Chapter 1 Chapter 1

*Trigger Warning - This book contains theme's some people find disturbing. It is a dark story - it contains mention of rape and dub-con. If you don't like stories with dubious consent do not read - (It is called BLACKMAILED by the BULLY people... this is the title and THEME of the book) Much love and thanks for reading x* Alice stood on the corner on Monroe Avenue, staring at the house four doors down. Outwardly, there was nothing terrifying about the property—a three-bed red brick terrace similar to others in the row, and not dissimilar to her own. The butterflies flitting about her stomach were due to the inhabitants. She knew where Adam Hargreaves lived because everyone in this town knew where Adam Hargreaves lived, along with his brother Mike, who was equally well known—though for different reasons. Taking one last deep and shaky breath, Alice forced her feet to move. The path to his front door had previously been littered with old painting equipment and various broken appliances but was oddly clean and tidy today. ‘Maybe he won’t be in,’ Alice thought as she moved closer. ‘Or he won’t hear me over his music.’ The thrum of bass-heavy music was faint but unmistakable. It ceased when Alice pushed in the small white bell. The door opened a few seconds later and Adam Hargreaves stepped out on to the porch. Looking Alice up and down with what looked like disdain, he asked, “What do you want?”“I—I can…erm… can I talk to you? Please?” Alice stuttered. She could feel the colour rising in her cheeks when he snickered at her and had to refocus, telling herself why she was there. ‘I’m doing this for Jamie,’ she reminded herself in her most stern inner voice. She pictured her little brother huddled on the bathroom floor in tears to rebuild the anger and determination that had fuelled her visit. “Really?” Adam scoffed. “First he sends his Mum to shout at me… now you?”“What?” Alice frowned in genuine confusion. Mum hadn’t mentioned anything of the sort, but it now made sense that Jamie had been upset with her. “You made it ten times worse,” he had screamed at her the other day. Alice raised her hands, as if in surrender. “I’m not here to start on you, not that I could hurt you even if I wanted to,” she promised. “I just want to talk to you.” That was a blatant lie. If Alice had been proficient in any sort of combat sport, she would have happily kicked seven tonnes of crap into the guy. Punched his face until he was crying on the floor like her brother. Realistically, her three karate lessons weren’t going to do much against a guy like Adam. Like most of the fads Alice picked up, Karate had proved more fun in theory than practice and unfortunately for Alice, Adam wasn’t one of those ‘all mouth’ kinda bullies. At six foot two, he stood a head taller than her brother, and his physique suggested he worked out regularly whereas her brother forced their mum to write notes to get him out of P.E. It was said that Adam hadn’t lost a fight, in all his years of starting scraps in the schoolyard. Though, it wasn’t likely he was picking battles with UFC heroes. Adam screwed up his face into a half-smile, looking Alice up and down as though considering letting her into his home. His eyes lingered on her breasts for a second, making her glad she’d worn a tight top and push up bra. It never hurt to use assets to get ahead… or distract him from wanting to kill her. “Please?” she pushed in a meek voice. With a loud sigh, he pushed the door open and stepped back, indicating for her to go inside. His house had that weird ‘not like my house’ smell that all unfamiliar properties had. Alice noticed the smell of a dog before she saw said dog. It ran over and tried to jump up at Alice who happily petted the Staffordshire terrier until Adam shouted “Roxy, down!” in a booming voice. The poor dog whined before skittering off in the opposite direction. It felt weird and awkward being in someone else’s house for the first time, especially under these circumstances. Alice looked about the kitchen, trying not to stare at the mess like a judgemental prick. The kitchen was definitely missing a female touch. There was a mountain of plates stacked up by the sink, piles of laundry almost falling into the dog bowl and pretty much everything was covered in a layer of grease. Only the kitchen table was clean and tidy, with only a pair of scales and a few tiny green crumbs. The smell indicated what the crumbs were, but Alice feigned ignorance. Adam grabbed a can of diet Pepsi from the fridge and sat at the table but didn’t offer her a drink or a seat, which was hardly surprising. She wasn’t his friend. One might even call her his enemy. Taking the initiative, Alice pulled out a seat and sat opposite him. “So?” Adam asked. Alice cleared her throat and drew a shaky breath. “Well, I wanted to ask you if you would stop picking on my little brother,” Alice asserted with what little confidence she could muster. “Yeah?” Adam nodded and grinned. A cruel, humourless and mocking grin. “Yes,” Alice began, trying to remember the speech she’d practised on the walk here. “I feel like you might not understand the impact your actions are having. I’m sure if you could see how much pain and anguish you’re causing you might—”“Oh,” Adam interrupted. “So… you don’t feel like I’m just an insecure prick—” Adam pulled his phone from his pocket and read, “With small dick energy, who has to tear apart other people to make himself feel better?”“Erm,” Alice swallowed, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks again. “I… didn’t specifically… I mean… It says bullies in general. Wait… you follow me on social media?”“Yeah,” Adam scoffed. “You’re hot and you post pictures of yourself in a bikini. Your account isn't set to private so why wouldn’t I follow you?” ‘He thinks I’m hot?’ Alice thought, raising her brows. Alice tried to think up an excuse for the angry post she’d written but came up blank. Luckily, the older brother barged in and started talking to Adam. He looked nothing like Adam. Short, slender, and covered in tattoos. Even his face had ink; something her mates said only criminals and rappers got. Alice didn’t really have an opinion on it either way, though noticed it made him mean-looking, which was probably the intention. “You got that sorted?” Mike asked Adam. He glanced over at Alice, gave her a scary glare, and asked Adam, “Who’s she?”