I have been staring at the celling of "my room" for a good hour now, trying to process what Jayson said earlier. He thinks he owns me just because I am being forced to live in this house? He must be mental to think that I would even let that happen. I may have to follow their rules and their ridiculous requests while I'm here, but I will not let any of them think that they own me.
My head is still aching, and my stomach hurts from the sudden movement I took to get off of the bed. I'm sure that I can feel the cuts bleeding again. How did I allow myself to get in such a mess? Jayson was right, I shouldn't have let my father hurt me like this. I should have fought against him more, told him stop or something; but he is the only family I have now. With my brother in the army and my mother dead, I have no one left but him, and he knows it. He knows that I won't go to the police or tell anyone about him because then where would I go? The only semi-safe place that I have is at school. I don't have that kind of security this year though.
I have never seen my father so determined to inflict so much pain before. It was as if he knew that that would be the last time he would be able to get his hands on me this year. I dread to think what will happen when school is out and I have to go back home with him. I'm sure that he will be just as brutal with me.
I wish my mother was still here, she wouldn't have allowed him to hurt me so bad. She would've stopped it before it ever got to this. She was the only thing that could calm him down, that could make him seem almost loving.
I know he blames me for the accident. She was on her way to pick me up from a sleepover that I was having with some girls. The girls were bullying me about my clothes, about the bruises on my arms. They only asked me there so that they could laugh at me as a group. I phoned my mother and asked her to come and pick me up because the girls were being mean to me. It was eleven in the evening. My father had told her not to because of how late it was, but my mother loved me and left to come and get me. On the way to the house, she got hit my a drunk driver and died on the way to the hospital. Ever since that day, my father has blamed me for her death. He got rougher, leaving visible bruises all over my body; from my head to my toes I was covered in cuts and bruises.
My brother never helped me. He never hit me like my father did, but he never stopped him from hitting me. Then when he turned sixteen, he joined the army. I haven't heard from him since. It's been over six years since he last called. I don't even know if he's still alive. He could've died in action for all I know.
"Oi, Zeus! Get your ass down here!" I wince at the sudden voice shouting up the stairs at me. I guess the house still aren't allowed to come up to this floor. I sigh, heaving myself off the bed. My feet still a little unsteady, but I make my way to the stairs, still only dressed in my shorts and sports bra. My stomach and arms are too sore to be able to lift a hoodie over my head.
I hold onto the banister for dear life as I make my way down the stairs, wincing every time I move my ribs in a certain way. Oh father, you really did a number on me this time.
Congregating at the bottom of the stairs are the boys of the Ares house. I can see Harry and Callum leading the group, them all sporting matching, mischievous smirks. They are Jayson groupies, they follow him wherever he goes and basically hangs on every word he says, much like the few girls who inhabit the house.
"Woah, what happened to you?" Callum looks my body up and down, his eyes wide as he takes in my damaged frame.
"None of your business, what do you want?" I snarl at them as soon as I make it to the bottom of the stairs, still holding onto the banister for stability.
"Watch your attitude Zeus, you want to win this bet don't you?" Harry winks at me, making all of the boys laugh around me.
"You don't scare me you know," I walk slowly up to Harry until we are practically touching noses, my breath mingling with his. I see him visibly gulp as I stare into his eyes.
"You are nothing but a coward who hides behind Millard for protection," I whisper to him. His body stiffens, and I can tell that he is clenching his fists as his sides. I dare him with my eyes to try, to try and hit me, to see what will happen when he does. I smile at him sweetly when he doesn't move, knowing that I won. I move back from him, laughing as I see his body relax the second that I move away.
"You heard what Jay said, you have to do whatever will tell you to, otherwise you lose the bet," Callum says, his voice wavering a little. At least I've made them a little uncomfortable now. I'll take that as a success.
"And what is it that you want me to do?" I cock my head to the side, staring at Callum, making him shuffle from foot to foot.
"You are going to serve us for the rest of the day, get us whatever we want, when we want. You'll make us lunch, get our drinks, make us dinner tonight. You'll do whatever we say, when we say it," one of the boys from the crowd says, pushing himself forward so that he is in front of me, his face marred by a smirk. He's tall; I have to crane my head to be able to look into his eyes, which are emerald green. His hair is dark brown, almost black but not quiet, and is short, but it is styled with some kind of gel to keep it up and out if his face. I can tell that this boy takes his time in the morning to make sure that he looks perfect for all the ladies. I doubt any of them pay any attention to him though.
"Is that it?" I laugh at him, making his smirk falter, his face turning uncertain. "You boys are going to have think better than that if you want me to lose, but I'll go along with your little game. What do you want me to do first?"
