Ink & Reina (Savage Crows MC (Texas Charter) #1)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Ink

“ Y o, Drew!”

I sighed, annoyance burning through my veins.

Fucking hell .

I slowly turned my head, watching as Johnny strode up the hall towards me. We’d been paired together for a stupid ass science project. I hadn’t bothered to stick around to hash out any details with him. I was ready to get the fuck to lunch. We could figure everything out tomorrow in class. I wasn’t interested in having any kind of discussion with the jock outside of class time.

My stomach rumbled, reminding me I needed to eat something before I became even more of an asshole than I already was.

Johnny Richards was nothing but trouble. Being the son of the mayor got him out of a lot of shit, and then being the prized football star on top of that made him nearly untouchable in this school. Teachers hated him because he was just a regular jock, but the majority of the student body loved him.

I found the way he could do anything and not get any shit for it fucking annoying, just as the faculty did.

I normally kept my distance from him. There wasn’t any bad beef between us, but I was doing my damnest to be better than my older brother and my father. Getting caught up with Johnny was asking to get my ass put in a cell next to my father.

And that wasn’t on my list of things to do.

All I wanted to do was graduate and prospect for the Savage Crows MC. That was it. No college—none of that bullshit. I just wanted to take Blink—the president of the SCMC Texas Charter—up on his prospect offer. Being part of the club, even as just a prospect, would ensure I always had a roof over my head and brotherhood to fall back on.

I needed somewhere to belong because all I was doing anymore was fucking drifting. And drifting was getting old .

“Hey, you forget about the project that damn fast?” Johnny asked me, adjusting his letterman jacket as he drew closer. I arched an eyebrow at him. I never thought Johnny actually gave a shit about school, to be real. Just always seemed like he thought he was above doing any kind of schoolwork. Wasn’t like his rich ass father wouldn’t make sure he wouldn’t graduate with a 4.0 GPA anyway.

God forbid the mayor’s son be seen as anything other than the golden boy.

“Shit; yeah, I forgot,” I lied, turning to face him completely. “Can’t meet at my place, so what do you suggest?” I asked, instantly putting that boundary out there. Living in a foster home prevented me from bringing people over. My foster parents hated visitors. They barely tolerated me, but that monthly check from the government normally kept them quiet.

And normally, I wouldn’t give a shit about a project, considering I didn’t particularly care about school, but this was a huge project worth a good chunk of my final grade in science. Since I wanted to graduate before I took Blink up on his offer of prospecting for the Savage Crows MC, I knew this was an assignment I couldn’t let slip by.

Blink told me I could begin prospecting now, but I at least wanted to graduate before I did. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do better than both my father and my older brother, both of whom never made it past their sophomore year of high school before dropping out.

Being a member of the SCMC had been my dream since I was fifteen, ever since I saw them all together for the first time. There was brotherhood there—structure—that I craved.

But school, at the moment, took precedence over that.

“My place is fine,” Johnny said. “You know where it is, right?”

I blinked at him for a moment, wondering if his question was a legit one because who the fuck in this town didn’t know where he lived?

Instead of offering my normal sarcastic ass response, I nodded once. “Four,” he told me. “Got shit to do at six.”

With that, he strode off. I glared after him. Johnny was a cocky son of a bitch, and I already knew that shit was going to wear on my nerves fast.

Shaking my head, I finished shoving my shit into my locker before I spun on my heel and headed for the cafeteria, a burger and fries on my mind.

With a tired sigh, I slid off my bike and set my helmet on the seat. The bike was a gift from Blink for my eighteenth birthday. He said every boy deserved their own bike, and while I hated the boy part of that whole thing, I’d been fucking ecstatic over the gift. Blink and Sabotage, his adopted son, taught me how to ride, and within days, I had my motorcycle license.

I owed Blink a hell of a lot, though I knew he’d never let me repay him.

Sighing, I eyed the white, two-story house in front of me. The shrubs along the side of the house were trimmed to perfection, the grass in the yard all one length with perfect swipes back and forth. Flowers were planted along the white picket fence, set the exact same amount of space apart.

Money was the dividing line in this town, all starting with the fucking mayor himself. Being here made my skin feel too damn tight because I didn’t goddamn belong.

With a grunt, I adjusted my leather jacket and strode up the stone steps to the massive front porch. Ceiling fans were spinning above my head, offering a cool breeze against the heat in the air. A porch swing was hanging on one end of the porch. Two pristine, white rocking chairs were on the other end. Flowers were placed in random places, but I knew with every fiber of my being that the mayor had paid an obscene amount of money to make it look perfectly placed. Because they weren’t set in a random disarray; it was more of a random sort of perfection.

I pressed my finger to the doorbell, waiting for someone to come answer the door. I was kind of expecting a butler or a maid, but instead, a girl a couple of years younger than me pulled open the front door.

The breath was immediately knocked from my lungs.

Her brown hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail, strands falling out all around her face. Blue-rimmed glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, and her dark eyes were locked on the book in her hand. She slowly looked up, and her cheeks instantly colored red. She quickly snapped her book closed and wrapped her arm around the book, hugging it to her chest to prevent me from seeing the cover.

