On my way to meet up with Thea after school, an impulse grips me. It doesn’t happen a lot, but when I’m in this part of town, I can’t fight the pull to drive down the old street where we used to live. Maybe it’s stronger now because of my run in with Fox in the parking lot.
If Mom or Dad knew I came here they’d kill me. When Holden and I got our licenses, they forbid us from coming back here, as if our childhood home was tainted. I never understood why, it’s a nice area where we had block parties with our neighbors.
“Just to see. It’s been a while,” I murmur to myself, turning down the road instead of going straight.
Like always, as soon as the familiar houses pass by I’m overcome with a wave of longing. After Fox left Ridgeview, we moved to a new house because Mom got a big promotion at her pharmaceutical company. I still don’t get how someone from the research department becomes CEO, but no matter how many times I’ve tried to wrap my head around it I can’t make sense of why it happened. It was supposed to change our lives for the better—that’s what Mom and Dad told us. But it didn’t. The last good times we had as a family were left behind on this street.
My life has been good, but a piece of me was torn out when Fox went away. Everything changed, and the piece hasn’t slotted back into place since he’s returned, like the damn thing has warped, no longer fitting where it belongs.
After I pass both of our old houses, I slow the car to a stop at the end of the block by the field. It’s overgrown with fresh wildflowers, dotted by a few bees and butterflies floating on the breeze above the blooms. If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can hear an echo of laughter. My throat is thick when I swallow. So many memories…
I get out of the white Audi Q7. It’s really Holden’s car, but he lets me use it whenever I need it, which has come in handy since he never left for college like he was supposed to. It’s not fair that my brother got a car and I didn’t, but there are way bigger problems in the world than not being gifted a car. Dad refuses to let me have my own and it’s putting a serious damper on my road trip plans. He’s not going to stop me from going on that trip, though. I’ve played by their rules and given them what they wanted. The road trip is my one chance to spread my wings before I go back to being a picture-perfect Landry for the college they picked out for me.
It’s warm out, the late afternoon sun peeking through billowing clouds to kiss the tall grass. I brush my hands over it as I pick my way through the field to get to the tree. It doesn’t look as big as it did when we were kids. I used to be so proud I could climb it. The bright green leaves rustle on the swaying branches as I press a palm to the bark.
The time Fox dared me I couldn’t climb our tree flashes in my mind. Quirking my mouth up, I picture how determined I was. I climbed higher than I ever had, almost to the top. Proving him wrong felt good, until he had to come up after me to get me down. We went branch by branch with his guidance. He kept checking if I was okay, squeezing my hand as he helped me reach the ground.
My phone vibrates in the pocket of my school blazer. I pull it out and sigh. It’s a text from Mom checking in on where I am now that school is out for the day. They know my volunteer and yoga class schedule. Outside of that, I have to let them know what I’m doing, even at eighteen.
Maisy: I’m on my way to Thea’s. I’ll come straight home after that.
I hold my breath as three dots appear, hoping she won’t decide to check my location by creeping on my phone. She doesn’t do that often, but I haven’t given her any reason to doubt me lately, keeping my free-spirited urges reeled in. When Dad does it, he’s being overprotective like usual, but with Mom… It always feels like a collar pulled tight around my neck.
The instinctive urge I sometimes have to just go rushes through me. I could just get in the car and drive. The road would decide where to take me and I’d follow the wind until my heart felt free of the heaviness.
Mom and Dad would be furious, but I’d be happy.
Mom: Be home in time for dinner.
Air gusts out of my lungs in relief. While I’m typing my reply, the heavy rumble of an engine catches my attention. I put my phone away as I turn and my heart drops into my stomach when I see a matte black Charger speeding down the street, screeching to a halt right behind the Audi. It stops inches from smashing into the back bumper.
Oh shit.
It’s Fox.
I’ve been wondering where he’s been. He hasn’t been around school since he messed with Sam’s car. Things like his attendance record and grades don’t seem to matter to him while he comes and goes as he pleases.