“Oh, nobody important,” Adam waved his hand. “I told Dave he could he pay on Friday. Figured he was good for it.”“I trust you brother,” Mike said. He looked back at Alice; eyes full of suspicion. His aura made Alice nervous. She looked down at the table and began to poke at the little crumbs. Mike walked around the table, picked up the weighing scales and flashed her another dirty look. When he turned back to Adam his whole face changed, from scary drug dealer to loving brother in the blink of an eye. “Please can you do the dishes? I know you did it last time, but I have work and—” Mike started. “Yeah, yeah, no worries,” Adam said. ‘They have a less dysfunctional relationship than most families,’ Alice thought. She was guilty of moaning whenever her mum asked her to do chores. “So, you were asking me to do a favour out of the kindness of my heart while simultaneously slagging me off for being an irredeemable piece of shit?” Adam said, turning back to Alice. “Look, I’m sorry I posted that. I was angry, okay? I’d just found my brother in floods of tears because you and your shitty mates had hacked half of his hair off,” Alice began. Mike tutted at his brother. “What you bullying kids for, bro?”“Oh right,” Adam scoffed. “You don’t mind me bullying when it’s some little scroat who owes you money and you get me to pour boiling water on them because your too soft to do it yourself.” Alice felt her eyes widen in shock and had to make an effort to readjust her facial expression. “Don’t be fooled,” Adam said to Alice. “He comes off the big man but he’s really a pussycat.”“Don’t tell her that, man,” Mike laughed, looking embarrassed. He was grinning widely enough that Alice could see most of his front teeth were missing. The guy wasn’t much to look at but always seemed to be dating the hottest girls. ‘They must be into the bad-boy type,’ Alice thought. She was beginning to lose hope that this boy would listen to reason or care about the impact of his bullying. When Mike walked off Alice continued, deciding to switch tactics. Bitching at him would only make things worse. Reasoning with him wasn’t going to work either and it wasn’t even because he was too dumb to understand. He knew what he was doing. He just didn’t care. “Please will you leave my brother alone?” Alice asked, making puppy dog eyes at him. “Please? I don’t think he can cope much longer. I’m really worried about him. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for him hurting himself, would you?” To her surprise, Adam laughed. “It’s not my fault. I didn’t make him grow up to be such a pussy.”“Fine, whatever, it isn’t your fault. But you can just not do it anymore. You could decide to stop being a di—a… bully,” Alice said, mentally kicking herself for almost calling him a dickhead. “I could,” Adam said with a smug smile. “Please?” Alice asked. She had the strangest feeling in her stomach; a mixture of embarrassment, desperation and fear. “Please would you? Please?”“Begging won’t work. Sorry,” Adam told her. “You could try bribing me, though.” Alice felt like her heart had dropped out of her chest. His statement knocked the wind out of her, and she wasn’t sure how to respond. What could she bribe him with? “I… I don’t have any money—” Alice started to stammer out a response, but he interrupted her with a deal. “I’ll tell you what. Make me a picture like the ones of you in a bikini… but topless. Do that and I’ll leave your brother alone for a week,” Adam offered. “Just a week,” Alice whined. “Oh yeah, and just so you know… this will escalate,” Adam said. Alice didn’t even want to ask what he meant by that. ‘Is it worth it?’ she wondered. “Oh, and if you say no, I’ll take offence, and since I can’t hurt a girl, I’ll take it out on your brother,” Adam sneered. “What?” Alice cried, jumping from her seat. “That isn’t fair. Don’t do this. Please. Please don’t do this. It’s blackmail.”“Aww,” Adam cooed. “That is my best offer. Take it or leave it. Alice sighed, feeling tears of desperation well up behind her eyes. She slipped back into the seat and stared at the tables dull wooden surface; shoulders slumped. “Will you show anyone? If I give you the picture—” Alice asked. “Pictures. Plural. I want more than one,” Adam demanded. “You won’t show anyone, though, right?” Alice pleaded. Adam sat back, lacing his hands behind his head and smiled at Alice, watching her struggling with the decision. He seemed to be enjoying himself. “I won’t show anyone,” Adam said finally. He could be lying, but there was no way to know. If she did this, she would be taking a big risk no matter what he said. The pictures could end up anywhere. “Okay,” Alice sighed. “What’s your number?” When Alice pulled her phone from her pocket Adam reached over and grabbed it from her hands. “Passcode?” He demanded. “It’s 0704,” Alice said. At this point, what was the point in trying to cling to privacy? After putting his number in he passed the phone back. “You have until 10pm to send the pictures,” Adam said. “If I like them, I might even make sure nobody else hassles your brother.” Alice nodded meekly and got up to leave. “Aren’t you going to thank me?” Adam asked. Alice had to bite her tongue and grit her teeth to keep her true feelings from bursting out and ruining her brother's life. “Thank you,” Alice said. On the walk home, Alice began to have doubts. Her dream of getting into a good university might go out the window if googling her name brought up half-naked images. When she arrived home her mother and brother, Jamie were watching television together. Jamie looked up as she entered and gave her a weak smile. His hair, which he’d been growing for years, was now shaved up the sides but still had some length on the top. In all honestly, he looked better this way, but his tear-marked face suggested he didn’t agree. When Jamie breathed in the air came in short, spluttered bursts—the aftereffect of prolonged crying. “Your hair looks good,” Alice tried to assure him. “It suits you.”“Thanks,” Jamie said. He tried to smile despite the fact he was quite obviously dying inside. By the time she’d gotten inside her room and locked the door, Alice was sure she was doing the right thing.

