Page 8 of Ruthless Legacy

Sighing, I turn my attention to where we are driving to. I notice we’re heading out of town. We carry on driving for another ten minutes until he parks up beside a dirt track leading to some woods. Is this the part where they dump me in the middle of nowhere and leave me to find my own way home? My captor climbs out of the car and the other two follow. His blond friend reaches in and pulls me out by my arms, holding them behind my back. His other hand fists my hair at the nape of my neck, and we head into head the forest. I try to control my racing heart. Why are they dragging me into the woods in the dead of night? What if they leave me here? I have no fucking clue where I am. Christ, I don’t even know the address of my new home.

I stumble over a tree branch, and he pulls on my hair to keep me upright. “What colour hair do you think she has under this dye job?” he asks the other two.

Rafe looks at me and smirks. “She’s probably a ginger.”

His friend chuckles. “I’m not impartial to a ginger chick. Summer Charlton is ginger, and she can give head like a pro.”

“I’m sure you know all about the pros,” I snigger.

“Quiet,” Savage orders, and we continue on in silence, further into the confines of the woods. I can barely see a foot in front of me. It’s so dark out here. In the distance I can hear voices and my eyes widen in surprise when the trees’ part and I realise we have come out on top of a cliff. There’s a group of roughly twelve other teenagers up here. Most of them boys, but three girls stand together over by one side. One of them grins like a cunning cat when her eyes set on Savage. She walks towards him, swinging her hips exaggeratedly. I wasn’t sure why she was bothering. She has the body of a ten-year-old girl. The words eating disorder spring to mind.

“Baby, where have you been.” She places her hands on Savage’s chest and looks up at him, her lips puckered and her fake eyelashes fluttering up at him. I snigger and suddenly her gaze lands on me. “Who the hell is this?”

“None of your business,” Savage tells her, firmly removing her hands from his chest and signalling to the blond guy who pushes me forward into the hands of my captor again. Savage wraps an arm tightly around my waist and with the other, he holds my hands behind my back between our bodies. “See this, Scarlet. This is Hawk Cliff Point. Down there is a thirty-five-foot drop into the cold sea. Tell me, can gypsies swim?”

“I can swim, arsehole,” I hiss back at him. I hate being in situations that are out of my control. It doesn’t sit well with me. “Why are we here?” I ask, feigning boredom to hide my increasing anxiety. I can swim, but I hate the water. I have feared it ever since my parents’ car plummeted over that ravine into the icy river.

The blond one claps his hands together and makes the sound of a wolf howling. “It’s initiation night, Little Red.”

I shake my head. “So, I wasn’t wrong about the hazing and stupid boy club.”

“Listen up, Scarlet,” Savage says directly into my ear, his breath tickling me, “everyone wants to be a part of this. The Aces have existed for generations. It’s a tradition in this town. It’s a privilege to be a part of our little society.”

I shake my head, and even though he can’t see my face properly; I roll my eyes and fake a yawn. “Wake me up when this is over.”

“Okay, gather round my Clubs,” Blondie commands. “Tonight is the night you have been waiting for. We deem only a select few worthy. Worthy to take the chance to become a Club and be a part of the Aces. This is the ultimate challenge. Do the jump and you are in.”

The group of boys all whoop and start patting each other on the back and bumping fists. Jesus, this is ridiculous!

One boy, who looks to be about fourteen, takes off his shoes and rubs his hands together focusing on the cliff edge. He walks towards the edge and takes up his position. Blowing out a nervous breath, he then makes a run for it, and jumps off the edge of the cliff, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

“Fuck,” I hiss. Savage pushes us closer to the edge, so much so that the edge of my boots hang over the steep cliff face. There is a sound of something hitting water and suddenly a torchlight used by one of the others up here on the cliff shines on the boy in the water, who bobs up and down in the waves, fist bumping the air and whistling.

One by one, the other boys all take the challenge and jump off the clifftop into the cold water below. As I watch the last one jump, I can’t help but wonder what the purpose is in bringing me along tonight. Rafe turns and shines the torchlight from his phone into my eyes.

“Now, it’s Scarlet’s turn.”

I scoff, “I don’t fucking think so. Besides, I don’t even want to be a part of your shitty little club.”

Savage’s grip on hands tightens and he pulls me back. “You think we’d let you be a Club, little gypsy. Only those deemed worthy get to join. You have to be from an influential family and loyal to this town and its traditions.”

“You get to jump as punishment, Little Red,” the blond one tells me, his eyes widening with excitement and adrenaline. “You interfered in business that has nothing to do with you and you were trespassing on private property.”

Savage walks us to the edge of the cliff again, and my heart hammers in my chest. Anything but water. I fear nothing in life, nothing that is, but water. “You ready to take a little dip?”

“You can’t make me do this,” I protest angrily. When I get scared, I get defensive. Like a cat backed into a corner, my claws come out.

“Oh, you will jump, Scarlet. You’ll jump or be pushed.” He suddenly let’s go of me and I jump back from the edge and turn my back on the deep drop to face the three boys and three girls who are still up here with me. “I’m leaving. You can’t make me do this.”

Rafe blocks my move to pass them. “Ah, ah, Little Red. There’s no escape.”

The nameless girl, who draped herself all over Savage before, taps her foot and looks bored. “Can you just fucking jump, tramp, and then we can all go. It’s freezing up here.”

I send a withering gaze her way. “Perhaps you should try wearing some clothes then,” I suggest in a bored tone, my frosty eyes sweeping her body from head to toe. Who wears arse-hugging shorts and a cropped t-shirt on a bloody clifftop in the middle of the night?

“Come on, Little Red, I thought you gypsies were tough,” Blond says to me, smiling, and it’s while my attention on him that the little hellcat strikes. Out of the corner of my eye I see movement and suddenly I’m falling backwards over the edge of the cliff, down into the darkness and down towards the vast, cold ocean. I release a scream of fear as I plummet down and hit the water with a cold hard splash that takes my breath away.

---