Unspoken Rules

by Eliah Greenwood

  Copyright © 2019 by Eliah Greenwood

  www.eliahgreenwood.com

  If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, this book has been pirated and you are stealing. Please delete it from your device and support the author by purchasing a legal copy. Love to read? YOU make a difference in your favourite authors’ capacity to keep writing and provide you with books you enjoy!

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Warning: This book contains graphic mature scenes and foul language. You have been warned. Read at your own risk! Not comfortable with steamy scenes? Find the softer version of the book (kindle) on Amazon soon!

  ISBN: 978-1-9994390-3-3

  Editing by One Love Editing

  First printing edition 2019

  Reality Survivor Publishing (Eliah Greenwood)

  Table Of Contents

  Prologue

  1. New Beginning

  2. She’s Not You

  3. Miles Apart

  4. Chasing You

  5. Friends?

  6. The Lake House

  7. Jealous Much?

  8. Close And Personal

  9. Kiss Me

  10. The Storm

  11. Before It’s Too Late

  12. Relationship Status

  13. Dark Secrets

  14. Burning Desires

  15. Truth And Exes

  16. Steal My Man

  17. Mine

  18. True Colors

  19. Losing You

  20. Blocked Numbers

  21. Back For You

  22. Unforgivable

  23. Stolen Touch

  24. The Chase

  25. Revelation

  26. Together Again

  27. Disappearing Act

  28. Dilemmas

  29. Troublemakers

  30. Betrayal And Champagne

  31. Flames And Revenge

  32. Traitors And Last Days

  33. Prom And Disasters

  34. Farewells

  35. Home Is You

  All The Links You Need!

  About the Author

  Also By Eliah Greenwood

  Acknowledgements

  For my Wazers, the center of my universe.

  Prologue

  “How could you do this to her? I always knew something was wrong. I knew your friends were trouble.”

  I can’t move. Why can’t I move?

  “I didn’t mean to. Mom, you have to believe me. It was an accident. She followed us to a meeting and—”

  “Stop. Just stop. I can’t deal with this right now.”

  Dark. It’s all so dark.

  “Kendrick, keep applying pressure to the wound for me. I’ll be right back. Tom should be here any minute.”

  “Mom, I… I don’t know if I can do this.”

  “Kendrick, now!”

  A door closes.

  “Are you fucking kidding me? We don’t have time for this. Winter needs help now.”

  Haze.

  Haze is here.

  “Shut up, Adams. You’re not helping.”

  “I thought your mom was a nurse.”

  “She is, but she was a doctor first. She went to nursing school when she lost her first patient.”

  “Wow, years of studies to change your mind right when you get the job? Wish we all had that luxury.”

  That’s Will.

  “Maria was loaded then. She’d just gotten her inheritance.”

  “Now’s not the time for a biography, dickheads.”

  Haze’s voice… it’s filled with fear.

  “Why does she need her friend if she’s a doctor, too?”

  “It’s not him we need, idiot. It’s his clinic.”

  It hurts. Everything hurts.

  “Why did we let him stay again?”

  “I knew this was a bad idea. She needs proper care.”

  “And what do you suggest, Haze, huh? That we bring her to the hospital? Don’t you think that’s the first place they’ll look? Not to mention, people will want to know what happened to her and we can’t answer those questions. We’re lucky Maria’s friend can treat her.”

  The door opens.

  “Get out of his way. Let him do his job.”

  Maria.

  “As soon as she’s treated, you’re gone, you hear me? You’re out of her life for good.”

  “Are you deaf, East side? I told you I’m not fucking leaving until I know she’s okay.”

  Footsteps…

  A sigh…

  Then complete darkness.

  1

  New Beginning

  I’ve heard my aunt’s voice a lot in my life. I could pick it out in a crowded room without the slightest hesitation. I’d recognize it anywhere. How could I forget the voice of the mother I never had?

  As a kid, her voice was the last thing I’d hear before I fell asleep every night during the summer trips my mother and I took to Florida. Weird that my own mother wasn’t the one singing to me, I know. But that’s not who my mother is. If she’d been the type to sing her kid a lullaby, maybe I wouldn’t be so messed up.

  I’d listen to Maria sing until sleep took my hand and swept me away. But now, as I lie with my eyes closed and my body numb, the voice that was once upon a time so reassuring is filled with a pain that could make the coldest heart ache.

  “Winter, my poor baby. I’m so sorry. It’s going to be fine. You’re going to be okay, I promise.” Her voice is weak, faint.

  My eyes fly open.

  “Thank God.”

  I sit up straight. My sight is blurry. My thoughts, too.

  Maria immediately pulls me into her familiar arms, holding me like it’s the last thing she’ll ever do.

  “What the hell happened?” I blink repeatedly.

  “I’ll tell you everything, I promise. Just… let me have this moment.”

