Arm Candy Warrior: A Dark High School Romance (The Heights Crew Book 2)

by E. M. Moore

  He shakes his head, but a line of concentration appears in his forehead like he’s trying not to show emotion. I want to ask him about it, but he won’t open up with Magnum right here. I always thought they got along, and they did, up until yesterday morning. I just hope Oscar can shelter his thoughts when the others come home.

  “I’ve got some snacks, but if we want anything else, we’ll have to run downstairs. Actually, I’ll run downstairs,” he says, gazing at me. Magnum was extra careful about who was around on the street before we slipped up the entrance to Oscar’s apartment.

  A few minutes later, Brawler shows up. We congregate in the living room where Oscar finds a few fight replays on TV that we can all agree on watching without arguing. Mag stays off to the side. He watches us a lot but doesn’t insert himself into the conversation, which makes me sad. Yesterday, I started wondering about the kind of guy Mag was when he was younger. I’m sure he wasn’t always the silent, perfectly-fine-to-be-sitting-in-the-corner-to-watch type.

  Oscar, though, takes complete control over the dynamics in the room since it’s his space. He pulls me onto his lap, arms wrapping around me. Brawler’s jaw ticks, but out of the two of them, he’d be less likely to start shit. I don’t know how I feel so at ease, knowing they’re both here, both watching me, both wanting to touch me. I have feelings for them, but it’s not like these relationships are the societal norm. However, even though it isn’t, this just feels natural to me. They just need to get on board with what’s happening and stop trying to make the other guy jealous.

  Oscar winds his hand around my stomach and kisses the side of my head.

  Brawler’s shoulders stiffen.

  Oscar grazes a kiss down the side of my neck.

  The vein in Brawler’s temple pops out.

  I’m about to tell Oscar to stop when Magnum gets to his feet. “Looks like you need to have a conversation. I’m stepping outside.”

  As soon as the door shuts behind him, Brawler gets to his feet. Oscar starts to chuckle like he hasn’t a care in the world. He was trying to get Brawler going, but the warning glare Brawler sends him makes Oscar’s laughter die off. “I didn’t agree to you feeling her up in front of me, dude.” Before Oscar can counter, because that’s what Oscar does, Brawler says, “You wouldn’t go for it either.”

  Oscar puts his hands on my hips. “Your boyfriend’s mad,” he teases.

  I give him a look over my shoulder and then stand. “Listen. Both of you,” I say, glaring at each of them so they know I mean business. “I like you both. There’s no reason for jealousy because just as much as I want Oscar’s hands on me, I want yours, too, Brawler. We’ve all lived shitty lives, right? Can’t we just do something that feels good without adding extra pressure to us? Can’t we grab onto something that’s good for us and go with it? Fuck what normal people think. Let’s not be those people. You don’t need to be jealous when I want you, too. And you,” I say, turning to Oscar. “Don’t need to push buttons.”

  “It’s what I do,” he says nonchalantly, like he’s bored with this conversation already. He presses his tongue against his teeth. “Does this mean you’re really not going to pick one of us someday?”

  My head whiplashes back. “Um, no. I never planned on it. Actually, I didn’t plan on any of this, but now that you ask, no, I’m not choosing. It’s up to you guys whether you want in or not. If you don’t, that’s fine. Just tell me now.”

  Oscar looks me up and down, lips losing color as he presses them together.

  “I’m in,” Brawler says. “I’ll tone down my possessive side. Okay, I’ll try to tone down my possessive side.”

  “Oscar?” I ask, quirking an eyebrow at him.

  He swallows and shifts on the cushions under my scrutiny. For a second, my heart freefalls to my stomach because I think he’s going to tell me he can’t do this. “I need you to cough up your secret. About why you’re here. Brawler got what you wanted out of your apartment for you. Right? I’ve been left to sit here wondering what’s happening. I’ve been waiting for you to tell me, but you haven’t.”

  I exchange a look with Brawler.

  “See!” Oscar explodes. He gets off the couch.

  The door to the apartment opens and Magnum sticks his head in, eyeing the situation.

