A girl bumped up next to me, hitting my hip with hers as she lifted her arms. Her long blonde hair had blue tips that brushed her waist. While dancing around me, she called above the music, “You’ve got the Jamesons watching you. I don’t know what you did, but I don’t envy you.” She glanced subtly over her shoulder then looked back at me with an arched eyebrow. “Or maybe I do.” She bopped her head to the side and then back to me.
I matched her movements, dancing in a semi-circle as we rounded out the other. “You’re in my statistics class. Aren’t you going to get in trouble being on Timbercreek territory?” Why wasn’t Stryker yelling at the girl in front of me? He seemed to save all his anger for me.
She laughed, throwing back her head and grabbing my shoulder. “No, girl. I’m not on their radar, thank you very much. That seems to be your place.” She fell into a side-to-side step and held out her hand. “I’m Jenny Davies. I’m also in your yoga class.” She smirked and shook her head. “Not that you want to be in yoga and not that I blame you. Jameson High is nothing if not sexist, that’s for sure.”
“Why is that?” As much as Timbercreek had seemed lost in the Middle Ages, Jameson had them beat hands down.
“I don’t know for sure. The Jameson Boys run everything. What they aren’t over, their uncle controls. Take it with a grain of salt when they show any interest toward you. Gunner is known to be a bit of a playboy.” Anger flashed in her eyes and I couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy coursing through me. I couldn’t claim all of them, let alone one.
I almost laughed at the direction of my thoughts. I peeked at Stryker with his arms still folded, ignoring the girl dancing on him. His eyes hadn’t strayed from me and his lips were firmly pressed together. I held his gaze while talking toward Jenny. “Do you think he would notice if I took all my clothes off?”
Her sharp laughter grabbed Gunner’s attention and his gaze tripped toward her, narrowing when he found her and then me. Something in his eyes told me he didn’t like us talking.
That made Jenny more appealing in my eyes.
I twirled to the side, hidden from the Jameson eyes by a group of dancers. Jenny followed. “They notice everything you do, Gray. I wouldn’t be surprised if they killed anyone who looked at you naked.” She smirked and bumped against a random guy dancing with two other girls.
“Noted. I’m going to see if I can escape.” I cocked my head to the side and wiggled my fingers her direction. I’d see her at school Monday or I wouldn’t. After being burned by Sara so recently, I wasn’t going to get tied to any new friends. I wasn’t sure who I could trust.
I continued dancing but edged my way around the perimeter of the dance floor, sticking to the shadows until I hit the hallway. Breaking into an easy stride, I swung my arms and passed Bruce with a pat on his rear. “Thanks, man.” I winked and ignored the line of hopeful partiers.
“Anytime, Asher.” Bruce called out after me and I knew he meant it, but using my last name, he’d tried to get attention to the fact that one of his fighters had just left. Tossing my name around was just another ploy for more PR.
I shook my head, pausing by the corner of the building and taking a deep breath.
Cool late-night air sent goosebumps down my arms. I hadn’t dressed warm enough to be outside at that time of year. Especially for the inland northwest.
I reached up, brushing my hand through my long hair. Someone grabbed my wrist, wrenching it to the side. I glanced over, falling into my base stance which gave me more balance and was also my fighting stance. Yanking my arm free, I glared at Blaze who stood in front of me. “What do you want?”
A normal girl wouldn’t have been outside a dance club by herself in the middle of the night or standing in the shadows of the building. A normal girl would be inside with a group of other girls, safety in numbers, or at least sticking to the lit areas as she waited with friends.
Thankfully, I wasn’t a normal girl. I wasn’t afraid of almost anything. Nothing could hurt me. Not more than my own mom abandoning me. Not more than losing a fight.
I could feel the adrenaline rush at the thought that maybe Blaze was going to challenge me, there in the parking lot. After the way he’d treated me and turned his back on me, after he’d labeled me frigid with Jameson High, I wanted nothing more than to pound the living daylights out of him.