Fox gets out of the Charger and stalks toward me with his handsome features set in a deadly scowl. The hair on my body stands on end as he quickly eats up the distance with long, powerful strides. Before I can breathe, he’s in front of me, forcing me back against the tree. The bark digs into my shoulder blades.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” he growls, making my pulse thunder.
The scent of rich leather, earthy wood, and the faint hint of motor oil surrounds me.
My gaze flies around the empty field, then returns to meet his cold glare. I open my mouth, only to gasp when his fingers lock around my throat. A tremor runs down my spine while heat spikes low in my stomach, making me squirm to rub my thighs together. He doesn’t miss it, a rough sound rumbling in his throat as he presses closer so the hard lines of his chest connect with mine. I struggle, testing the limits of his grip, but he’s too strong for me to break away.
That’s what I should want to do—get away. But…curiosity keeps me in place. This is the first time his hands have been on me since that night at Jenna’s party two weeks ago and my body remembers. Vividly.
The marks he left on my skin have faded. My stomach dips when I think of him doing it all again.
Fear and desire fight for control. It’s so wrong that Fox can touch me like this and stir excitement, but some part of me craves it even as he torments me.
There’s no one here to stop him. Even if there was, I don’t think it would change anything. No one holds authority over him. If he wanted, he could easily slide my school skirt up and do whatever he wanted. My clit shouldn’t throb at that thought, but it does, god, it does. It’s so messed up.
He doesn’t choke me, but his hold is firm, pinning me to the tree in case I was planning to run.
I might be scared of what he could do to me, but I’ll never run from him. The brooding jerk can have my fear, but he doesn’t get my surrender.
Somewhere deep inside, there’s a small part of him I recognize. I saw it last year, when I caught sight of him smiling at the holiday market in town. It was the same as the boyish smile that used to charm me to do anything when we were kids. I cling to that hope whenever I hear the rumors and whispers flying around about him.
“Fox, what are you trying to—”
“Why are you here?” he grits out furiously through clenched teeth.
Narrowing my eyes, I shove the fear aside. “I’m not allowed to exist now? Last I checked, you don’t own the street or this field. I’m not trespassing. If I want to visit our tree?” I lean into his hand and my heartbeat flutters when his grip flexes. He’s serious, but so am I. “I will.”
Fox’s dark blue gaze flashes at my defiance. He glances down the line of my body, lingering at the sight of his fingers wrapped around my throat. His mouth tugs into a smirk. “You never could resist trouble. You always loved the thrill.”
He digs his thumb into my pulse point, making it crystal clear he could snap my neck with little effort. I struggle to swallow, fighting to drag in a full breath while he controls my air. He can probably feel my racing pulse. Then his thumb eases off to trace up to my jaw. The gesture is at odds with the contempt in his gaze, but it makes my hands grab at his leather jacket, curling into the supple material. For a moment he seems to freeze, like he’s curious what I’ll do.
Fox leans in until our lips almost touch, then waits another bea
t, watching me through his hooded gaze.
Is he going to kiss me this time?
This is the closest he’s come to me since the party. I just want things to be right between us. If he’s ready to move past his grudge, then I’ll forgive and forget his cruelty so we can go back to how things should be between us.
Licking my lips, I strain toward him with want.
He releases a gruff, arrogant sound of amusement. “Do you seriously think I’m going to kiss you?”
The cutting tone makes me flinch.
“I…”
“How pathetic.”
Oh god, I’m an idiot. The alarm returns, winning out over the fog of desire. I can’t believe myself right now for losing sight of common sense. This is that damn party all over again, the intoxicating invisible tether cinching tight between us, but all it brings is heartache. How could I forget?
Fox scoffs. “You look so fucking desperate right now, little daisy. It’s a terrible look on you.”
Hurt stings the newly opened wounds and I shrink back against the tree. How could I think he was ready to move past why he hates me? He didn’t that night he finally acknowledged me. I swallow the hot embarrassment and glare at him.
