Unraveling Selena by Marisa Maichel (black female authors TXT) 📕

"I'll tell you later," I hissed.

"Just a slight hiccup. It has been taken care of," Father said. That was the cue to ignore what just happened. Then he sidled up to me. "Reese, who was that?"

"That was Rouge," I told him.

"The fairy? Ah. Well, carry on."

Rouge was gone, but the mood was ruined. Vampires kept giving me gifts, I continued to thank them. A new set of sheet music, a few new books, a new Jeep (yes, a Jeep), a container of rare type AB blood, a set of gold coins, a ticket to see a movie shoot, some ceramic vases, another bookshelf, a Valentino leather jacket, a star in my name, a new ebony table, a tree in the Amazon rainforest, and it continued with expensive gifts. When mega-rich vampires get together, they always have to one-up each other, especially when it comes to the royal family.

"I hope you'll consider donating to my charity," said a female vampire, handing me a black dresser. Of course. That was all they wanted. Money and power. They didn't give a damn about me or my family.

Raquieca, Rainess, and Rebeka, my cousins, were also here. They were the daughters of Grandfather's younger brother Sven and his wife Helga. Sven was dead now, but Helga and her daughters continued to live. And they enjoyed being related to royalty. I didn't like or trust Raquieca, as she had insulted my mother in the past, insulted Sarah, and was there when my sister Selena was killed, or so I'd heard. Rainess was nice, and Rebeka was okay. Their mother Helga was a witch with a capital B.

Helga had bought me a complete Halloween series, and Raquieca had gotten me a book on frogs. Nice low insult. Rebeka got me a complete office desk and chair set, which was much nicer than my current desk.

To my horror, Rosita Bleedfellows, a blond vampire who had once asked for my hand in marriage, was there.

"Hello, Reese," she said. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you," I said, looking at my father and uncle, who both looked as horrified as I felt.

"I have a gift for you," she said. "Follow me outside."

I did, followed by the party. Beside my new Jeep, (which was a gift from my great-aunt Elsa), was a brand-new Lexus.

"It's nice," I said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said, handing me the keys. I tossed the keys to Toby.

"Nice color," he said sarcastically. The Lexus was a crimson red. Like Rosita's lipstick.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, given your history as a slave," Rosita quipped. Toby frowned; Spencer glared at her.

"A slave?" someone asked. "And he works for the royal family?"

"Well, given the color of his skin-"

"Toby is the best guard we have, and one of my best friends," I said out loud. "Watch who you insult, Rosita." She frowned. I noticed Father smiling at me. Uncle Soren gave me a thumbs-up.

Overall, the party ended on an okay note. Everyone knew that I was the prince, that I was a strong prince, and I could stand up for myself and anyone I cared about.

It was a job hauling all the presents home, but it was accomplished. Toby drove the Lexus, and Spencer drove the Jeep. A truck was rented for the piano.

"Happy birthday, Reese," Uncle Soren said.

"Thanks," I said, leaning against Sarah, who was half-asleep. Mother beamed at me from the other side.

"I'm so proud of you for standing up to that witch," she said. "No woman like her is fit for my sons!" She glanced at Sarah, who was now wide awake.

"Huh?"

"That Rosita woman wanted to marry Reese," Marina said.

"She asked me out one night while we were watching wrestling," I said. Sarah frowned.

"Doesn't she know that you're mine?" she said possessively. I growled.

He won't be for long, Father thought to me. Reese, we've been observing her behavior. Soren, Marina, and I agree: she isn't cheating on you.

Father, I can handle this myself.

Clearly, you can't. Just talk to her about it.

No way!

Don't be stubborn.

He and I glared at each other for a minute.

If I'm wrong, I'll admit it.

To everyone.

Yes, fine.

Watch your tone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got my chance to talk to Sarah two days later after school had ended. For once, she had a free afternoon.

"So, I got a new piano," I said.

"I saw that, she said, sipping her green tea. "It's a beautiful instrument."

"Yes, it is. I know that you've been wanting to restart your piano lessons after we finally got rid of Eric Martin."

"Ugh, don't remind me. That was a nightmare. And I already have, sort of. Elliott's teaching me."

"I noticed."

"Huh?"

"I saw you with him. The other day."

"The only way you could have seen us is if-" Her eyes widened. "You were in that oak tree?"

"I was. Sarah, is there something I should know?"

"Well, no..."

"You hesitated."

"Well, yeah, because you were stalking me! What am I supposed to think?"

"Rouge told me that you cheated on me!"

"What?! And you believed her? She and I hate each other, Reese!"

"I'm starting to wonder. Just how many enemies do you have?"

"Not as many as you!" she cried.

"That may be true, but how many? Just Rouge? Just Scarlett? Just Jordan?""

"Don't say that bitch's name! It was because of you that she got away!"

"You're the one who went with her on that bridge!"

"She's a vampire and a witch! What was I supposed to do?"

"Contact me? Send me a mindlink?"

"What?"

"We're supposed to have a mindlink! We're soulmates, and we've had sex!"

"But we're not married yet! Frankly, I don't want to get married."

I was stunned. "You don't want to marry me?"