I curled my fingers into my palms, ready to unleash on him with all of the frustration coursing through my muscle fibers.
Blaze held up his hands, his eyes searching my face. “Hey, I need to talk to you. You can kick my ass later.” As if he sensed that wasn’t enough to persuade me to stop, he continued, lowering his voice and forcing concern to cover his features. “I’m sorry for what I said. I just… you jumped down my throat for no reason. Look, it’s about Sara. We really need to talk.”
Sara. Part of me wanted to ignore anything he could say about her. She’d abandoned me when I needed her. What could he possibly say to me that I would care about? Another part of me would bet anything that he and Sara were screwing behind my back. For how long? I couldn’t see straight with the fury that raked over me at the thought of her betraying me like that.
I locked my jaw and spoke through clenched teeth. “What could you possibly say that I would care about?”
Blaze sighed, running his hand down his face. “Sara’s uncle is back.” He didn’t mince words, probably sensing that I wasn’t waiting long before throwing a punch.
But I stopped. The tension in my muscles shifting from primed to act to spasming in a holding pattern. Her uncle? He was supposed to be in prison. What did that mean? What could she possibly be thinking? What was she going through? She must be terrified.
I didn’t want to ask Blaze the details. I couldn’t. There was no more trust there, but what if that’s all that was wrong? What if Blaze and Sara weren’t calling me or texting me back because they were both trying to deal with the uncle problem? If that was the case, my guilt would be all-consuming.
My hands shook and I tucked them at my sides as I stared at Blaze. His features softened as he studied me.
He lowered his voice and relaxed his stance. “I didn’t think you’d care after that display in there. She was so upset. She hasn’t stopped crying.”
“Why didn’t she tell me? Why couldn’t she call me and let me know? I could… I don’t know.” How could I have helped her? I had no idea what I was doing or what was going on, and I’d never felt more helpless.
Blaze folded his arms, his defenses down as he gave me a once over. “Really? What could you do? You’ve been dealing with your own drama, Gray. You’re trying to fit into a school that doesn’t want you.” He stepped closer, thrusting a finger toward the ground, anger suddenly twisting his lips. “You want to know why I told them that? I want you back at Timbercreek.” He flailed his hand in the direction of Idaho from where he stood. “They don’t deserve you over there. They can’t appreciate you.”
I couldn’t figure out if he was telling me the truth or not. I couldn’t discern sincerity through the worry over Sara flooding my senses. Rather than add more to my guilt, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Folding my arms across my chest, I swallowed. “You know I can’t stay at Timbercreek.”
Blaze’s breath wafted across the edge of my chilly neck. “You need to remember that Timbercreek is the best boxing team in the nation. Don’t forget that, Gray.” His eyes scanned my face and he ducked back to whisper in my ear. “You’ve left us and we’re going to get Letesha on the team somehow. I don’t have to tell you; she’s gunning for you.”
Letesha LaCroiz. Great. Timbercreek wasn’t the most diverse school in Washington, but it was just diverse enough the students with ethnic backgrounds cornered the market on exotic. She had curves, wide brown eyes, and she smelled like cinnamon. Sometimes I hated her.
All that, and yet, Letesha was a badass. She knew what she was doing with her fists and I’d always liked her. We’d gotten along just fine in Biology and in practice,
but she wasn’t on the team because there wasn’t enough room for more than one girl.
A shiver coursed over me at the thought that I was no longer on the team and I’d be pitted against someone I’d considered a friend. “But the boxing funds were out for the girls to be on the team. That’s why we had to move.” That and the fact that my dad lost his job. That’s what Dad had said.
Blaze scoffed. “Yeah, you keep saying that, sweetheart, but my dad is on the board. There was nothing mentioned about getting rid of girls on the team. There was even mention about expanding. Someone is lying and my dad wouldn’t benefit from being dishonest about that. He’d have no reason to know why I’m interested, so why hold anything back?”