  When she pulls away, I glance around the room and wait. That’s all I can do: wait for my senses to come back to me. But along with my senses comes the worst part.

  The memories.

  I remember the fight at the Downside, watching Haze and Kendrick beat each other to a pulp, getting kidnapped, figuring out that Tanner, Haze’s brother, was behind the whole thing and that Blake was—sorry, is—a traitor.

  I remember our escape and cutting my leg open with a piece of glass. Haze carrying me in the chaos. His panicked voice in the dark. But most importantly… I remember the last words he said to me. The words I will never forget.

  I love you, Kingston.

  That awkward moment when your crush tells you he loves you because you’re dying.

  My vision clears up, and I take in my surroundings. I know I shouldn’t be sad when I’m hit by the cold hard truth, but it doesn’t stop my heart from crumbling.

  He’s gone.

  Of course he is.

  The pain in my leg is almost as bad as the disappointment that courses through my veins when I stop searching for his face. I’ve been slipping in and out of consciousness for a while. I think I fainted. They must’ve put me to sleep while they removed the glass from my leg. I could hear snippets of conversations here and there—let me rephrase: snippets of arguments—but I couldn’t move or talk. Like my mind was awake, but my body wasn’t.

  We’
re not in the clinic I heard them talk about earlier, that’s for sure. They must’ve had no choice but to move me.

  We’re in a crappy motel room. A sad shade of blue covers the walls, and an orangey lamp sits on the nightstand next to me. On my left is another bed and a desk.

  “What happened?” I ask again.

  My aunt draws in a breath. “Kendrick called. He said you needed help, and they couldn’t take you to the hospital. He…” She pauses, her eyes full of pain. “He told me everything.”

  It takes my brain a while to digest the piece of information it’s been fed.

  She knows.

  I’m pretty sure this isn’t how Kendrick intended for his mother to find out about his street fighting secret.

  “I called an old friend of mine. He’s a doctor. He told us to take you to his clinic. All you need to know is you’re going to be fine. We managed to remove the glass from your leg. You are so lucky it wasn’t fragmented. It wasn’t deep enough to do any real damage, but you’ve got a fracture. It’s not going to be fun, but you should be able to walk again in six weeks.”

  I look down at the heavy blanket weighting on me. If the pain tells me anything, it’s that this is not going to look much better than it feels.

  “Do I even want to see my leg?” I ask, well aware that I’m not going to like the answer.

  She forces a smile on her face. “You’ll heal.”

  “That means no.”

  “I said you were okay. I never said it was pretty.” She reaches for my hand and intertwines our fingers.

  “So… he told you everything, huh?”

  She heaves a sigh. “From beginning to end.”

  “How are you holding up?”

  “As good as a mother can after finding out that her baby boy likes to beat up people for fun, I guess.”

  To my great disbelief, she manages to get a faint laugh out of me. Why am I laughing right now? Must be the exhaustion. Ironic that I feel completely drained after sleeping for so long.

  “I’m not surprised, to be honest. I’d hoped the fights had stopped since my days, but…”

  “Wait. Rewind. You knew about this?” My eyes widen.

  “I was young once, too, you know. The fights have been around a long time. I knew about them, but I just never thought Kendrick could be…” She doesn’t finish her sentence, but she doesn’t need to.

  “I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you. We were trying to protect you.”

  Her face twitches in frustration. “That’s exactly the thing, Winter. Protecting you is my job. Mine. I’m the one that’s supposed to take care of you while your mother’s away. I’m so sorry. I’m an awful guardian.” Her eyes are bloodshot.

  “No, stop. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t like them from the start and I… I should’ve listened to you. Please, don’t blame yourself for this.”

  Guilt darkens her face. “If only it were that easy.”

  I don’t say anything. Simply because no words seem strong enough to ease her pain.

  “How did you find out about the fights?”

  She wipes her eyes. “Let’s just say I’ve had a few bad boys of my own in my days. Like your boyfriend… Haze, is it?”

  I wince at the reminder.

  Great. Thanks, Auntie. I almost went two whole minutes without thinking about him.

  I look down. “We’re not really together.”

  “I figured.” She gives me a weak smile.

  It must’ve been pretty obvious that he wasn’t my boyfriend when she heard him and Kendrick bicker about how he could never see me again. A boyfriend doesn’t usually leave his girlfriend’s side when she’s unconscious.

  “But there’s something going on, isn’t there? That boy… he means something to you?”

  “He’s…” I pause, searching for words that refuse to be found. “Complicated.”

  She smiles warmly. “Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I know a thing or two about complicated.”

  “Where are the guys?” I realize that Haze isn’t the only person missing here.

  “Kendrick went back home to get your things.”

  “What?” I ask, my gaze drifting around the room.

  This can’t be true.