"Not yet. I've told you before, I need a few years. I'm going to move to Los Angeles and go to school there."

"I can't spend too much time in the sun."

"Well, I can."

"Sarah, are we in a fight?"

"I'd say we are."

We glared at each other for a moment. Then Sarah spoke up.

"I'm beginning to wonder if you were crazy all along."

"You're one to talk! You are a thief!"

"You're a killer and a blood-drinker! You killed Michael Nales!"

"I didn't, but I did ask Father to kill him. He raped you! He got you pregnant!"

"The worst thing that's ever happened to me turned into the best thing that's ever happened to me! I love Cirino!"

"So do I, but his father nearly killed you!"

"It's not his fault! He's just a baby! He can't even talk yet, and you're blaming him for what happened to me!"

"He was supposed to be my son! Not Nales'!"

"Do you know who you sound like right now?"

"Alexander has every right to hate my father!"

"I'm not saying he doesn't!"

We both paused.

"Sarah, did you cheat on me?"

"No, I didn't."

"I don't believe you."

"Then we need to rethink this relationship."

"I agree. Heck, we've broken up at least two or three times already. Why not break up again?" I said sarcastically.

"We've broken up three times. And this time, you've gone too far. It's over for good, Reese."

She started packing up her stuff.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yeah. Goodbye, Reese."

"Good riddance."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I tried to convince myself that I felt better. I tried not to be sad or angry with myself. I tried to convince myself that I was right. But inside, I knew I wasn't. But I was too stubborn. Besides, like she'd said, we'd broken up too many times. Each time was because of something I'd done, or didn't do.

This time, it was also my fault, another reason why I wasn't banging on her door and begging her to take me back. I knew that I'd screwed up again, this time for good. But at the same time, a small part of me didn't want to go back to her.

She has too many problems.

I was her boyfriend. I'm supposed to help her work through them.

I have my own problems to deal with. I don't need hers as well.

She was playing the piano with another male; a male who has a crush on her.

She can't control how other people feel about her. She's sweet, smart, funny, and drop-dead gorgeous.

She is such a flirt sometimes.

Only with me.

Did she change her Facebook relationship status to single? Oh my gods, she did!

She'd changed her relationship status to "single".

Reese and I broke up for good this time. I'm now single again!

What the? Oh my god...two marriage proposals already? And one of them is from Caden Cartwright!

Caden Cartwright. The golden boy. Popular, rich, hot. His comment literally said "so now that you're single, want to go out?" She responded with a laughing emoji comment and said "give me a little time, Caden." And then a winking emoji. Oh gods. She was already flirting with Cartwright. The ultimate rival.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next school day, she arrived at school wearing a tight red dress, leggings, and high-heeled boots. She was trying to show me that she was okay. I knew that if I showed weakness, I'd never live it down.

At lunch, I sat with Duke, Amara, and Noah as usual. Mason sat by himself in a corner of the room. He was avoiding us. Amara talked endlessly about Cole Powers, her new boyfriend, and Noah bragged about scoring hard-to-get concert tickets for a popular rock band. He gave me one as a belated birthday present. I thanked him. Duke told a couple of crappy jokes and talked about trying to hook up with Aubrey Wolfe. She had rejected him so many times, and yet he was convinced that she was secretly in love with him. Amara told him that he was contributing to rape culture, and they got into a heated argument about it.

I looked around for someone else to talk to. There was nobody else I really cared about who had the same lunch hour. I noticed Scarlett, who was eating by herself in a corner. Well, not really eating, more like picking at her food. She was alone, as usual. She had gone from the top to the bottom in less than a year. Her sister wasn't really her sister, she had lost all her friends, and now her parents were angry with Mason and his parents.

It really was all Mason's fault. If he'd left well enough alone, I'd be with Sarah, and he'd be with one of the Hart sisters.

I had to talk to him, make him see reason. And I had to talk to Rouge; find out if there was another reason why she was being such a bitch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I started strumming along, enjoying the feel of the guitar strings beneath my fingers. I couldn't remember the last time I'd gotten out my old acoustic guitar. I'd found it in the basement, along with a bunch of other stuff from my childhood.

I started humming the tune to "Sarah's Song". She was still on my mind, of course. I started thinking about another song. I had started to write a song for Evan, titled "I'm Sorry". He deserved that at least. I'd gotten him into the vampire life, and he didn't even know vampires existed. It took Sarah only a couple months to discover what it had taken him over a year to figure out. Our relationship had only lasted five months, and we were five months broken up when I'd changed him.

I was so careful around Evan, because truthfully, he didn't matter that much to me. I knew what I did to him was hurtful and wrong, and I'd made things worse when I introduced him to Reed Lockhart, who had dumped him shortly after. Another thing that was my fault. I sighed and took a deep breath. I started humming out a melody, then shook my head. It sounded too much like "Breathe For Me" by Deadstar Assembly.

I took another deep breath and tried again. This time sounded different, but the melody wasn't quite right. It didn't fit the lyrics I had in my head.

"Reese, are you coming?" Father asked.

"To where?" I replied.

"There's a ritual fight tonight, between Soren and that werewolf, Damon Sage."

"I thought he was over Ariella."

"Oh no," Father