I shook my head, the chilly night air wiggling its way under the strands of hair grazing my shoulders. “You never told him.” Blaze had never told his dad about me. He was supposed to and there I just found out he hadn’t. That was one way to find out I didn’t matter much.
“It hasn’t been the right time.” He reached up, something like sorrow in his eyes. “Don’t worry about it. You keep me informed on what the Jameson team is doing, their strategies, their practices, and I’ll make sure Letesha caves in the ring.” His whispered suggestion made my blood run like ice through my veins.
He would cheat, if I let him know what the team was doing at Jameson? I waited for him to say he was kidding, but his tone told me it wasn’t coming.
What exactly was I supposed to do? How did I tell him to go screw himself when I was so emotionally conflicted about everything?
He reached out and I flinched before his knuckles could graze my cheek. I didn’t want him to touch me. I didn’t want him to do anything to me. The confusion around Blaze was something I didn’t want to deal with. It wasn’t fair. I’d already written him off the last few days and that he thought he could treat me the way he had and then turn around and act like I was still his?
Blaze tilted his head toward me. “Baby, don’t you miss me?” He touched me and I realized I hadn’t missed him as much as I thought. His touch didn’t set my nerves on fire. In fact, the way I felt after he touched me compared to the way Stryker made me feel was anti-climactic. Not something I wanted to chase after.
Certainly, not a caress that inspired me to suddenly screw him like he wanted. I shrugged, but I didn’t say anything that would burn bridges. Blaze was in high demand and I’d been the one to snag him over the last year or so. I certainly didn’t need to give him up right then.
I turned my face away, murmuring, “I’m worried about Sara is all.”
He nodded tightly, lowering his hand and stepping into my space. He ducked his head to see my face and leaned forward, kissing my forehead. After a second, he wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me close. I rolled my eyes over his shoulder and loosely placed my hands on his waist. I wasn’t interested in what he offered.
Yet, as I looked past him into the parking lot, I caught sight of Stryker standing beside the 1957 Ford truck. He wore his t-shirt, no coat, and his arm muscles sent a shiver through my body. I held his gaze with mine, something passing between us that I couldn’t define.
Thinking my reaction was to his touch, Blaze squeezed me closer and muttered, “Soon, Gray, you and I can be together like we should be.” He pulled back from me and bent his head further to press his lips to mine.
And nothing. Where there used to be a slight thrill and pride that he’d chosen me there was a decided lack of… anything. Like my lips were numb, asleep. I didn’t even close my eyes.
He pulled back, pure satisfaction curving his lips into a smug grin I wanted to slap off his face. Maybe I would one day. Instead of chasing more time with Blaze, I just wanted to see what Stryker was doing and check up on Sara. Those were my priorities and I had no problem admitting to myself that Blaze was nowhere in my level of concern.
Blaze ran his hand down the smooth lines of my hair and then patted my back. “Soon, Gray.” He turned and left me standing there in the dark, alone. He didn’t ask me if I was okay or if he could help check on Sara. Instead, he returned to The Pike, disappearing past Bruce and the line like he owned the place. I didn’t move from where I stood, holding my arms at my sides where they’d fallen, staring after him.
What was I doing? I wasn’t even interested anymore. I could tell by the way the flutterings in my stomach faded when I looked at Blaze, but went insane when I looked at Stryker – or even thought of him.
Speaking of, I peeked in the direction I’d seen him. His dark hair and deep eyes burned on my mind’s eye.
He still stood there, his shoulders pressed against the side of his truck, watching me as if he wasn’t going anywhere until he knew I was safe. How could he have double standards like that? He’d ordered bullying on me, but they couldn’t touch me? Did he have any idea what game he was playing?
I couldn’t handle him staring at me like he knew what was under my clothes – scant as they were – and like he couldn’t wait to get his hands on me. Just the thought of that connection scared me.
Sara. If I could focus on Sara, maybe I could get the troublesome Jameson out of my head.
Doubtful, but I could try anyway.
