RAMSAY

“You ditched yesterday afternoon, and your cousins went bananas.” Gem informed me of this as soon as I arrived at school the next morning. I hadn’t even gotten off my bike. I did that now and pulled the bike to the rack, taking my lock out. I looped it and clicked it shut, then regarded my new friend. She was giving me a beady-eyed look, holding on to her backpack’s straps with one foot resting against the other. It was an awkward stance, but somehow she was pulling it off.

I blinked a few times. “You actually like me.” It wasn’t a new experience. I’d been blessed in Cedra until I wasn’t so blessed, but for the first time, someone who’d only met me for one day actually liked me. That was new. Family didn’t count in this category.

Now she was the one to blink a few times. “Well, yeah. You’re cool. A Gem can always tell.” My eyebrows went up. Third person? “Incoming!” A baritone yell came from behind me, and a second later, I was lifted off my feet and twirled around. I reached down, guessing it was one of my cousins, and when I got a glimpse of Clint and Alex with Cohen and Scout, I decided it must be Trenton holding me up.

“Put me down, Trent.”

He did, tripping back but managing to keep both of us off the ground. “You rolled yesterday,” he said. “What the fuck? We were going to hit up Louie’s.” Alex, Cohen, and Scout joined the group. Trenton threw his arms around Alex’s shoulders and motioned to the other two with his thumb. “You haven’t officially met the rest of our group. This is Cohen and Scout.” I was not making eye contact with Scout. I felt singed enough from yesterday’s glaring sessions, and seriously, I had enough on my plate. Cohen gave me a guy up-nod and a half-smirk, generally used to convey, “I think you’re cool and I’m cool, so what’s up?” “Hi.” Both got the same polite wave, and for appearance’s sake, I looked at Scout’s chin. The only one who knew I wasn’t totally making eye contact would be him, and let’s see him try to call that out.

Cohen gave me another cool-guy chin-up. Scout did nothing. No greeting. His chin did not move.

Fine. I mean, I wasn’t making eye contact for a reason. “Clint said you guys had a pizza and wine-out last night.”

I tensed, registering Alex’s not-happy tone. Alex was always happy, always kind. Then he grinned. “Why the fuck weren’t we invited?”

“Yeah. What the fuck?” Trenton joined in.

Another arm came over my shoulder. Clint’s. I sagged into his side, already knowing what he would say.

“Back off, assholes. It’s her second day at school. Jesus.” His tone was teasing, but there was another hint of something there. Both his brothers straightened. They’d gotten the message. Alex redirected immediately. “Scout, you already got a fight?”

Topic changed. I relaxed a bit even though we were talking about Scout and his upcoming fight.

Different sensations were manifesting in my body, farther south, and it was uncomfortable. I squirmed out from under Clint’s arm but tapped his side with a fist to let him know I was fine. Moving around the group, I gave a small wave and headed inside.

Gem walked right next to me, but instead of the questions I thought would come, she kept quiet. She stuck to my side until we got to my locker. “I’m going to toss my bag in my locker,” she told me. “One second.”

I gave her a nod. But as I was putting my bag away and pulling out my phone and what I needed for my first class, I felt another presence at my side. It was Alex.

“You okay?” he asked. “For real? We wigged yesterday when you took off.” I sighed softly and stepped back, closing my locker. “Clint didn’t say anything?” He shook his head, his hands on his backpack straps. I motioned forward, and we started for his locker. “He got home around five this morning,” he said. “I only knew because I’d gotten up for the bathroom, but this morning, we were all in a rush. Trent was interrogating him, and he said the pizza and wine part to shut him up. You know T. He’s worried.”

We got to his locker, or I assumed it was because he’d stopped there, but he wasn’t opening it. He also wasn’t looking at me. He let a deep breath out.

