Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Stripes motioned for me to sit, and I looked back to find a stool had been put behind me. Once I did, he knelt and began taping my feet.
Logan and Nate came over. Logan was holding a bag of ice to his head, his knuckles already black and blue. “We’re still talking?”
Roadie grinned at him. Apparently he held no ill will against my brother. “Shit, man, we’re bonding now, but the real bonding’s about to start.” He motioned around the room. “A lot of these guys are new. They don’t know about you around these parts. But I do.”
“You’re from around here?” Nate asked.
“Fuck no, but I listen.”
Another biker grunted. “More like he’s got TV.”
Roadie threw him a dark look. “I watch shit.”
“You watch porn and sports. That’s it.”
“No!” he said hotly. “There’s a documentary out, but I hear things too.”
A couple guys made some slurping sounds. Another guffawed.
Roadie grinned. “Nothing wrong with liking the sound of pussy—”
“Roadie.”
One word. That’s all it took. Everyone stopped for a second. It was Ghost, their president. Shane King. He leaned his arms over the ropes, giving Roadie a bored expression. “Get to the point.”
The biker nodded. “Yeah. Well, even Stripes isn’t privy to this, but I’m just saying, I know the reputation of these two.” He motioned to me. “Especially him.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of money. He handed it to Stripes before stepping away. “My money’s on Kade. Sorry, Boise. Any other guy, it’d be you.”
Their president gave me an assessing look before he stood. “Let’s get to it then.” He gave Stripes a nod. “Let’s fight.”
Stripes didn’t ask me again. He hit the bell and backed away from the ring.
My turn.
18
MADDY
My computer dinged.
I’d gone to bed and should’ve been asleep an hour ago, but I couldn’t get there. My mind wouldn’t stop. It’d been Grandpa’s funeral today, and that sucked. Max would barely look at me. That made it worse. Mom was pissed that I’d lied and didn’t tell anyone where we went last night, so she grounded me. I lost my phone privileges too.
Another ding came through.
I slid out of bed, padding barefoot to my desk to nudge my mouse a little. The screen lit up. I’d gotten two messages from Beltraine.
I’d been checking my Snapchat. I shouldn’t have been. I barely had any friends anymore. A lot of my friends from Boston said they’d keep in contact, but they didn’t. They were busy. Then we were in San Diego for just a few years. The girls at that school were cliquey, so it’d been hard to make any friends. Now we were in Fallen Crest, and it’d only been a few weeks.
I clicked on the message.
Beltraine: Party at my house tonight. What are you doing?
LoganMaddy: I’m grounded. Can’t.
Beltraine: Fuck that. Sneak out.
Beltraine: Don’t tell me you don’t know how to do that. Girl like you.
LoganMaddy: Girl like me? Wtf
Beltraine: Don’t mean anything bad by that. Just that you seem like you do what you want. That’s all. My boy’s back. Steele. I want you to meet him. He just got back from across seas. He had to go see his parents there last week.
LoganMaddy: I know who Steele is.
Beltraine: Right. Lol. He’s my cousin. I forget people know him at school.
This guy was… I sat back, frowning at the screen. Beltraine and Axel were the two most popular guys in the senior class. But they weren’t alone at the top, because Beltraine’s cousin Steele was right up there with them. Any girl who attended FCA for just a day would know all three of those guys. Beltraine had been friendly with me over the last couple weeks, but honestly, I figured it was because of my dad. Mason Kade tended to have that effect on guys. But Traine hadn’t seemed too tongue-tied when my dad and uncle showed up last night. He seemed more annoyed.
Then again, he hadn’t liked that I forced Max to come with us.
I chewed on my bottom lip, going over everything. I’d never really been in the popular crowd, which I didn’t care about. I was too confrontational for most girls. They didn’t know how to fight me, and I didn’t put up with the jealous catty remarks. The guys were scared to try anything with me. One guy in San Diego got too handsy with me, and I impaled his hand with a spoon. That got around real quick, and no guy even looked at me for a year. Not that it mattered to me. The only guy I had ever looked at in any way was Max. The only guy I’d ever felt any sort of way for was Max, and he was barely talking to me.
Pain sliced through my chest.
I hated this, being on the outs with him. I’d tried to talk to him today, but he just gave me a polite smile and said he needed a couple days. A couple days for what? Not like I wasn’t going to see him tomorrow. Our moms were best friends, and our dads were super tight. He was family. They were family.