Endgame: An Ocean Bay standalone novel

by Chloe Walsh

  When I saw Six standing next to my locker this morning, the urge I had to walk over there and lay claim on her was extreme.

  But I couldn’t.

  Dammit, it wouldn’t be fair. I wanted her body. I wanted to fuck her. Sex was all I was willing to give her and Six deserved more.

  She deserved better.

  Tell me you love me…Please…Lie, Rourke. Just lie to me…I won’t mind. I promise

  Those words right there were the reason I wasn’t going to go there with Six. The vulnerability she revealed to me that night? That was something I wasn’t going to take advantage of. There was something needy about her I hadn’t noticed before… Something lonely. I couldn’t capitalize on that. I fucking couldn’t.

  Shaking my head to clear my thoughts of my stepsister, I looked around the classroom and bit back the urge to growl. Mason, the turncoat bastard, had honed in on Six the moment she walked into fourth period Bio.

  I watched him like a hawk as he leaned across their desk and whispered something in her ear. Every now and again, she covered her mouth and giggled at whatever he’d said. It made me want to fucking explode.

  “Quit starting at her. You’re gonna give yourself an eye injury.”

  Jaw clenched, I forced my eyes off Six and onto my lab partner. “The fuck you talking about, D?”

  “Don’t give me that shit,” Daryl shot back. “Not only are you being obvious as hell about her,” he grinned at me, “but you’re fucking reeking of jealousy.”

  I opened my mouth to deny but nothing came out. Not one fucking word. Exhaling heavily, I leaned forward on my stool and shrugged. “Shit.”

  “Dang, Rourke,” Daryl muttered, no longer laughing. “Sissy’s got you tied up in knots.”

  “I almost fucked her,” I croaked out, dropping my head in my hands. “Twice.”

  “For real?”

  “Real.” Very real. Too fucking real.

  “What happened?” Leaning forward, Daryl whispered, “When you say almost?”

  “First time, she stopped it because I wouldn’t give her something she wanted,” I admitted gruffly. “Second time, she offered herself to me anyways and I walked away.”

  “The fuck you do something stupid like that for?” His tone was indignant. “What did she want from you?”

  “Something I don’t have to give her, D,” I bit out. “Something I ain’t ready for.”

  “Fuck,” Daryl muttered and I knew he got it then. He understood. He’d been my best friend my whole life. Mason, Reebo, and Bear were my friends, but Daryl? Daryl was my family.

  We’d been through everything together; broken hearts, broken families, dead momma’s, and cheating fucking exes. We’d done it all together, supported one another. The truth was, Daryl King was the only person I would ever consider talking about my feelings with.

  “She love you?” he asked then.

  I shook my head.

  “You love her?”

  “You know the answer to that.”

  “But you like her?”

  “Never thought I would.” I sighed heavily. “Never fucking expected to.”

  “But you do?”

  “Yeah, man.” I pressed my head into my hands and fought back the urge to groan. “I think I really fucking do. Her eyes, man.” I threw my head back and sighed. “They’re like fucking silver diamonds. I’ve never seen anything like ‘em. Fucking beautiful.”

  “Then I’m gonna give you some real good advice, man, and I want you to take it.” Mirroring my slouched position on the desk, Daryl turned his face and looked me square in the eye. “If you want her, you better snatch her up fast or someone else will. She’s gorgeous, Rourke. Fucking beautiful,” he said with a smirk, mirroring my words. “The guys won’t stay away from her forever, no matter how much you warn them off. So I suggest you go and find it. Whatever Sissy asked you to give her? Find it, man.”

  “Easier said than done, D.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Rourke,” he corrected, tone low. “You’ve been a mess since she walked into your house six weeks ago and we both know why. You want her. I see it. The guys see it. Hell, even coach knows something’s up with you.” He frowned as he spoke. “I know you’re all fucked up in the head when it comes to shit like this, but Mercedes?” He shook his head. “She ain’t nothing like Britt, man – most girls aren’t,” he added. “And deep down, I think you know it.”

  Britt.

  Fucking Britt.