I couldn’t help but smirk. Obviously, she was reading something smutty, and I was all for that shit. Girls who read were already sexy as fuck to me. To have the bravery to read something with sex in it as a teen was even fucking sexier.

“Hi,” she squeaked. Fucking adorable. “Um, can I help you?”

“Drew,” I told her. “Drew Yeller. Um, I’m supposed to be meeting Johnny here for a school project.”

“Oh.” She frowned and looked at the watch on her wrist. An expensive watch. Fake diamonds didn’t glitter like that. “He’s not home yet.” I scowled. Of course, he wasn’t . It was four o’clock. Would it kill people to be on time?

I sighed. “I’ll head on back home then,” I told her, not particularly wanting to stick around the mayor’s place. Shit made my skin crawl. I came from the lowest of the lows, and this family? Yeah—nah. Not my fucking cup of tea. “Tell him I dropped by, yeah?”

Her cheeks colored even more. Jesus, she was fucking adorable, and I couldn’t get enough of it, dammit.

“I’m sure he’ll be home soon. He probably got caught up with Dad or something. You want to come in?” she asked, stepping back to allow me the room to slip by her if I wanted.

I shrugged but walked inside, not particularly wanting to, but I also couldn’t deny that I wanted to be around this girl. She shut the door, still hiding her book cover from me. It just made me more intrigued to know what she was reading, but I didn’t want to embarrass her by asking.

“I’m Reina, by the way,” she said shyly. “Um,” she paused for a moment, “you want something to drink?”

I smiled at her, unable to help myself. She was so nervous around me, but it was cute as fuck. “Nah, sweetheart; I’m good.” Her entire face turned red.

Fuck, I wanted to kiss her. She was so fucking cute—so damn sweet looking. Every bit of me wanted to both protect her and corrupt her.

But I refrained. I’d tarnish her—damage her. I’d fuck her up in more ways than one. Someone as sweet and innocent as her? I didn’t want to darken her light, and I would. My darkness might even snuff her light out completely.

I heard Johnny’s car rumble into the driveway. A moment later, he stormed inside, slamming the front door shut behind him. Reina flinched. My body moved closer to her before I could register what I was doing, a sudden instinct to protect her pulsing through me.

“Hey, Drew,” Johnny said, nodding once at me. Anger simmered low in his eyes. He turned to look at Reina, his eyes softening, his body relaxing some. I relaxed as well, taking a step back. He wouldn’t hurt her. “Reina, you mind getting us something to drink?” he asked his little sister.

“Dad?” she quietly asked him.

He nodded once, his teeth audibly grinding together. She gave him a small smile. I wanted one of those smiles aimed at me. Fuck, she was gorgeous. “Yeah, Johnny. Go take a breather.”

He grabbed the side of her head and pressed a kiss to her temple before striding up the stairs.

Good to know Johnny wasn’t cocky with everyone. Apparently, the school douchebag could be kind to his sister. Made me respect him a little bit, honestly.

Reina was curled up in a recliner while Johnny and I got our notes sorted and outlined how we planned to do our project. Instead of going to do whatever thing he had originally planned at six, he stayed. His dad came home later that evening, but he didn’t cast his kids a glance as he stormed into his office, slamming the door shut behind him. Reina had flinched, but her eyes never left her book.

It sent a wave of anger through me, knowing that she was afraid of loud noises. But I kept my mouth shut. This shit wasn’t any of my business. But still, I knew that kind of reaction didn’t come from a loving and warm home. It came from a home full of hateful words and anger. So much fucking anger.

I hated that she was living like this. Just went to show that their little family wasn’t so perfect after all, no matter what front they put on for the entire town and the media.

I noticed Johnny glared at the closed office door for a moment before he focused back on what we were doing without a word. Eventually, Reina got up to make dinner. I didn’t understand why she was making dinner and their mom wasn’t, but again, it wasn’t my business. I knew their parents were still together. They made enough appearances on the news and at events around town, but for some reason, the woman hadn’t made a single appearance since I’d been there.

My eyes followed Reina as she walked into the kitchen, unable to not look at her. Every few minutes, my eyes had been drawn to her. I was a moth, and she was the light I wanted to burn myself on.

“Don’t even think about it,” Johnny quietly grunted to me once she was out of earshot. Turning my head, I arched an eyebrow at him, silently asking him what the fuck he was on about, though I already knew. I just wanted him to voice it instead of being a pussy about it. He steadily met my gaze. “I mean it, Drew. I know your reputation with the girls at our school.” I gritted my teeth. I knew his, too. He didn’t have any space to judge me—the asshole. “I’m not any better.” I snorted. At least he confessed it. “But I won’t let you or anyone else fuck her up, you hear me? She’s too pure.”

I gritted my teeth and focused back on what we were doing. I never wanted a girlfriend—never even played with the idea in my head—until I’d laid my eyes on Reina. But I understood Johnny wanting me to keep my distance from her.

Because from the little bit of time I’d spent in Reina’s presence so far? Johnny was right. She was pure.

And I was darkness. Inky black. And I burned in the pits of hell daily.

I didn’t want to fuck her up.