  “Jesus Christ,” Oscar curses. “I’m not going to fucking hurt her. That’s the last thing I would do.”

  Mag looks at me for confirmation. “It’s okay,” I tell him. Oscar won’t hurt me, but he’s hurt right now. “Brawler?”

  He nods. “I’ll go get us some stuff to eat at the store.”

  Brawler and Magnum leave the room, and I turn toward Oscar. “I’m so sorry,” I say. “I only told Brawler because he found what was in my apartment. I absolutely did not tell him because I like him more than you.”

  The raw truth of how much I hurt him is splayed all over his face though. That’s why he’s been a dick to Magnum. That’s why he was goading Brawler just now. He wants to see where he stands in the pecking order of things, and from what I was giving him, he thought he was last.

  “I’ve been fucked around my whole life,” he says, teeth gritting. “I care for you, Kyla, but if you’re going to do that to me, we can end this right now.”

  “No,” I say, reaching for him. “I didn’t tell you for any other reason than I wasn’t sure how you would react. Okay?”

  “You don’t trust me?” He steps back like I’ve slapped him in the face.

  I shake my head. “I do. It’s just…fuck, Oscar, it’s difficult, okay?” I retreat and breathe. It’s not Oscar’s fault he’s feeling like this. I brought it on.

  “Women use me,” he says. His jaw ticks, and he’s trying to wrangle in his emotions. “At first it was because I was a quarterback, and then it was because I was in the Crew.”

  “Nevaeh?” I guess.

  “Nevaeh, yeah, but she wasn’t the worst one.” His face darkens. “There was another girl who treated me like shit. I’m not saying I’m a saint. I’ve done shitty fucking things, including when I was with her, but she played me big time. The nice have never liked me.” He rubs the back of his neck. “When you actually wrapped those pretty little lips around my cock, I was shocked. I thought maybe you were fucking with me, too, because who would want me when there’s someone else?” He hikes his thumb toward the door as if he’s insinuating I would prefer Brawler.

  “Don’t say that,” I tell him. I wrap him in a hug. “I’m not playing you. I promise.”

  “Then you need to tell me what’s going on. I can’t stand that I don’t know shit.”

  “Okay,” I say, closing my eyes. It looks like I’m about to have that conversation with him right now. I don’t even have the chance to think about what comes from my mouth, I just have to come out with it. “The two things Brawler found in my apartment were a picture of my parents and a burner cell.”

  “Okay...”

  I push him back to the threadbare couch and straddle his lap. I place his hands on my hips and put my own on his chest. His heart thumps underneath his ribcage. “What he didn’t find was a gun that I also had stashed there.”

  Oscar’s lips thin. I can tell he’s trying to put all three of these things together in his head. How they’re linked. Why I had them. Why I really wanted them. However, to be honest, it’s not all that odd for people to be packing heat in the Heights.

  “The phone links me to my aunt and uncle who took over my care after my parents died. They don’t know why I’ve come here or even where I am specifically because it’s better that way. I don’t need this life knowing about them. They’re the only family I have left in the world.” I meet Oscar’s eyes, hesitant to go on.

  “You can tell me,” he says, sensing my apprehension.

  “It was difficult for me to tell Brawler too,” I say, trying to placate his worries. I blow out a breath. “It’s important no one knows about them because once I get another gun…” I shoot a glance toward the door and lower my
voice. “Once I get a gun, I’m going to kill Big Daddy K.”

  Oscar stills. Flashes of different emotions scatter over his face.

  “He murdered my parents when I was twelve,” I say, continuing to whisper. “He took everything from me, so I’m going to take everything from him.”

  I fill Oscar in on the finer details about my past and how it intersects with Kingston Marx on that fateful night. He irrevocably changed my life, but he didn’t realize it. He didn’t understand the monster he made in that moment. The wound festering inside me until I decided to do something about it.

  “Joanne?” Oscar laughs, his abs tightening under my touch.

  I glare at him. “They used to call me Jo, but yes, that’s my real name. This is all beside the point,” I say, temper flaring. “I’m not her anymore. I’m someone completely different.”

