Page 45 of Kings of Westbrook High

“Let's go.”

“You think she's gone to the party?”

I nod, following them down to the elevator.

“Fuckin' Rachel.” Kai mutters, stepping inside first to push the button because that's his thing. “I wanted to ask her.”

“You're acting awful clingy over a girl who's not yours.” Wren jokes, snorting when Kai shoves his ass.

“I'm not clingy, bitch.”

“You sure?”

I roll my eyes and lean back on the wall, tuning them out while my mind drifts back to her. There's no way she's the way she is just because her Dad smacked her around a little bit. She's been through way more shit than any of us even realize. Problem is, whenever you ask questions she doesn't like the answers to, she shuts down and fucks off, same thing she did just now.

A monster, she called him.

I wanted him to pay for his sins with blood and pain, same way I paid for yours.

My fists clench over and over on the short walk to the beach because the thought of anyone hurting her has my blood fucking burning. I want to protect her like she's my own. I want to kill every motherfucker who's dared to put his hands on her and burn the filthy city of Vegas to the ground so she has nowhere to run when she's finally free of me.

Why I want all that, no fucking clue.

I swore I'd never allow myself to fall for a girl after the pain of losing the only woman I ever loved. And I sure as shit won't be repeating my little brothers’ mistake after watching him crash and burn the way he did.

And my Dad..

Trust me, it's not fucking worth it.

But with Callie..

“She's not here.”

I frown, quickly scanning the beach from left to right. The bonfire's lit, the music's blaring from the speakers, the makeshift bar's fully stocked and the place is packed with seniors from Westbrook High, drinking, dancing and freezing their asses off in the ocean.

I spot Rachel shaking her ass by the bonfire between a couple guys from school and move to walk over there, spinning on my little brothers when they move to follow me. They hit me with their matching grins and lift their hands in mock surrender, backing up to go do their own thing. Kai grabs a drink along with the first girl he sees and Wren moves to drop his ass down next to our boy Levi, taking out a pre rolled joint to light it.

Rachel's brows raise when she sees me coming right for her but she quickly hides her shock, stepping away from her little threesome to greet me. “I'm guessing you're the one who pissed in her coffee?”

“Where is she?”

“Told me not to tell.”

I raise a brow, stepping closer to crowd her space. “That's not what I asked you.”

She rolls her lips, only hesitating for a beat before ratting her out. “She's up on the pier.”

I laugh lightly because of course she is, the brave little bitch.

I quickly glance over my shoulder to check my little brothers, then I walk up the beach and along the empty wooden pier lined by the same fairy lights my Mom hung up here a few Christmases ago. She loved them so much she decided to keep them all year round, said she liked to look at them from her favorite spot on the balcony where she’d stay up half the night reading those cheesy ass romance books we used to tease her about.

Fuck, I miss her.

I find Callie sitting on the very edge with her legs dangling over the deep waters below, holding a half empty bottle of vodka in one hand and a lit joint in the other. She’s barely been here twenty minutes and she’s already fucked up, numbing the pain.

So much fuckin’ pain.

Her body stiffens a little when my feet hit the spot behind her and she scoffs, muttering. “Fuckin' Rachel.”

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