Page 18 of I Was Born Ruined (Death by Daybreak MC 1)
“Don't push me,” I say, stepping back and turning to go grab my shoes from Dena's convertible.
Grainger grabs me around the waist to, I think, toss me over his shoulder or some other stupid chest-pounding, machismo thing. But then he stops … and breathes in the scent of my hair … tightens the circle of his arm.
“There's a war, Gidge.”
“There's always a war,” I whisper, remembering Posey's screams, Queenie's blood. My eyes fill with tears, but I blink them back, focusing on a family seated across the day use area at a picnic table. They look happy, seated over there, eating hamburgers and hot dogs. Like maybe their sister's blood didn't leak under the pantry door and stain their feet on an easy, breezy Saturday night in June.
“This is really bad. Worse than before. Gidge, it's them. They're back.”
My entire body goes cold, despite the sun, despite Grainger's warmth.
“Now get the fuck on the bike,” he tells me as he steps away and leaves me shaking in the middle of a ninety degree afternoon.
They. Them. Those people.
My sisters' killers.
The Grey Wolfe Mafia is back in town.“Crown will be here in fifteen,” Grainger says, pausing in the doorway to my room and watching me smoke a cigarette on my bed. I glance over at him, and I don't know what to say. When I look at his face, all I can think about are his fingers inside of me, my hand wrapped around his cock.
“Cool,” I say, and I like that he grits his teeth in anger.
“Cool? That's it. Nothing else?”
“I know you have a penis, Grainger, but if you want to talk to me, you have to actually, you know, talk.”
He steps into the room and stares at me like I'm both a treat and a treasure, a nightmare and an open wound. What am I supposed to make of that?
“Fuck. Fine,” he says, glancing over at Feminist when the dog stands up and raises his hackles in response. Fem's never liked any of the guys, not one of them. I should take that as a sign, right? Aren't animals supposed to be like compasses, guiding us to those with good hearts and warning us away from bad ones?
Then again, I've always known these guys were assholes.
I guess I'm just addicted to ruination …
“Now that I've told you what's going on, are you gonna stay put?”
“Probably not,” I say, blowing smoke out the window. “Honestly, you act like you did me a favor by tipping me off, but guess what? I know you must've gotten permission from Cat first. That means you've been holding onto that shit all day without telling me. Actually, I'm pissed.”
“Fucking A, Gidget! You really want to do this?”
Grainger takes a small step into the room, runs his tongue over his lower lip and then throws his hands in the air.
“I'm not playing games with a seventeen year old girl,” he murmurs, turning to leave.
“No, but you'll fuck one,” I say and he pauses, going completely still. Grainger's had more lovers than I have fingers and toes … and hair follicles and skin cells and drops of blood in my body. But I know that no matter what, he won't forget that night. Never. “Thanks for stopping by.”
Grainger stares at me for a long moment, squeezes his hands into fists and leaves.
A few minutes later, I hear Crown pull into the driveway … and Grainger pull out of it.The first day of school is a welcome relief from the cage of Cat and Nellie's house—even though I know Crown is sitting on the ridge just above the school, waiting and watching. Doesn't matter. He can't see me in the courtyard.
“There's basically only two things I give a shit about this year,” Dena's saying, leaning back on a blanket outside the lunchroom. It's actually nice out here, full of flowers and trees, bird fountains and feeders, all maintained by one of the on-campus gardening clubs. It's the only green oasis in a sea of brown-yellow grass and dead things, killed by the summer heat. Somebody's been keeping it watered for the last few months. “Winning prom queen and getting laid by Trevone Hundley.”
“You'll have to fight Tina to the death,” Amiya says, her hair coiled on the top of her head like a glossy black snake. I can't believe I'm sitting here with them, but there's nowhere else to go. With the guys on my ass, I can't leave campus without being followed.
Or … with Grey Wolfe in town, without dying.
“How about you Gidget?” Dena asks, sitting in a black bikini top, her shirt tossed aside in a heap. She's sunbathing like she doesn't care who's looking; I imagine she cares a whole hell of a lot. “Anyone you plan on nailing before graduation?”
More like who I don't plan on nailing, I think, but I'm not about to tell Dena Muller that when I was a just-turned-sixteen year old, I screwed four bad boy bikers in one night. Four of them. I lost my virginity four times over in a hot, wild mess of heat and turmoil. And now, day in and day out, I have to deal with them watching me, following me … wanting me.