  He screws his face back to normal. “Right. Sorry. It’s just that name doesn’t suit you whatsoever.”

  I drop my head back. “Tell me when you’re ready to discuss the important shit I just told you.”

  Oscar grips my hips. “I love it when you get angry. It makes me hot.”

  I bring my head back up and glare at him. “Do you see why I was worried about telling you?”

  He slides a gaze to the door this time. Voice low, he asks, “Because you want to take out the biggest crime lord in this state? No, I can’t imagine why you didn’t want to say anything to me.”

  I glare at him, and he grins.

  “Princess,” he says, pushing the hair off my shoulder. “I thought you were crazy before, but now I know you’re certifiable.”

  I swallow. “I know you’re in the Crew, so I’m begging for your silence on this one. You can decide you don’t want to be mixed up in this certifiable crazy—”

  He pulls me down, pressing his lips to mine briefly to shut me up. “I like my chicks crazy.” He kisses me senseless for a few seconds and then lets me go. “You know I didn’t join the Crew out of any loyalty. I joined it out of sheer desperation. I had to. I had to protect myself and my mom.” His gaze hardens again. “A lot of fucking good that did because she can’t be here without getting mixed up in drugs. She was fine when she was in Spring Hill. Here? The moment we fucking got back, syringe in her arm like a damn crack whore.”

  I cup his face. “Is that where she is?”

  “I haven’t seen her in a month, Princess. The Crew pays my rent. When she gets like this, she stays away because she can’t stand for me to see her all doped up, but she isn’t strong enough to get out of it.”

  My heart fissures. “Can we send her to get help?”

  “I’ve tried in the past. It doesn’t take.”

  “Maybe the Crew will help her?”

  Oscar’s face darkens. “How do you think she gets the drugs, Princess? Nothing happens in the Heights that the Crew doesn’t control.”

  My mouth drops. I hadn’t thought of that.

  “They don’t advertise it,” he continues. “They have different levels of businesses. They have legal ones like some of the small businesses in the area like grocery stores and dress shops,” he says, pinning me with a look. “Then they have the illegal but not terrible ones like the underground fighting ring. Then they have the businesses that ruin people’s lives.”

  “How can you even stand to be around them when they’ve done that to your mother?”

  He traces his fingers over my skin absentmindedly. “I understand that it’s just business for them. Besides, it’s my mother who keeps putting the needle in her skin. They’re not standing over her with a gun to her head, telling her to shoot up or else. It would be easy to blame it on them, but ultimately, it’s her decision.”

  I run my hands through my hair and then clutch his shirt in my fingers. “I’m so sorry, Oscar.” I swallow. “And I’m so fucking sorry if I made you think you were anything less than what I feel for you.”

  A lot of people have let Oscar down. That’s the running theme in the Heights. Come here only if you want to be kicked in the nuts repeatedly.

  This place isn’t for me, and it’s not for the guys I care about. As soon as I end this, I’m taking them and their families away from here. We just have to make sure the job gets done before then, so there’s no one around to follow us. Like Johnny said, take out the big guys so the smaller ones are too afraid to regroup.

  The only problem is: I have feelings for one of the big guys, and I won’t sacrifice him either.

  A little voice in my head tells me I might be forced to. I try to kick its ass out of my brain, but I can’t.

  Depending on what happens, I might be the monster in this story.

  25

  After Brawler returns with snacks, we—including Magnum—sit and watch TV again. I don’t let him stay in the background. I make him sit next to us like he’s actually a part of our group. I’m sandwiched between Oscar and Brawler again though. Oscar’s fingers trail over my thigh, and Brawler’s feet rub mine absentmindedly. I can’t deny that my heart is full sitting here like this. It’s easy to forget how I met these two, and why I’m here. It’s more difficult to forget Johnny though. In a way, I do. I forget how pissed he would be if he found us like this, and instead just miss him.

  During a female fight, Oscar’s phone starts blowing up. Message after message pings through. He sighs, pulling it out of his pocket. I scoot closer to Brawler, putting my head on his arm. I don’t mean to peek over at Oscar’s phone. Okay, I kind of do. Not because I’m a jealous bitch, but because I’m wondering if the texts have something to do with the Crew. They don’t.