“Just . . . that shit’s not going to happen here. You gotta know that.” When he finally looked at me, his eyes were fierce. “No way in hell. Okay?” My throat swelled up, and I had to push down a huge lump. I nodded. “I know. I just . . . I have some lingering aftereffects, if that makes sense? I’ll work it out.”

He nodded. “We’re here for that too.”

The lump was back in place and getting larger. It was a good lump, an emotional lump, but I needed to handle this. Fast. I moved closer to him, dropping my voice. “Listen. What happened last year was a freak tragedy. I know it won’t happen here, and I am not going to start burdening you guys with the shit in my head. We’re in high school. You have your own shit to deal with, and no offense, but you guys aren’t therapists. I appreciate you being there—Clint last night and you this morning. And trust me, knowing you guys are here and you give a fuck is helping. But that’s all you need to do. The heavy stuff? That’s on me to handle, and I will. I’m not going to fuck you up by releasing my damage on you. I’d hate myself more for doing that.”

“You hate yourself?” he hissed. “After what that piece of shit did? You hate you? Hate that guy!” His voice had risen.

People were looking. I was going to try to deflate the situation when a fist hit the locker right next to Alex. “Dude,” Clint said in passing. That was it. He hit the locker and kept on walking. Trenton and Cohen were with him. Both gave us a look as they passed by. Alex seemed to remember where we were and cursed under his breath. He straightened up.

“Sorry.” His eyes moved past me, and he stepped back, giving the same Cohen cool-guy chin-lift to someone. “Hey, man.”

I looked and wished I hadn’t. Scout Raiden was standing a few feet back. I glanced up and caught his gaze, but unlike yesterday, the frostiness wasn’t there. His eyes were dark. There were emotions there, but they were stuffed down, and I got the feeling I wasn’t supposed to see them. My whole body snapped to attention. I jerked my gaze away, flustered.

“I gotta find Gem,” I told Alex.

I started forward, but a hand caught my elbow and turned me the other way. “Locker six seventy-eight,” Alex said. “But she went to class. I saw her.” “Oh.” I heard a low whistle. Clint was standing outside our classroom. I moved toward him, and he lowered his head. “What was that about?”

“Nothing.” I sailed right past, going to our table and taking my stool.

Clint took longer to come sit next to me. His friends took their seats. Then the teacher came in and announced, “We’ve had a few changes.” That was all he said because I guess the details weren’t our business? I’d agree with that, but this affected me because I heard from behind me, “Mike, take Hector’s spot.” Mike, the friend on the other side of Clint, grabbed his stuff and moved to the seat in front of me. Scout Raiden took Mike’s old seat. The other adjustment? Macon Rice took the seat where Scout had been yesterday. Macon sat and wheeled all the way around and looked at me with a full, even stare before his gaze moved to Scout’s. Then, he smirked before turning back to face the front. Scout ducked his head down, but I could hear him say, “He needs to get fucked up.”

Clint grunted. “We’ll help set that up.”

I turned to stare at him because, what?

What was I missing here?

I asked Gem about it at lunch. We’d decided to go outside after we got our food. She pushed open the door with her back, rotating with it and leading the way to an empty picnic table by the basketball court. “I’m assuming your cousins don’t know about your exchange with him in the office?” I gave her a look. She laughed, sitting down. I sat across from her. She leaned forward.

“I told you before that Macon Rice always has a girl?” She had, and she kept on. “He does, and that annoys most guys—not your cousins, not Scout or Cohen. Those guys are the top and generally not in competition with Macon. He crossed paths against Cohen a while back when Macon started dating Cohen’s little sister. Issue was that Macon is a senior and Cohen’s sister is a freshman. They had words with him, i.e., I think they threatened him and by they, I don’t really know who. I’m guessing Cohen, you know? Anyway, Macon ended things, until last Friday. I guess he and Amalia are back on. There was a party, and they were talking. People saw, and everyone flipped out. At least, that’s what I’m assuming the fight was about yesterday.”

“Why’s Scout Raiden so invested?”