“Fuck you,” I mutter.
His grin is scary. “You make me want to end you. Right here, right now. There’s no point in dancing around it.”
My eyes widen. The reality slams into me once more. Fox can and will hurt me without a second thought.
“Why do you hate me so much?” I whisper, despising the painful fire in my throat. “Why?”
Fox’s lip curls and he brings his mouth to my cheek. “Stop acting like you don’t know. It’s making me sick. Everything about you makes me so goddamn sick.”
My chest collapses with a hoarse breath. The acidic hostility in his tone is unmistakable.
A phone rings and he curses, tearing away from me. I lean against the tree, unsure of what he’ll do if I move. Whoever is calling makes his sharp jaw tic when he clenches it. His glare finds me once more.
“Get out of my sight before I change my mind,” he commands. “Don’t let me catch you here again. You won’t like what I do to you.”
The thought of staying away from the tree drives a white-hot lance into my chest. I want to argue instead of letting him win, but I’m still reeling from allowing myself to think for a second that he wanted me. God, he’s right. I am desperate, but all I want is to make things right between us.
When I haven’t answered, he takes a threatening step toward me, his glare intensifying. “Got it?”
I hate this.
Heart lodged in my throat, I manage a stiff nod before I walk to my car on trembling legs. I won’t run. I refuse to let him believe he can control me like that, snapping his fingers and barking commands to make me hop fucking to it because he said so. I deal with it enough from Mom and Dad, but no one gets that power over me.
Behind me, I hear the deep murmur of his voice as he answers the phone. “You got something new for me?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I watch him pace by the tree, pushing a hand into his messy dark hair in agitation. The hint of a tattoo is visible at the neckline of his t-shirt. Curiosity tugs at me. I didn’t get to see it at the party, but I caught a tiny glimpse of black feathers.
I don’t stick around long enough to listen. Once I reach the SUV, I get in and drive away in a shaken daze. I don’t even roll the windows down to let my fingers ride the waves of the wind whipping by the car. Dad would be really annoyed if he knew all his lectures about safe driving were flying out the window in the face of self preservation.
It doesn’t make sense how Fox Wilder can simultaneously draw me in with magnetic force while also throwing off dangerous vibes that make me want to get away.
Nothing makes any damn sense to me anymore. It has to be the fact that there’s so much history between us. Throw in his grudge against me and…whatever it was that went down at the party, the line between us is mottled and blurred by the ferocity of our feelings. One minute he ignores me, the next he’s pushing me against the nearest flat surface to ignite a fire in me with his body, only to turn around and lash out at me in punishment. I never know what to expect from him.
Gripping the wheel hard enough for my knuckles to turn white, I head for Thea’s bakery. My racing heart doesn’t slow.
Fox is the only person who gets under my skin and riles up my easy carefree spirit. He makes me want to fight him. I’m more of a peace and love type of person, but when it comes to Fox, a fierceness I didn’t know I possessed breaks free.
I should stay away from him—it’s what he wanted. But I can’t. Not until I know why he hates me enough to forbid me from coming to our tree.
Five
Fox
2 Weeks Ago
The party sucks. It’s nothing like Wren Thorne’s extravagant and hedonistic parties, but I wasn’t expecting much from the spoiled brats of Ridgeview.
Whatever, that’s not why I’m here tonight amongst the kids of the most influential and powerful people in town. Just need to blend in until the time is right, then I’m getting the hell out of here. Except right now I stand out too much to do what I need to.
People side eye me and mutter when I walk through the kitchen to another room where the pounding beat of music fills the huge house. No one will kick me out, though. They’re all too chickenshit to cross me. If my fierce scowl isn’t enough, the rumors about me are, so they let me crash.
“Bet he’s got a dumping ground spot out at the old quarry,” someone whispers loudly. “Buries all the bodies of people he’s offed for the mob out there.”