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

Alice sat in front of her full-length mirror staring through her reflection. She was so deep in thought she failed to notice the clock ticking away precious minutes. Now 9:36pm, she had less than half an hour to take and send the pictures. With a shaky hand, Alice reapplied her makeup. She told herself it wasn’t to impress him but to mask her identity under a thick coat of foundation, blush and lipstick. A final coat of plumping gloss and Alice smacked her lips together, checking out her handiwork in the mirror. She had to admit she looked good. ‘Too good for that prick,’ she sighed inwardly. Rolling her eyes at her reflection, Alice slipped out of her clothes and pulled on her bikini bottoms. It felt less risqué than her underwear, though the effect was no different. Leaving her chest bare as per his request, Alice looked at herself in the mirror. As an afterthought, before picking up the camera and capturing the moment, she poked at her nipples to perk them up. Something in her memory told her that porn stars used ice to harden their nipples before shooting so they looked their best. Squeezing them had the same effect. Posing in what she hoped were sexy positions, kneeling in front of the mirror, Alice took more shots than she intended to send him. She would scroll through and pick the best ones as she had done with the bikini shots she’d taken after breaking up with her boyfriend. Dave had cheated on her and she’d wanted to show him what he was missing. Yes, it was childish and dumb, but she was upset and desperate to feel better, if only for a moment. At the time she hadn’t imagined guys like Adam would be perving over them. Maybe it was best to take them down. At 9:52pm Alice quickly scrolled through the pictures, picked out the best four and sent them with. She tried not to think about what he was going to do after he received them. Maybe he wasn’t really attracted to her and was only doing it to torture her. After a minute he replied to her message. “Good girl,” was all he typed. Alice scoffed and blushed. ‘Good girl?’ she thought . ‘It makes me sound like a dog.’ At least now her brother could go to school without fear and she could go about her day at college without worrying what was happening to him. Before bed, Alice couldn’t resist checking Dave’s profile. It wasn’t like she wanted to be with him or ever take him back after he cheated, but for some reason, she couldn’t stop herself from checking what he was up to. There was nothing new to look at. That or he’d blocked her from seeing new posts. Alice clicked on her followers' list and scrolled through to see if Adam really was following her. It took her a moment to find him since he didn’t use his real name or have his face in his picture—just his chest. He didn’t have many pictures of himself. Most of his profile was memes or pictures of his mates. In the only picture with his face, he was looking down and lifting his shirt to show off his abs. Alice almost wrote him off as an arrogant prick before remembering she’s done the exact same thing with the bikini pictures. It would be hypocritical to judge him. As she hovered over the picture, she discovered he’d gotten more likes than her. ‘Someone’s Mr Popular online,’ she thought, narrowing her eyes in jealousy. After clicking back onto her own profile and deleting her more revealing pictures, Alice went to bed. ### On the way to school, Adam almost tripped over a group of lads who were so deep in a nerdy conversation they didn’t see him. One of them turned and looked at Adam like he was Satan himself, fresh from hell to steal away his soul. “Sorry,” the kid said in a panicked voice. He was one of what Adam called the ‘mega dorks’ who sat in the corner of the canteen playing card games at lunchtime. “I’m really sorry.”“It’s alright,” Adam shrugged. “But if you trip me up again and I’ll send you to the shadow realm.” The kids face changed from abject terror to confusion. “Was that a Yugioh reference?” he gasped. “Yeah… what? I watch TV,” Adam said. “I’m sorry we don’t have any money,” his friend randomly interjected in a squeaky voice. “What?” Adam frowned at them. “Ste said if we didn’t get thirty quid by the end of the week, you’d beat us all up,” the kid explained. “And we tried but—”“You don’t have to give that little fucker anything,” Adam interrupted. “You get me?” The boys nodded, turned, and walked away at a faster pace. When Adam met the boys—Ste and Gary—at the gate, he had to make a real effort to contain his anger. Ste had been pissing him off lately and getting too big for his boots. This extortion in his name was the last straw on the camel’s back. The others didn’t seem to pick up on his grumpy mood—probably because he was more often grumpy than not. Once Reece and his girlfriend Zoe arrived his inner group was complete, and they made their way toward class. Reece was chatting animatedly about something that had happened in the store on the way to school, but Adam paid little attention. He was focused on looking out for Jamie, who would arrive late on purpose to avoid him. Ste was the first to notice Jamie trying to slip past the school gates. For whatever reason, Ste had always hated the guy and had instigated the bullying. Adam, in all fairness, hadn’t complained. He didn’t care who they picked on. It was all just entertainment to him. “Aww look, his mommy must have neatened up his hair,” Ste said. He made a beeline for Jamie and grabbing at his hair. “Oi,” Adam shouted at Ste so loudly it made him jump. “You fucking touch him again and I’ll smash your face into a bloody puddle.”