“You can go now. Your ride is still out there.” I don’t look at her but I feel her eyes sear through me with fire, knowing she was used.
She’s used whenever I desire. She wants more, but she’ll never be more. My heart never belonged to anyone…unable to be tamed…until now.
The door clicks and silence fills my home again until a welcome call breaks it.
“What’s up,” I huff out leaning my head back again.
“Dad is cutting a deal with the Compano’s. Family meeting.”
“When?”
“As soon as we all get there.”
“Fuck.”
I peel myself off of the couch and head over.
Reeves and Preston are already in the study when I get there, speaking with our father.
Figures. The pricks are always together. They’re probably behind this fiasco.
“What’s all this about working with the Compano’s pop? How in the world does that seem like a good idea?”
“Settle down son,” his statuesque presence goes unwavered at my dismay.
"He's got a point, Jax," Reeves argues.
“Point about what?” I hiss joining them at the desk. “Father, this makes us look like we can’t handle our own town. Are we pussies now?” I slam my fist on his desk.
“Watch yourself son. Know your place.” His eyes ignite. “I am the ruler of this kingdom,” he leans his face a mere inches from mine challenging me.
“One day you and your brothers will make the decisions but for now you will listen to me.” He walks away and props himself on the edge of his desk. “And I’ve decided the risk of being at war with the Compano’s is far worse than doing business with them.”
“Keep your friends close, your enemies closer eh?” Preston offers with a shit-eating grin.
“That’s right.”
“Don’t worry Jax, once you grow up you’ll learn these things.” My body burns with a need to punch something at Preston’s words.
“I’ve lived plenty more than you for twenty-one.”
“That’s enough!” My father’s voice raises. “We can keep a better eye on them this way, letting them think they have accomplished something in this town, yet we will hold all the cards.”
Chapter 1
Chalene
It’s funny how you go about each day thinking it’s going to be more of the same and then all of a sudden, it’s just not. It becomes something different…unimaginable. Something that will change the course of everything you knew and you have no chance of ever going back to who or what you were.
The summer had going pretty good so far. Danny graduated high school and planned on attending the local technical college in the fall. I think he really wanted to go to a University but he didn’t want to leave me. It didn’t matter how much I encouraged him, he insisted he didn’t need more than a trade school degree to live a decent life. While I felt bad, I was grateful.
We both had been working our butts off so we could save enough money to get our own apartment. Danny had been working at the golf course since the middle of his senior year and was able to pick up more hours now that it was summer. I just got my job at the diner about a month ago.
Dad didn’t know it yet, but we were leaving and it couldn’t come fast enough. By the end of the summer, with both of us working, we’d have enough to get our place, and it wouldn’t take much to be better than where we are now.
I throw on my light blue t-shirt displaying rather obnoxiously that I work at Big Joe's Diner and pull on my jeans I've worn way too many times this week, but I just haven't had time to go to the laundromat yet. I pull on the dark blue converse that I found at Goodwill last year, which are actually very comfortable, and match perfectly, and head to the bathroom. A high ponytail tops off the look so my hair doesn't get in the way with the busy Friday crowd.
I sling my purse over across my shoulder and get ready to head to the bus stop since Danny had to go in to work early; and dad was most likely off doing something involving a needle or pipe. I didn't mind that dad was gone though, and welcomed the lone environment. I was beginning to hate being alone with him. Whoever he was when mom was alive was long gone now.