Her Brawlers: A high school bully romance (Bad Boys of Jameson High Book 2)

by Taylor Blaine

  Stryker couldn’t help looking, I could see it in his eyes when he raised his gaze back to mine after looking his fill.

  I moved my knees forward until I was close against his chest, my nipples hard and aware of every inch they brushed against. My hand returned to the back of his neck and I caught my breath.

  What if he pushed me away? This was pushing my boldness past the danger point.

  I licked my lips and still Stryker didn’t touch me as if he were waiting for some notification or sign that it was okay. Waiting anymore, wasn’t an option for me. I tugged his head down to mine.

  I kissed him, moving my lips slow and steady, persistently as if I expected him to join me.

  Even without his participation and his obvious reluctance, my body reacted. Moaning against his mouth, I worked my fingers in his hair and that seemed to set him off.

  Stryker gathered me in his arms and moved with me to the bunk. His hands gently roamed my body as he set me back on the bed, our lips locked in some kind of a dance that was as old as time, but felt like the first kiss in all the world.

  He set me on the edge of the bed and moved between my knees, his hands carefully cupping my breasts in a gently kneading motion.

  The door clicked open. “Whoa, um, whoa.” Gunner’s voice was both shocked and yet amused.

  Stryker pulled back from me, dropping his hands to my upper thighs while turning his body to protect me from view.

  I closed my eyes while hurriedly zipping up the sweatshirt.

  “That’s twice in one hour I got to see your tits, Gray. Should we make it a third?” Brock grinned from behind Gunner, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

  Gunner’s expression wasn’t as fun or flirty. He covered the distance to Stryker and shoved his phone in Stryker’s face. “They’re coming for you. We need to somehow tie this up now.”

  Over Stryker’s shoulder I caught a glimpse of the text message that came out as a group thread.

  Romanovs are offering $1000 reward for the body of Stryker Jameson. Dead or alive. Double if delivery is before Monday.

  The Russians were after Stryker. Just like Dominick was after me.

  Stryker turned back to me, studying my face like all the answers we needed would be easy to find there. What if I told him I had no answer, no solution to the problems mounting around us?

  What would he do? We’d already been stopped multiple times from doing what I needed, what I wanted.

  I hadn’t lied when I’d confessed that I needed him to make sure my first time wasn’t locked in some cell and raped over and over by an older man like Dominick or a clumsy rapist like Blaze. I didn’t want to be used and left like yesterday’s garbage by men who paid money to do whatever they wanted to me.

  “Dominick wants Gray and the Romanovs want you. We aren’t exactly equipped to handle this, Stryker.” Brock’s joviality and teasing faded as they delved into the situation. “What if we set up some kind of a trade?”

  My heart caught in my chest. A trade would mean both sides would get what they wanted. One of the things they wanted was me.

  Brock held up his hand. “No, not you, Gray. But what if we offered information to the Romanovs about the Ivanovs in exchange for Stryker’s freedom? Is that something we’d benefit from?”

  Stryker shook his head. “No. If we betray the Ivanovs, their revenge won’t be worth freedom from the Rovanovs. We will be trading in one death for a worse one.” Stryker hadn’t removed his hands from my legs and I focused on the heat there while they brainstormed.

  I couldn’t help finding it confusing that one guy wanted to rape the virginity out of me, in fact, he only wanted virgins, whereas the other refused to touch them because he didn’t want the responsibility of being a first.

  Even though I’d never had sex, I had a feeling sex with Stryker would be as memorable as the first time, whether it was or not.

  I suddenly wanted to experience it the way he was treating it. I would have to wait. I didn’t want to frustrate him, which I had no doubt my back and forth would do. But the idea that I could avoid Dominick and Blaze’s rapings and save myself for a special guy, the special guy, well, it left me feeling hopeful.

  I needed all the hope I could get.

  The boys continued talking about information trades and more. I wasn’t sure what it would take to get Dominick off my back and the Russians off Stryker’s, but I had to hope it was something we were willing to part with.

  Because there was no point in saving our lives at the expense of others.

