Page 2 of Dirty Secrets

I didn’t feel anything other than the pain of losing the only person in my family who’d ever cared for me.

CHAPTER ONE

RAVEN

Twenty-one years old

Being in love with your best friends and having to watch them climb all over other women was the worst. Especially, when I knew they’d never love me back.

Reid, I understood. He had a weird sense of loyalty to my dead brother since they’d been best friends, but Logan and Zavier? They stuck their dicks in everything, so it was a little hard not to be offended that they only saw me as one of the boys.

To make matters worse, I’d snuck off from them at the racetrack in Ashburn Valley almost half an hour ago, and they hadn’t even noticed.

Reid was too busy talking cars with his friends, and Logan had been dry humping some skank against his car all evening.

Zavier must have noticed though because he appeared beside me in the shadows, his voice curious. “Why are you hiding over here?”

“I’m not hiding,” I answered bluntly, making him snort.

“You’re literally in the dark away from everyone. What’s wrong?”

I peered up at him, concern in his eyes. The lights from the bathroom close by weren’t that bright here, but it was enough to see.

“I don’t know why I bother coming here. You guys abandon me the second we drive through the gate. None of you even noticed I wasn’t there. I don’t want to watch you all rub up against random girls while I occupy myself,” I scowled, swatting at him when he reached for me.

He ignored it though, tucking me under his arm to keep me close.

“You wandered off a little over thirty minutes ago. I saw you. I thought you wanted some space, so I kept an eye on you from a distance. I will warn you, Logan’s invited what’s-her-name back to the house.”

“Of course he fucking did,” I groaned, relaxing against him. “Why can’t he go back to her place?”

“I don’t know, he hasn’t taken time to breathe for me to ask,” he said dryly.

I couldn’t blame the girl one bit for wanting Logan. He was hot, and from the sounds I’d heard coming out of his bedroom when he had company, he was also really good in bed.

Not that I even knew what bad sex felt like since the guys chased off any man who ever stepped foot near me.

I was going to die a virgin.

To make matters worse, I’d struggled to sleep alone ever since Josh had been murdered, which meant I heavily relied on the guys for company. Most nights, one of them slept beside me, but some nights, they were all too busy getting laid or weren't home.

Those nights alone were the worst, but I didn’t want to complain. I wasn’t their girlfriend.

I had to learn to be on my own eventually.

Living in Hawthorne Heights made things harder too. It was full of crime, and I constantly woke to the sounds of gunfire or sirens. It was normal, and most of it didn’t bother any of us, but that didn’t mean our house wouldn’t be a target to random attacks.

Half of our windows were boarded up, thanks to asshole kids, and the kitchen and living room still had bullet holes all over the walls from the day my brother died.

We couldn’t afford to fix anything. It was hard enough to pay the mortgage and keep the lights on.

The house wasn’t ours, it belonged to my father, but he was long gone. I’d spent more years being raised by my brother and the guys than I had been by the man who’d helped create me.

I didn’t remember my mother. She’d run off when I was younger, thanks to my father being an abusive drunk, and for all I knew, she was dead.

Hopefully, Dad was too.

I had no idea how Josh had gotten the information to pay the bills once Dad had abandoned us, but he’d managed to keep the water and electricity running, so I hadn’t questioned it.

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