by Angel Lawson
“Sit here,” I say, patting the bench next to me. He smiles and eases into the seat, our legs brushing as he settles in. I tense, and then feel another touch—a hand—Gray’s, resting on my thigh.
One thing is for certain: we’re trapping the devil together.
14
Eden
We fall back into our positions easily, like we’d never stopped the loose charade. I don’t jump at the slight, familiar touch of their hands. I don’t blush at Gray’s winks, run from Theo’s special smile, or take offense at Hawk’s seductive, yet defensive posturing. The K-Boys are like a puzzle and I’m the last piece.
Most of the Sparrowood students don’t seem to notice. We’d established ourselves firmly the month before. The only questioning look we get is from Dorian, whose eyes watch our movements closely. Curiously.
Is he upset no one ran this by him? I can’t tell if his behavior comes from the fact he’s our contact at the school or because ultimately, he’s the leader of the boys. He may say those days are over, but I increasingly doubt it.
Trip is the hardest part of this. I loathe him. Every moment I’m with him, I fight the urge to wrap my hands around his neck and throttle him for the information I need. Admittedly, a little bit of my venom comes from the fact he’s appealing physically. I can’t deny he’s handsome. Fit. He’s a perfect specimen, created to confuse and control. I have to fight to keep my wits around him, because he has a way of drawing me and everyone else in.
I force my way through my dislike and convince Mrs. Ryland to swap him in as my lab partner in science so I can spend more time with him.
One of the perks at a school like Sparrowood is the classroom supplies. Everything is new, clean, and shiny. Microscopes, test tubes, chemicals, and safety equipment. Trip stands next to me holding two beakers filled with clear liquid. Our eyes are covered by goggles and we’re wearing gloves. He’s smart—of course he is—isn’t that how privilege works? Attractive, smart, calculating.
“Did you know my older brother decided to be a chemistry major in college?”
“I didn’t even know you had an older brother.”
“Colton,” he says, measuring out a compound. “He says he wants to be an engineer, but I really think he’s just perfecting his formula for LSD.”
“Sounds like corruption runs in the family.” I smile when I say it, like I find it charming.
“It’s a dominant gene, handed down by my great-grandfather.”
“I guess we all have to embrace what we’re good at.”
He looks over at me. “If I had to guess, I’d say the dominant gene in the Warren family is an independent streak.”
“Back home, maybe,” I say, easing into the conversation. “Here, I’ve had to make some concessions.”
“Like what?”
“Living with rules, wearing these stupid uniforms, being part of the pack.” I watch as he pours the compound in the beaker. “Your cousin pushed me into a tight spot. I was forced to reassess.”
“For the record, I’m a fan of the uniform.”
I ignore the way his eyes skim down my legs. “You know how I felt about the K-Boys back home. I didn’t like them any more than I liked—”
“Me?” he says, cutting me off, with a smug grin.
“Yeah, you and the rest of the Brats.”
“You don’t like people with more power than you.”
I swallow. “I didn’t, but once I got here and saw how things worked, I changed my mind.”
“So that’s why you’re so…close to the guys now.”
“I fought it,” I say, sighing, “hard. But you know how it is back home. We’re bonded from our shared experiences and with Luke and Camille determined to take me down, I needed backup. It didn’t hurt that they’re familiar.” I give him a look from the side. “Kind of like you.”
“So you don’t hate me anymore?”
The question lands like a punch and I feel like I’m betraying myself, my sister, my everything by getting into this with him. I shake it off and say, “I had time to cool off. I forgave Hawk. I can forgive you.”
“And the guys? You know we never really got along in Kingston. They thought I was a—”
“Poser. A Brat. Yeah. We all did.” I laugh at the offended expression on his face. “They’re willing to move on.” I lower my voice. “Hawk asserted dominance at the fight. Luke is gone. Phillip and Adam have been contained. The K-Boys are looking to expand their interests in the school.”
That one little sentence catches his attention.
