Quinn, age eighteen
The party was boring. A few months had passed since Ash and I had broken up, and I was still adjusting to life as a non-Devil. They’d shut me out. I expected it of two of them, but Jett’s silence stung. He told me that he wouldn’t let it interfere with our friendship, but I guess my saying I’d cheated on his cousin was a line that even Jett Santo wouldn’t cross.
The students at our rival high school didn’t care that I was no longer a Devil; they didn’t care that I had oncebeen thequeenof Cardinal Saints High School. Well, they had, until they saw thatIno longer cared; maybe I never had.
One of the basketball team had sucked my neck earlier as I gave him a half-hearted hand job, and now he was drunk, and I was bored and fed up with fighting off his clumsy hands. I couldn’t remember whose party this was, but I was on the balcony, which was accessed from their parents’ bedroom. Parents who weren’t here.
Parents were never there when they were needed.
Curling my legs under me, I stared down at the pool and at the party still going strong. Some girls had opted to lose their bikini tops as they played and teased in the pool. Guys were either drooling over them or were playing a drunken game of basketball. Others were shacked up in dark corners where low moans could be heard over the noise, even from where I was.
I watched Elise and her bitch friends cross the lawn like they were something.Sluts.Ash had fucked all of them in one night, one after the other, not realizing it was a different girl, and not one of them had any self-respect to point out his mistake.
Ash had slept with almost every girl in school now to let me know he didn’t care about me. It hurt. It hurt because he was going to realize one day, he really didn’t care that way about me, and he was going to feel like shit. I knew this because I was already there.
Suddenly, I saw the three of them in the shadows, black bandanas over their faces, hoodies up. It made me sit up and pay attention. This was a rival school; they were going to get their asses kicked if they were caught. Like shadows, they melted into the darkness, but I knew them, I knew what they were doing.
Mayhem.
The lights went out. The music cut off. Screams and splashes came from the pool, and then I heard the whisper racing through the darkness.
Run.
I was leaning over the balcony now, looking for any telltale signs of them, but it was too dark. I felt the wide smile, and I realized I hadn’t grinned like this in weeks. Hearing the door to the bedroom open, I spun quickly. He was in front of me. Tall, broad, the bandana covering his face, the hood drawn low. He tossed something to me, and I caught it deftly.
“Let them know who was here,” Gray whispered, and then he turned and was gone again.
With a smile and lighter step, I left the bedroom, the spray can of paint in my hand. This party needed to know the Devils had been here.
I had been fooling myself. I wouldalwaysbe a Devil. I just needed to remindthemof that.Allof them.
Chapter 1: Quinn
Present
Staring around the kitchen with my mask of indifference on, I willed my insides to stop shaking as I stirred the ingredients together. I had been here only a few times since we started college, usually when Ash or Gray weren’t. Ash, I think, was truly clueless as to how close Jett had kept me during our “estranged” times. Gray knew; he just chose not to acknowledge it.
There were a lot of things that Gray Santo chose not to acknowledge.
As I added the chili flakes to the mix, I felt myself smirk at my inner thoughts. Gray was not alone in hisselectiverecollections. There was a lot of shit that had happened between us that I didn’t acknowledge either.
He was no innocent, but then, neither was I.
Ash sat to the left of the breakfast bar as Gray lingered like a wraith behind me, with four or five of the team scattered around the dining area as I explained the nutrition of the dish I was making.
Sometimes, I hated the fact that I was best friends with the Devils. They took a lot of shit, and therefore I took a lot of shit. They also caused a lot of trouble; therefore, I caused a lot of trouble. On a more personal level, I had been on both sides of theirrule. I had stood with them as they caused mayhem, and I had trembled when their anger was pointed at me. I was currently back beside them, which is why it was “natural” for my assignment in my nutrition course to be allocated to the Cardinal Saints football team.
And because I was an extension of the Devils, ten of the football team had all volunteered to help with my assignment. I was tomake them meal plans, check their food intake, and see when and what food worked best with them. Record every meticulous detail as if they were actually under my care and I were responsible for them.
Coach Bowers had signed off on it, and his daughter, Dr. Sanchez, was overseeing my work. The assignment was for two months and was fifty-five percent of my grade, so I could not afford to fuck this up. I could not afford forthemto fuck this up for me.
I had met the Santo boys when I was eleven and they were ten. Twins and a cousin who may as well have been their triplet. There were four days between them.Fourdays. Ash was due to be born the month before, but the stubborn bastard had refused to leave the womb until he was ready. His poor mom, Charlotte, was the slightest female I had ever met. Everything about her was petite, and she had not only birthed the monster, but he had also been three weeks overdue, ensuring her pregnancy was sheer hell.
I caught him staring at me as I spoke and started basting the chicken breasts with the marinade I had made. All low-fat, all calorie-counted, all fresh.
I offered him a small smile. It had been so ugly between us for so long. I was tired of it all. His face remained stoic, but he hadn’t cursed me out, and he hadn’t thrown me out. I was taking the olive branch, even if he didn’t know he was offering it.
The front door banged open, and I heard them before I saw them.
