CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SARAH
ABANDONED SCHOOL
(ONE YEAR AGO)
He makes dreams come true.
When I woke up that morning, James was already gone. The room felt emptier without him, and so did I.
I didn’t remember everything about the night before, probably because I drank way more than I should have. But there was one thing I remembered perfectly.
Him.
I looked down at the temporary butterfly tattoo still on my arm, running my fingers over it. It made me smile. I’d never admit it to anyone, not even to James, but I was already completely in love with him.
The way his hands touched me… soft, warm, so freaking delicious. He never slid his hands under my clothes that night, but I felt him everywhere anyway. It felt like he wanted me just as much as I wanted him.
Then again, he was my brother’s best friend. He was only watching out for me because Michael had asked him to. But a girl could dream, right?
I was still smiling when I heard boots stomping down the hallway. Naturally, my brother barged in and ruined my fantasy like clockwork.
“Where is it?”
I rolled up my sleeping bag, pretending he wasn’t glaring daggers into the back of my head. “Where’s what, Michael?”
“The beer,” he snapped.
“I drank it.” I glanced at him over my shoulder, smirking. “Why? Did you want one?”
“So it’s true. I knew bringing you to town was a bad idea. Not even Chloe would screw up this badly.”
Oh, great, the Chloe comparison. My day was officially ruined.
I spun around to face him. “Why are you picking a fight with me now, Michael? I went to the store yesterday, and as you can see, I’m safe and sound. Not lost.”
Michael ran a hand through his blond hair. “Yeah, well, yesterday I didn’t know you left the school, let alone with someone.”
“So what if I hung out with Nathan and his brothers? They’re nice, Michael. We went to an old grocery store down the street. They found some beer and offered me some. It’s not like we left town or anything.”
“They’re not our friends, Sarah. They could be dangerous.”
“Oh? That’s funny, because I’m pretty sure you slept with one of their sisters last night.”
“That’s not the damn point!” Michael’s glare could’ve burned a hole through the wall.
I crossed my arms. “Really? If Nathan and his brothers are so dangerous, then why’d James let them stay here in the school with us?”
Michael didn’t answer. I figured he wouldn’t. He never liked it when logic got in the way of his overprotectiveness.
Nathan and his siblings weren’t some gang or anything, just five brothers and two sisters, with Nathan, the oldest, in his thirties. They’d been cornered and robbed at their camp and ended up in the same town as us. Honestly, they looked more scared than dangerous to me.
We were crashing in an old school, grabbing supplies, and James let them stay with us. He even shared our food without a second thought.
I spent a long time watching him with the newcomers. James sat with Nathan, quietly explaining how to keep his family safe, pointing out places to avoid so it wouldn’t happen again. He also wanted to know every detail: who had attacked them, how many there were, what weapons they used.
He wasn’t just being kind; he was calculating, planning. Every piece of information he got was one more step toward figuring out how to fortify the school.
James was in full-on survival mode after that, stacking tables and chairs into barricades with the same intense look in his eyes I’d seen back at the ranch, the kind that made me believe nothing could go wrong as long as he was in charge. And maybe that’s why I felt safe with him.
People talked about Outsiders sometimes. About how violent they are. But watching James, I couldn’t help wondering if any of that was even true.
If he was one of them, how could they be bad?
All I knew was that James saved Michael and me when the ranch was attacked, and he made sure Nathan and his family were safe at the school with us.
The way I saw it, Outsiders were the only ones protecting us.
Michael’s jaw tightened as he stared down at me. “I don’t care about the beers. I don’t want you alone with Nathan or his brothers. You get that?”
“What’s the big deal? They’re harmless.”
“That’s why I miss the ranch,” Michael went on, like I hadn’t even said anything. “At least there, I could keep an eye on Brian in case he tried something.”
Brian. He used to be my best friend, always hanging around the ranch, always smiling. But that was before he stopped pretending.
I shrugged, forcing a smile I didn’t feel. “That’s because you’re paranoid. You think every guy is a threat.”
Michael groaned, giving me the look that said, I’m your big brother, so listen up.
“It’s hard to protect you if I don’t know where you are or who you’re with,” he grumbled.
Oh, for crying out loud.