I continue, “You know they’re basically thugs. Here on some kind of juvenile release program. I lucked out and got caught up with them that night. Who knew it would lead us here—and back to you. It feels like fate.” I brush the back of my hand against his. “They may be criminals but they’re not stupid. Use them, even if it’s just for muscle. Expand whatever it is that you’ve got going on in here.”
“Soldiers. I can always use more.” He pushes his goggles on top of his head, revealing his twinkling eye. “What do you get out of this relationship?”
I tell the truth. “Status. Protection. Reputation.”
“And them?”
I will the blush off my cheeks. A girl in control isn’t shy about this kind of thing. “Whatever they want.”
He pulls back down his goggles and adds in the final part of the mixture, swirling it around. It bubbles and fizzes, which is exactly what is supposed to happen, leading Mrs. Ryland to come over and give us a check. Trip pulls off his gloves and removes his goggles, sitting back on the lab stool, watching me closely.
“What?” I ask, removing my gloves.
“I’m just surprised.” For a moment, I worry he’s onto me. Onto us, but he continues, “You’re much more like your sister than I ever imagined.”
15
Eden
We square off on the black mat, his dark eyes holding mine. He’d taken off the jacket, much to the girls' pleasure, revealing the toned, fit body we all suspected was underneath. It makes him seem bigger, scarier, and when we’re paired off, I sense some of the wild boy that used to run the streets.
“Are you holding back?” I taunt, bracing myself for his attack.
His eyes assess my body, giving me chills. An instinctive warning.
He lunges, and I twist, using the move he’d shown me. I jab with my elbow. Stomp with my heel. Smash with the butt of my hand.
He grunts in pain.
“Ha!” I gloat, thinking I’ve got the upper hand. It’s fleeting, because in an instant later, my throat is in the crook of his elbow, and my arm is twisted behind my back. I cry out—mostly in frustration as he forces me into submission.
“You got distracted,” he says in my ear. My heart pounds in reaction. “Never underestimate your attacker. Don’t stop until you’re safe.”
He releases me and nods to the mat on the opposite side of the room. It’s marked “safe” and where we’re supposed to go instead of celebrating our win two feet away.
“Got it,” I say, feeling a little admonished.
“There are times to take risks, Ms. Warren, being safe isn’t one of them.” There’s a knowing look in his eye, something he wants to say, but won’t. I know he’s been watching me with the K-Boys, with Trip.
“What if you’ve got back up?”
“If they’re aware of the circumstances, and you’ve established trust, then that may lower the risk, sure.”
He hates being left out of this. “Everything’s fine, Dorian. We know what we’re doing.”
He clenches his jaw. “You’d tell me otherwise?”
Maybe.
Sometimes I want to tell him everything. About Hope. About Trip. About how he makes me feel. Other times I know it’s terrifying. Premature. Inappropriate.
He holds my eye for one more long moment and then shouts out, “Melissa! You’re next.”
I stumble off the mat toward the bleachers where the other girls are sitting, waiting their turn.
“Seriously, I’d swoon if he looked at me like that,” Rochelle agrees. “I may just let him attack me on purpose. I bet he smells so good.”
“Just giving me some pointers,” I reply, taking a drink from my water bottle. “And it’s something warm, like bottled-up manliness.”
“Huh?” Rochelle asks.
“The way he smells. His shirt, his skin, everything.”
She smiles knowingly. “Yeah, that’s the best.”
I don’t smile back but she’s right. It really is.
That night, we hang out in the lounge. The guys play video games in the corner. The girls go over some of the moves from the class. There’s been a slight yet noticeable shift with the females at the school. Less fighting and backstabbing, more connection. My goal had been to bond the girls together. Other than a few outliers still loyal to Luke and Camille, it seems to have worked.