She’d been cutting her apple, and paused. “What do you mean?” If it were just Raiden, I’d tell her in a heartbeat, but Clint might be involved as well. I shrugged. “He was in the fight yesterday, but he wasn’t in the fight. That’s all.” “Oh.” She continued cutting her apple. “He’s loyal to Cohen and your cousins. I’m sure that’ll extend to you now, since, you know, family.”

Right. That made me uncomfortable.

We sat and ate as Gem filled me in on the rest of the school’s hierarchy, including the popular girls. We were nearing the end of lunch when I realized my cousins hadn’t checked on me. They hadn’t texted or called, and they hadn’t found me at lunch.

Which meant . . . Crap. I was eating a piece of bread and dropped it. It landed on my plate with a thud. Gem gave me a look, laughing. “Don’t spill or anything—”

“It’s happening now.”

“Huh?” She bit into a piece of her bread.

“Now. Right now.” I pushed up from the table, scanning the area. There was nothing amiss. I mean, people were looking over. I knew that would happen. People were probably still curious about me, but I saw none of my cousins. Or Scout. Or Cohen.

Or Macon. I knew it in my gut.

Whatever they were doing, it was going on right now. I was moving before I could stop myself. If they were doing something, it wouldn’t be outside. Someone would see or hear. Where could they be? The bathroom? No. The locker room. The jock code was real. No one would say anything if they saw something happening in there. That was where they were.

Locker rooms were usually near the gym, or at the end of a hallway. My mind raced. Don’t get involved, I tried to tell myself. Let it go. My cousins knew what they were doing. This was their school. I was new. I was a girl.

And then also, fuck that. Gem yelled my name, but it came from a distance, far away. I pushed through the doors, going inside.

There were people at their lockers. Some leaving the cafeteria, going into the cafeteria. Going in and out of the library. Going around me. A group of girls had congregated by some lockers. They turned to look at me and grew quiet as I passed them.

I needed to leave it alone. I couldn’t. I moved down the hallway, and as I approached Alex’s locker, I saw a guy slip into a room at the end of the hallway. It didn’t look like a classroom. There were a couple guys set up halfway down the hallway. I assumed they were keeping people from getting near that door. I knew it. I was right. I started toward them. One got in front of me, his hands up. “Hey, listen. You shouldn’t— I gave him a look, one of my don’t-fuck-with-me looks, and it worked. He stepped back, his hands lowering.

I heard the other guy say, “They’re going to skin you alive, man.” He sighed. “Did you see that look? I’m not messing with her.”

Once I got to the door, I could hear muffled shouting and the sound of something getting hit—someone getting hit.

I pushed open the door, and there was a second door. I could hear the voices more clearly. “Fucking piece of shit.”

Thud.

“Told you to stay away from my sister. You should’ve listened.”

Thud. Thud. Thud!

Moaning.

A gasp. “Help me, guys.”

I pushed open the second door.

There was a set of lockers immediately in front of me. My steps faltered when I heard Alex’s voice. “She’s fifteen, you piece of shit.”

I'm“Fifteen.”

That was Clint, and shivers moved down my spine. I’d only heard that cold tone from him once in my life. I rounded the end of the lockers. They didn’t see me at first. Scout was holding Macon back, all by himself. He had an arm twisted around Macon’s arm and under his neck and his leg positioned around one of Macon’s legs from behind. Macon couldn’t fight back, except to strain to get away, but it was useless. I felt sorry for him. A pang went through me, and then I was in a bathroom. Someone held me down, a hand at my throat. Fists hitting my stomach.

“Ramsay!”

I jerked out of that memory. Cohen was lining up for another punch. My cousins stood in a circle behind him, and all six heads turned my way. I looked, but I didn’t see the guy I’d followed in. “There’s another guy.” Trenton, who had started for me, pulled to a stop. “What?”