“I can protect myself just fine, thanks,” I shot back. But of course, Michael had to bring up the one thing I didn’t want to hear.
“You seem to have forgotten what happened before you ended up bleeding in that cave.”
And there it was. The cave card. I knew he was gonna throw that in my face, like it proved I couldn’t be trusted alone for five seconds.
That whole cave thing haunted me. Two strangers showed up at our camp, I panicked, made some stupid noise, and next thing I knew, I was hiding in a cave after they chased me.
Ever since then, James and Michael had turned my life into a surveillance operation.
I wasn’t even joking. Taking a freaking bath in a lake had turned into some kind of high-security mission.
And of course, I wasn’t allowed to leave the school to explore the town without one of them.
Well, excuse me for wanting to grab a slice of normal life for once.
I glared at Michael, ready to explode. “I’m done talking to you.”
I stormed off, my boots echoing across the floor.
“This conversation isn’t over, Sarah!” he called after me, his voice all brotherly and bossy and annoying as hell.
“Yeah, it is!” I shouted, not bothering to look back as I continued down the hallway.
Who did Michael think he was, anyway? I talked to whoever I wanted to. I went wherever I damn well pleased.
Just to prove a point to absolutely no one, I yanked open the nearest door.
“See!” I yelled, loud enough to echo down the empty hall. Not that anyone was around to hear me.
But I wasn’t done. I marched down the hall, flinging open door after door. Each one slammed against the wall with a satisfying thud.
“Take that, Michael.”
When James brought us to that small town, it felt like stepping into a whole new world. A life that could’ve been mine if everything hadn’t fallen apart.
I knew Dad’s ranch like the back of my hand, and that was it.
I’d never been in a real town before. And damn it, I wanted to explore every inch of it.
So when Nathan and his brothers invited me to check out a store just down the street from the school, it felt like some kind of musketeer adventure. I was in. All in.
But my brother didn’t get that. He didn’t get me.
So I kept going, flinging open every goddamn door in the hallway, because I could. Because no one could tell me where to go or what to do. But nothing, and I mean nothing, could’ve prepared me for what I saw when I opened that last door.
There was James. Doing push-ups. In just his underwear.
His. Fucking. Underwear.
My eyes shot straight to his body, and wow. Just wow. His arms were slick with sweat, and his chest—my God, his chest went on forever. Broad, strong, and insanely defined. No amount of time in the world would have been enough to explore that.
Sure, I’d seen him shirtless plenty of times on the ranch.
Hard not to notice James when he was out there chopping wood.
But this? This was… next level. This was James, uncensored.
James in all his glory. His black boxers weren’t exactly doing a great job of hiding anything either.
Every line of muscle, every detail, was right there, front and center.
His legs flexed with each push-up, pulling my eyes straight to that ass, which, by the way, was sculpted to absolute perfection. And, oh yeah, let’s not forget the front. Very large. Very present.
Dear Lord.
Just catching a glimpse of the side of that thing made my heart skip a beat. Or speed up. I had no idea anymore. All I knew was that I was the luckiest girl on the freaking planet, having that view all to myself.
Seeing him like that… well, it did things to my body.
Funny things. Every nerve ending seemed awake, alert, and very interested.
I couldn’t help it. Every part of me wanted him to keep doing exactly what he was doing, but, you know, with me under him this time.
Up. Down. Up. Down. Just the thought sent a full-on shiver down my spine.
My breath came fast, and my skin felt hot, like I had a fever and too much energy to burn. I clenched my thighs, my panties wet like never before, and for a second, I honestly thought I might pass out.
My whole body ached to be touched by him. Hell, I wanted to touch him, run my tongue over his chest, maybe bite that perfect ass, and wrap my mouth around his d—
“Sarah?”
I heard my name but didn’t move from the doorway. Why ruin a perfectly good view?
It took me a ridiculously long time to realize he’d stopped doing push-ups. He was standing now, grabbing his jeans from the floor.
“Sarah, are you okay?” he asked as he zipped them up.
Oh, what a tragedy. Why do good things always have to end?
I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t even realize he’d moved until his hands were suddenly on my arms, holding me.
It always felt electric when James touched me. But this time, it was more. A lot more. The butterflies in my stomach weren’t just fluttering. They were straight-up losing their minds.