Page 2 of Brutal Days

Fuck my life. The things I will do for her…“Fine.” I scooted off her bed and stood. “But I have to cover the football practice for the school blog.” I hated it.

Every school had one, even Hidden Valley Academy. And thanks to my creative writing teacher, who thought I should be a journalist, I’d been assigned. I hated sports with the passion of a thousand burning suns. But it wasn’t like I had a choice. Besides, writing was how I had hacked my way onto the student list at the academy.

“We can meet after and get ready to go then.”

I left Gia, who had turned to go through her closet to start the crazy process where she discarded clothes she deemed not good enough in heaps on her bed. If I could get through the next few hours, I could zone out in front of my TV and forget about all the drama. That day had just been a lot. I said bye to Gia’s mom and headed out, resigned to what I needed to do. I would support Gia and be there for her because that was what best friends did.But I have a really bad feeling about this.

CHAPTER TWO

DAMON

#SeniorYearBaby

Adrenaline pumped through me, and I pounded once on Shane’s helmet. “Senior year.” I couldn’t help grinning.

It was our last year at Hidden Valley Academy before we would move on to Thane. The college wasn’t too far from where we lived in Santa Monica, California, and my brother was already there kicking ass and taking names. Goddamn, did I miss him. It wasn’t the same with just the three of us here.

“Hell, yeah!” Phoenix took off his helmet and slapped me on the back, which I hardly felt under all the pads.

My cousin, Phoenix, had the coveted QB position, which was fine with me because I was an all-state running back. Shane, too, even though he volleyed between wide receiver and defense. Phoenix was a legend. Lucky for him, he had options to pass the ball to—Shane and me. I loved the thrill of the game. It made sense and fed my need to annihilate whoever was in my way on the field. And when I had the ball, which I should if it wasn’t in the air, I could bust through tackles like no one else.

“Let’s get moving so we can head to the barbecue at your house. Need me to pick anything up on my way there?” I asked.

Phoenix and Shane threw the party we were heading to and a Fourth of July one every year. Their mom, our aunt Cece, was cool with it. She usually crashed at our place during the day when they held one. So long as the place was cleaned up and no one got injured or died, she was cool with it—the product of being a single parent and overworked ER nurse.

“Nah, we’re good. Shane managed most of the party prep. I appreciate your contribution to the cooking staff. I wasn’t looking forward to grilling the mountain of meat my brother got from the store.”

“No problem. I want to party with you guys, not stand by the grill just to talk to you.”

We headed off the field, and my gaze inevitably went to the chick in the stands that’d been screwing with me all morning, taking pictures and notes. She was smoke-show hot, and I got the impression she didn’t care about her appearance based on the overly large black glasses that matched the color of her long hair. They didn’t hide her cornflower-blue eyes, high cheekbones, or perfect bee-stung mouth. She wore black leggings that left nothing to the imagination and a tight blue shirt with strategic tears to show the black cami under it.

Her entire look did things to me that no girl had managed to. Awareness crackled in the air as I closed the distance to where she stood. She would do for the night. I had energy to burn and needed sex like my next breath. It was that or fight. Darkness swirled inside me, needing an outlet all the time. Football helped take the edge off, but I’d been spiraling, my lack of control growing ever since Mom died and I’d learned what I had about my dad that day.

My brother was right. Our dad was an asshole. It wasn’t just our mom at the root of all the family drama. And because of that, I had to find an outlet, or I would lash out.The worst part?I feared I was more like my dad than I’d ever known. No girl held my interest, and I tended to treat them terribly.

The chick stared at me as I neared, and I felt an unmistakable pull I couldn’t ignore. So I didn’t. I stopped in front of her, and my gaze caressed her body from head to toe and back again.

“Come to the barbecue with me.” It wasn’t a question. I never needed to ask. If I gave any girl attention, she fell in line like an overeager puppy.

Her mouth dropped open, and I imagined what I would like to do with those lips, then adjusted myself because, goddamn, she was gorgeous.

She laughed before wiping the amusement from her face. “I think not.”

I couldn’t have heard her right. I took in her notepad and camera. She better not have been taking pictures of my cousins and not me. “What are you doing here?”

“I have the unfortunate job of writing a piece for the school’s blog about today’s practice. I planned to go with an article dedicated to you.”

I grinned, dark thoughts swirling in my mind of what I could show her—and not on the field. “I can show you a lot more.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so. How’s it going with Cole off at Thane? I mean, you’re the smaller, less talented Savage brother. Is the pressure off this year?”

Interesting. I’d never had a girl not fall in line when I snapped my fingers. I studied her more closely. She looked familiar. “You’re Skylar McCormick. You were in my math class last year.”

She’d said no to a date with me last year too.

“Yep.”

A slow grin curved her lips, and I couldn’t help but look at them again.

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