The K-Boys are huddled in a corner. They’d established this space a few weeks ago, lifting furniture from around the academy and positioning it how they like. It’s almost set up like a throne room, with a high back chair in the middle. Hawk sits in the chair, I sit in his lap. Theo and Gray sit within reach. A leather chair is added to round out the circle. Trip.
Things get handsy during these little gatherings. Someone, usually Hawk, is always touching me. It’s an assertion of his authority and a threat to Trip. No one gets to me unless given permission. I want to be offended, but his firm, yet gentle, touch stirs up a longing in my belly. Twice I’ve followed Gray back to the dark stairwell and kissed him thoroughly, leaving us both panting and wanting more.
Tonight, Hawk’s arm circles around my waist, and his hand is on my leg, thumb making small circles on my inner thigh. With every sweep, I can’t help but feel the heat between his legs, the reaction he has to me. It’s subtle. Understandable. He’s male. Human. Horny.
They’re talking about a party—something Trip has planned off campus. I try to focus but concentrating is almost impossible while he’s doing that.
“When is this?” I ask.
“Thursday night. After curfew.”
“On a school night?” That seems risky.
“The rest of the world doesn’t operate on school time, Eden.”
The boys act casual when he speaks, but I know they’re filing away everything. I know that if I can get off campus, the more likely I can find information about Hope.
“It just seems risky,” I say with a shrug.
“If you’re going to be part of my business, then you have to be ready to take risks.” He smiles at the group but his eyes are on me. “The rewards are worth it.”
I have a feeling he and I have different ideas on what we find rewarding.
“We can do it,” Hawk says, hand tightening on my leg. “Playing school-boy is boring.”
“It’s a necessary evil,” Trip agrees. “You’ve acclimated well, and from what I can tell, no one knows you enrollment here a complete farce.”
Everyone sits up straighter and Hawk’s grip, it intensifies.
Trip inspects his fingernails. “I haven’t told anyone, and I won’t. You’ve done a good job defining your brand here. I have no interest in upturning that. It’s evidence of how much they hated my cousin that only a few remain loyal to him.” He nods across the room at Phillip and Adam. “They’re leeches though, if anything, I think most everyone is just jealous.” He shifts his focus back to me. “But only because they want to know what it’s like to fuck Eden Warren.”
Gray and Theo stand, moving with such speed that others in the room look over. Hawk sits still, rage rolling off in waves. He opens his mouth to speak but I hold up a hand. Trip really wants to know why I haven’t been with him. “Let them wonder all they want, but since you’re new you may not realize there’s a hierarchy, starting with Hawk. You’re at the bottom.”
“I don’t mind being the bottom.” His grin is slow to appear but calm. He stands, giving Theo and Gray a bored look. “Thursday night. It can be all or a few of you. I don’t care, but Eden has to go.”
“Why her?”
Trip laughs. “Because I don’t trust any of you yet, but I know none of you will do anything stupid if she’s with you.”
He walks off and after a beat, Hawk loosens his grip.
“I hate him,” he mutters.
“We all do,” Gray says, taking his seat. He looks at me. “You sure you’re okay with this?”
I have no problem at all, nothing other than the fact that being so close to Hawk is making me insane. “It’s fine.” I stand, eyes sweeping over Gray. “If our display is over for tonight, I’ve got some homework I really should do.”
I grab my bag and head down the hall, turning the corner at the stairwell. I wait for a heartbeat and it doesn’t take much longer than that before Gray appears, with his tie loosened and sexy, making my heart beat like a manic drum in my chest.
I grab him and his mouth is on mine and we fall into a steady rhythm. He bites my bottom lip and I breathe hard.
“Good thing I’m all about busting up the hierarchy,” he says, fingers digging into my sides.
“I had to tell him something, and you guys wanted this arrangement. The least I can do is take advantage of the rules.”
I feel the hard bulge in his pants, large and intimidating. What we’re doing is foolish, but they wind me up all day and I have to have some kind of easy release. His fingers push under my skirt, inching up, and grazing the elastic of my panties.
