Page 14 of Shattered Legacy (Gravestone Elite 1)

“FUCK,” I roar, pulling my leg back and kicking the rock beside me.

Pain ricochets up my leg, my toe burning from the connection. But it’s the least I deserve for taking advantage of her like that.

She wanted it, a little voice says in my head, but I slam it down.

It would have been so easy to lose myself in her. To take what she was offering to me and forget how much she drank.

The old

me would have. Hell, I'd have already been inside her if I was the same person who was exiled from Sterling Bay. I'd probably be riding her bare, with little regard for anything else but my own pleasure.

But that's not who I am anymore.

I said goodbye to that guy the moment I stepped out of line with Remi. The first crack of her boyfriend—Ace Jagger’s—knuckles, and I knew everything was about to come crashing down around my feet. I knew before he ruined my future by shattering the one good thing I had in my life: my throwing arm. I was spiraling out of control thanks to my position in the school, my need for power and respect, and my crumbling home life.

It was all just too much, and I lost the person I used to be. The person Remi used to want to spend time with. The person the other kids at school used to look up to.

My need for more vodka means I don't hang around any longer than necessary. Instead, I march straight back to the party and snatch the first bottle I find.

I've got the cap in my hand and the neck halfway to my lips when I hear Alex's familiar voice behind me. "Here you are,” he says. “Where did you—oh," he chuckles.

"What's so funny?" I snap, not in any kind of mood to be laughed at.

It was fucking easier when I'd ruined my conscience with drugs.

"I was going to ask where you went, but the girl that's all over your face kinda gave me my answer."

"What?" I ask, rubbing at my lips only to find dark lipstick on my thumb. Great. "Oh."

"So, who was she?" he asks with a knowing glint in his eye. He's almost as aware as I am of my lack of action since turning up at Gravestone High last winter.

"I… um… I don't know," I lie. "Just some girl I stumbled across down by the lake."

"Nice.” He grins. “Any good?"

"I don't kiss and tell."

"Well, you should. It looks like you had fun."

"Whatever," I mutter, finally taking a pull from the bottle in my hand.

The vodka burns, but it's not enough. It's nowhere near enough, and for the millionth time since I arrived in Gravestone, I crave more. Crave anything that will numb the pain of my past and make me forget.

"I need to get out of here."

"But we just got here. Have a drink and chill out, man."

I look around, wondering who might have something stronger than this vodka, and that move is enough for me to know that I need to leave.

"Have a good night, yeah? I'll catch up with you tomorrow or something." Without saying another word, I take off, and by some fucking miracle he doesn't even try to call after me.

The winding driveway that seemed to take forever to get down when we first arrived is even longer on the way back. But the farther away I get from the party, the more the tension seeps from my body, and I know I'm doing the right thing.

The campus is in silence when I finally get back almost an hour later, my feet aching from the late-night walk and my bottle of vodka long empty.

I start stripping out of my clothes the second I get into my dorm and fall face-first into my bed, drowning in my regrets.

My weekend doesn't get much better. I wake the next morning to the sound of Alex banging on my door, demanding that I get up and go for a run with him.

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