Page 129 of Shattered Legacy (Gravestone Elite 1)

“I’m your uncle’s driver. He sent me to pick you up.”

“Fucking brilliant.” The laugh that accompanies my words is anything but amused.

“If you’d like to put your bags in the trunk, I’ll take you home.”

Home. This is my home.

My body tenses, my fists curling at my sides, as I step up to the man. He already looks totally intimidated by his surroundings, and I delight in him taking one step back as I approach. Slamming the door as I go, I stop him from an easy escape should he feel he needs it.

No motherfucker, you’ve probably not dealt with anyone like me before.

The scent of his expensive aftershave fills my nose, and it only makes me want to hurt the privileged asshole that much more.

“Let’s get a few things straight.” I don’t stop until I’m right in his face, so close I see the fear in his eyes. Now that’s something I can work with, something I can feed off like a fucking leech. “Firstly, that place you’re meant to be taking us to is not our home. It’ll never be our home. And second, we’re not getting in this fancy-ass fucking car. Where the hell is James? I thought he was coming to collect us.”

“He’s been called out on business.”

This is a fucking joke. First he demands we move into his pretentious mansion—blackmails me into it when he knows it’s the last place in the world I want to live—and then the motherfucker can’t even be bothered to turn up himself. He’s probably too good for this place. No wonder he looked down his nose at us all those years ago and turned his back as fast as he could.

“He will be home later to greet you.”

I stare at him, no emotion on my face and a storm brewing in my eyes.

“If you could just get in and—”

“Un-fucking-likely. We can make our own way.”

I told James as much when he instigated this whole thing in the first place, but he insisted. Probably because he doesn’t want my brothers’ rust bucket sitting in his fancy driveway and bringing the tone of the area down.

“I really don’t think—”

“I don’t give a fuck what you think, Jeeves.”

All the blood that was left in his face from when he first stepped out of the car drains away, and he swallows nervously.

“D-do you want to f-follow me then?”

“Marvelous, Jeeves. What a fantastic plan,” I mock, mimicking his posh British accent.

The second I take a step back, he scrambles into the car as quick as he can. Fucking pussy.

“I can’t believe he sent a car,” Conner mumbles as my brothers join me, and together we watch the town car roll slowly down the dirt track.

“Really?” I balk. “James isn’t our savior, Con. You think he’d even be taking us in if it weren’t for the court deciding I’m no good…” I swallow the rest of the words. Of course, no one would trust me with my brothers. Apparently, the fact that I’ve raised both of them since we were just kids doesn’t matter.

My chest tightens.

“It’ll be okay, Ace.” My brother squeezes my shoulder. “A fresh start could be just what we need.”

“Yeah, whatever.” I shrug him off. “We should probably get going.” There’s nothing left for us here.

Conner gives me a weak smile before following Cole to their car. It’s an ancient Ford they somehow manage to keep running despite the fact that it should have been scrapped at least ten years ago. Cole doesn’t even spare our trailer a backward glance as he climbs inside and guns the engine. I’ll need to keep my eye on him; he’s always been a quiet kid, but lately he’s been even more brooding.

They follow Jeeves’ lead before I throw my leg over my bike and rev the engine. The vibrations instantly help to cool me off. The anticipation that I’ll soon be flying down the coastal road helps to push my ever building anger over this fucked-up situation down a little more.

I gun the engine once both the town car and my brothers have disappeared from sight and take one last look at this place. It’s dark and dingy, like Hell on Earth. But it’s our home… was our home. We’re moving. Heading over the border to the rich side of town. Like we’re ever going to fucking fit in there.

Dust and gravel fly up behind me as I speed off to find my brothers’ taillights somewhere up ahead. We know roughly where James lives, but I’ve no idea which of the insanely pretentious houses actually belongs to him. Probably the biggest one, knowing that pretentious stuck-up prick.

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