  Chapter 18

  Stryker

  Craving Gray had become some kind of addiction problem. I almost wished I was a drug addict, so I would have something else to occupy my thoughts. She moved her legs and I could feel my body respond. I wanted her – bad. But I couldn’t do that to her.

  I remembered my first and it wasn’t anything worth writing home about. The last thing I wanted was to be less than memorable for a girl like Gray.

  I sat back, rubbing my hands down my face and sighing. “Dominick wanted me to kill Gray and I won’t do it.” Gunner and Brock hadn’t reacted quite like I expected them to when I’d first reported what Dominick wanted. “Why aren’t you guys surprised by that?”

  Gunner glanced at Brock, then looked at me with a sheepishness I wasn’t used to. “He’s asked us before, too. We said no and told him to stop giving us orders, we only do what you approve.”

  “It isn’t that we want to get us all in trouble, we just don’t want to set up a precedent of Dominick thinking he can go to each of us and ask for something different.” Brock shrugged. “Plus, it’s easier to keep one leader in the group rather than fighting for the position.”

  Dominick asked my cousins to go against me, who knew when or for what reason. He was trying to cause a division in the ranks. My dad had warned me about leaders like that.

  Gray straightened in her seat, her nose scrunched up, highlighting the bruises on her neck and cheeks with the angle of her head. “Your uncle wants me dead? And he asked you guys to do it?”

  The way she said it made me sound even worse than how I’d originally handled things with her at the school. To hear the situation stated so plainly was almost painful. And she was right. My uncle, someone I should trust and someone she should be able to trust because of my association and relationship with him, had ordered me to kill her. Apparently, he’d also ordered my cousins to kill her as well.

  I didn’t even know how to explain the situation to her because I wasn’t sure just what parts I should focus on. Was it realistic to ask her to forget what she’d heard? Judging by her expression, that was neither possible nor was it going to be something she wanted to do.

  Raising a hand, I shook my head. “Gray, it’s not like that. Dominick… If he is the guy who held you, then you have to understand…” But she didn’t have to understand anything. I pressed my lips together, stopping the excuses from flowing.

  She leaned forward, resting her head in her hands while her hair fell over her shoulders, hiding the cleavage she’d so brazenly flashed to us all.

  Thankfully, Brock and Gunner weren’t turned on by the sight of her abused body. Not only did we think women were to be protected not used, we also agreed that a girl that was with one of us was off limits to the rest.

  Not that we hadn’t shared, but that was usually only if the previous guy said it was fine.

  I wasn’t going to say any sharing was fine. Not when I could barely handle Gray kissing Gunner. I couldn’t even imagine what I’d feel like if she kissed Brock. He and I had a history of competing and that wouldn’t be something I could take sitting down.

  I raised my hands to everyone at the table. “Wait a minute. We need to figure this out. Gray, you were with Blaze and Dominick and they didn’t think you were getting away. Is there any chance you heard something or saw something that we could use?” I waited for her to raise her gaze to mine. I’d given her a way to fight back.

  The fighter inside G
ray was one of the strongest ones I’d ever seen. She’d take it and then she’d be relieved to have a direction to vent her anger in. Hopefully, she’d see my efforts to help her and not focus on what I’d been asked to do. I hadn’t done anything to betray her. I wouldn’t have.

  A small part in the back of my mind had to needle me with the thought that I might have, if I hadn’t already known things about Gray that saved her.

  I waited for her to accept my request with a nod before turning my gaze to Brock and Gunner. “I think we need to call Tiny. If Dominick is going to hire someone to take out Gray and you guys are no longer an option, then we need to assume he’ll look for local talent.” I pulled out my phone. Tiny wouldn’t betray us for anything. If he knew I wasn’t dead, he wouldn’t report it to Dominick.

  I swiped up the contact list until I found Tiny’s information and I pressed the green call icon. I tried avoiding Gray’s eyes as I looked around the table and then up at the corner of the ceiling and the wall above our heads.

  The phone rang once, twice, then a third time and Tiny answered. “Tiny’s Body Shop. You break it, we shake it. What’s up?”

  I narrowed my eyes. His caller ID would have told him it was me. Someone was there. “Tell me you’re going to check your calendar, if someone is there like Dominick or a Russian.”