“That’s enough,” I whisper in his ear. It stops with kissing. For now.
I’m not sure how long I’m going to hold out.
Gray’s fingers inch away, and his tongue slips into my mouth. I thread my hands into his hair. I know Hawk doesn’t give a shit about the two of us doing this. He doesn’t want to claim me for his own—that much he’s made clear—because if he really wanted to assert his power, his dominance, the rest of us would fall in line. Me included.
That’s how I know.
But it’s also why I draw the line and I take out my frustration on Gray instead, because despite what he claims, he’s the easiest of them all, and right now that’s what I need.
16
Theo
The change feels like diving in water. The first contact like a good slap in the face. Cool. Refreshing. Awakening. Then the cold hits your balls, rendering them useless. Finally, there’s the feeling of submersion, senses heightened but stifled. That phase lasts until the air runs out.
Then? It’s drowning.
Trip eases in the group like he’s always belonged. In a way he probably has. Sure, he’s rich and a Brat. A poser trying to be tough with soft hands, but as we’ve learned at Sparrowood, the line between us is thin. Stepping back over the line into questionable territory is definitely more comfortable than playing righteous informant.
Eden, more than my brothers, notices.
“What do you think about this party he wants us to go to?” she asks, clinging to the side of the pool. It’s progress. We’re in the deep end, and if she lets go of the wall, she won’t be able to touch. I tread water nearby; ready and waiting.
“I think it’s a test,” I reply. “To see if we’re really legit about this.”
She dips the back of her hair into the water and it spreads around her like a dark halo. “Makes sense.”
“But it’s probably the first step into gaining his trust. Saying no or backing out would stop this deal before we started.”
“What do you think he’ll want us to do?”
“Back in the Park it would have been about showing loyalty. Stealing something. Picking a fight. Carrying a weapon. Hooking up with a girl.” I look away from her eyes and down to the other end of the pool. “Trying the product.”
Her hand grips the tile edge of the pool. “He’ll want us to use?”
I shrug. “Maybe. Probably.”
“Then you can’t go.
”
See, this is where things get tricky. She’s right. So right. I can’t. But I want to, so bad. That itch, it wants to be scratched and the opportunity is here, laid out like the yellow brick road. “I don’t think it’s that easy, Princess.”
She looks at me, eyebrows furrowed, and suddenly, surprisingly, pushes off the wall. She flails toward me and on instinct I reach for her, giving her something to hold on to. The move makes my heart leap, shocked she did it—confused about why.
“Theo—”
“I’ve got you,” I say, finding her arm in the splash of water and pulling her to me. Her arms wrap around my neck, her legs around my waist. Our chests press together, and I feel her heart beating like a hummingbird’s wings.
“What was that?” I ask, holding us both afloat, hyper-aware of the slick feel of our closeness.
“A test.”
I frown. “What are you talking about?”
She nods and presses her forehead to mine. I’m not sure if it’s out of fear or what, but it’s a good thing I’m occupied swimming for the two of us or I may lose control. “I trust you, Theo. Do you trust me?”
I have no idea why she’s asking, but I nod, feeling her breath on my face. “I do.”
She presses her lips to my forehead and with strength I didn’t know she possessed, she pushes away to head back to the shallow end, swimming independently for the first time. I watch her, aware, there, seconds away if she needs me.
17
Eden
“The business really took off when I started the apps. I don’t know how to make them myself. I have a guy that does that. I pay him in weed, sometimes Percocet, which is fine by me. Less papertrail.”
Trip’s a few feet ahead of me leading me in the dark, with only the flashlight of his phone. I move quickly, too quickly, trying to keep up. I’m not used to nature like this. Or the absolute dark. I’m a city kid.
“The InstaPic is a good way to communicate at school, too. All I need is a room number and amount. One of my guys take their order, be it drugs, drink, tests,” he gives me a cheeky grin, “or pussy, I can have it in their hands in minutes. I like to think I have impeccable service.”