by Ruby Vincent
Nothing. I should hurry up. They must be waiting.
I hurried through the trodden path until light shone up ahead. I rushed out into the clearing and saw...
...no one. The guys weren’t here yet.
I glanced at the chairs.
I’ll chill until they—
Loud footsteps sounded behind me, and before I could turn, I was hit hard.
I went down as a body collapsed on top of me. “Give me the phone!”
A hand pressed down on my skull, pushing me into the dirt, while the other scrabbled at my pockets.
“Valentina!”
A scream, and then the weight on me was gone. I wrenched my head up, gasping, and saw Ezra and Scarlett grappling in the dirt. I shakily got to my knees as she reeled back and punched him in the throat. Ezra’s hand flew to his neck and she took the chance to buck him off.
Then she came for me.
“Give it to me!”
I tried to get away, but I stumbled and she fell on me again. Vicious hands tangled in my hair and I screamed as I was dragged. Dragged further from Ezra... and closer to the cliff.
“I loved those boys! I won’t let you or the world turn it into something sordid! They needed me! Me!”
I pounded and clawed at the hands in my hair. “Let me go! Let go!”
“Valentina!”
Relief so strong it mingled with my tears of pain hit me when I saw Ryder, Jaxson, and Maverick burst through the trees. Ezra struggled to his feet, and the four of them ran at us, leaping on Scarlett a few feet from the edge.
I was wrestled from her grasp. Maverick pulled me into his arms and wrapped me to his chest while the others got off of her. They all came to my side as Scarlett rose. She was a terrifying sight to behold. Blood gushed from a cut on her forehead. The naked hate on her face made me press myself closer to Maverick.
“Give. Me. The. Phone,” she snarled.
I broke—fear and pain surging through me as I yanked the phone out of my pocket. “If you want the fucking thing so bad then have it!”
I threw it. The phone crested high over our heads and Scarlett’s head snapped back as she followed its flight. She jumped, straining to reach it, and... missed.
The phone soared over the edge of the cliff and Scarlett went with it. Her screams echoed through the clearing until I could hear them no more.
“No...” I broke free of Maverick’s arms and rushed to the edge. Four hands stopped me.
“It wasn’t your fault, Valentina.” Jaxson drew me to him. He laced our hands together. “It was not your fault.”
“No one will know about this.” Maverick took the other hand—dwarfing my delicate fingers in his strong ones.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Ezra pressed himself to my back, banishing the chill that was taking hold of me. “We won’t let anything happen to you.”
Ryder stepped into my sight. The wind played with his raven locks but nothing could stop me from seeing his eyes. He brushed his fingers across my cheek.
“We’ll protect you.”
Bound
Chapter One
“No!” He snapped his head to the side, almost knocking the spoon from my hand.
I sighed. “Adam, you have to eat your peas.”
“No!”
Knock. Knock.
Mom dropped her amused smile long enough to get up from the table. “I’ll get that.”
“Come on, baby.” I was reduced to pleading. “You like peas. You ate them yesterday.”
The two-year-old wasn’t impressed by my logic. “No!”
Refusing to give in, I inch by inch brought the baby food closer to his mouth. He watched it coming in, face wrinkled with displeasure as I touched the spoon to his—
“No!” He whipped his head the other way and the spoon popped out of my hand.
Splat!
Adam and I stared at each other as the baby food dripped down my forehead. In the next second, he was squealing with laughter.
“Val. It’s for you.” Grumbling, I snatched a cloth off the table and left the giggling toddler in his high chair. Mom stepped into the doorway of the dining room before I could get out. “They sure do make ’em better than they did when I went to school. If I was your age, I’d be all over that.”
I blinked. “Over what?” Mom stepped around me and a swat landed on my backside. “Ouch!”
“Go get ’em.”
Shaking my head, I stepped into the hall and my eyes fell on the people standing on my welcome mat. The towel slipped from my fingers.
“Hey, baby.” Jaxson waved like it was no big deal. “Can we come in?”