  She squeezes my hand, pain apparent on her face. “He’s getting you out of town.”

  “But… why can’t we go back home?”

  She pauses for a long moment. “There’s no such thing as home anymore, Winter.”

  Deep down, I knew she would say that.

  I have no idea how I could, even for half a second, think that I’d simply slide back into my routine after getting freaking kidnapped. After all this, a foolish part of me still dared to believe that everything could go back to normal—whatever “normal” means.

  “Or at least, not for a while.”

  I fidget with my fingers, the truth burdening me. “Where is he taking me?”

  “You’ll be staying at Tom’s summer penthouse four hours out of town. He was nice enough to offer, and I’d much rather have you there than in dirty motels like this. You’re leaving in a few hours.”

  It comes back to me when his name escapes her lips. She mentioned him earlier.

  Tom.

  As in Thomas, Maria’s ex-husband’s best friend. They’d spent their entire college years together, all three of them. But he ended up growing closer with my aunt after she divorced Nick, his supposed best friend. I think they always had a thing for each other, and from what I can see, that hasn’t changed, but she was his best friend’s girl and they could never make it work.

  She was right. She knows complicated.

  Now that she’s officially single, he probably wants to give it a shot. Letting her family stay in one of his properties sure is a big sign that he’s not over her. Not that I’d mind her with him. He’s a gentleman and a very successful doctor who recently opened a clinic downtown. She deserves it after what Nick did.

  “What about school?” I ask, unable to believe that I’m trying to use school as an excuse.

  “Thomas will get you and Kendrick a doctor’s note. We’re working on getting you online classes until you can come back.”

  “And when do you think that might be?”

  The look on her face tells me that I’m seeking an answer she can’t give me. I get it. Florida isn’t safe anymore. Not when Tanner and the East side’s countless enemies want my head. Whether I’ll even make it to the school’s prom is uncertain. I’ll probably graduate online and go back to Canada as soon as my mother and Harry, my stepfather, come back from their work trip.

  “That bad, huh?”

  “It’s for your safety. Kendrick made a lot of mistakes, but I know he only wants what’s best for you. He’s going to keep you safe while I take care of everything at home.” She leans in to kiss my forehead and gets up, heading for the door. “Tom said to notify him when you’re awake. I’ll give him a call.”

  I nod and watch her walk out of the room. A few minutes pass. I close my eyes, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my leg, and enjoy the silence. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stick around for long.

  “She’ll be fine.” I hear distant voices in the hall.

  The walls are paper-thin. Great to see the rest of the motel is as shitty as its rooms.

  “She’s already fine. The question is will she walk again?”

  I recognize Will.

  “Wait, did you just say she was hot?”

  And Alex.

  “Yep.”

  “You’re an ass, you know that?”

  “Yep.”

  I repress a smile as they struggle to unlock the door. When they walk into the room with pizza boxes in their hands, it’s a wonder I’m not drooling.

  Okay, I’m awake now! Give me the pizza.

  Fainting like an idiot does require a lot of energy. I can’t believe I passed out the second I saw my blood. I’ve always been terrified of it, but I thought I’d gotten that under control. Obviously, I was wrong.
Just a drop of blood and there goes my punk ass again. I turn into a damsel in distress in need of a savior.

  It’s a good thing Haze was there to fulfill that role.

  Stop thinking about him!

  “Good, you’re awake.” Alex smiles, resting the box he’s holding on the washed-out desk a few feet away from the door. “I told you she’d be okay.” He shoots Will a quick glance.

  “Of course she’s okay. She has me to watch over her.”

  Even in moments like this, Will finds it in himself to make lame jokes, and I’m not surprised.

  Some things never change.

  “I mean, now that Haze is out of the picture, she might need a real man.” He wiggles his eyebrows, flexing his bicep and creating a “let me just barf real quick” feeling in me.

  I roll my eyes. Typical Will.

  “You’re a shitbag, you know that?” Alex says.

  “I love you, too, bro.”

  I know Will’s kidding, but it doesn’t ease the discomfort flickering in my chest. He’s right. Haze lost the fight. He has to respect the deal he made with my cousin. He’s out of my life.

  I can never see him again.

  Alex turns to me, tearing me away from the unwelcomed thoughts floating around in my brain. “How are you feeling?”

  “She almost died. How would you feel?”

  “Shut up,” Alex hisses.

  “Honestly?” I wince. “Like I got run over by a truck.”

  “Told you.” Will takes a huge bite of pizza.

  Alex picks up one of the boxes and opens it. “You hungry?”

  “Starving.”

  I’d be lying if I said that I don’t almost shed a tear of happiness when I shove the pizza in my mouth in a not-so-classy manner a minute later. I chew on this crappy pizza like it’s the best food I’ve ever had. I can’t remember the last time I ate. I’ve just finished my slice when someone knocks on the door.