  “I don’t want to go there again,” I confessed, biting down hard on my bottom lip. “I won’t.”

  “I get it, man,” Daryl sympathized. “It was bad enough the bitch was stepping out on you with half the damn football team from Jefferson High, but to fuck with your head about being pregnant?” He shook his head. “And during state? That was cold, Rourke. Fucking cold, man.”

  Britt missed a period last year right around the time of playoffs. I’d been fucking terrified over it and had worried unnecessarily for weeks about her potential pregnancy, only to find out that her period had arrived a couple of days later and she had never thought to tell me. “Scariest three weeks of my life,” I muttered, shuddering at the memory.

  “And you can be damn sure she enjoyed every minute of it,” Daryl added grimly. “Hell, even if she had been, the odds of you being her baby daddy were slim fucking pickings, dude.”

  I flinched.

  I couldn’t help it.

  It still fucking hurt.

  “You need to cut her loose,” Daryl continued to say. “Once and for all. Be done with the bitch.”

  Again, I knew Daryl was right. But knowing it was right didn’t make it easy. I’d been with Britt since I was twelve years old. She was my first crush, first kiss, first love, first fucking everything. Even though Britt had done me wrong, and I’d been with other girls since, I still harbored some serious feelings for the girl. Of course, that love wasn’t there between us anymore, at least not like it used to be, but there was still something there. Something that kept me coming back to her.

  I never thought about it much before Six walked into my life. I didn’t have to. I ate, drank, and slept football. Britt had broken my heart but she was still there to fuck when I needed it. I thought I was happy with it like that. I thought it was easier. Now I had no fucking clue…

  “You might want to make a decision sooner rather than later,” Daryl muttered, poking me in the ribs with his elbow before gesturing to the other side of the classroom.

  “Fucking Mase,” I snarled when I locked eyes on their desk. He was touching Six. Fucker brushed her hair back. Tucked one of her silky tendrils behind her ear. She smiled at him and he leaned closer.

  “Mr. Owens, are you alright?” Ms. Black called out sharply, drawing my attention to the front of the class.

  I stared back at her. “Huh?”

  “Going somewhere?” she asked with a confused expression on her face. It was then I realized I was out of my seat.

  Fuck.

  “Uh...yeah.” Out of this fucking classroom before I lose my damn mind.

  Grabbing my bag off the floor, I stalked out of the classroom, offering Mason a touch her again and I’ll fucking kill you glare when I passed their desk.

  I was going to have to keep an eye on that fucker.

  He needed to keep his eyes off of Six.

  And his hands.

  Mercedes

  “WHAT DID YOU DO to your stepbrother?” Molly demanded excitedly at lunch. We were in the corner of a crowded lunch room and she was looking at me like I held the answers to all her questions. I didn’t.

  “What?” I shook my head and sat down at the empty round table I’d found close to the exit. “Nothing.” Well, that wasn’t technically true. I had tried to screw Rourke once or twice, but he wouldn’t let me. “Why?”

  Sitting down opposite me, Molly placed her tray on the table and leaned forward on her elbows. “Word is, you were sidling up to Mason Starr during fourth period. Rourke saw you g
uys and flipped the hell out.” Molly’s eyes widened. “He is staring at you, Mercy. Like right now.” She pointed to something behind me – presumably Rourke. I didn’t dare look.

  “Would you stop pointing?” I hissed, embarrassed.

  Thankfully, she did.

  “I don’t know what got into him during Biology.” That was the honest truth. One minute, we were taking down notes and the next Rourke was charging out of class like a raging bull. Why Molly thought that had something to do with me, I had no clue. Rourke didn’t care about me. He didn’t want me around. He’d told me it enough times. I was just hoping that one of these days, I would start to feel the same way about him. That day couldn’t come soon enough. “Whatever problem Rourke was having in class has nothing to do with me,” I assured Molly.

  She didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know.” Chewing on her lip, she looked from me to something behind me and then back at me again. “Something is off with him.”

  “Do you have a thing for Rourke or something?” Okay, I didn’t mean to be so blunt, but I wanted to know.