“No way,” a girl responds, giving me a once over from the corner of her eye. “He’s so hot. He can’t be a hitman.”
“He totally is! It’s how he made all his money.”
Rolling my eyes, I slip past them. The rumors in this town are getting stupider by the minute.
I grab a beer bottle to look less like an angry shadow and prowl around the party, keeping an eye out the entire time. People don’t stand in my way because they recognize that I’m a predator who could tear them apart. When I spot the girl throwing the party—the daughter of the mayor, who has a habit of bringing his work home—I begin to make my way toward her. Her gaze trails me up and down, the heat flaring in her eyes easy to read. The corner of my mouth twitches in triumph.
Like a bad boy, do you?
“I don’t remember inviting you,” she says in a fake tone meant to entice me.
My shoulder hitches and I take a swig from the beer bottle. “I don’t like playing by the rules.”
She releases a breathy sound and inches closer, pressing her tits against my arm. If this all turns out to be a waste of my time, I’ll be pissed I had to put up with her. Swallowing back the snarky comment climbing my throat at how she was making out with some dude from the football team thirty minutes ago, I give her a lazy smile that makes her flutter her lashes flirtatiously.
“You’ve got a sweet place. Is your dad someone important?”
Buying my act, she flaps a hand, leaning into me harder as she fires off questions rapidly. “I guess, but who cares? Did you bring your motorcycle? Can you give me a ride?”
I trace a thumb over my lip. “I did.”
Didn’t mean I was going to let her touch it. I barely let the guys back east touch my bike.
Girls like her have never interested me. That goes for most of them, actually. Even amongst Wren’s mismatched band of Crows, the girls that hung around never held my attention. There was only ever one girl who had my heart. Just one, but she crushed it to dust in her little fist.
The mayor’s daughter keeps doing most of the talking and flirting while I stand there leaning against the wall, tuning out half of what she says to scan the room. Now that I’m blending in, the attention is off me. Good, that’ll make it easier to get into the home office.
The plan is going fine until all the air in the room sucks out
when I catch sight of who just entered through the front door out of the corner of my eye. Maisy fucking Landry, hair down from the ponytail she favors and dressed in a loose crop top that exposes her flat tanned stomach and tight blue yoga pants that hug her ass and her long toned legs. Goddamn, daisy. My focus splits, snagged by the need to watch Maisy’s every move and stick to what I’m here to do—use this chick to gain access to her dad’s computer.
For now I ignore her. It’s been the best way to deal with the raging pain that sears my chest from the inside out every time I look at the liar. If I don’t, I teeter on the brink of losing control and burning this whole fucking town to the ground.
Ridgeview, the town that turned on me and my family ten years ago. This was our home until it got my parents killed. I’ve waited this long and the time has finally come. I’m out for blood and I’m going to get it if it’s the last thing I do.
Maisy scans the room and stops on me and the girl dragging her manicured nails over my chest. We lock eyes and I let my mouth quirk into a savage curve as I wrap an arm around the girl’s waist, hauling her against my body. She squeals and releases the fakest moan.
“You want that ride now, baby?” I ask.
The chick doesn’t notice that I’m not looking at her. She nods. “Let’s go upstairs.”
“Lead the way.”
Maisy’s nostrils flare and she rips her attention away, stalking through the party with an angry grace that makes my blood thrum more than the chick melting against my side. I force out a breath, trying to get my head screwed on right. I’m not here for games.
Once my decoy takes me into her room, I let her kiss my neck and I put on a show of throwing her on the bed roughly. She giggles when she bounces. I cover her body with mine and hold her hair while she writhes beneath me. She doesn’t see it coming when I use Levi’s trick with a pressure point to knock her out cold. I shift her onto her side in case she had too much to drink and put a pillow beneath her head. Sitting back on the edge of the bed, I smirk, glad I made the craziest of the Crows teach me how to pull that off.
Savage Wilder: Dark New Adult High School Bully Romance (Sinners and Saints Book 4) Page 4