“What?” Ste asked, his voice a squeaky mixture of outrage and confusion. “I think it looks good like this,” Adam said, looking at Jamie’s new haircut. Without that long dangly hair in his face, you could see he was actually good-looking—just like his older sister. “I’m sorry I fucked with your hair,” Adam said to Jamie, staring into his eyes. “But it honestly looks a million times better.” Adam could sense the confusion emanating from his mates. They didn’t know anything about this. It was a split-second decision, brought on by his anger at Ste and his promise to be kind to Jamie. The pictures from Alice had pleased him greatly and he was a man of his word. Their confusion didn’t even come close to matching Jamie’s. The lad looked like a deer in headlights. ‘He probably thinks this is all a trick,’ Adam realised. The sadistic side of his brain thought it would be hilarious if the whole thing was a trick. Still… he wanted to keep Alice on a string. See how far he could push her. “That said, it was a real shitty thing to do so I’m going to make it up to you,” Adam announced. “So… I’m going to let you trade places with anyone in my inner circle.” Adam already knew who Jamie would pick. It wasn’t rocket science. The way Jamie’s eyes flickered to Ste confirmed it. Ste was the main culprit and most sadistic of the bullies. Obviously, Jamie would want to get revenge and Adam was willing to let him. It might even be fun to watch. “What the fuck?” Ste cried. Adam turned to him, leaned over him, and pressed his face right up close. “You fucking heard me!” Reece, Gary and Zoe exchanged worried glances and Zoe bit her lip. There was no chance Jamie would pick her, but she looked slightly scared at the prospect. Her and Reece didn’t really get involved with Jamie, but they did look down their noses at him. Being the most popular couple at school, they acted superior and snooty with most people, but more so with Jamie. Aware their popularity rested on Adam, Reece and Zoe were quick to side with him. “I think you look hot like this,” Zoe said to Jamie, who looked sceptical. Adam couldn’t blame him for thinking this entire thing was a joke. “Pick then,” Adam pressed him. “Are you… serious?” Jamie asked. Again, his eyes jumped to Ste. The choice was obvious. “Ste, right?” Adam confirmed. “You wanna trade places with Ste?” Jamie made a confused, worried face but nodded slowly. “Okay, great, welcome to the gang,” Adam smiled at Jamie. He draped his arm over the boy’s shoulder and led him into the building, sensing the watchful eyes of the teachers who had to know about the bullying but never seemed to do much about it. “You aren’t fucking serious… come on, bruv?” Ste whined. “Fucking… call me bruv again and I’ll end you. You’re out. I’m sick of your bullshit.” When they got into the corridor Ste was still following them. Their footsteps echoed down the mostly empty school hallway. “You wanna beat him up?” Adam asked Jamie, sneaking a sly look at Ste over his shoulder. Ste had this sad, dopey look on his face as if he couldn’t quite believe what was happening. “Come on. You know you want to. I’ll pin him down for you.”“I don’t want to beat him up,” Jamie said, disappointing Adam. Jamie suddenly stopped walking and looked up at Adam, eyes wide. “I’d like to watch you beat him up though,” he said, phrasing the statement like a question. Adam grinned widely. “I knew I was going to like you.”

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

As she stood at the college gates with her mates, Ed and Joseph, Alice was desperately typing her name into every search engine and website she could think of. The chances that Adam hadn’t posted the pictures of her somewhere were slim. She realised that. But at least if she saw them before anyone else, she would have the opportunity to them taken down. “Ali?” Joseph poked. “Sorry, what did you say?” Alice asked, still looking at her phone. “That guy over there is checking you out,” Ed told her. Alice looked up and around the yard briefly, spotting a guy from her Art class. “Oh, Josh? He just has a lazy eye.”“You always do that,” Joseph complained. “You are so pretty but you never see it.”“I have to admit, I got a twitch the first time I saw you,” Ed said. “Eww,” Alice cried and pushed him lightly. “What?” Ed cried. “It’s a compliment.”“You make my dick hard isn’t a compliment, Ed,” Joseph sighed. “Not fully hard,” Ed corrected. “It was a semi at most.” Alice felt her head droop at this revelation. She hadn’t thought of Ed that way, specifically because he was constantly flirting with Joseph. To be honest she’d assumed they were a couple until Joseph had made it very clear he was out of Ed’s league. The dropping of this bombshell only made Ed try harder. It hadn’t occurred to her that Ed was bisexual—and it was bisexuality awareness week not long ago. ‘Oops,’ Alice scolded herself. “What about Jerry?” Joseph asked. Once again, the conversation had turned to Alice’s love life, and her friends were desperately trying to find her a ‘non-douchebag’ for a partner. They didn’t trust her to pick for herself after the Dave fiasco. “Oh jeez, he seems like a total simp,” Ed sneered. “I wish someone would simp for me,” Joseph sighed longingly. “I’d simp for you,” Ed offered, drastically changing his tune. “I’d simp for you so so hard.”“Oh sweety,” Joseph tutted and flicked him on the forehead. Alice couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Ed. He was so totally infatuated with Joseph and had literally zero chance with him. It was the very definition of being placed in the friendzone. Usually, Alice hated that term—friendzone—but in this case, it fit the reality of the situation quite well. Joseph looked over Alice’s shoulder at her phone. He had the advantage of being tall and a predisposition for nosiness. “Why are you googling yourself?” he frowned. “It’s funny to see what you find,” Alice said, coming up with the lie on the spot like a champion. “You should try it.” Alice had zero intention of telling her friends what she’d done. Aside from the fact she was overwhelmingly embarrassed, there was the fact she would have to listen to their judgemental opinions and convince them not to try and beat up Adam. Although their hearts might be in the right place and they might assume they had the advantage of being older, the pair were not exactly adept fighters. A bee had landed on Ed last week and he’d run about the bench screaming for a full minute. When Dave had torn out her heart the guys had turned super defensive and offered to beat him up. After seeing Dave and his group of rugby mates they’d re-evaluated, decided that sending him a strongly worded message over social media was the way to go. Classes passed in a blur of worry and depression. The knot in her stomach and the cloud in her brain made it difficult to concentrate on anything other than dwelling on recent events. She was also