For the entire day I have been getting every guy in the house drinks, snacks, sandwiches. They have made me clean their rooms, change their beds, do their washing. I have never had to so something so disgusting in my life.
If you have a brother then you may be able to imagine how dirty and revolting their rooms were. Dirty socks and underwear all over the room, their bedding covered in crumbs and stains that I don't even what to know or think about.
I had to make over fifty different sandwiches, over a hundred different drinks, and if I got them even a little wrong, then they would tip them over my head. I am just glad that they were all cold drinks.
However, here I am, sat on the floor of the laundry room, folding everyone's washing. I have had to do so many different loads of washing today, desperately hoping that I wouldn't mix anyone's clothes in with someone else's. I had to label the wash baskets and put them in front of the washing machines just to make sure that I didn't get it wrong. I feel like a slave, a beaten and battered slave; exactly how they wanted me to feel.
I am sticky, sweaty and aching. My stomach has started bleeding again from the strain of carrying wash baskets up and down the stairs all day, but no one cares, they haven't even taken a second to look at the bandages covering my stomach which are now drenched in my blood, and I haven't been given a second to myself to try and re-bandage them.
I regret ever thinking that this was going to be easy.
I haven't seen either Blaise or Jayson around the house. I know that at least Blaise would stop the boys or help me so that I could sort my bleeding stomach out. I almost miss the two of them, something that I never thought I would ever think. I'm still so confused about what Blaise told me this morning. Why would Jayson be so caring and gentle with me? We hate each other, we have done ever since our first year.
When I arrived at the school with my father on the first day of my first year; every kid near or around us was staring at me, watching me like a hawk. It was the same when we went through the tests to see what house we would be in. I came out on top of everyone, in the physical and mental tests, the only one close to beating me was Jayson. Ever since, I have been on top of every class, and Jayson has always been a couple of marks below me.
He started bullying me after our first week of classes. He would constantly tell me that I didn't belong in the school because I wasn't good enough, that the teachers just made up my marks to keep my father happy. He used to lock me in classrooms with him and beat me up while we were alone. I can't tell you the amount of times that I would arrive at my next class late and with a black eye. The teachers never bat an eyelid though, they just tell me to sit down and then continue with class as if I didn't have a bloody nose and back eye.
It wouldn't make any sense for Jayson to take care of me when I come back to the house beaten and bloody. I would be less surprised if he had just left me outside by the door, for everyone to laugh at and walk over when they head out. He didn't though, he took care of me, stitched me up and made sure that I was okay. He seems so worried about the way that my father treats me, as if he actually cares what happens to me, but that doesn't match how he's treated me every other year.
Maybe he feels sorry for me because he saw what my father does to me? No, that would just make him bully me more, wouldn't it?
I lift myself to my feet, wincing at the pain shooting through my stomach as I lift Kane Brookes' washing basket from the floor. After this one, I only have two more loads of washing to do. With a new spur of hope, I walk out of the laundry room and head towards the stairs to the first floor. I try to ignore the pain in my stomach, chanting in my head that there are only two more, two left and then I am done.
"Eva! What the fuck are you doing?!" I freeze on my way up the stairs, clenching onto the basket for dear life. I turn my head to see Jayson and Blaise standing in the doorway to the house, both staring at me with the same shocked and angry expression.
"I'm just doing what you're boys have asked me too. Isn't that why I'm here?" I bite back, my arms beginning to ache from holding the basket. Geez, I have never felt so weak before.
"You're supposed to be resting!" Jayson shouts back, making my head ring with pain.
"I only have two more left to do and then I'm done," I turn back around, planning on ignoring the two boys and walking up to Kane's door to deposit the washing, but Jayson has other plans. He quickly grabs my elbow, stopping me as I make it to the top of the stairs, turning me so that I am facing him. His eyes search my face for an answer to his unasked question, but they don't stay there for long. His eyes travel down my body, pausing on the basket for a second before glancing down at my stomach, his eyes flashing with anger.
"How long has it been bleeding?" His question is asked through gritted teeth, his hand around my elbow tightening a little. I try to pull my arm away from him, but he doesn't relent his grip, keeping me in my spot. "How long, Eva?"
"I don't know exactly, a couple of hours maybe," I feel like a child under his scolding eyes. How can he be mad at me? It's not like I woke up this morning and chose to do the boys washing.
"Come on," Jayson tugs my elbow, pulling me back towards the stairs.
"Ares! Meeting downstairs! NOW!" Jayson shouts up the stairs as we make our way down it. I cringe away from him, his voice shooting straight through my head, making my vision blurry from the pain
Blaise is still standing at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes sad as he looks at me, but the second hr see the blood running from underneath the bandage, his eyes turn hard and angry, just like Jayson's did.