  “Who’s that?” I ask, referencing the girl named Jaz who keeps texting him. The picture next to her name is all cleavage.

  “A chick at school. Apparently, there’s a costume party at Candy’s tonight.”

  I share a look with Magnum. That’s interesting. They’re hosting events at the strip club that aren’t focused on naked dancers.

  “Could be fun,” Oscar says.

  I glare at him.

  He returns it, undisturbed by my murderous eyes. “I meant if we all go.”

  “You’re forgetting I can’t go anywhere,” I tell him. “With you guys,” I add even though a lot of the time it feels like I literally can’t go anywhere.

  He smirks. “You could to a costume party.”

  I sit up, and Brawler’s hand clenches in mine. Call me crazy, but I haven’t had the typical teenager life growing up. I haven’t been to many parties, and a costume party sounds like a hell of a good time. I can be whoever I want to be. I can dance with Oscar and Brawler. I can—

  “No,” Magnum says.

  I turn to look at him. “No?”

  “It’s a terrible idea.”

  Well, now that someone’s told me no, I think it’s a fucking great idea. I stand. “I’m going. You can come if you want.”

  He stands right along with me. The fight on TV already forgotten even though it was an evenly matched killer fight between two badass chicks. “Kyla, come on.”

  “We should live a little,” Oscar says, not helping the situation.

  “Don’t listen to him,” Mag grumbles.

  “Oh, come on.” Oscar gets to his feet now. “There are three of us. She’ll always be around one of us and no one will know who she is. Nothing will happen.”

  Mag implores me with his hazel-green eyes, but I’m all for this. I’m one hundred percent on board. Not just because I want to do this, but it will be good for Oscar and Brawler to get out too. To have fun.

  “That chick better not think you’re hers,” I say, sashaying away from Oscar.

  Brawler holds back on my arm. “I’m not sure it’s a great idea either.”

  I back up until I’m facing him and then rise to my tiptoes, kissing him solidly on the mouth. “Trust me,” I tell him.

  Oscar beams as Brawler’s shoulders relax.

  “Sucker,” he throws at him.

  Brawler flips him off, but Oscar’s right. “Do
n’t worry,” I say, pecking Brawler on the cheek. “Now I just need something to wear. No one will know it’s me.”

  I tap my chin, but Oscar runs to a room in the back of the apartment. Before long, he comes out with a Mardi gras like mask. It’s purple and silver. Almost bird-like. The nose comes out in front, a slight rounding on the end until it ends in a sharp point. Feathers plume off the top, and it sparkles in the light.

  I suck in a breath. “It’s beautiful.”

  “My mother went to a Halloween party when we were in Spring Hill. She wore this.”

  “I have just the dress to wear with that back at my place,” I say, anticipation starting in my feet and winding its way through my body. As long as I can keep the mask on, no one will know it’s me. It’ll be so dark in there, as well as the stage lights flashing, that it will be impossible. I look at Mag. “You’ll have to wear something too. You’re recognizable.”

  “This is a terrible idea,” he argues again.

  “I think it sounds amazing,” I say, not able to hold back. Butterflies flutter in my stomach? What? Just because I’m here on a revenge mission doesn’t mean I can’t have fun.

  “I’ve got something at my place for Mag,” Brawler says.

  I pop up and down on my toes. “This is going to be so much fun.”

  Brawler smiles softly while Magnum still looks less than pleased. He makes sure I know all about it as we head down the apartment steps to get in the car, me clutching onto the mask. “I’m just worried about your safety. I’m worried what will happen if someone spots you.”

  “No one will know it’s me. I promise.” I get in the car and wait for him to get in on the driver’s side. I’m acting overly confident on the outside, but I understand that it’s a risk. But, it’s a risk I’m willing to take. I haven’t been able to do anything since I got here, and being with the guys, makes me want to live. Maybe it’s a false sense of security, but I want to throw caution to the wind at least for one night.

  His jaw ticks. “I’d love to tell you no, but you’ll find a way to go anyway so let’s hope both of us are well-concealed.”