worried about her little brother and was panicking that she made a mistake in not warning him about what she’d done. Would Adam really be nice to him? And how would Jamie even respond to that after years of bullying? Alice’s eyes flitted to the clock for the umpteen time. In a few hours, she would find out if all the anxiety was worth it. Alice was so tempted to message Adam to make sure he’d remembered to keep up his end of the bargain. Would he be annoyed at her? It wasn’t worth running the risk of pissing him off. Alice would just have to deal with the feelings of anxiousness for a while. The horrible thought occurred that Adam could ignore his promise completely and just blackmail with the photographs. It made her feel sick to think about it. She couldn’t even touch her lunch. “You need to eat, sweetie” Ed coerced her, watching her push a tomato around her plate in its seventh circuit of the lettuce track. “Do you want half of my sandwich?” Joseph offered. It was his usual—a tomato and salad cream on wholemeal. Alice turned her face in disgust. “I’m just feeling a bit… iffy,” Alice lied. “Time of the month.” As the boys nodded and turned their heads away, Alice felt guilty for lying to them for the second time in one day. Saying ‘I feel ill because a guy might blackmail me with the naked pictures I sent to him last night,’ would just open her up to too many follow up questions and scrutiny. ‘I’m such a total idiot,’ Alice sighed to herself. She stabbed at the cherry tomato, popping out its juicy, seedy mess before dropping the fork and slumping in her chair. ‘Only two more classes to go,’ Alice soothed herself. The lessons passed even quicker than the morning ones, but by the time she got home, Alice was bursting to ask Jamie how his day had been. Pulling down the door handle, Alice was surprised to find the door was still locked. She frowned in annoyance as she searched under the plant pots for the key. Mum was always changing the location of the key for security, but all that did was make life difficult for the inhabitants. Alice hugged herself and rubbed her arms as she turned on the lights and central heating. She curled up on the sofa with a throw, TV, Hot cup of coffee and her coursework as she waited for Jamie. The coffee didn’t help her nerves, yet she couldn’t seem to stop sipping at it, even pouring herself a second cup. By the time she heard Jamie come through the front door, her hands were visibly shaking. She threw down her work and ran to greet her brother. “What happened to you?” she cried, seeing his now shorter hair was also platinum blonde. “Oh,” Jamie smiled, touching his hair gingerly. “Do you like it? Zoe Bentley did it for me after school.”“What?” Alice cried. Zoe Bentley was the most popular girl at Jamie’s school. Her sister, Christine Bentley, had been the queen bee of the school in Alice’s year. Zoe was dating Reece Holland who was also popular, and one of Adam’s little gang of nasties. “Yeah,” Jamie shrugged. “It’s been a really, really weird day. Adam Hargreaves was—” Jamie shook his head as though he didn’t know what to tell her. “He was nice to me, and so everybody else started being nice to me.” Alice felt her face stretching into a smile. She breathed the biggest sigh of relief. Jamie smiled back at her. “I can’t believe I went to Zoe Bentley’s house.” As Jamie filled her in on all the details, becoming more and more animated in his storytelling, Alice slipped out her phone and texted Adam, “Thank you.”“No need to thank me.” He replied. “I’ll text you next week with further instructions.”

Chapter 4 Chapter 4

Alice had thought a lot about what Adam would ask for next. The logical conclusion was he would ask for fully naked pictures. In her head, Alice had already decided that was what he’d ask for. All that was left to do was wait for the inevitable text message. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t taken nudes before, but she had always been careful to keep any defining features and her face obscured. Maybe Adam would let her do the same. If she asked nicely. Why did he need to see her face anyway? When the text arrived and read simply, “Come to my house after school tomorrow,” Alice had to stare at it for a moment as the message sunk in. ‘He wants to see me? In person?’ Alice gulped. It had been nerve-wracking enough going to his house to grovel. Now she had to go there and… do whatever he tells her to do. “What if I have to sleep with him?” Alice muttered to herself. It wasn’t as though he was ugly or gross, just… a horrible person. She scrolled through her saved pictures to find the one of Adam topless, and sat, biting her lip while wondering what it would be like to sleep with him. ‘Why did I save this?’ Alice asked herself and blushed at the insinuation she might actually be turned on by his body. “Did you say something?” Jamie asked. “Oh, nothing,” Alice said, smiling as he passed her cup of coffee. “Did you get a piercing?” Alice gasped, noticing his nose for the first time. “Yeah,” Jamie smiled. “Zoe got her tongue pierced and she took me along. Long story short I ended up getting this done.”“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Zoe,” Alice noted. “Hmm,” Jamie said. “Well... I think she likes having a gay friend. We hang about the coffee shop making scathing observations about people and its hilarious.” ‘Oh jeez, I’ve created a monster,’ Alice thought. Deep down she was happy that Jamie finally had a friend, and such a popular one too. It was hard not to be jealous of his overnight popularity. Jamie took out his phone and showed her Zoe’s Instagram. The page was full of pictures of her and Jamie posing together. One even had the hashtag ‘Besties’. “Cute pics,” Alice said, smiling at her little brother. He was like a different person when he was happy. “How has the Adam guy been with you?” Alice pried, fishing for information. “Well,” Jamie shrugged. “He caught me perving on him in the changing room and didn’t kill me so… I guess he’s changed.”“You were perving on him?” Alice gasped. “He has a hot body. Sue me,” Jamie laughed. It was weird to hear him talking like a guy that way. Up until now, he’d been very coy about his sexuality and feelings towards men. This new attitude had to be Zoe's influence. “Yeah, he does to be fair,” Alice nodded in agreement without thinking. Jamie flashed her a suspicious look. “How do you know?”