Living in Hawthorne Heights wasn’t for the weak.
Crime and violence surrounded us, but we did what we had to in order to survive.
Not everyone made it out alive though when dodgy deals went wrong.
My brother had proved that when he’d been killed right in front of me when I was twelve.
I’d managed to dodge the foster system, thanks to my brother’s best friend.
Reid had only been a kid too when my brother had died, but he seemed so much older.
He’d taken charge, making sure my best friend Logan and I never went without.
We were a family.
Over the years, it became harder to ignore the revolving door of women.
Growing up as one of the boys meant I saw way more than I liked.
It didn’t bother me when they chased guys away from me, I wasn’t interested anyway.
Even when Zavier moved in and I got my first crush, I never acted on it.
Now at twenty-one, I just wanted my virginity gone.
There was no way the guys would let anyone touch me though.
Until one of them agreed to sleep with me, altering our friendship forever.
That one dirty secret would be the first of many, and it would tear us all apart.