Defiant Knight (The Kings of Wayward Academy #2)

Chapter 1

B lake

“Yo! You two coming or what?” Nash bellowed down the stairs.

I rolled my eyes at Myles as he grumbled prick under his breath.

It had taken the last few days of our Christmas break, but we’d finally finished switching over the labels on the massive haul of product that Nash had stolen from his father.

Liam and Myles helped pull off the heist while Theo and I were away celebrating our birthday, a tradition our parents started years ago.

But ever since we got back, Nash had been riding all of us hard to get it finished.

“Ya, want us to go faster, fucking come and help, or fill me coffee,” Myles yelled back.

We might have known Nash longer, but Myles was the boldest of our group when it came to voicing his opinion. I couldn’t tell if Nash liked the banter or was plotting Myles’s death. With Nash, anything was possible.

“Just fucking hurry up.”

“Does he seem more pissed off than usual,” I asked, and stretched.

My eyes landed on the framed poster of a naked girl laying on a Lamborghini.

Even though we only used this room to handle the product coming and going, we really needed to give the flat grey walls a paint job and get more comfortable chairs.

Whenever we were in here, it felt like we were already doing time in a cell.

“Aye, but Vicky has been away since the last day of school, so he’s probably just needing his hose polished.”

There was no point in mentioning the dreary walls since Nash would say they were fine. I smiled and grabbed the last handful of baggies to stuff into my backpack. Not a really sophisticated way to carry around drugs, but it was the least suspicious.

“We need a better way of doin’ this,” Myles said, zipping his bag closed. “Not only is it a waste of our time, but anyone can pick our logo off and put their own on, so what’s the point? We need baggies printed with our symbol directly on the plastic.”

“I don’t think Nash gives a shit. We get the money, and it’s still an annoyance to his father.”

“I guess so. Seems pointless to me if we’re tryin’ ta make a statement.”

“Sure, but then how do we get all the coke out of one baggie into the other without wasting it or dosing ourselves?” I tossed my bag over my shoulder.

“We fuckin’ need our own supply. Then we can destroy this stuff or sell the shite out of state,” Myles grumbled.

He had a good point. If we had our own chain, then we could sell anything we seized to an interested family.

Nash had connections in the surrounding states, but the most likely candidate was the Mikhailov family in Cali.

He was sorta friends with Nathan and Aaron despite the age gap, and Nathan’s sister, Kaylani, could take the product home with her whenever she left to visit.

“Let’s go, old ladies,” Nash yelled again, his feet loud as he stomped across the floor, jerking me out of my thoughts.

“I reckon I’m gonna knock him out one of these days,” Myles said, making me smile. “Ya okay? You look shaken?”

Shrugging, I swallowed down the nervous jitters. “Just tired, and his yelling always sets me on edge.”

We stepped up to the door and pulled off our gloves, tossing them into the garbage before leaving the room. “Trust me. Ya never want to live in my home. Yellin’ is all my Da does. At least when it comes to me.”

I knew Theo and I had it good. My father was a decent man despite being born into a mafia family.

He was a defense lawyer on top of that, so we always knew we had the best representation if we got into hot water.

You also wouldn’t find a sweeter mother anywhere, but that didn’t stop me from jumping whenever someone knocked on the door.

I couldn’t figure out what my future looked like in this world.

Killing people and running drugs wasn’t what I wanted for my future, but I had no other plans, even if I was allowed.

I turned to lock the door, my hand stilling over the knob. Myles hadn’t stopped with me and was heading for the stairs.

“Shit, I forgot my phone, one second,” I said, pushing open the door again.

My hand shook as I swung my backpack off my shoulder and reached in the partially opened zipper to pull out four small baggies.

I watched the entrance as I put them in my pocket.

Hitching the bag back up, I hit the light switch, composing my face as I walked out and locked the door.

Myles was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting, but he didn’t look over.

He was too busy yelling, fuck off , to Nash. It seemed to be their love language.

This wasn’t the first time I’d stolen from our stash.

I took my first baggie just before exams last year.

With it, I had gotten through the soul-crushing finals and scored my first A.

For a brief moment, I wasn’t the stupid brother.

Not that Theo or my parents ever said that, but they didn’t have to.

I was the idiot twin trying to live up to the great expectations cast from Theo’s shadow.

“Go ahead,” Myles said, pulling out his keys for the next door.

We were never allowed to come here alone.

Well, none of us were allowed, but Nash did it all the time.

Walking past Myles, I only got my foot on the first stair before he grabbed my shoulder.

He looked at me and then at my bag, and I could feel sweat breaking out all over my body.

Myles was my best friend, and hiding my secrets from him was getting harder.

I swallowed, trying to play it cool. It felt like there was a neon sign saying thief stamped across my backpack as it ratted me out.

“What’s up?”

“Yer zipper’s open,” he said. I quickly closed it up tight and clipped the lock together.

“Thanks, man, that would’ve gotten me in shit for sure.”

Myles snorted. “Please, we’re always in shite for something.”

“What the fuck did you just say?” Nash appeared at the top of the stairs, looking every bit like the son of the devil he was.

Nash wasn’t anywhere near as bad as his father.

In fact, he wasn’t in the same league of fucked up, but he was still scary.

He might have a conscience, but he would put a gun to my head and pull the trigger without blinking if he knew that I’d been stealing and using for almost a year.

“Ya fuckin heard me. I’m not repeating it,” Myles said, and Nash glared at him but walked away. Myles winked at me as we walked up the stairs. “It’s all in how ya say it,” he whispered.

