The Eastwood Series

by M. E. Clayton

  And then, this morning, when Mackenzie had arrived at school, watching her walk towards me, had me feeling things I never felt before. I’ve felt pride before when I’ve won a game. I’ve felt it when I’ve aced a test. I’ve felt it when my brother’s hit a homerun. I even felt it sometimes when I’d catch my father looking at my mother like she was the only other human being on the planet. Even though it got in the way of their parenting, there was a certain pride in knowing my father loved my mother the way he did.

  But I have never felt the burst of pride I felt when Mackenzie walked towards me and I had thought, ‘mine’.

  Then I was finally able to escort her to lunch. Then fifth period. Then sixth period, where I made Peter Douglas switch seats with me. Mackenzie had rolled her eyes, but she hadn’t objected. We had spent last break together as an uncomfortable cluster of new friends before heading to P.E. Amelia and Alistair had looked uncomfortable, while Raiden and Charlie had growled at each other, and Ford just grinned like a lunatic the entire time. I also had to warn Mackenzie that I probably wouldn’t be able to meet her after school while football season was going on, but she had assured me she didn’t mind.

  School was over for the day, and Ford, Raiden, and I had just reached our gym lockers for football practice when Erik Ovadia slammed the doors open and yelled, “Ridgeview is in the parking lot!”

  We all froze.

  “Did he just say-”

  “There’s only two reasons Ridgeview would be in our parking lot,” Ford said. “And since our game with them isn’t for another six weeks…”

  “Mackenzie,” I breathed out right before taking off in a run, Raiden and Ford behind me.

  Ridgeview was a twenty-minute drive over. That meant they would have had to skip their last class of the day and their own football practice, which I didn’t get. How could they get away with that? Coach Rawlins would have our asses if we pulled some shit like that.

  When I made it around the back of the school to the parking lot, two car-full and one truck-full of Ridgeview football players littered our parking lot. But what had gotten my attention was Brayden Mahoney standing in front of Mackenzie and Charlie, with a couple of his teammates behind him. And the closer I got, the more incensed I became.

  Mackenzie was shaking.

  I came up from behind her, and wrapping my arm around her stomach, pushed her behind me. I was a couple of inches taller than Brayden, so it gave me a perverse pleasure to be able to look down at him. “A little far from home, aren’t you, Mahoney?” I could hear thunder in the form of testosterone-filled footsteps behind me, and I knew the entire football team had followed me, Raiden, and Ford.

  The fucking prick had the nerve to smirk. “Just talking to my girl, Maddox.”

  I felt Mackenzie’s hands reach for the hem of the back of my shirt and twist in the fabric as her head dropped between my shoulder blades.

  As if she were hiding.

  Fists formed and my lip curled as I snarled, “You mean, my girl.”

  Brayden scoffed at my claim. “You might have her on loan, Maddox. But me and Mackenzie? We’re far from over.”

  I wanted to punch this motherfucker in his face, but the rage that consumed me felt deadly, and I didn’t trust myself with everyone’s phones out. But before I could tell him to go eat a dick, Mackenzie slid out from behind me.

  And I hated that.

  I hated that he got to lay his eyes on her. I hated that he had her first. Hell, I hated that he’d had her at all. But, most of all, I hated that I couldn’t fight this fight for her. I could scream it to the Heavens that she was mine, but unless she did it, everyone would paint her as some cock tease using two guys for her own amusement.

  “We’re broken up, Brayden,” she said loud enough for the people nearby to hear. “We broke up way back in May.” She reached out and grabbed my hand in hers. “We are over, Brayden. We’ve been over.”

  I stood there as the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Something was going on here. Something…something bigger than a teenage couple who had broken up. I saw it in the way Brayden stared at her. I heard it in the way she tried to sound strong, but her voice wavered a bit.

  Brayden really was here for Mackenzie. And you could see it in the way his eyes fixated on her face.

  I pushed her behind me again. I might not know what was going on, but there was no way I was going to let Brayden Mahoney get near Mackenzie ever again. I heard footsteps behind me, and I knew Raiden and Ford had taken up her sides, enclosing her around us.