  “Let me check my calendar. It’s in the back. Hold on a second.” Tiny’s voice then became muffled but I could still make out his words to whoever was there. “This is a customer. I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere. I think we can talk this out.”

  The phone moved against his shirt or his hand, whatever he had pressed to the mouthpiece as he left the room.

  Another moment passed and then his voice came back on the line. “Make it fast. I have Russians out front and a slew of cops driving by my place. This is not good for business, kid.”

  “I’m sorry about that. Someone shot me last night and Dominick thinks I’m dead. I was hoping the Russians and the cops would believe it, too.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. Things were getting heavier than I’d ever thought possible and involving people I didn’t want in trouble.

  “Okay, so while we’re talking about that, I didn’t get too low, did I? It looked like an upper clavicle shot, but you don’t stop moving and I wanted to thump you one good.” His laughter could have been a faux professional courtesy or it could have been genuine. Either way, it felt like he was laughing at me for getting shot.

  “Wait, you’re the one who shot me?” I leaned on the table, ignoring Gunner and Brock’s shocked expressions. Gray seemed to have blocked me out. That bugged me. I wanted her to be as affected as I was by our proximity to each other.

  Tiny chuckled, rustling paper around to give a show to the Russians or whoever he’d said was in there. He lowered his voice. “Look, when Vlasi called me for a job, I almost turned it down, but I owed him one. Not to mention, anyone else wouldn’t have cared if they did more damage to you than a grazing. I wanted to make sure you weren’t hurt too bad. Tell me honestly, are you okay?” His earnestness was hard to discount.

  I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me, and I leaned my head back. “No, man, I’m not hurt that bad. Vlasi called you in. Okay. That makes sense.” At least it wasn’t someone on the inside, like a Russian or one of Jedediah’s men. That was taking things too far, when you made it personal like that.

  “Look, I have some info, I think you need. Especially going against Dominick. That girl you brought, Asher, right? Her mom is… Hold on.” Tiny put the phone to the side and called out, “Yes, sir. I have room on the calendar for a transmission tune up but it’s not available until next week. What would you like me to put down for you?”

  He came back on, whispering as he did so. “Look, I can’t talk about it right now. Come to the barn tonight or tomorrow and I’ll get you the info. Do not bring the CJ5, it’s bugged.” He hung up and I didn’t have a chance to ask him to tell me even the scant amount he’d been about to share with me.

  I pulled the silent phone from my ear and held it in my hands. “Tiny shot me and killed Sergio.”

  “I didn’t know he was still taking jobs.” Brock leaned forward, resting his face in his hands.

  “Do you think you really can’t stop once you’re out?” Gunner tapped his finger on the wall by him, still not turning to face us. He would wonder, and he had every right to that question.

  “I never want to do it again.” Gray’s hoarse whisper snapped our focus to her.

  “Yeah, but you didn’t really kill that girl. Her brother put that into motion.” I reached out, then pulled my hand back, uncertain if she was even in the mood to be touched or comforted.

  She curled her lip in a snide smirk that lacked any real sting with the tears sparkling in her eyes. “If I hadn’t hit her, she wouldn’t have died – set up or not. I killed her. Me. Stop trying to make it easier on me.” She shifted her eyes between my cousins and me. “Do you hear me? All of you need to stop trying to protect me. I’m not weak.”

  “No one said you were.” But we were treating her like she was. That would drive me insane, if anyone acted like I couldn’t handle reality. I nodded, turning my attention from the skin at the base of her neck. She had an amazing neck and I wondered if I’d ever get the chance to kiss it.

  “Wait. I think I know what could help.” Gray dropped her anger and stood, pacing to the kitchenette and back with a slight limp that seemed to be getting better, but I wasn’t sure. She held up her pointer finger and stared at the ceiling as she worked on recalling the info.

  Taking a deep breath, she squinted. “It’s a little hazy, but… when the Dominick who’d held me came by, he told Blaze to make sure the shipment was ready by the end of next week. Something about the green grass needing mowed first? There was some other stuff but I can’t…” She pressed her temples with her fingers and squeezed her eyes shut. “There’s a lot of fog I need to work through. They drugged me a lot.”

