn’t decide to stay the night in the city as they often did. He passed out drinks, then plopped himself down in one of the big reclining chairs.

Nikki was sitting all the way back on one of the couches, but Bella was fully upright on the edge of her seat. Zane waited for a few moments, looking from Nikki to Bella and then back. The three of them just silently glancing back and forth.

Eventually, Zane looked at Bella and said, “So...” and then waited.

Another moment of silence passed. Bella closed her eyes, let out a heavy sigh, and dropped her head to her chest. She looked up to Zane with pleading eyes and began.

“Zane, I’m so sorry. Really. I never meant for any of this to happen. I...”

Zane interrupted her. “Yes, you did! You knew exactly what would happen.”

“No, really! I swear!” she answered.

“You swore to Stephanie that you wouldn’t tell ANYONE her secret, remember? But you blabbed to Nikki pretty damned quick, didn’t you?” Zane said. “Your promises don’t mean anything.”

“Nikki’s our best friend. Stephanie had to know I would tell her. If Nikki had been there, she still would have told us that she’d slept with you. I’d have told Stephanie if Nikki had told me her secret, and they both knew it!” Bella fought back.

Zane just looked at her, shook his head, and rolled his eyes.

“I’ll bet you got a real laugh thinking about them dragging me off to the hospital too, didn’t ya?” he asked.

Again, Bella just hung her head.

“I really didn’t think anyone was going to get beat up. I swear to God. I didn’t know Nikki was going to run off and tell Anthony. Trust me, the last person I was thinking about was YOU,” she said.

Zane looked at Nikki, and they both nodded in agreement with that statement. That, at least, was the truest thing she had said so far, maybe ever! She wasn’t thinking of anyone but herself.

“Yeah, I can believe that,” he said.

Zane sat quietly for a moment, letting Bella stew in her own misery just a bit. He could tell she was defeated. She wasn’t even trying to lie any longer. She had no more moves to make, no more threats. All she could do was beg for forgiveness and see how badly he wanted to torture her. She didn’t realize that she hadn’t even started begging yet.

Bella just sat there quietly with nothing further to say. The three of them sat there awkwardly, gazing from one to the other again, waiting for someone to speak. Zane didn’t mind letting her sweat it out. He wanted to hear her actually beg. Finally, Zane stood up, looked at Bella, and said.

“Okay, so, is that all you wanted? Are we done?”

Bella and Nikki exchanged glances, speaking volumes without saying anything. Nikki kept making little hand gestures and urging Bella to speak up. Bella kept gesturing right back, seemingly reluctant, maybe embarrassed, ashamed, or perhaps too proud to speak up. Regardless, she just couldn’t bring herself to speak up and just ask Zane what she knew she needed to ask.

Nikki decided to take matters into her own hands and speak right up for her.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Zane, Bella needs your help to get the rest of the squad to get over this whole thing and start talking to her again like you did for me.”

She added a little wink, which Bella didn’t see.

Zane smiled back at her, then responded “Oh ... well, why didn’t you just say so?”

“She’s afraid to ask you,” Nikki responded.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I know what you want,” Bella answered under her breath with a sneer. Even after all this, she was still being a bitch.

“Oh no,” Zane said. “That’s if you want to be captain. This is something entirely different. There’s a whole different price for this.”

You could see the air go out of her. More? He wants MORE? What more could he possibly want from me? Again, Nikki spoke right up.

“She’ll do anything you want, just name it.”

Nikki was getting into this! After all these years, was she finally enjoying the idea of a little payback for her best friend? Just like everybody else.

Bella shouted at her, “NIKKI!!”

“What?” Niki shot back. “You want everyone to forgive you, you want to be captain so you can get into your school, and you know there’s only one way that’s gonna happen, so just do it already!”

Zane just stood there watching this exchange go back and forth. Bella was still desperate to come up with ANY other solution. Nikki clearly enjoyed pushing Bella into it. He couldn’t have asked Nikki to perform any better.

Finally, defiantly, Bella just spat out, “Fine, just fuck me and let’s get this over with already.”

Zane just looked at her with his eyebrows raised as if she had just offered him a dollar to carry her bags up to her room.

“Excuse me? That’s how you ask me to help you. You really just think you’re entitled to anything you want, don’t you? I wouldn’t fuck you right now if you paid me,” he shot back at her.