  “You heard her, Mahoney,” I said. “But in case you didn’t, let me reiterate.” I straightened to my full height. “She said it’s over between you two. And if it wasn’t before, it sure as fuck is now, because Mackenzie is mine.”

  You could see the hate and fury on his face. He wanted to hit me, but he knew he couldn’t win. Even if I wasn’t stronger, faster, and better with my fists, I had Mackenzie to fight for. No way would I lose a fight with this piece of shit if she were the prize.

  But before any fists could fly, Coach Rawlins and several teachers came running outside. As soon as some of the Ridgeview players recognized Coach Rawlins, they quickly started to get back in their vehicles and turn on their engines. Even Brayden’s muscle behind him knew it was time to leave.

  “Come on, Brayden,” one of them said. “You can talk to her another time.”

  My eyes never left Mahoney’s. “Over my fucking dead body,” I growled.

  “What’s all this? What’s going on?” Coach Rawlins asked as he finally made his way to stand between me and Brayden. “I think you boys need to head on back to Ridgeview, now.”

  Brayden glanced up at Coach and a smile slithered across his face. “Sure thing, Coach Rawlins.” He tried to peek around me to get a look at Mackenzie, but she was protected on all sides. It didn’t stop him, though, from saying, “I’ll be seeing you around, Mackenzie.”

  Everyone stood on high alert until we could no longer see the tail end of their cars or hear their revved-up motors. Once they were gone, Coach Rawlins turned around and looked at me. “I want everyone on the field in ten minutes, Maddox,” he snapped. “And then, you and I are going to have a little chat after practice. Go it?”

  I gave him a terse nod. “Got it, Coach.”

  He walked away from me shouting, “Show’s over everyone! Get back to whatever you were doing before your lives were consumed with recording everything!” Everyone started dispersing, but a few hung back purely for gossiping purposes.

  I turned around and Mackenzie was already looking up at me, and she looked scared.

  I was going to kill that motherfucker.

  “Charlie!” Ford stepped aside, and Charlie was being ushered into the circle. My eyes still on Mackenzie, I told Charlie, “We need to get to practice. I’ll take Mackenzie home.”

  “Samson, I can take h-”

  My eyes shot to hers. “No fucking way is she leaving here without me. For all I know, those assholes could be parked around the block waiting for you guys.”

  “Oh,” she whispered quietly. “Uhm, okay. I…uh, I can drive-”

  Raiden’s scoff interrupted her. “No way, babe,” he said. “Call your mom or whatever you need to do, because your ass is going to be sitting next to Mackenzie’s on the bleachers until we’re done.”

  “You can’t tell me what to do,” she snapped up at him. And Raiden surprised us all by doing the one thing we’ve never seen him do before.

  He was giving a fuck about a girl.

  “So help me God, you either get your ass to the field or I will drag you myself, swear to God!”

  I pulled Mackenzie into my arms.

  What a fucking clusterfuck.

  Chapter 11

  Mackenzie~

  Brayden and his team had left over half an hour ago, but I still couldn’t get my hands to stop shaking.

  I never knew what I’d feel if I ever saw Brayden again, but I had felt fear. I had tried not to, but it
was the first emotion that attacked me when I saw him get out of his truck and walked towards me. I knew he wouldn’t do anything with people standing around, but that hadn’t impacted my first initial reaction to seeing him again.

  And then, I had hidden behind Samson like a coward.

  That’s what really bothered me most. I had let a guy fight a battle for me that he had no idea he was fighting. I may have made a stand when I announced that we were broken up for good, but even after that, I let Samson push me back behind him and let Ford and Raiden protect me as well.

  I also knew I was going to have to tell Samson the truth. He deserved to know. Hell, he needed to know, so he could decide if this was something he wanted to get involved with. Between Shondra’s text yesterday and Brayden showing up at Eastwood, it was clear he wasn’t done with me.

  When Brayden had walked up to me and told me I was looking good, it hadn’t been a compliment. He had wanted to find me destroyed, ruined. I hadn’t been, though. And worse, I hadn’t been alone. When Brayden had finally found me, he had found me with the support of Samson Maddox and the entire Eastwood football team.