“Erm, you c—can just tell,” Alice stammered. She wasn’t able to lie to her brother as seamlessly as she did with her friends, having known him all her life. “If you say so,” Jamie said, still regarding her with suspicious eyes. She actually felt guilty. Which was ridiculous since she was only doing this for Jamie. The following day Alice’s college was closed for teacher training. This meant she had the whole day free to dwell, panic, almost talk herself out of going, then try on seventeen different outfits... because looking good for the blackmailing bully suddenly felt like the most important thing in the world. ‘Maybe… if I look beautiful enough, he will fall in love with me and won’t… do whatever it is he’s going to do with me,’ Alice reasoned. ‘God, I wish I knew what it was.’ She ended up wearing skinny jeans and a crop top. An outfit she knew she looked good in since her friends had told her so and they never lied when it came to fashion. After giving herself a last once over she left for Adam’s house. He opened the door and led her into the kitchen telling her, “You are going to hate me.”“Oh God… why?”“You just are,” Adam said. This didn’t tell Alice much. She stood in front of him, shifting from foot to foot, trying to look cute. He barely noticed her—too engrossed in his phone to look up. “I’ve got this lady coming from social services tomorrow. She checks that my brother is looking after me properly, even though I’m obviously the mature one out of the two of us,” Adam said. “Oh,” Alice frowned. She wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. “Yeah so I’m going to make you do cleaning,” Adam said, in an almost apologetic tone. “I suck, I know, but I really hate cleaning and well… you owe me, right?”“Okay. I can do that,” Alice said. She felt relief wash over her in waves until she looked about and noticed how dirty the place really was. “Oh,” Adam gave her a cheeky grin. “And you have to wear this.” He pulled a pile of black and white lacey fabric from his bag and threw it at Alice. “A maid’s costume,” she said. “Classy.”“I saw it on the way home and couldn’t resist,” Adam admitted. “If I’m not going to get any pictures this week I might as well get some cheap thrills.”“Cheap?” Alice asked, brows raised in question. “You know what I mean,” Adam laughed. “Put it on then. I’ll turn around.” The fact he really did turn around and give her some privacy surprised her a little. He’d already seen her breasts after all. Why was he being so nice? ‘Nice?’ the cynical part of her brain piped up. ‘He is using for slave labour and cheap thrills. This is most definitely not a nice guy.’ Still, Alice couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of gratitude. He could literally make her do anything he wanted and they both knew it. Adam smiled as he looked her up and down, happy with his purchase. “All the cleaning stuff is under here,” Adam said, opening the cupboard under the sink. “You can look around and figure out where stuff goes, or just ask me.” With those extensive instructions, he left her to sit and play some shooting game on his PlayStation. Alice got to work, cleaning as though her life depended on it. When she had to bend over, she caught Adam looking up the short skirt of the maid costume. At one point she could have sworn she heard the clicking of a camera phone. “Are you taking pictures of me?” she asked. “Yeah,” Adam said. “So what? I can do what I want.”“Okay, okay, geez... I was just asking,” Alice muttered under her breath as she got back to the cleaning. There was so much dog food spilt around the back of the bin. It smelled so bad Alice had to hold her nose as she swept it up. Just as she was finishing up the kitchen, Alice heard the dog begin to bark. She looked out of the window to see Adam’s older brother walking up the path. Thankfully he stopped to stroke the dog, giving her time to change out of the silly outfit. “Shit, where are my clothes?” Alice uttered, frantically searching about the newly spotless kitchen. “Adam?” Alice asked, interrupting his game. “Where are my clothes? Your brother is here.”“So?” Adam asked. “So, I can’t let him see me like this. It’s too weird. I’ll die of embarrassment.”“I’m sure he’ll appreciate the show as much as I am,” Adam assured her. “Come on,” Alice begged. “Please give me back my clothes.” Adam laughed. “No way. You get them back when I’m happy with your work.”“Oh, please, Adam,” she whined, pressing her hands together and making big, puppy dog eyes. “Please? I feel naked. Please.” Adam rolled his eyes as if she were drastically overreacting to the situation. “You can hide upstairs in my room until he goes. He’s only popping in to pick up some stuff. First door on the left.”“Thank you, thank you,” Alice gushed, profoundly grateful that she got to avoid the embarrassment of being seen cleaning in lingerie. Alice shut herself in Adam’s room, praying she’d gotten the correct room and the scary brother wouldn’t wander in and die of shock. His room was a typical 'boys room,' not dissimilar from her brothers. After a couple of nerve-shredding minutes, Adam shouted for her to come back down. "I’m making a coffee. Do you want a coffee break?” Adam offered. Alice nodded, happy to receive both a break and a dose of caffeine. She curled up on the edge of the sofa, sitting as far from Adam as possible, and covering as much as she could with what little fabric the dress comprised. He passed her the coffee and frowned. “I won’t bite.” Alice smiled nervously but didn’t move. “Thanks for getting Zoe to hang out with my brother by the way,” Alice said. “I didn’t even do that. She just decided she loves him all on her own. He’s the best thing since sliced bread according to Zoe,” Adam replied and shrugged. “I think she’s always disliked Ste, too. Her and Jamie sort of bonded over their mutual hated of the guy and their friendship blossomed from there.”“Oh,” Alice shrugged. “Well, thank you for being nice to him as well. He’d still be crying himself to sleep every night if it weren’t for you.”“I told you there isn’t a need to thank me,” Adam reiterated. “Go on, now. Finish the cleaning like a good maid.”