  “What?” Molly’s cheeks turned red. “Why would you ask that?” Molly asked me.

  I would give her nothing but honesty. “Because every time we talk, you bring him up in conversation.”

  “No,” she choked out. “I don’t have a thing for Rourke.”

  I cocked a brow, silently calling bullshit on that answer.

  She turned redder.

  I remained silent and waiting.

  “Okay, fine,” Molly blurted. “I have a thing for someone, but it’s not Rourke.”

  I frowned. “Then who?”

  “Daryl,” she whispered, blushing wildly.

  “Aw. Look at you all blushing and cute!” I couldn’t stop my smile from widening. “Daryl King.” I waggled my brows. “Well, I’ll be damned. You’ve got a thing for Mister Football himself.”

  “It’s not funny, Merc.” Molly dropped her head in her hands. “I’m invisible to those guys. I always have been. Daryl King has never once looked in my direction since I moved back to Ocean Bay. Not one single time in two years.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “You’ve spent a half a day at this school and you are the only thing those boys are looking at.”

  I folded my arms across my chest as I thought about what she’d just told me. “Are you using me?” I finally asked with a snort. It probably wasn’t something I should be laughing at, but I couldn’t help it. The thought of little Molly befriending me to get close to Rourke’s best friend had me close to convulsions. One look at her guilt-ridden expression and I knew I hit the nail on the head. “I feel so…violated,” I laughed. “Omigod, this is hilarious.”

  “Wait, you’re not mad at me?”

  “No, I’m not mad.” I waved my hand dismissively and bit back another laugh. “I’m using you too. I need a friend in this place. You’re giving me that.” Shrugging, I added, “Feel free to use me all you want – though, I should warn you now, I threw Daryl in our swimming pool when I first moved here, so I may not be very useful to you.”

  Molly’s brown eyes widened. “You didn’t!”

  I nodded. “Rourke threw me in to make a point. Daryl laughed at him doing it, so I after I dragged Rourke in, I tossed Daryl’s ass in to keep him company.”

  “Holy shit,” Molly squeezed out then.

  “What?”

  “He’s coming over!”

  “Who?”

  “Omigod, they’re both coming over.” She began to fan herself.

  I gaped. What. The. Actual. Hell... “Molly, are you okay?”

  “I can’t,” she squeaked. “I can’t…Omigod…Hey, Rourke!”

  The seat scraped beside me. Moments later, he was in my peripheral vision, sitting less than two feet from me.

  Why?

  “Hey, Molly,” Rourke replied with a smile. I gave him a mental brownie point for knowing Molly’s name. It meant nothing to Rourke of course, but it did to her. He looked at me then and nodded. “Six.”

  “Rourke,” I acknowledged, because I had no idea of what else to say. What was he doing? Why was he here? What the fuck did he want? Was he here to humiliate me or something? He’d done enough of that the other night to last me a lifetime.

  “Mercy James,” Daryl greeted me with a smirk as he spilled himself into the seat beside Molly. He turned and took a good long look at my friend and smiled. “And Blondie.” He looked harder at her. “How the hell are you, Blondie?”

  “Hey, Daryl,” I snickered, unable to keep a serious face. It was hard when Molly looked like she had a bomb under her chair. “And her name is Molly.”

  “Molly,” Daryl repeated, with a flirty wink. “Cute name for a cute girl.”

  “Thank you,” Molly choked out, looking like she was about to faint.

  Reaching over, Daryl snagged a fry from my tray and bit the end of it. “So, what’s happening, girls?”

  “Nothing much,” I replied, feeling incredibly unnerved. Rourke was sitting beside me, and while he wasn’t saying anything to me, he was looking. He was staring so hard at me I was finding it a struggle not to pant. “Just…uh, eating.” Lame, Mercy. Lame as hell.

  “Mercy and I were discussing our plans for the weekend,” Molly added, lying.

  I frowned at her.

  What the hell was she talking about?

  She begged me with her eyes to go with it.

  I sighed. “Yeah, we were. I was telling Molly here, I’m really looking forward to her party.”

