Page 1 of Won't Back Down

PROLOGUE

SAWYER

“Is it safe?”

The voice came from under a blanket in the back seat. I looked out through the windshield of my ancient clunker of a truck and scanned the beach. Practically every student from Sutter’s Ferry High School was here, drinking and dancing around a massive bonfire. This was the annual unofficial summer kickoff for us locals on Hatterwick Island. I was pretty sure my passenger was going to hate every minute of this party, but that was her call, not mine.

“Yeah, no grownups waiting to rat you out to your parents. You can come out.”

A slim figure popped up in my rearview mirror, caramel hair mussed from the blanket, cheeks flushed, and hazel eyes sparkling with excitement. Willa Hollingsworth scrambled awkwardly into the front seat, and I absolutely did not notice the long, tanned legs beneath her cutoffs, or the swimsuit top peeking out from under her Oxford shirt. She was my best friend’s little sister, for God’s sake.

Jace might just rip me a new one for helping her sneak out tonight.

“Before you head out there, let’s go over the rules.”

One slim brow arched in an expression that was the sole betrayal of her privileged upbringing. “Rules?”

“Yeah, rules.” I smiled as her eyes darted away to the beach before she pulled them back to me. I could practically feel the anticipation coming off her, but there were nerves, too. In all likelihood, she’d spend a good part of the night cuddled up with someone’s dog. “You’re probably the last girl on the island who needs to hear this, but I have to say it anyway.”

She folded her hands primly in her lap and waited patiently, those long-lashed eyes fixed on mine. They were a mix of gold and green with streaks of gray. A guy could get lost in those eyes. In the worlds behind them…

“I’m listening.”

Damn it, where was I? Oh, right.

I ticked off the points on my fingers. “Don’t take drinks from anyone. Pull the can straight from the cooler yourself. Guard whatever you drink and don’t leave it unattended. Don’t go anywhere with randos. Don’t leave without me, Jace, or one of the other Wayward Sons. If anybody makes you feel uncomfortable, find one of the four of us. If you want to go home, no matter how early, you come find me. I’ve got no problem leaving whenever you’re ready.”

That was too true. I wasn’t going to come tonight at all. Given what I lived with, hanging out with a bunch of drunk classmates was hardly my idea of a good time. But I never could say no to Willa.

“Understood.” The corners of her mouth tipped up in a shy smile that made my heart do a little shimmy in my chest. “Thank you for helping me escape the tower, Sawyer.”

I wished I could do that for her more often. I’d never understood why Willa’s parents kept her on such a short leash. They let Jace do whatever he wanted, more or less. Was it because she was a girl? Because she was two years younger? Or was it because she wasn’t quite like everyone else, and they were afraid she’d tarnish the Hollingsworth name somehow? Being shy and uncomfortable in the public eye was nothing to be ashamed of—unless you were a Hollingsworth, I guess. But how was she ever going to get comfortable with it if they never let her go anywhere and do anything?

“Anytime, Wren.”

I grinned when her cute little nose wrinkled at the nickname. I’d been calling her that since we were kids, because she’d always been one to hide in the corner of a room full of people, the way a wren would roost in the corner of a porch.

Rolling her eyes at me, she slid out of the truck. She wasn’t a kid anymore, and she wanted to be part of things, just like everyone else.

I followed a minute later, close enough to keep an eye out, but not so close anyone would think we were here together. Not that I had a problem being seen with her, but the island’s princess showing up with the son of the town drunk would have made for gossip that might get back to her parents. They had enough of a problem with Jace’s friendship with me—no sense kicking that beehive.

Willa didn’t stride straight into the crowd the way her brother would have. She reached the sand and skirted the edges of the group, darting forward and back like a sandpiper in the surf, probably looking for her friends.

“Jace is gonna kick your ass for bringing her,” Ford announced, making his way toward me with Bree, a girl who’d been as much his shadow as his partner in crime since elementary school.

“She’s got just as much right to celebrate the end of school as the rest of us,” Bree argued.

“I know that, and you know that, but with all these people here? No way this isn’t getting back to her parents.”

“I’ll talk to Jace.” And I needed to do that before he spotted his sister, but I wanted to make sure she was okay first. She might just get so overwhelmed by all the people that she’d want to leave in the next ten minutes. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Surprised to see you out tonight,” Ford continued. “You said you weren’t coming.”

Not wanting to admit that Willa was the only reason I’d changed my mind, I shrugged. “It’s the start of our last summer before you and Jace head to the mainland for college. Shame to waste any of it.”

I didn’t know what I’d do without the other Wayward Sons. These guys were brothers to me in all but blood. A family we’d all chosen when our own had fallen short. Well, except for Ford, who’d won the parent lottery. His moms had unofficially adopted us all. But this would be the first time we’d split up for any real length of time, and that was just one of the changes barreling down on us that I didn’t know how to handle. Ford and Jace were headed for lives that would take them away from here, and Rios and I would stay. Rios to protect his sisters from their hot-headed father. Me to look after my own dad, to make sure he didn’t drown in the bottle he’d fallen into years ago, when he lost my mother and baby sister in childbirth. And Rios and I would look after Willa, too, in Jace’s absence—as best we could, from our positions in what their parents considered the gutter.

“Then let’s get to it, my man.” Ford swung an arm around my shoulders and steered me toward some coolers.

---