Chapter 5 Chapter 5

“What!” Alice cried, looking at the recently finished art display in the main corridor. “That dirtbag didn’t use any of your pieces,” Joseph huffed. “He hates me,” Alice sighed. “He’s a major bitch,” Joseph sighed. “And that’s saying something coming from me.” Alek Jeffries, the TA in her Art class had taken an immediate dislike to Alice. He took every given opportunity to bring her down, insult her work or belittle her in front of others. Now he’d left her art out of the school display, yet again, despite the teacher specifically telling her that her work was inspirational and should be included for sure. “I’ll give him withering stares,” Joseph offered. “Oh! We could start a rumour about him?” Ed offered, chiming in the for first time. He’d been deeply engrossed in whatever he was doing on his phone—probably trolling for dates on Grindr. “Na, we ain’t that bitch,” Alice said. Giving him mean looks and laughing behind his back was one thing. She wouldn’t ever go further than that, it would only bring her down to his level. “I feel like we need to do something though,” Ed sighed. “He’s such a dick to you.”“Maybe he secretly fancies you,” Joseph suggested. He seemed to think that every straight guy was after Alice. “I doubt that’s it,” Alice disagreed. She could tell if a guy was into her. Usually. When they walked into the Art room Alek stared daggers at her. ‘What did I ever do to you?’ Alice wondered. She tried to forget about him during the duration of the lesson, concentrating on getting the first painting of her coursework planned. She was using the style of Jenny Saville, creating a large portrait with oils. Something about Saville’s composition choices and use of colour were fascinating to Alice. She couldn’t stop looking at her creations. Alek waltzed over, interrupting Alice in the middle of her painting. Not that he cared. “These were too big for the board,” he said, dropping Alice’s work onto the desk as though it was a pile of dirty washing for the laundrette. “You’ll have to take them home. I have nowhere to store them.”“Okay,” Alice said through gritted teeth without looking up. It was better not to give him the reaction he so clearly wanted. Getting upset and complaining only made him feign niceness to show her up as the bad guy. “Great, how am I going to get this lot home?” Alice sighed. “I’ll drive you, sweetie,” Joseph offered. “You’re a good friend,” Alice smiled. After school, Alice returned to the art room with Joseph to collect her work. Unsurprisingly it had been dumped in a pile by the sink with all the used brushes. A green splotch marred the corner of one of her most beloved pieces of work. “Great,” Alice huffed. She was getting sick and tired of being treated like a second-class citizen in this lesson. Alek was lovely to the other students, treating their work with great care and praise, even the ones who—Alice hated to say—had zero artistic talent. “We’ll fix it,” Joseph assured her. Ever the gentleman, he picked up her work and took it out to his car. After placing it carefully in the boot of his Corsa they got going. For the first time all week, Jamie was home which was a relief. Alice hated scrambling about the yard for the key which was never where her mum told her it was. “Oh my, who is that?” Joseph whispered, grabbing Alice’s arm as if he’d just spotted a celebrity at the local theatre. “Erm, my brother?” Alice frowned. Joseph had already met him on previous occasions. “That isn’t your brother,” Joseph gasped. “He looks so different.”“Hands off,” Alice warned, seeing the look Joseph was giving her little brother. “He’s too innocent for the likes of you.” It was weird to see Joseph acting this way over a guy. He was usually the one being chased. Joseph had a habit of snaring guys, making them fall for him, sleeping with them and then never speaking to them again. As much as Alice loved and adored Joseph as a friend, he was not exactly the first lover she’d want for her precious sibling. “Hi,” Jamie said. His eyes lingered on Joseph for just a second longer than normal. He put down the bowl of brown sauce he was mixing and came over to look at Alice’s paintings. “So amazing. I can’t believe I have such a talented sister,” Jamie said. “Alek doesn’t think so,” Alice grumped. “Fuck him,” Jamie said. It was weird to hear him using profanity so casually. Another behaviour change she’d noticed since meeting his new friends. “Hmm,” Joseph nodded, agreeing with Jamie who was now leaning over him to grab the next painting from the pile. It was cute how much he loved to see her work, being that he had no artistic hobbies of his own, besides cooking if you wanted to count that. “What are you making?” Alice asked. “Chocolate fudge sauce,” Jamie said. “Oh, let me try, please,” Joseph asked, eyes sparkling. He had such a sweet tooth. Jamie took the spoon and fed Joseph some of the sauce. “Oh my, that is the best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth,” Joseph sighed. “And I’m not just saying that to suck your dick.”“Huh?” Jamie frowned. “It’s a saying,” Joseph explained. “It’s really not,” Alice laughed. “The saying is ‘I’m not just saying that to blow smoke up your arse.’”“Which is just as inappropriate, right?” Joseph asked Jamie who just laughed in response. “I mean… who literally blows anything up another person’s arse?”“He likes to make up his own idioms and phrases,” Alice tried to explain away her friend’s weird comment to her amused brother. “I like it,” Jamie grinned at Joseph. “I’m going to steal it.”“Seriously though, I need some more of that chocolate fudge in my life,” Joseph begged. “It’s for my cake,” Jamie explained. “I’ll bring you both up a piece.”“You’re an angel,” Joseph said, practically drooling over him. Alice had to grab him by the arm and pull him away. “No,” she warned her friend sternly. “Oh, what!” Joseph cried. “He was the one flirting with me. Didn’t you see? He touched my leg when he leaned over me. It was so on purpose.”“No way,” Alice refused to believe it. “My little bro isn’t like that.”“I feel like little bro is growing up,” Joseph commented. Eventually, the conversation turned to other issues. The pair sat on Alice’s bed discussing everything from past boyfriends to part-time jobs and bad first dates. They never ran out of stuff to tell each other; this was why Alice loved the friendship so much. In many ways, the friends differed, but in their ability to chat for hours on end they were identical. As Joseph told a story Alice felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. What she found when she opened the message was so shocking, she dropped the phone. As she lent over to pick it up Joseph caught a glimpse. “Oh my God,” he gasped. “You’ve been naughty.” In a panic, Alice closed the picture message. It was a picture of her bending over in the maid outfit. The image didn’t exactly leave a lot to the imagination. Underneath the text read, “I though it was only polite to let you know I just wanked over this.” Alice read it and re-read it, mouth hanging open in shock. “Who is that?” Joseph cried. “You never said you have a man in your life.”