{73}✔️

Billie's POV

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Dahlia must think I'm stupid.

She went to use the bathroom and didn't come back for an hour. I texted her a million times and she didn't answer. I went looking for her near the porta-potties, but I didn't see anything. So, I went back to the bench where we'd agreed to meet after she came back from using the bathroom, and boom. There she fucking was.

She jumped up quickly and threw her arms around me, apologizing for taking so long.

"Dude, I'm so sorry! I had to pee and then I got distracted because I saw a ride I wanted to go on and then I saw another ride and then...Well, next thing I know an hour's gone by!"

She laughed as she tried to play it off, but I kept my face blank. She wasn't fooling me for a single second.

She'd been crying. She hid it well, but I could still tell. Her voice was a little hoarse, her nose was red, her skin was blotchy, her eyes were a little red.

Her clothes were disheveled too, and that wasn't because of a ride. Her hair was a mess, her knuckles were a little bruised, she walked up to me as if she was sore.

"Did someone do something to you, Dahlia?" I questioned lowly. "Don't fucking lie to me. Did someone put their hands on you?"

"No," She sighed, dropping her smile. "No one did anything to me."

"What happened to you then?"

"Nothing happened to me." She mumbled.

"Clearly something happened! You were gone for an hour and you came back looking like a whole mess! Tell me what the fuck happened before I start beating random people's asses! You don't wanna tell me who did this to you? Fine. Everybody here can get their asses kicked!"

"Nobody did anything to me!" She yelled. "I—I did something bad."

"What? What'd you do, baby?"

"You're gonna hate me." Her voice cracked as she began to cry. I shook my head quickly and pulled her in for a hug. "I did something really bad, Billie, and I'm scared! I'm not okay! I'm really scared, Billie."

"Hey, it's gonna be fine, okay? Tell me what you did. I'm not gonna hate you, I'm not gonna judge you."

"I'll tell you." She sighed. "Please don't hate me."

"I won't hate you." I repeated.

We walked over to the bench and sat down. I waited patiently for her to start talking, and after playing with her fingers for a little bit she did.

"I saw my mom..." She mumbled. I nodded and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "Denver told me about something that she did to him while we were in the cabin. She did something really bad. Really, really bad, Billie. I just got so mad and I promised myself I'd fucking make her pay for it the next time I saw her. After I used the bathroom I came out and I saw her there and I...I just went crazy. I beat the shit out of her." She cried.

My eyes widened as I listened to what she said. That is not good. Not good at all. Her mom is gonna call the fucking police, no doubt.

"How bad was it? Did you just punch her a few times or..." I drifted off, waiting for her to start talking again. She didn't. She just stood up and grabbed my hand, pulling me through the crowd of people and toward the porta potties.

We walked in silence until we were standing right in front of them. I watched as she walked up to the one that had an 'out of order' sign on it and pulled it open.

I took my phone out and turned on my flashlight before going to stand next to her, gasping as I saw her mom lying on the floor of the porta potty. She honestly looks like she's dead. I know she's not but...damn. Fuck.

"Dahlia," I sighed, turning to look at her. She held a blank expression on her face, but I could tell she was feeling pretty shitty right now. "I'll bail your ass out of jail when she throws you in there." I tried to lighten the mood.

"This isn't funny, Bil." She cracked a small smile before dropping it once again. "I don't know what to do now. I don't have any idea."

"Do you wanna hide her body somewhere else or—"

"What?! No! No, I mean—I'm not talking about her I'm talking about me. I don't know where to go from this. I've been obsessing over everything she did for ages and I thought I'd feel better if I ever got the chance to do this to her, but I just feel worse. I don't know how to just move the fuck on from it. Pushing it all to the back of my mind and never talking about it didn't work. Confronting her didn't work. Beating her up didn't work. I don't know what else I'm supposed to do! And to make matters worse, I get to live with the fact that I'm fucking evil, just like she is. I'd rather die than be like her I—"

"You're not like her, Dahlia! You'd never hurt someone the way she hurt you guys. What you did to her was pretty bad, I can't lie, but it's nothing compared to what she did to you. And you're already guilty because you hurt her and that's good. She's not guilty because of what she did to you guys. That's the difference between you and her." I pulled her in for a tight hug as I spoke and rubbed her back as I felt her shoulders start to shake and her tears sliding down my neck. "You're a good person, Dahlia. You just made a mistake. You came from a literal demon and you're not nearly as fucked up as you could be. You should be proud of that." I chuckled.

"Thanks, Billie." She sighed.

"You're welcome, baby. We're gonna figure out how to get you past this. We're gonna figure out how to get you the peace of mind that you deserve. It's all gonna be okay. Alright?"

"I don't—"

"Do you trust me?" I cut her off quickly.

"Yes."

"Do you think I would lie to you? Do you think I'd make you a promise that I can't keep?"

