Page 14 of His To Claim

“We’re fucked up orphans straight from the debauched slums of Pleasant Hills. A couple of privileged, entitled assholes don’t scare me.”

Oh, but they should have.

Four

SCARLETT

Iwake up startled in a strange bed not quite remembering how it is I got here. The room is dark with gray blackout curtains and stark gray walls. The surrounding furniture is all black wood with dark red and gold accents, and a bright white comforter underneath me made of the softest material.

It takes my eyes a moment to focus on my surroundings and I quickly remember where I am. In my new bedroom at Servite Academy.

I hadn’t realized how tired I was, but once I laid down on the super comfortable bed, I must have passed out. This “apartment,” which I now live in, is huge and almost double the size of the mobile home Jade and I lived in as kids, and this room is nothing compared to the small room Jade, Ruby and I shared at the Grayson’s. I turn to the bedside table on my right where a digital clock reads 7:00 p.m. Fuck, I slept for almost four hours.

I groggily get up and walk over to open my bedroom door, when I notice the door to Stella’s room is slightly ajar. I walk overto it and I can hear laughing coming from inside. I slowly peek inside to see what’s going on, and find Ruby, Jade and Stella laughing with an array of swimsuits laid across Stella’s bed. I push the door open slightly and all eyes turn to me.

“Morning, sunshine,” Jade says mockingly as I stand by the open doorway. She holds a beautiful teal green, one-piece swimsuit against her body, as she stands in front of a full-length mirror hung on one of Stella’s walls. Stella’s room is a replica of mine, however hers looks much more lived in. Her walls are a lighter gray, almost blue color and the accents on her black furniture vary from a deeper red to a blush pink and gold. She has various picture frames hung on one wall and a few art pieces on the other near a blush pink couch that sits by the window overlooking the campus below.

“That’s hot, Jade. It will totally match your green eyes,” Ruby says from beside her.

“Ruby complimenting Jade and saying something is going to look good on her, I must have entered an alternate universe.”

The two of them roll their eyes before going back to perusing the clothes laid out. These two have been at odds since Jade and I arrived at the Grayson’s. I was more forgiving of Ruby’s insolence and chalked it up to her being the only girl among the three boys and not knowing any better. Five, if you count the older two, Kayden and Micah, who left shortly after our arrival. She had a chip on her shoulder and thought she could push us around because she’d been there first. But Jade wasn’t so sympathetic.

Everything between her and Ruby was a competition. From helping Grayson and Sarah run errands, hanging with me and the guys at school, to even fighting over Jaxon at one point. Of course, Jade wasn’t really interested in him, it was more about having something Ruby wanted. Jax is too vanilla for Jade. She prefers the bad boys. She likes them dark and broody. Cocky assholes with loads of issues. It’s one of our similarities.

“Go on, try it on,” Stella says, motioning for her to try on the swimsuit.

Jade heads over to the closet, closing the door slightly as she steps inside.

“What’s going on?” I ask, confused at the scene before me. Three girls, two who rarely get along and are constantly arguing, and a third they’ve just met are all looking like they’re the best of friends.

“We’re just trying on some swimsuits for the party,” Stella answers as Jade emerges from the closet dressed in the teal one-piece. In the middle of the suit is a cut out revealing her upper abdomen and belly button ring, and hugs her curves perfectly, fitting like a second skin. The top is a triangular halter, and the back of the suit is low cut in a V shape, ending just above her ass leaving every single one of her tattoos exposed.

“That’s a lot of tattoos,” Stella says, admiring the ink on Jade’s back. In the middle of her back is a large portrait of a white wolf with bright green eyes, resembling those of Jade herself. Since she was a little girl, Jade’s been mesmerized by wolves and what they represent. It was her brother Roman of course that gave her the nickname she still goes by “White Wolf.” He always used to say that white wolves were the purest, as they weren’t yet tainted by life. He called himself “Gray Wolf”, after the color of his stormy gray eyes. Jade is the embodiment of a fierce wolf, a protector. Courageous and loyal. A lone wolf who found her pack in me and the guys from the foster home, after losing her alpha and the only wolf she cared for, her brother Roman.

“It was a pastime at the house to get inked. Kai, one of the guys, has his own ink gun, and he’s tattooed pretty much all our ink. Before him it was Kayden, one of the older guys. He gave us all our first,” she says, pointing to the tree branch going up her left side.

“You all have them?” Stella asks, not judging but surprised. It’s unheard of for such young teens to be covered in tattoos, but Grayson thought it was better than having us out in the streetsgetting into trouble or the harder drugs that flood the streets of Pleasant Hills. Smoking cigarettes or weed and drinking were the only things we could get away with, if we were careful that is. And honestly, unlike all the kids at our school, we weren’t interested in anything else.

“Scarlett has more than me, Ruby only has a few,” says Jade as she checks herself out in the mirror.

“This body is too sacred to treat like a coloring book,” Ruby says, garnering laughs from all of us. With that she grabs a bright red bikini and heads to the walk-in closet where Jade went to change.

“So, which one do you want, Scarlett?” Stella asks, turning her back to me and pointing toward all the swimsuits displayed on her bed. They’re quite beautiful but I’m not really feeling in the party mood.

“I’ll pass, I’m fine with what I’m wearing,” I answer, and instantly receive scowls from the two of them.

“Come on, Scar, don’t be a Debbie downer. This one will look bomb on that sexy body of yours, sis,” Jade says, holding up a two-piece, high-waisted, black bikini. The top is a simple triangle top with thin straps, and the bottoms look high-rise and cheeky. Something I’d probably wear any other day but for some reason don’t feel comfortable wearing today.

“You’re sisters?” Stella asks, turning to me.

“Stepsisters,” Ruby interjects, walking out in the skimpiest red bikini showing off her banging figure. On anyone else it would look sleazy but on Ruby it looks like it was made for her. “Her dad married her mom,” she says, pointing to us. “Well, I don’t think they ever got married. Point is they’re stepsisters, came to the house together.”

“I’m trying to convince Scar to wear this,” Jade says to Ruby who is of course now checking herself out in the mirror. Jade’s right, Ruby has the least amount of ink out of all of us and only has a few small pieces scattered around her hip bones, breastbone,and lower back. They’re small and mostly quotes she lives by.

“We’re not taking no for an answer.” I raise a brow at Ruby, and she steps toward Jade grabbing the bikini and then turning toward me. “Come on, Scar, you’re not gonna make us late. Take this and go shower.” I scoff as she shoves the black bikini toward me.

“You can wear your shorts over it,” Stella says, hoping to change my mind.

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