I stared at him dumbfounded, brain still trying to make sense of how it was seeing Jaxson Van Zandt, Maverick Beaumont, Ezra Lennox, and Ryder Shea on my doorstep.
“Val?” A voice sounded from my bedroom. “Where is my”—Sofia stepped into the hall—“phone charger? I need— What are you guys doing here?!”
Ezra raised a brow. “Standing on the doorstep like idiots. Can we come in or not?”
Ezra followed the question by picking up his feet to come inside and I suddenly came to life. I shot forward and darted into the doorway before he could cross the threshold.
“What are you guys doing here?” My voice sounded harsh to my own ears, but I couldn’t help it. I was coming off of the most intense school year of my life. After everything that happened, the five of us had limped along to the end of sophomore year not knowing how to be around each other. Now, they were here.
“We need to talk,” Maverick said simply. I felt Sofia’s presence over my shoulder. “Things are different now. You agree, don’t you?”
“Of course, but—” I stopped, highly aware of Sofia. She didn’t know what happened with Scarlett. No one did. She was our secret. “Now isn’t the time.”
“Now is the time.” Ryder’s voice pulled my eyes to him like magnets. His face was inscrutable, but there was something in his tone that brokered no argument. “Let us in.”
“You’ll want to hear this,” Jaxson said in a more jovial tone. He had the charming smile to match. “I promise.” His eyes traveled off my face and drifted down. “But first, what the fuck is on your shirt?”
I looked down and got an eyeful of the large green pea stain on my top. My cheeks flushed hot.
“I—”
“Tina! Tina! Tiiiinnnnnnaaaaa!”
Sighing, I turned my head back toward the dining room. “My master calls,” I mumbled.
“What?” Jaxson asked.
“Nothing.” I stepped back and swept out my hand. “You can come in. Take off your shoes first.”
The Knights filed in without another word. It was strange seeing them out of uniform. It was even stranger that somehow they still looked the same. Jaxson’s laid-back, devil-may-care brand of style extended to his sagging pants and simple name-brand t-shirt. His buzz-cut days were over and now only the sides of his head were shaved while long, blond locks hung down to his ears.
Maverick always kept his coarse brown hair short. It suited him along with the jeans and tight long-sleeved shirt that wrapped around his muscles like most girls wished they could. Ezra’s black hair was slicked back and perfect like his buttoned-up plaid shirt and dark jeans. Then there was Ryder.
Every time I saw Ryder Shea, I told myself there was no way he could get more gorgeous, and every time I was wrong. Ryder’s raven locks had that tousled quality from running his fingers through his hair. The stud in his ear glinted in the light as he bent to remove his shoes, and fixed as I was on it, he caught my eyes the moment he turned.
Our gaze met in a spark of electricity that surged beneath my skin.
What are we now? Where do we go from—?
“Tiiinnnnaaaaa!” Bang! Bang! “Tina!”
Sofia chuckled. “Uh oh. You weren’t quick enough and he brought out the sippy cup. I swear that kid doesn’t know any other words besides ‘Tina’ and ‘No.’”
Heaving a sigh, I h
urried from the hall and burst into the entrance of the dining room. Adam’s mouth was half open, readying for another scream.
“Adam!” I cried. A wide smile spread across my lips. “Adam, Adam, Adam.” I hopped closer to him with every sing of his name and he grinned.
“Tina!”
“Adam!” I popped open the high chair and tackled him with tickles. The baby squealed with delight. Behind me, I could hear them moving into the room. I saw a figure walk past me out of the corner of my eye and go into the kitchen.
“Hey, kid,” I heard Mom say. “Need something?”
I took Adam out of his high chair. I turned to go and bumped into a hard chest. Ryder looked down at us, or I should say, he looked down at my son.
“This is Adam.”
I held the baby a little tighter. “Yes.”
What is he thinking? Looking down at the kid who could rip his entire fortune away from him and leave him and his mother with nothing.
