I would find out soon enough.
Chapter 2
Dean
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
William Shakespeare
Have you ever heard the saying, “Being betrayed is one of the most valuable lessons life can teach”? Well, that was me in a fucking nutshell. I was young, naïve, and ended up falling for a girl who betrayed me. It was at that moment in my life, when I was only eighteen, that everything changed for me. I was no longer the lovesick puppy dog that hung around a girl just because she fluttered her eyelashes at me. Tyler was just like any other girl. She was manipulative and greedy. She was a witch in fucking sexy high heels.
When I was young, I thought she wanted to be with me. When we first met and I punched that fucking twat Tim, I knew she was the one for me. Call it stupid, as I was only eight at the time, but just a simple smile and the flush of her cheeks was when I finally became aware of girls. Well, one girl.
We played together, spent time together…but, all that time, she was just playing me. I even gave her a locket with a set of angel wings because she reminded me of an angel. How fucking dumb was I?
I used to be soft, but since she betrayed me and went with that arsehole behind my back, I’d never forgive her. She knew how much I loved her, but the minute I was gone, she went with him. She was with me through good and bad, then she betrayed me in the worst way possible and rubbed my face in it. The witch completely blanked me and favoured his friendship over mine.
She’ll never be able to love again. I’ll make sure of it. Since that time all those years ago, I had grown and made myself stronger. If she saw me now, she would never recognise me. It took time to put my plan into action, but I was almost ready to act. She would pay for what she did to me, and she would never be able to heal once I was done.
Tyler O’Shea and her family would regret the day they ever betrayed Dean Scozzari and his family. I was going to completely damage her. I’d chew her up and spit her out. First of all, though, I was going to have some fun with her. I couldn’t wait to see her squirm when I started my games. Just wait and see how what I had in store for her would frighten and excite her at the same time. I’d lull her into a false sense of security—then I’d strike.
She was mine for the taking. She’d always be mine because once I finished my plan, I’d be leaving my permanent fucking mark.
Chapter 3
Tyler
Buckinghamshire, 1991
“What did you do at school today?” my mummy asked me as we sat down to dinner.
I smiled brightly at my mum and started twirling my hair. “Well, Math was really boring, and I caught Mr. Branning picking his nose in English. Eww.” I scrunched up my face, but my mum and dad just stared at me. My sister, Rebecca, was only three, so all she did was carry on playing with her doll on the table.
“At playtime, me and Dean played hide-and-seek, but he kept on finding me.” I started laughing when I thought about Dean grabbing me when I was hiding behind the toilets. I thought it was a good place to hide, but Dean had obviously played this game lots of times before.
I looked up at my mum and dad, and could see them frowning at each other. My dad then turned to me with a sigh. “Did you not play with Ian?”
“Of course I did.” I smiled. “We all play together. We always play together.”
My mummy placed her hand on mine. “It’s just…every conversation is about Dean these days. Don’t forget who your old friend is, Tyler.”
I frowned at mummy and daddy. For some reason, they didn’t like it when I talked about Dean. “Why don’t you like him?”
I could feel myself growing sad and I knew my mum and dad didn’t like it when I got sad. “It’s not that we don’t like him, darling.” My mum smiled softly and stroked my hand. “It’s just, well…he did hit a boy the first day of school.”
I got angry then. I didn’t like it when they said bad things about Dean. “He only hit Tim because he was being really mean to me. He was being a good friend by sticking up for me.”
My mum smiled and nodded her head. “We know, sweetie. Just be careful.”
*****
The next day, I strolled down to my car. I had pulled it, like usual, into the space. I was expecting it to be parked the other way around and, sure enough, it was. Smiling to myself, I thought how nice of my stranger to park it that way so all I had to do was drive out. It was then that I thought to myself how nice it would be to thank my stranger/stalker, but how could I when I’d never even met him?