“I saw a guy duck in here.” I looked around. “It wasn’t one of you guys.” Clint and Alex both came for me. Alex’s face was darkening. “You’re saying there’s someone else in here?” I nodded. Clint cursed, pushing past me. He pointed the other way. “Trent.” “On it.” My cousins separated, fanning out. I stayed rooted, and my gaze went right to Scout’s.

His face was like granite. He tightened his hold and barked at Cohen, “Finish it.” “She said—” “We’ll handle him too. Finish this one while we got him.”

I couldn’t look at Macon’s face. It was swollen, covered in blood, and he went back to struggling to get free from Scout. I focused on his feet instead. They were useless for him, not supporting him, not doing anything. He was trying to kick out Scout’s leg, but he wasn’t moving. His legs seemed rooted into the ground, and then I heard the thudding again. Cohen went back to hitting. “You thought you could get away from me?” That hand tightened on my throat. “Max,” I gasped, tears almost suffocating me. “Please.” His arm was like cement. I couldn’t do anything. He raised his fist, and I closed my eyes. I knew what was coming.

“You’re going to leave my sister alone.” Hit. “You’re going to lose her number.” Punch. “You’re never going to take her calls, answer any DMs from her. You’re not going to retweet any shit from her. You hear me?” Thud. Thud. Thud.

Someone gasped.

There was moaning.

“You’re never going to get away from me.”

“Max.” I couldn’t speak. He was crushing my throat.

The lights started swimming then, moving around me. My back arched, my toes leaving the floor. I rose up from the floor, but his hand kept me pinned in place. Something crashed into a locker, and I jumped at the sound. Then I was moving, almost blind in my need. “Stop.” I rushed in. I got between Cohen and Macon and shoved him back. “What the fuck?” he yelled.

I turned, pulling Macon from Scout’s hold and shoving him back—not toward the door, but toward Cohen. My chest heaved. “Give him a fighting chance. It’s not right, the way you’re doing it.” I heard movement, and someone else ran into a locker. Trent was herding a guy forward. Alex next to him. Clint came around the other way. “Found him.” Then his dark smirk fell flat. “What’s going on?”

Scout growled from behind me, “Your cousin got involved.” I ignored him because Macon saw his chance. He started to run, but not for the door. He tried going the opposite direction. Cohen was on him, grabbing his shoulders and throwing him into the lockers and onto the floor. Macon tried fighting back, but it was pointless. Cohen had him down, and he rained punch after punch on him. From behind me, Scout growled, “That’s why I was holding him. Now I gotta pull my friend off the guy so he doesn’t kill him. The other way, he was getting his hits in and Rice could still walk.” He brushed past me, knocking into my arm as he reached for Cohen. Clint was there too. They lifted Cohen off Rice, and I thought Macon would get up and make a run for it, but he didn’t. He was unconscious. Cohen spun around to me, wiping his arm over his mouth. “Don’t get involved in shit you don’t know.”

Shit I didn’t know? I didn’t give a fuck what he thought. “He preferred that beating to the first one,” I stated clearly. “He had a chance to fight back, and I can tell you that’s something I do know.”

With that, I turned and left. I didn’t make eye contact with any of my cousins.

They’d know. If that shit happened to them, they’d know. Rice probably deserved that beating, but he should get it when he could fight back. I wanted to ditch school again. Every cell in my body was telling me to run, but it was my second day. I couldn’t do that. What I did instead was go to the library until the fifth period bell rang. Alex was with me for that class, so it went okay. Gem waved me over to the seat beside her in sixth period. I slipped in, hunching forward.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” She frowned, watching the door as everyone else came in. “What happened? Did you find your cousins?”

I looked up to answer and saw Scout coming into the room. He paused, seeing me. A hard look came over his face as he sat in the chair behind Gem. The fucker knew what he was doing. Every time I would look or talk to Gem, he’d be in my line of sight.

