Falling for A Lie (The Lords And Ladies Of Ash #1)

5. Drake Ashford

Chapter five

Drake Ashford

Senior Year of High School

H omecoming banners hung throughout the hallways by the cheerleaders, mocking me about what I must do tonight. My decision to be on the yearbook committee meant I would spend my Friday night with the very people I tried to avoid. Laughter and cheering filled the hallways as the jocks and cheerleaders came down the hallways, heading down to the football field to practice before the game. Tonight was the night that the team couldn’t afford to lose. Scouts were coming to recruit the ones they thought had high potential to be an asset to the football or cheer program at the top colleges around the United States.

The sight of Soren with her hair done in a high ponytail and her makeup slightly shining under the white lights of the hallway caught my eye. Her smile seemed not to be the genuine kind I know, as we’ve shared every advanced placement class since the first year.

It had been a minute since I had seen a smile grace her lips. She had been dating that stupid jock Jace on and off again this past year. I knew she caught him balls deep in her best friend Autumn last week in the janitor's closet. They had just gotten back together after being off again for a month and a half. He had begged her, told her he’d change, and that she was his only girl. He couldn’t live without her. Pretty much everything the beautiful naive girl wanted to hear, and she ate that shit up like it was her last supper.

I didn’t understand it. How could someone so flawlessly beautiful, intelligent, and kind fall for such a grade “A” asshole like that prick? She deserved better, and I know I wasn’t the only one that believed it. Her best friend Bennington confessed his love to her during art class and begged her to choose him.

I couldn’t fault him. If we had been closer and not let life impede our budding friendship, I would have begged her for the same thing, on my hands and knees, where I belonged in her presence.

I would’ve treated her like the queen she is.

But here we are, straddling two different worlds, just trying to make it. The weight of life bears down heavily on our shoulders. She’d head off to college, and hopefully, my brother and friends would soon follow, escaping this small town and all the pain it had brought us.

I feel caged and trapped, wanting to run itches just below the surface of my skin. I need freedom like I need oxygen. I don’t care what I need to do; to achieve that goal, I would gladly do it.

“Whoa, bro, what are you thinking about?” Radley looks over at me, confusion crossing his familiar face. He looks like our mother, with brown locks and eyes that could pierce through your soul, his nose perfectly portioned, and his jawline sharp enough to cut. He looked nothing like our father. Lucky bastard. I was the opposite. I inherited our father’s broad, chiseled jaw and slightly thin-bridged nose, which now had a tiny lump from being broken six times. My black hair fell in waves over my sage green eyes that matched that of my mothers. The only reminder I could look at that would remind me I belonged to her as well, and not just the piece of shit sperm donor.

I clear my throat. “I’m just ready for this year to be over for us all. So we can graduate and be one more step closer to freedom,” I mumbled softly, meeting his eyes and our best friends beside him. Reed’s eyes moved through the crowd ahead of us, no doubt searching for the same girl that I was looking at just before Radley distracted me. Caden’s eyes glazed over, and his foot tapped restlessly, a clear sign he was ready to bolt. He’s been staying out later than usual, usually accompanied by Reed, and smelling like gasoline and booze.

At least they came back home every night. Since Caden’s mom, Scarlett, is being forced to stay in Ashford for the organization, the four of us live together at his house. Granted, Caden and I are eighteen and didn’t need a guardian. Radley and Reed will turn eighteen right after we graduate this year. It still felt weird with Reed living with us. About five months after our sophomore year started, someone shot his mom at the hospital, less than an hour after his dad died of cancer. They ruled it as gang violence. So we asked Scarlet to talk to the council to save our friend from a life he didn’t deserve.

She did it but at a cost. The situation forced her to move to Ashford to handle business with more of a hands-on approach. The tiny town was settled by strangers who shared my last name. A college there took up most of the city, where every Lord and Lady attended—giving the council control over everything we did and keeping us close if they needed anything done to better the organization. Granted, there were ‘normies’ living there, but they were only there to keep the ruse up. It was a typical college town and not the headquarters for an elite secret society. The same secret society etched into our blood and a rite of passage that we would take part in to better ourselves and our reach. To make a name that was strictly ours and not the parents we came from.

“Fuck, she is wearing that thong that is always shoved between those delicious cheeks of hers,” Caden groans beside us. We look in the direction he’s staring. Dear fucking God. She had me gripping my dick through the pocket of my jeans, willing the fucker not to get hard at the sight before us. Soren was bent over, helping a younger student pick up their books that had fallen haphazardly on the ground.

She, indeed, was wearing the thong that I pictured in my bedroom with my hand wrapped around the very cock I was struggling to keep from getting hard in front of these students. Be still, my virgin heart. With a gentle placating smile, she finally gathered all the books and handed them carefully to the girl. Then, she turned on her feet to join the group already out the doors.

But like a tornado twisting through a trailer park, she had captivated our attention, even when the bell rang. We all were stunned by the genuine kindness she held onto so effortlessly.

The rest of the day was a blur as we finally left the hallway and headed back to the last class before the big game tonight. I wish I had known that tonight's game started something beyond my control. That I would become so obsessed with the little terror that was Soren Jane Flint. The very thought of her would haunt the blood flowing in my veins.