Ryder lifted his hands. “Can I hold him?”
I blinked. I wasn’t ready for that. “I don’t know if that’s a—”
My stranger-loving son opened up his arms and fell into Ryder’s hands. Ryder settled the baby against his chest and gazed at him with an emotion I couldn’t read, and I was studying his every blink and twitch. Adam seemed to be doing the same, scrunching up his little nose as he looked at the new person.
Jaxson, Maverick, and Sofia watched the exchange from their seats at the dining table. I could feel the tension coming off of Sofia because it mirrored my own. She knew who Adam’s father was, and she knew Ryder did too.
Ryder finally spoke. “He’s cute. Looks like you.”
“Yes... he does.” Adam truly did look like me. He had my green eyes, brown curls, and according to Mom, my smile. There was no trace of Benjamin Shea in his tiny face.
“Hmm.”
Ryder turned to go.
“Where are you going?” I quickly darted in front of him, hands already up for my son.
“I’m going to sit down.”
“B-but I should take him.” I took Adam’s arm. “Come to Tina, baby.”
Adam’s response was to rest his head on Ryder’s shoulder, getting comfortable. Above him, Ryder smirked at me. A smirk I hadn’t seen for a while.
“What do you think I’m going to do, Moon?”
I pressed my lips together. I was not hiding my anxiety well.
“He’s in good hands. Trust me.”
Ryder stepped around me for the living room, and I was right behind him. “Ryd—”
“You did what?!”
The shout brought me to a jerking halt.
“I can’t apologize enough for— Ow! Ow, ow, ow!”
“You’ve got some balls, kid! What were you trying to do?!”
I spun around and tore into the dining room. The three of them at the table stared with wide eyes into the kitchen where my mother had Ezra Lennox, son of the queen of media, by the ear.
Ezra was bright red in her grasp. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I know it was wrong!”
“Where do you get off showing videos of me?! Were you trying to mess with my daughter?!”
My mouth fell open. Video? Did Ezra tell her about freshman year and the Parents’ Day clip? Why?
“I was,” he cried. “It wasn’t right and I’ll make it up to her too.”
Mom growled. “You’re not done making it up to me. Let’s go.”
I stood rooted to the spot as Olivia dragged Ezra out. The front door slammed on his pleas.
Jaxson’s fingers drummed on the table. “Is she going to kill him?”
I shook my head. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Well, it’d be a shame if she took him down on the first one. He’s got two more to go.”
“What?” I asked, a bit absentmindedly. My attention was on Ryder and Adam. My body itched to follow them into the living room.
“That’s what we came to talk to you about.”
“What is?” I edged out of the room.
“Have you ever heard of—”
“Excuse me a sec.” Cutting off Jaxson midstream, I hurried out and practically ran for the living room.
Why are they so quiet? What is going—
“—magical forest. The trees sang and the grass remembered those who passed over their heads.”
I gaped at the sight. Ryder sat on our couch reading Adam his favorite book. The two-year-old rested contentedly on his chest, eyelids rising and falling as he fought sleep.
“You don’t have to do that,” I said softly. I think I meant that more than one way.
Ryder lifted his gaze. “I know. I want to.” I think he meant that more than one way too.
Despite myself, I swallowed the protests that fought to leave my lips. Instead, I moved closer to them and took a seat by his side. Our connection didn’t break as I brushed against his arm, but for a second, his face changed. An odd look overcame him, morphing a blank expression into a mask of intensity.
“Valentina—”
“What’s this about you coming up for the summer?” Jaxson strolled into the living room with Maverick and Sofia on his heels. “Sofi says you’re staying with her?”
“She is,” Sofia confirmed. She came over and wedged herself between me and the arm of the couch. “I stayed with her while my parents were in Thailand. They’re back now and have ordered me home. I agreed as long as Val could come with.”
“Sweet. You’ll be close by.”
I made a face. “Close by for what?”