"No."

"Okay then. I promise you, you're going to be okay. Everything's gonna be okay. Okay?"

"Okay." She whispered before pulling away from me. I smiled and kissed her forehead before pushing some of her hair behind her ear. "We need to get her out of here. The last thing we need is somebody finding her like this."

"We should go to the police station," She groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm gonna call my dad and tell him to come get me if he can—"

"Your dad is at work!" I snatched her phone quickly and put it in my back pocket. "And you're not gonna turn yourself in."

"Wouldn't that be easier than living in constant fear of the police banging on my front door to arrest me whenever she comes to and reports to them that her daughter jumped her?" She questioned sarcastically.

"That's not going to happen. Listen, we're gonna take her home, alright? We're gonna take her home and leave her there and her boyfriend is gonna take care of her and she's not gonna mention any of this to the police—"

"I realize I'm not really in the position to be asking this question after the shit I pulled tonight, but have you lost your mind? That woman hated me before when I'd done nothing to her. She's not gonna take pity on me now after what I did to her! She's unconscious on the floor of a porta potty right now and she's probably still plotting ways to get back at me, the first step being to get my ass thrown in a jail cell!" She whisper yelled. I shook my head and chuckled at her.

"You're adorable, you know that, Dahlia Doe? You think I'm gonna let my girl go down like that? You think I'm gonna let her do that to you?" I rolled my eyes as I hugged her once again. "Babygirl, you're something else."

"What exactly—"

"Do you know where she lives?"

"I have no idea...But I know who does."

***

"I—I...Dahlia, girl, I love you—I—I mean, in a platonic way, of course, but ugh...No. No, no, no. This is bad and I don't want anything to do with this and I don't wanna see my uncle and I—"

"You think you have a choice?" I spat, grabbing her collar and backing the girl against the wall.

"She does have a choice! We can't make—"

"Bitch, you owe us. You owe her. After the shit you pulled...You know the only reason you're alive right now is because I love my girlfriend, right? I don't think she'd wanna be with me anymore if I murdered your ass and that's why you're still standing here, and I know you know I'm not kidding about that. You literally owe your life to her, so I think you doing her this tiny, little favor is a good fucking idea. Don't you?" I growled. I stared deeply into her eyes, nearly trembling as I tried to resist the urge to punch her in the mouth for even thinking she had a choice in this.

"Um...It'd mean a lot to me." Dahlia whispered from behind me.

Kai looked between me and her, looking like the pathetic, scared little prey she is. She looked down as she started talking, unable to look me in the eyes. "I-I will—I'll h-help you." She stuttered.

"T-Thanks s-so much!" I mocked.

"Let her go, Billie." Dahlia mumbled, tugging on my shirt. I stared at the little bitch in front of me for a few more moments before backing away from her. I grabbed Dahlia's hand and brought it up to my lips, kissing it before sending her a soft smile and then turning to look at Kai once again, my glare coming right back as soon as I did.

"You better fix your face before we get downstairs. We don't want your family thinking we're kidnapping you or some shit. You look terrified. Fix that." I demanded.

"What if—ugh...Dahlia?"

She couldn't even talk to me she was so scared. I rolled my eyes. She really needs to grow some fucking balls.

"Yes?" Dahlia mumbled.

"What if they don't let me go? It's late and I don't know if they'll let me go out on such short notice."

"You better hope they do." I glowered. Dahlia squeezed my hand tightly and sent me a look.

"I think they will." She said simply. "Kai, thank you for agreeing to help." As if she had a choice. "I'm really sorry about all this, I just...I'm in big trouble if I don't get her home."

"Yeah." Kai sighed.

We waited for her to dry the scary ass tears on her cheeks and make it look like she actually wanted to go with us. When she was finally able to leave her room, Dahlia and I stopped holding hands and followed her downstairs.

Her homophobic ass family couldn't know we were together, and since most of them had seen Kai's Facebook post about Dahlia, they were iffy about letting us queers into their home. After swearing up and down that we'd converted to the Christian lifestyle god would want for us or whatever the fucking hell, her parents agreed to let us go upstairs to talk to her.

"Mom, dad?" Kai called nervously.

She walked into the kitchen, where they were, and started talking lowly to them. I thought for a second that maybe she was telling them we were trying to take her somewhere against her will, and I wanted to kill her even more than I already did. But after a few minutes, she came out of the kitchen and gave us a thumbs up.

We walked out to Dahlia's car and headed back to the fair. We'd already taken Cora and her dates home about an hour ago, around nine. Now we have to get Valerie and take her home. We needed Kai to come with us because apparently she lives an hour away and we needed to know how to get to her house. Apparently, she lives in a shady ass neighborhood and it's a little hard to find.

