As history tells it, the battle began on social media while a global pandemic wiped out a giant chunk of the world’s population. It didn’t take long for online fighting to spill over into the physical world. Mass rioting reduced entire cities to ash. In the aftermath, a divided nation limped out from beneath the rubble. You’d think America would have united and built something new. Something better.
Pffft.
Wrong.
The country is more messed up now than it was before the war. It forced criminal organizations like the Unholy to stave off anarchy in the wake of government corruption and incompetence. But it is what it is, and for most of us, this is the only life we know. That’s why my mother sent Brianna and me to live with Aunt Chloe and Uncle Aaron. She wanted more for her daughters than what Mayhem has to offer.
What Olivia Decker didn’t count on was my love for this town to pull me back. Eric, who goes by Wraith now that he’s an Unholy, always said Mayhem has its own gravity. Guess he’s right, because those of us who leave always seem to find our way home.
God, my mother must see me as a smashing disappointment. She’ll never admit it to my face, but I see it in her eyes every time she looks at me. It’s why I’ve been avoiding her. Not that I’ve been back long. It’s only been a few weeks. But still. I’m not in a rush to visit her. Not at her house or at the library where she’s worked for the past twenty-something years. When I gave up everything and left Brighton, she took it as a personal insult. Made sure I knew—for the billionth time—how she sacrificed everything to get her daughters out of this town. And here I am, right back where I started. We had a nasty fight and are now in the awkward process of moving past that argument.
Sometimes I doubt that’s possible.
The problem is that my mother believes she has authority over me even though, at twenty-five, I’m a whole adult. Unfortunately, I’m also a stubborn wench who, I admit, refuses to listen to advice. We bang heads and are barely able to be in the same room for any length of time. Eventually, I’ll have to see her.
Just not today.
I hook my thumbs around the straps of my old, black backpack and flex my shoulders to hoist the thing higher on my back. “I made an ass out of myself.”
“No, Faith, Annabelle made an ass out of herself by going down on a guy in a filthy alleyway.” Kerri wrinkles her nose as if what Annabelle did was the worst thing in the world. My friend isn’t a prude. The thing is, she’s had only two boyfriends, and sex with them was…lackluster. “Bad enough Luke broke the man’s jaw. But for her to dothatnext to a dumpster with her knees practically in his blood? It proves she doesn’t have a shred of decency.”
Ironically, us showing up at Talon the same night as Annabelle was purely coincidental. We went to that bar to avoid the usual Mayhem crowds and ended up walking into my worst nightmare.
“It’s Annabelle, so…”
Far be it from me to slut-shame anyone. The beauty of Mayhem is living by a unique code most folks find shocking. Live and let live—as long as everyone involved are consenting adults. A blowjob next to a dumpster is tame by this town’s standards.
“I still don’t understand why you insisted on moving back here. You were thriving in Brighton.” Kerri casts a gaze over Main Street, and I see things through her eyes. A tiny, decaying town in the shadow of the Appalachian Mountains. Zero upward mobility. Negative social standing. Total debauchery on one whole side of town. Quaint county life on the other. Thing is, there’s freedom here. A glory that comes from living somewhere where anyone can be anything as long as it doesn’t harm anyone else.
Brighton’s society boxed me in. Suffocated me. Killing my soul a little bit each day.
But my best friend looks like she’s on the verge of tears because my absence from Brighton will leave a void in her life. “No, Kerri, I wasn’t thriving. I was existing. Big difference.”
She stops, and there’s genuine panic in her eyes. “What am I going to do without you?”
Kerri may seem unapproachable, but she’s a powder keg of suppressed emotion. I’ll bet my brand-spanking-new expensive-as-hell iMac that the right man will light her fuse and spark an explosion powerful enough to rock her entire world.
I roll my eyes at her question. “I’m sure daddy’s money will soften the sting of my absence.”
Even as the words leave my mouth, I’m already mentally kicking myself in the ass. Years spent spewing bitchy remarks sometimes has them flying out thoughtlessly. No worries, though, Kerri may come across as the quiet type, but this woman gives as good as she gets.
A single arched brow cuts me down to size. “Don’t you dare be mean to me, Faith Decker. You may fool the world with your tough-girl act, but as your best friend, I’m the one who nursed you back from a broken heart. So watch your tone with me, and never throw my father’s wealth in my face again.”
Well, now. I’ve been chastised.
“I’m sorry.” I link my arm with hers and rest my head against her shoulder. “Truly.”
“Forgiven,” she grumbles. “But I still think you’re making an epic mistake.” She waves a hand through the air, gesturing to the rows of mom-and-pop shops that line Main Street. “There’s nothing for you here but bad memories and more heartache.”
“There’s less for me in Brighton.” I blink against the glare of the afternoon sun, my stomach growling thanks to having nothing in it but a single slice of plain wheat toast. I move along, with my friend falling in step beside me. “This is where I need to be, Kerri. I wish everyone would stop giving me shit about it and let me live my life.”
Kerri jerks her arm free, leaving me to catch up to her long stride. “I’m not everyone. I’m the one person who actually cares about you. And let’s be honest, Faith, we both know there’s no future for you here.”
“Yes, there is.”
Her laughter is as elegant as she is. “Really? Because although I’m proud of you for building your own business, I can’t make sense of why you gave up a six-figure job to take on freelance design work. Or why you wanted to come back to a town you spent seven years avoiding.”
“Because it’s home.”