Jaxson grinned as he sat down in the armchair across from me. “Have you ever heard of the Twelve Labors of Hercules?”
“I heard too much about it from Wheeldon. What’s it got to do with anything?”
“Here’s the thing.” Jaxson leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. “We’ve been assholes—”
“No arguments here.”
“—but we’re done with that.” He went on like there was no interruption. “The mark and the stuff we pulled; we never wanted to do it anyway. Things got crazy last year and I think all of us are sick of it.” Jaxson glanced around and was met with Maverick’s—and Ryder’s—nod.
I looked at the three of them with wide eyes. What was going on here?
“Now that we don’t have to worry about the Spades; we don’t have to keep on with the bull”—he cut eyes to Adam—“crap,” Jaxson finished.
Maverick stepped forward. “We know we have a lot to make up for with you, and breaking our stuff and leaking songs doesn’t cover it. We want to apologize for real.”
I looked between the two of them, mouth hanging open. “I’m sorry. Is this seriously happening?”
Jaxson swept out his hands. “We’re calling it the Twelve Labors of the Knights.”
“We’re not calling it that.” Ryder’s dry voice broke through my haze. “It’s simple, Val. We want to do something to get you to forgive us.”
“Three somethings,” Jaxson explained. “Three each for four of us so twelve.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “And Ezra kicked it off by fessing up to your mom what he did with the spring break video. We all have something planned for you... if you’ll let us.”
My eyes traced over their faces, considering. I didn’t know what to make of this. The last few weeks of sophomore year we had been civil to each other, but there had been no talk of apologies. Now this?
I took a deep breath. “I deserve an apology after what you all put me through, so fine. I’ll go along.”
Jaxson nodded. “Good. Just one more thing.”
I waited.
“About my three.” He cocked his head. “Does hooking up in the bathroom count as one because I feel like we made a lot of progress that day.”
Cheeks flaming, I seized a pillow quicker than he could blink and lobbed it at him. It nailed him head-on and he guffawed. “Take that as a no. It’s cool, baby. I’ll get even more creative for the rest.”
I did not miss
the note of suggestion in that reply. A flush crept up my neck as I remembered my spur-of-the-moment, hot-off-a-win kiss with Jaxson after the hip-hop contest. That was another thing we hadn’t talked about after Scarlett’s fall.
“Give me the phone!”
The memory lashed across my mind, chasing thoughts of the kiss away. My hands clenched into fists as my heart sped up. I never thought I would be responsible for the loss of a life, let alone two. No one could know what truly happened to Scarlett LeBlanc, the Evergreen art teacher who up and disappeared after leaving a simple resignation letter on her desk.
I wish I didn’t know. I wish her screams hadn’t joined the chorus of shrieks in my dreams.
“Adam?” I shook myself back to reality as Ryder looked down at the toddler. “The kid is out.”
“I’ll take him.” I rose and Ryder passed the sleeping baby into my hands. “I’ll get him down and then finish packing.”
“I’ll help.” Sofia got up and trailed me to my room. She pounced on me the moment she closed the door. “Val, what do you think? Do you trust them?”
I placed Adam on my bed and pulled the covers to his chin. “I guess I have to.”
“Does this mean you’re friends now? Are you dating Jaxson?”
I tossed my head. “I can’t even begin to think about what this means. First, let’s see if they can apologize to me as well as they torture me.”
“Oh, Val.” She looked so worried I wanted to say something to reassure her, but I had no clue what.
“Let’s just pack. We have a month of summer left and we’re going to spend it soaking up the sun by the pool and shopping till our bank accounts cry.”
She cracked a smile. “But first, your seventeenth birthday party.”
“Do not say party. No parties. I just want to hang out, grab dinner, and maybe catch a movie.”
Sofia rolled her eyes. “Come on. It won’t be like last time.”
“You mean when you dropped an entire cake on my head or having my class whisper diseased slut at me all night? The Knights already know we’re friends, but the rest of the school doesn’t. We have to keep it that way.”