It might be, but I preferred to stay on Nash’s good side. I already had enough going on without him coming down on me, too. Everyone thought I was the carefree playboy of the bunch. I’d created the perfect image of smiles, jokes, and flirting to cover up what I really was—a fake.

We stopped and secured the basement door before continuing. Nash looked like someone had pissed in his cereal as we stepped outside. He locked the front door, and his annoyed glare landed on me. I managed to keep all concern off my face—something I’d perfected.

“What’s the matter?”

“Vicky’s on her way from the airport to the school. She wants me to meet her there,” he said.

“And you’re listening to what she wants,” I asked, and Myles snorted. Nash shot him an evil look.

“You know, I wasn’t, but maybe I’ll pay Ren a visit. See how her Christmas break was.”

If he was hoping to get a rise out of Myles, it didn’t work.

“Sure, I can’t wait to see how that goes,” Myles said, smiling.

You could see the confusion in Nash’s eyes as he tried to figure out how to get under Myles’s skin.

Ren had been his ticket when she first arrived, but now Myles seemed happy to sit back and watch the fireworks that went off every time the two of them stepped foot in the same room.

It was like they were fighters in the octagon.

The best five words to describe Ren were, fuck around and find out .

I didn’t understand the dynamic. If Ren were my girlfriend, I would’ve been worried that Nash would take her, but Myles seemed to be poking at him to try.

Jogging down the porch stairs, I tuned out the two of them as they took turns snapping at one another like an old married couple.

I hopped into the back of the pickup truck, and my mind shifted to Ren.

What was I going to say when I saw her? I’d sent an apology through Myles about the party, the library, and generally treating her like crap, but she had yet to respond to anything.

The last few days of school, before Christmas break, she wouldn’t even look at or speak to me.

I’d sent a Christmas card to apologize again, but still radio silence.

It shouldn’t annoy me, but the truth was, I really kinda liked her. I was trapped in a weird place between my best friend and the emotions that I really shouldn’t be having. It was going to be awkward for the rest of the school year, and the last thing I needed was more tension in my life.

I clenched my hands into fists but knew the shakes would start the closer we got to school. How could I never want to graduate and still hate going to classes at the same time? It was a fucked up conundrum.

We were about twenty minutes out when a cop car drove past us, and Nash swore. I looked over my shoulder to see the cruiser turning around. Fuck.

“Don’t look or make it obvious, but open the secret compartment and put the two backpacks in,” Nash said.

Staring straight ahead, I lifted the seat beside me and, one at a time, tossed the bags inside.

“Okay, they’re in,” I said as lights and a whooping sound from the police siren told us to pull over.

“What the fuck does this guy want,” Myles asked. “Ya weren’t speedin’, and all the cops should know who ya are.”

“I don’t fucking know,” Nash grumbled as the deputy walked up to his open window.

“License and registration.”

I could feel the anger flowing off Nash as the tension in the cab built.

“What seems to be the issue, officer?” Nash opened the center console and pulled out his wallet but took his time.

“Are we going to have a problem here?”

Nash casually shrugged, and the first threads of panic seeped in. If Nash started a fight, they might not find the drugs in the truck, but I had shit in my fucking pocket. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Just trying to figure out what I did is all,” Nash said as he held out the paperwork. “You do know who my family is and that I’m friends with Sheriff Morrison. You know, your boss?”

The officer looked at the license and then up at Nash. I knew before he opened his mouth that he either didn’t know or didn’t care who we were, but the first was more likely.

“Are you threatening me, Mr. Collier?”

“No, you’d know if I was threatening you,” Nash said, and I internally groaned.

“Na mate, we are all friends here. That’s all Nash meant,” Myles said, but the deputy didn’t look impressed.

“Out of the truck. Right now.”

Oh fuck. Panic was setting in. My father would kill me if I got nailed with coke on me.

Never mind what Nash would do to me once I got released from jail.

I would be kicked off the swim team and lucky if Theo spoke to me for the next ten years.

I could already see the disappointment in my mother’s eyes.

A weight hung around my neck, threatening to drag me down as I opened the backdoor and stepped out. Myles was cursing up a storm as he stomped around the truck. Nash glared at the deputy, and my eyes went between the two of them.

“Turn around and put your hands on the vehicle.”

“Deputy Ellis, is it? Deputy, if you lay one finger on me without probable cause, I will have your badge, and you’ll be lucky if you get to work as a mall cop for the rest of your life,” Nash growled.

“I said, turn around.” Ellis had his hand resting on his gun.

Nash smiled as he obeyed, and we followed suit. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The deputy started with Myles, and I wondered if I could get rid of the baggies before anyone noticed. One glance at the cop car told me it had a camera, and right now, I was the star of the show.

The deputy moved on to Nash, but his radio crackled. “Car 331, we have a call for shots fired at 23 Woodlawn Drive. You’re the closest officer on duty.”

“Deputy Ellis here. I’m on my way,” he said and then looked at the three of us. “Your lucky day.”

“Actually, it’s your lucky day,” Nash said, and I wanted to jump on him and tell him to shut the fuck up.

Ellis narrowed his eyes but took off at a jog, and a moment later, the cruiser was whipping around and peeling out with lights and sirens.

“What the fuck was that about? He didn’t seem the least bit concerned with who we are,” Myles said as we watched the car until it disappeared.

“Don’t fucking know,” Nash said. “But I’m going to find out.”