He wasn’t going to walk away. His cousins joined him and leaned against the truck, watching me like I was on their next platter for a meal. How could I go back to the blandness of the relationship with Blaze when just the hatred of the Jamesons did more to my insides then being with him?
I didn’t move, staring back at the cousins like we could speak volumes with our eyes across a parking lot in the middle of the night. I wasn’t sure what they expected from me, but I was rebellious at heart and I wasn’t going to stick around and wait for them to tell me what to do.
After a minute, still holding their gazes, I returned to the inside of The Pike, adding a little swagger to my stride. I wasn’t going to look weak to anyone.
They didn’t need to know that I was going to slip out the back to get to Sara’s. She only lived a few blocks over and I didn’t need the Jamesons following me. I had no doubt they’d followed me to The Pike that night. There was no doubt in my mind after seeing how they stared at me, that they’d do whatever they wanted.
No matter what.
I didn’t need that kind of pressure when I was just trying to figure out what was going on.
I just had to also figure out a way to avoid Blaze inside before I ducked out back.
***
Stryker
I didn’t think I could control the anger welling inside me as I watched Divers with his hands all over Gray. I held back, though. Gray had to get rid of her past before she could move on with the rest of her life. Things at Jameson were different than they were at Timbercreek. She had to believe that, understand that.
Of course, it wasn’t fair that I had to teach her, but at the same time, we could do it. She wasn’t the first one to try to step out of bounds set by the Jameson family. She couldn’t know that our uncle ran the town and nearby cities as well. What he said went. What he ordered, we made sure happened. We didn’t cross the lines set by him – at least that he was aware of. We still had to maintain our position in society because there was only so much interference the government would allow.
But when we did what we had to do; people stepped aside. They got out of our way because they knew we had things to keep in line.
Why was Gray fighting this? Why was I? There was something between us. Maybe I needed to screw her out of my system. Maybe I needed to be harder on her, meaner, get her out of my head.
Getting free from the mind scramble she had me in was the only way I could get back to who I was, what I knew. I didn’t like looking at my cousins like they were after something of mine. As far as I was concerned, they had a right to anything of mine.
Except Gray.
For some reason, she was off-limits. Or maybe that was just until I figured out just what I wanted from her.
She disappeared into The Pike and we waited
. The chilly breeze barely noticeable as I tried to expunge the steam my anger and desire had left inside me, burning through my flesh.
Thirty minutes passed. Brock grunted, shifting where he rested on the truck. “Do you think she went inside to spend more time with the douche?”
I scowled at the building. “I hope not. I’m not in the mood to get arrested tonight.” That’s exactly what would happen, if I found her with Blaze Divers again. I couldn’t allow it to happen. He was everything wrong for her. Everyone was.
“Speak of the devil.” Gunner breathed, staring in the direction of the entrance. Blaze strode from the building, heading toward a silver Nissan standard cab truck. Most noticeably, he was alone.
Gunner and Brock pushed off from the truck, moving closer to my sides as we watched Blaze climb in his truck, start the motor, flip on the headlights, and then drive off. He didn’t wait for anyone or drive somewhere else on the property to meet someone – like Gray.
We shifted our gaze back to the building, suspicion curdling in our stomachs.
“I’m not sure what’s going on, but I have a feeling we need to check for her.” I dropped my arms from their folded position at my chest and started toward the building. I’d check outside while the other two checked inside. We wouldn’t miss anything if we did a normal reconnaissance, a mission that was second nature to us after all the time we’d spent together over our lives.
They peeled off from where we stood and disappeared inside. I had a feeling she wasn’t there. I don’t know how I knew, but she wasn’t.
When Gunner and Brock re-emerged a few moments later, shaking their heads, I turned from the building and scanned the tree line. She was gone but where?
How could I keep an eye on what she was up to, if she deliberately skipped out from under my protection?
She still hadn’t learned. How much would she make me do to train her?
Chapter 11
Gray
Her Challengers: A high school bully romance (Bad Boys of Jameson High Book 1) Page 9