We probably still could've used the GPS to find it, but where's the fun in that? If we'd gone that route I wouldn't get to torture Kai. Plus, we need her here to sweet talk her stupid uncle if it comes to that.

"What if she woke up?" Kai asked quietly. "What if she's not there anymore?"

"What if I knock your teeth out if you don't shut the fuck up?"

"Billie, stop treating her like that!" Dahlia hissed, reaching over to hit my chest. She swerved when she did and I clung to my seat. "Kai, I'm so sorry about this, I swear I am. If I didn't need your help so bad I would not have allowed Billie to treat you like that, I just—"

"You don't allow Billie to do shit." I grumbled.

"I'm sure she's still unconscious. I just hope nobody's found her." She answered Kai's question and then we all got quiet again. When we finally got back to the fair, we drove around and got as close to the porta potties as we could before I pulled out my phone and texted Cadence.

I jumped out of the car and opened the back doors as Dahlia popped the trunk. Kai got out, despite the fact that nobody fucking told her to, and started talking once again.

"Where are you gonna put her?"

"The trunk." I answered dryly. Her eyes widened.

"T-The trunk? You can't put her in the trunk!"

"Caden and Cadence are riding with us and this isn't a huge car. It's only a five-seater." Dahlia explained softly.

"But still! The trunk—"

"Either she can go back there or you can go back there. We were gonna leave it cracked a little for her, but you? I don't think so. I'd rather you suffocate." I spat.

"Billie!" Dahlia sighed and rubbed her hands down her face. "Okay—You're right, Kai, this is insane. This whole thing is just—" She shook her head and rested her head against the car. "Fuck!"

"Baby—"

"Kai, you can drive. We'll put Valerie in the passenger's seat. Billie, I can sit on your lap in the back."

I didn't have time to respond as the twins came from around the corner, carrying Valerie as quickly as they could toward the car. We all glanced around, making sure no one was watching as they did.

"Passenger's seat," I told them before opening that door as well. "You hurry your ass up! You better be a good fucking driver too!" I pointed at Kai and then pointed to the driver's side seat where she slid in quickly.

I jogged around the car, closing the trunk before sliding into the backseat. Dahlia crawled onto my lap and slammed the door closed.

Once the twins had Valerie sitting upright in the passenger's seat with her seatbelt on, they squeezed into the car as well. Caden sighed as he closed the door and grinned as Kai started to pull off.

"So, hows your night going?" He asked. "Everyone doing alright? Anything interesting happen today?"

Cadence grinned as she bounced her legs excitedly, knocking into me and Dahlia as she did. "Y'all know what this is?" She gestured around the car and then pointed at Valerie. "Hood rat shit. I'm doing hoodrat shit with my hoodrat friends. Megan Thee Stallion would be proud."

"Yeah, gang gang and all that shit." Caden nodded.

"I love doing criminal activities with my friends. Fuck! This is such a rush!" Cadence yelled before laughing hysterically.

"Right?! Like, I thought it'd be another boring night inside after we got home from the fair. Another night spent watching cartoons and eating junk food and wishing there was something better to do, but nah. Finally, some got damn excitement!" Caden whistled before fist pumping.

"How could you guys be so happy? Don't you guys get it?! I'm going to prison! Probably for life! I'm gonna get the fucking electric chair, oh my god." Dahlia cried as she rested her head in the crook of my neck. I tried not to laugh at her as I rubbed her hair and gently rocked us as much as I could. I kissed her temple a dozen times before talking again.

"Baby, I hate to break it to you, but you ain't Ted Bundy just yet." I snickered. "This is all going to be fine. You just need to trust me."

"I do—I do trust you!" She sobbed. "B-But, what's the plan here? What, we just show up and tell her boyfriend, hey, I beat her ass but like...Don't call the cops!?"

"I mean...That is the plan, give or take a few details." I shrugged. "Look, baby, I've got you. I know how to handle this. It's all gonna be okay, okay? Trust me. You trust me?"

"I trust you."

"You trust me trust me?" I tickled her sides and she let out a loud, childish giggle which made me smile.

"I trust you!" She yelled, shoving my hands away.

"Good girl." I smirked.

We hit a speed bump which almost made Dahlia bump her head, and I glared at a nervous looking Kai through the rearview mirror. "You're gonna have to drive better than that if you don't want me to beat your ass, shorty." I growled.

"You two are so romantic." Cadence said after a few moments of silence, looking between Dahlia and I. "I wonder if Gigi would help me out like this if I stomped the shit out of my mom..." She sighed. I patted her thigh a few times.

"You two will get there, and if not, you've always got me." I grinned. "I'm sure Dahlia wouldn't mind it if you were my side hoe."

"I'll think about it." Dahlia giggled. "I don't like to share, though."

"Daddy Billie can take care of all her bitches. Don't even worry about it." I smirked.

"Billie, we've talked about this!" Dahlia shouted, starting her rant.