His eyes were dark as he watched me. Gem’s eyebrows rose as she noticed who was sitting behind her. “I was wrong and felt like a dumbass, so I went to the library,” I told her. There was a flicker in Scout’s gaze, but he didn’t say anything.

“You were in the library this whole time?” Gem asked. I nodded. “I thought something was seriously wrong, the way you took off. I got rid of your tray.” Crap. I’d forgotten that. “I’m sorry, and thank you for the tray. I thought something was wrong, but it was fine.”

“But why didn’t you come back? I was waiting for you.” That was when I tuned into something else, something that had completely escaped my awareness yesterday. Did Gem not have any other friends? That didn’t make sense. As if reading my mind, she scoffed. “I mean, it was fine. I hung out with some peeps, but not cool just taking off for a second day in a row. Text a girl, would ya? Let me know if you’re hiding so I won’t feel like a dumbass if I have to cover for you.” Some of my tension faded, and I managed a smile.

“Sorry. I’ll tell you next time I need to hide.”

“Good.” She rolled her eyes, grinning back. Someone sat in the seat behind me, and she shot upright. “Switch with me.”

“What?” I looked back.

A girl gave me a wide, but closed smile. “Heya. I’m Theresa.” She had dark hair and dark eyes. Looked Latina. She was also freaking gorgeous. She added, “I’m Gem’s cousin.” “Yeah. Switch with me.” Gem shoved my arm. “Hurry.” She already had her stuff in her arms, so I grabbed mine. As soon as I stood, Gem slid into my seat. I locked eyes with Scout before rounding the desk and coming up behind him. He leaned back, resting his arm over his chair as I slid into Gem’s vacant seat.

“Don’t say shit,” he murmured so quietly I knew only I could hear. My whole body locked down, but screw that. “Don’t threaten me.” His eyes flashed. “Or what?” Or what? Seriously? Then my eyes flashed, and I leaned closer to him. “You have no idea the PTSD shit going on in my head. You don’t want to fuck with a crazy person. There’s no rationality. No reasoning. Why do you think my cousins are worried about me? They know how messed up I am. Threaten me again, and you’ll find out the first step I’m willing to take. Guarantee you have more to lose than I do here, buddy.”

I ignored the sensations building under my skin, making me heated, making my neck feel flushed, my face hot. He stared at me. I stared right back. We were back to the glaring fest from yesterday. Whatever unspoken truce we might’ve had earlier was all gone. He smirked, but his eyes were still hard. “If you’re that crazy, maybe you’re a danger to the students here? Maybe you need to be in a mental hospital?” I heard his threat, and it boiled my stomach. “You’d exploit me like that?” Pure hatred replaced his smirk. “You say anything that’ll come back on Cohen, and yeah. You bet your ass I will.” New emotions flooded me, ones I didn’t want to identify. “I bet Cohen’s little sister could use a friend. From what I overheard, you were telling him to stay away from her. That means she’s not done with him. I’m older. She probably knows who my cousins are, probably thinks they’re cool. Maybe has a crush on one of them.” I ignored how still he went. I kept on, my voice so soft. “She’d like me, I bet. I could use all of that to get in with her. I could be a friend she’d look up to. I know how to spin that, and once I had her ear, I could say anything to her. You wouldn’t want me to tell her how overbearing and controlling her brother is. It’s easy to say what people want to hear.”

A new darkness came over him, a dangerous sort of darkness.

Goddamn.

The throb was back, smack between my legs. I was more messed up than I thought. “You even talk to her, I’ll fuck your cousin up,” he warned, his voice like ice.

“Trenton or Clint. You got me? Cohen and Amalia are off-limits.”

“I could tell my cousins you threatened one of them.”

“Go ahead. Cohen’s ride or die for me. They know that.”

Right. We were at an impasse. I didn’t mean what I’d threatened, but as I turned back around, I knew both of us stepped over a line that didn’t feel right. This was my first real conversation with him. I shuddered to think what the next one might be like.