  I tamped down the fury rising up at her words. My revenge against Blaze would have to wait. I had to keep my cool.

  But I could kill him and I’d relish in it. Which gave me pause and had me considering Gunner’s question more closely. I had never killed anyone, and yet I sat there enjoying the idea of killing Blaze. Maybe it was something you could become addicted to with the right incentive.

  Tiny might need the money, he might not. What he probably craved was the action. Taking out Sergio would have been a split-second decision and he would have had to be closer to The Pike than he lived.

  More questions I wasn’t sure I wanted to ask.

  That night Tiny wanted to see me. I had to take my cousins since I wasn’t supposed to be alive. Did I take Gray or did I leave her behind to keep her safe? I couldn’t help wondering if being alone was really the best thing for her.

  Glancing at Gray, I looked down at my hands in my lap and then back at her. “You want to hear the truth? No holds?” She wanted the truth, I had to hear it from her for sure.

  She lifted her chin. “Yeah, I want to hear it.” Of course, she did. But would she after she heard what I had to tell her?

  Gunner claimed his seat, settling in as if I was about to tell state secrets, but resolved to it. Neither of my cousins knew what I was about to say, but they probably sensed something big was coming in my tone.

  “Okay. Tiny wants me to come to his place to get some information about… Well, it’s about your mom, Gray.” There. It didn’t get blunter than that. She wanted to know.

  Gray sat back, wiping under eyes as if she might be crying, but anything was possible. “My mom?” Gray stood, slamming her chair into the table, keeping her hands on the back of her seat and leaning forward as she braced her arms on it. “Why does she keep coming up? I don’t understand what my mother has to do with this. Any of it. She left, okay? My mom left us. No reason. Nothing. And just when I’m starting to get it out of my system, she comes back? That’s bullshit. Just…” Her deep b
reath raised her shoulders and she leaned her back, tears splashing her cheeks no matter how hard she tried to keep it in.

  “I get it.” Gunner’s voice broke through the sudden silence.

  Gray dropped her gaze to his face. “I doubt that. My mom left of her own free will and choice. How could you honestly understand?”

  Gunner clamped his mouth shut; his features tight as he struggled with the emotional baggage around the topic of his parents.

  Brock and I swallowed. We’d all been through so much. It was hard separating from the pain enough to just state the facts as they’d happened.

  I was the oldest though. I could do it.

  Clearing my throat, I offered a consoling smile to Gunner and Brock to take the sting out of what I was going to say. “Gray, we’ve all been through hell. Gunner’s dad… he came back from Afghanistan, serving with… his brothers. My dad and Brock’s dad didn’t make it back with him.” I shifted on my seat, aware of a tightness in my chest that always came when I spoke about what happened – a good reason to never talk about it.

  Brock picked up the thread where I left off. “My mom cheated on my dad while he was gone and when she heard he was dead; she took the life insurance money she had on him and left with one of her random guys. I haven’t seen her since. I think she sent me a Christmas card on my birthday, but that was one time in a whole lot of years.” He nodded my way, empathy rich in his gaze. “Stryker’s mom… She died in child birth and Stryker was raised by Nana. So, it seemed like a good idea when my mom left for me to go there, too.”

  “And the ones they aren’t talking about are mine.” Gunner leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table edge.

  He stared at Gray. “Your mom chose to leave, but she can come back. My dad hung himself. I found him. Then my mom, who I didn’t know was a drug addict, decided to take on the harder things. I have no idea where she is or what she’s doing, but I haven’t seen her in a while either.” He shook his head, staring at Gray with desolation in his gaze. “I do understand, but I get it more than you do. My dad chose to leave me for good. I even know the reasons behind it. He explained it to me a few days before, I just didn’t realize he was saying goodbye. Your mom… you just said you have no idea why she left. If you give her the benefit of the doubt, you might realize she could have been forced to leave or something else.” He thrust his finger onto the table and lowered his voice to a soft whisper. “The point is, you don’t know. But I do.” He looked around at Brock and me and lowered his gaze. “We all do in some way or another.”