  Charlie sat next to me on the bleachers as we watched the Eastwood Tigers’ football practice. I didn’t know much about football, but the coach still seemed pissed and it looked rough out there. Charlie also hasn’t said much since Raiden went to pick her up fireman-style and she had yelled at him that she could walk. I wasn’t sure what was going on there, but it seemed intense. But Charlie having to deal with Raiden Cruz made her another person who deserved the truth. If it weren’t for me moving to Eastwood and becoming Samson Maddox’s…girl, Charlie wouldn’t have Raiden all up in her business.

  “He hit me,” I finally confessed.

  I could see Charlie turned to look at me through my peripheral vision. “What?”

  “Brayden,” I clarified. “He would hit me sometimes. It’s why I left Ridgeview.”

  “Oh, Mackenzie,” she whispered, her voice sounding as heartbroken as I used to feel.

  “I started about six months before I broke up with him,” I started to explain. “I wanted to take our relationship to the next personal level and told him I wanted to…try giving him a blowjob.” I let out a hollow laugh, and leaned forward, my elbows resting on my knees, my hands intertwined with anxiety. “Can you believe it? He backhanded me for offering to give him a blow job.”

  “Mack-”

  “He said he wanted a girlfriend he could marry, not a whore begging for dick in her mouth,” I continued. “The worst part? I didn’t buy into his apology later. I didn’t blame myself, or think I deserved it. I put up with it for as long as I did because my mom worked for Brayden’s father in one of his hotels. Without that job, we would have had nothing.”

  “Motherfucker,” Charlie hissed under her breath, and I knew she was referring to my father. Charlie knew the story. She knew her uncle left me and my mom to fend for ourselves years ago. He did pay child support, but only because it had been court mandated during their divorce. The judge had been rather particular about child support.

  “The final straw had come when I caught him cheating, and confronted him about it,” I said, continuing with my shame. I shook my head. “It had been horrible the way he talked about those girls. He said he had to get his dick wet somewhere and he wasn’t going to…sully me with the things he wanted to do. All those girls he’d been with, they were just whores and good for one thing only. That they didn’t mean anything beyond that.”

  “Jesus. What a bastard.”

  I nodded and turned my head to finally look at her. “He said I was too…precious to fuck…”

  Charlie’s head reared back. “But you weren’t too precious to hit?”

  I chuckled. “Right?” I turned my head back towards the field. “Anyway, it was the first time I ever threatened to leave him. I told him I was breaking up with him, and he lost it. Usually his abuse was limited to the body parts I could cover up. But that time, he had flown into such a rage, he struck me in my face over, and over again.” I glanced over at her and lifted my bangs to reveal the scar. “There was no way I could hide it anymore.” I shrugged a shoulder. “And, quite frankly, I didn’t want to. So, I told my mom everything, and the next day, your dad was at our house, helping us…figure it all out.”

  “Does my dad know?”

  I shook my head. “No. I was afraid he’d want to go to the police, and I…I wasn’t strong enough for a fight I wasn’t going to win. It would have been Brayden’s word against mine and he had the money to fight it.” I let out a deep breath. “I had just wanted to escape, Charlie. At the time, my freedom and safety were more important than justice.”

  “I’m surprised your mother didn’t kill him,” she remarked.

  “I’m sure she wanted to,” I huffed. “But she chose to let me take control of the situation rather than control it for me. And I needed that. I needed it to be my decision.”

  “Are you going to tell Samson?”

  “I have to,” I told her. “Brayden showing up here changes everything.”

  “Mack, Samson’s going to kill Brayden once he knows,” she said seriously. “Even if you weren’t his girlfriend at the time, Samson’s kind of psychopathic like that. You saw him earlier. He looked ready to kill Brayden just for looking at you. Once he finds out that Brayden used to abuse you? He’s going to lose his ever lovin’ mind.”