  Daryl’s brows rose in surprise. “Party?”

  “Uh-huh,” Molly replied in an uncertain tone.

  “When?”

  “After the game on Friday night,” I offered with a nod. “It’s going to be sick.”

  “The game?” Daryl asked, brows furrowed. “Our game?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “We’re playing on Thursday night this week,” Daryl explained.

  Well shit…

  “Mercy meant Thursday,” Molly offered lamely. “Um, yeah. Big party plans for tomorrow night.”

  “On a school night?” I asked, gaping at my friend.

  “Yes,” she hissed, telling me with her eyes to shut the hell up and go with it.

  “On a school night!” I repeated in an enthusiastic voice. “Molly here’s a little rebel.”

  “Will there be beer?” Daryl asked, giving Molly his full attention.

  “Three kegs and a DJ,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying. I was such a lying bitch. “Not to mention her father’s top shelf collection.”

  “I guess we could swing by your place for a bit?” Daryl mused, rewarding Molly with a huge, beaming smile.

  “That would be great,” she breathed.

  “Who said you were invited?” I shot back.

  “He is,” Molly squeaked, kicking my foot under the table. “Invited that is.” She chuckled nervously and played with her hair. “If you want to come, that is.” She looked across at us and smiled. “You’re invited, too, Rourke. And Reebo and Mason. In fact, invite the whole team if you want. Anyone you like actually. There’s plenty of room.”

  “Are you going?” Rourke asked then.

  I wasn’t expecting him to speak and I jumped slightly in my seat. Goddamn, his voice did something to my insides. “Me?” I asked, not daring to look at him. I couldn’t.

  “No. The man in the fucking moon.” He sounded irritated. “Yes, you.”

  I shrugged. “Probably.”

  “Then I’ll come,” Rourke replied, tone gruff.

  I swung around and glared at him.

  What was he doing?

  “On second thought, I won’t be able to go,” I bit out. “I have a prior engagement.” Prior engagement? What the hell was wrong with me?

  Rourke cocked a brow. “What?”

  “A date,” I lied. “I have a date on Thursday night.”

  “No, you don’t,” Molly snorted.

  Gah. Get with the program, Molls!

  �
��Yes,” I shot back, cheeks flushed. “I do.”

  “With who?” Rourke asked, smirking at me. “Rourke Junior?”

  Molly laughed. “Rourke Junior?”

  “Six has a dick in her drawer.”

  I wanted to kill him.

  I wanted to inflict harm on his sculpted body almost as much as I wanted to jump on it.

  Rourke turned and smiled innocently at them both. “She gets off with it at night and screams my name while using it.”

  “Bastard,” I hissed, elbowing him in the ribs. “He’s lying!”

  “No,” Rourke laughed, holding me back from my attempt to pummel him. “I’m not. She sleeps in the room next to mine and keeps me up all night moaning my name.”

  “Dude!” Daryl threw his head back and roared laughing.

  “I’m sorry, Mercy,” Molly covered her mouth with her hands, trying to hide the sound of her obvious laughter.

  Ugh. Screw this. Shoving my chair back, I climbed to my feet and made to storm off, only to think better of it. Turning around, I walked back to where Rourke was still sitting, laughing his ass off at my expense.

  Cupping the side of his neck with my hand, I leaned down to his ear and whispered, “Laugh all you want, but Rourke Jr.? Yeah, he makes me scream in ways you never could.”

  Rourke’s eyes narrowed and I gleamed in silent victory.

  Take that fucker.

  Rourke

  “ROURKE JR.? YEAH, he makes me scream in ways you never could.”

  I watched with my jaw hanging open as Six sauntered out of the lunch room, flipping me the bird on her way.

  Was my stepsister trying to ruin me?

  If she was, then it was working.

  I was, without doubt, a fucking mess.

  My eyes followed her until she was out of sight and even then, I stared at the door she had walked through like an idiot.

  She was fucking beautiful.

  I shouldn’t have made the rubber dick joke in front of the others, but her reaction? The way Six fucked me over just there? I was impressed and painfully turned on. God, I needed in her so damn bad.