The hall is filled with the sounds of running footsteps, all of the boys hastily coming down the stairs and into the main sitting room of the house. The Zeus house never has meetings like these, but I wonder if they do now that Ben is in the house. I wonder if they are treating Ben as harshly as these boys are treating me. I smile a little as I think about what Charlie has been making Ben do. I miss him.
The sitting room quickly fills up, only a few stragglers left as we make our way into the room, the boys making room for us to get to the front. Jayson is still pulling me by my elbow, Kane's washing still in my hands. Blaise is following closely behind, I can feel his anger following me. These boys are in for a right spanking if they aren't careful.
"Does someone want to explain to me why Eva has been doing all of your washing?" Jayson's voice is stern and deep, making the boys bow their heads. Well, not all of them.
"You said that she had to do whatever we say, and we told her to do our washing. We didn't touch her or ask her to touch us, so what's your problem?" the boy from before shoots back at Jayson, challenging him as he stands up tall, his held high above everyone else. Jayson lets go of my arms, grabbing the basket of clothes from my hands and throwing it down on the floor at his feet, the loud bang echoing throughout the room, making most of the boys jump.
"My problem, Kane," ah so he's Kane! I should have put his whites in with the colours, "is that she is bleeding, quite heavily, and yet you have still made her do your washing,"
"We didn't hurt her, it's not our fault that she's bleeding. Geez man, you're acting like you actually care about the bitch," I gasp at his words, as does many of the other boys in the room, most of them turning to look at Kane with shocked expressions. I can see Jayson shaking in front of me, his hands clenched at his side, and I know that he is losing control.
"How about we slice you up, then make you carry washing up and down the stairs all day, see how much you care then," Jayson's voice is murderous, low and deep, vibrating through my body, making me shiver.
"I thought the whole point of this shitty bet was to get her to leave, to give up, why are you protecting her?" This guy doesn't know when to shut up. I shake my head, knowing that if he doesn't keep his mouth shut, he is going to be in a lot more pain than I am. He does have a point though.
"The point of it is to get her to give up, not to put her in the fucking hospital!" everyone in the room cringes away from Jayson, me included. His face is almost red with his anger, his eyes blazing with fire as he stares Kane down.
"You're acting like you fucking love her! Is that what this is really about? You just wanted her in the house so you could fuck her? Bit hypocritical really when you won't let anyone else touch her," in a flash, Jayson is in the crowd, his hand around Kane's neck as he walks them both back until Kane hits a wall, but he just smirks at Jayson, his eyes never wavering. Everyone has moved to the other side of them, obviously scared to be in Jay's way.
I can see Jay whisper something to Kane, but I can't hear what he is saying, I can only see his hand clenching around Kane's neck. I have seen Jay angry a lot of times, but I have never seen him get this angry over me. Kane's face starts to turn a deep shade of purple, his eyes wide and bloodshot.
Suddenly Jay lets Kane go, making him fall to the floor in a pile of coughing limbs. I stare at Jayson with wide eyes. I can't believe he would hurt one of his own house mates just because I am bleeding a little.
"If I see that she is bleeding again and no one stops to help her, I swear to God you will be kicked out of this house before you can say sorry," all of the boys nod at him before scurrying out of the room, a couple of them stopping to help Kane up. Before Kane leaves the room, he turns to me, his eyes boring into mine, hatred and promise flashing behind his bloodshot eyes.
"Eva, let's get you patched up," Jay holds out his hand to me, but I am stuck on my spot, not being able to move. Kane's words and eyes still stuck in my head.
"Ignore Kane, Eva, come on," I jump as Blaise's hand makes contact with my back, making me jump. I flinch away from him and Jayson, their hands trying to reach out for me.
"I'm fine, I can sort it out myself, I don't need your help," I slap Jayson's hand away as he goes to grab my arm, stopping me from walking out of the room.
"Oh, so you'd rather just bleed out in the laundry room?" Jayson bites back, glaring holes into the back of my head.
"No, I'd rather not be in the house at all. None of this would've happen if you hadn't forced me to come here for some stupid bet," I sneer back at him, turning around so the two of them can see the hate in my eyes.
"I don't know what ulterior motive you have, but frankly I don't want to know. You can pretend to care about me all you like, you can pretend to be all gentle and caring, but I will never forget the sleepless nights you gave me, the countless black eyes and bloody noses. You are a monster, and if you think I will see you any differently then you are stupider than I thought," I storm out of the room, leaving the two boys shell-shocked, mouths gaped open and eyes wide.
This is going to be the longest year by far.