  I looked back at her. “I have to tell him, Charlie,” I replied. “He has to know what he’s in for if he decides to continue to date me. I-”

  Her brows shot up. “‘Decides to continue to date you’? Are you blind, Mack? Samson Maddox has never had a girlfriend before you came along. And he snatched you up on the first freakin’ day of school. Whatever you’ve done to that boy, he’s not going to let Brayden Mahoney keep you from him.”

  “Do you remember the football game between Ridgeview and Eastwood last year?”

  “Yeah, who doesn’t? It was the biggest brawl the teams had ever had.”

  “That was the first time I’d ever seen Samson,” I told her. “And…and we had a…moment.”

  “Holy Jehovah Witness,” she muttered. “You’re the reason Samson was standing out on the field after the fight. You’re the reason it took a million people to drag him back to the sidelines.”

  “I think so,” I admitted. “Our meeting had been…intense.”

  Charlie ran her hands down her face as I turned back towards the field again. “Well, it all makes sense now,” she mumbled. “Why Samson went after you the way he did yesterday. And why you accepted him so readily.”

  “You know, a part of me thought not pressing charges would make it all go away,” I admitted. “I thought I could tuck it back into a long-forgotten mistake.” I dropped back on the bench. “I’m going to have to tell my mom Brayden was in Eastwood. Christ.”

  “I won’t say anything,” Charlie replied. “I mean, to my mom and dad. I won’t say anything if-”

  I looked over at her. “It’s okay. I’m going to tell them. I have to, Charlie. Like I said, Brayden coming here changes everything.” My head dropped back in exhaustion. “I know we’re moving out in a couple of weeks, but as long as we’re staying with you guys, everyone in the household deserves to know. For safety, if nothing else, Charlie.”

  “Well, I got you,” she announced. “If that asshole thinks I won’t rip off his balls, well, then, he doesn’t know shit.”

  I barked out a laugh. “Well, aren’t you a blood thirsty wench.”

  “People just don’t understand how aggressive soccer is,” she replied absently.

  After a few moments of silence, as we watched the guys still practice, I said, “I think I’m going to have to let Duke, Raiden, and Ford in on my little secret, too.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they’re more than just friends, Charlie,” I told her. “I’ve only been here for two days and I can see that. They’ll back Samson blindly like they did earlier when t
hey surrounded me. They deserved to be able to make the informed choice to back Samson on this or not.”

  Charlie snorted. “I don’t know what kind of guys Ridgeview is turning out, but no guy at Eastwood would stand for that shit, even if you weren’t Samson Maddox’s girlfriend.”

  I ignored her comparison of the towns’ males, and instead asked, “What’s going on with you and Raiden Cruz, Charlie?”

  She laughed. “Nothing I’m going to fall for, that’s for sure.”

  “You don’t think he’s worth taking a chance on?”

  “Hell no,” she replied incredulously. “Even if I didn’t fear that my vagina would rot off after all the girls he’s been with, senior year is the year to have fun and do me.” I just laughed and did my best to erase the visual of her vagina rotting off.

  Chapter 12

  Samson~

  Practice had been brutal, and so had the meeting with Coach Rawlins. Apparently, I’ve been such a dick when it came to girls, that even he heard about me finally having a girlfriend. I told him the truth, of course, and he demanded full concentration and absolute focus during the upcoming season. I assured him he’d have it and threw in the promise of one kidney and my spleen if I failed him.

  Then there was the whole Raiden and Charlie thing. On the way to talked to Coach, I had returned Duke’s texts, letting him know everything was okay for now, but on the way back to the field after my meeting, I could hear Ford laughing, and Charlie and Raiden arguing about Camaros being overrated, of all things. I think she really just hated him and was attacking his car on principle.

  Once I reached the bleachers, it was decided that I’d take Mackenzie home while Raiden and Ford would follow Charlie home. Raiden had said, as a gentleman, it was his responsibility to walk her to her door, to make sure she was safe.

  Charlie had told him to go eat a dick.

  “Where are we going?”

  I turned down a gravel driveway that led to a clearing in the woods. It was an incredibly beautiful spot that was often used for community events. Town picnics, annual Easter egg hunt, etc. happened in the clearing, but it was also a place to get your dick sucked at night if you had nowhere else to go.