“I don’t… honestly,” Alice said, for the first time telling him the truth. “But someone has a super revealing picture of you?” Joseph pressed. “How does that happen?”“I… erm… I—” Alice tried to think up a lie but ended up spilling every sordid little detail. By the end of it, Joseph’s mouth was hanging so far open she thought his jaw might hit the floor. “Woah, Adam Hargreaves,” Joseph said, shaking his head and letting out a huge sigh. “I’ve heard some very unpleasant stories about him. You need to be wary. He isn’t some misunderstood but ultimately loveable bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. He is a legit criminal who hurts people for fun.”“I know, I know… but it’s Jamie. I had to do something. One thing sort of led to another and…” Alice made a face that said , ‘What can you do?’ As though hearing his name, Jamie appeared, knocking on the door with cake. Alice gave Joseph a very pointed look, indicating for him to stay schtum about the whole deal with Adam. Jamie wegded himself on the bed between the friends. Alice did notice how close he was to Joseph, but there was literally nowhere else to sit in her tiny box room. “This cake is perfect,” Joseph gushed. “It’s sweet and rich and balanced with the perfect ratio of frosting to sponge.”“Bloody heck,how much British Bake Off have you been watching?” Alice giggled. “What?” Joseph moaned. “I like Paul Hollywood. He has such blue eyes.”“Eww, he’s like… old,” Jamie grimaced. “I like an experienced man,” Joseph shrugged. It was weird to hear her friend and her brother discussing men like this. “He’s also, you know, not gay,” Alice interjected. Joseph shrugged this fact away as a minor inconvenience. When Jamie had finished his cake, he used his finger to scrape up the remaining fudge frosting and licked his fingers, while Joseph watched with hungry eyes. ‘This is weird,’ Alice thought. She’d never seen Joseph acting this way before. He’d usually retain an air of uninterested mystery around the guys he wanted to sleep with. They unfalteringly came to him. When her brother got up and left Alice turned to Joseph with brows raised in question. “What was that all about?”“I know… he was so flirting with me. Weird, right?” Joseph said. Alice shook her head. “It was you .”“No way, didn’t you see how he squeezed my leg as he got up?” Joseph asked. “He did not,” Alice said, refusing to believe it. “Oh crap, I have to get going, I have a shift at the Indigo Shark,” Joseph said, jumping up and gathering his keys, bag, and coat. He’d been working at the bar for a few months and had yet to turn up on time once. It was a good thing the owner liked him. “Bye,” Alice said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She followed him to the door and caught her brother taking selfies in the bathroom as she walked back up the stairs. Instead of being embarrassed, he ran over to Alice to show her how many likes his picture had gotten. “Wow,” Alice smiled. It was nice to see him being happy with himself for a change. It made her dangerous dealings with Adam worth the hassle. “You weren’t flirting with Joseph, were you?” Alice asked. Jamie laughed as if it were the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “Me? Flirting?” Alice chuckled as she went back to her room. As soon as she was alone and behind a locked door, she reopened the picture message from Adam to find he’d sent another message. “Send me some more pictures. Nude ones.”“It hasn’t been a week,” Alice replied. “Yeah, I decided I can’t be bothered to wait. You do what I say, when I say from now on. Capish?”“Do I have a choice?” Alice messaged back. It was a pointless question. She already knew the answer. “Of course. But I’ve made your little bro incredibly happy. I can undo it all so easily,” he replied. “Okay, give me a minute,” Alice said. Like last time she plastered on makeup. After a random flash of inspiration, she decided to pull her hair up into a high ponytail. It looked good. She pulled off her clothes, feeling dirty and naughty and almost turned on in a weird way. Something about the seediness of the situation was doing it for her even though she didn’t like to admit it, even to herself. She posed and clicked, taking almost a hundred pictures in an obsessive desire to get the perfect image. They had to be amazing if there was any chance they might get leaked onto the net. Having naked pictures online was one thing but having embarrassingly bad ones was a whole other kettle of fish. She deliberately turned her face away, looking down in most of the pictures. This way it would be more difficult to identify her. It wasn’t as if she had many defining features. When she finally selected the perfect pictures and sent them Alice went to bed. She was drifting off to sleep when she heard her phone buzz. “Nice,” the message read. A few minutes later he sent another. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you hiding your face. I might make you do it again.” Alice sighed heavily. “I’m in bed now,” she messaged back in the hopes he would get the hint. He didn’t. He rang her. ‘Why are you ringing me?’ Alice panicked. She hated phone calls with a passion and wondered how people had coped with the social anxiety of it before messengers and texts. “He’s going to be pissed if I ignore it,” Alice muttered to herself as she pressed the green ‘accept’ button. “I don’t care if you’re in bed,” Adam said, without bothering to say hello. “If I tell you to do it you get up and do it.”“Please just let me go to sleep,” Alice begged, trying to make her voice sound as tired as she felt. “Please, Adam.”“Hmm, yeah, whatever but I want some more tomorrow, and you have to be staring at the camera. Okay?” he asserted. “Okay,” Alice agreed. She didn’t really have a choice. “I like them though. The ponytail,” he said and made a kissing noise. Somehow, she’d know he would like it. “I’m going to get you to wear your hair like that while I fuck you from behind and pull on it,” he said. “Ahhh,” Alice almost choked on her own spit. She had no idea what to say to that. Was he serious? “Would you like that?” he asked. “Erm—I… I don’t know…” Alice stammered and mouth, ‘What the fuck?’ “I’m gonna do it either way,” Adam said. “How did your meeting go?” Alice asked in a desperate bid to change the topic of conversation. “Oh… that. Yeah, it was alright. She was impressed with the tidying so well done you,” Adam laughed. “Great. I’m glad,” Alice said. She realised she was smiling, and worse, that she genuinely cared about how his meeting had gone. “You’re a fucking weirdo,” Adam scoffed. Alice shook her head in shock . ‘Where did that come from?’ “I’ll text you tomorrow, aight?” he said and hung up. Alice laid back down and stared up at the ceiling with wide eyes. She stayed that way for the next two hours, replaying the conversation in her head. “Shit.”