Chapter 1
Chapter One
Two years ago. Bardstown High
He has beautiful gray eyes, gunmetal gray that sometimes glow in the night.
So much so that people call them wolf eyes.
His jaw is sharp and angled, a true V, and his skin looks like priceless marble. Again, so much so that people say he’s got wintry, vampire skin.
They say he’s got magic, dark magic, running through his veins.
If a girl so much as looks into his pretty wolf eyes, no one can save her from falling for him.
No one can save her from getting her heart broken either.
Because he never falls. He is mighty. Everyone knows that.
He’s a heartbreaker. A player.
People say he doesn’t even have a heart, or if he does, it’s pitch black.
But he knows how to toy with yours.
He knows how to play with it. How to toss it up in the air just for fun and how to tie it up with strings and play with it like a puppet. And when he gets bored, he knows how to let it slip through his fingers and drop on the ground, breaking it into tiny little pieces.
Yet girls can’t help but come back for more. Over and over and over again.
They can’t help but come back to the Wild Mustang.
Or the Mustang for short.
That’s what people call him. That’s his soccer nickname.
He plays soccer, yeah.
Soccer is quite popular in our town. In fact, he’s the soccer legend of Bardstown High. And he’s as majestic and magical as an untamed mustang. As reckless and edgy and completely mesmerizing.
Although I don’t call him that.
The name that I get to call him is something completely different, something that I’ve come up with after a lot of deliberation and thought: a villain.
That’s what I call him.
A Gorgeous Villain, actually. Because well, he is gorgeous, but he’s a villain, and I have good reason to believe that.
Four good reasons.
Four overprotective, overbearing, older reasons. My brothers. Who hate him with all the fire in their hearts.
Well, not all of them hate him with all the fire in their hearts. Only one of my brothers does, Ledger. The other three just hate him a normal amount.
Why does Ledger hate him the most though?
Because the Gorgeous Villain is Ledger’s soccer rival.
My brother plays soccer too and he’s a legend in himself. They call him the Angry Thorn, because my brother is a hothead and our last name is Thorne.
Anyway, they both play for the same team. And should potentially be friends and have the same agenda.
However, they aren’t–friends, I mean. And they don’t have the same agenda, at all.
Probably because they’re both forwards for Bardstown High. One is left wing and the other is right and basically, they’re supposed to help each other.
But they don’t because they have this ongoing, age-old contest, where whoever scores the most goals in the season wins.
It’s a matter of pride and honor and a whole lot of testosterone.
I don’t know how it got started, this contest, rivalry, whatever you want to call it, but they both take it very seriously. Their whole team, which is divided into my brother’s camp, the Thorn camp, and his camp, the Mustang camp, takes it seriously as well.
So does the whole town.
Whoever wins this unofficial contest becomes the reigning champion. This year it’s my brother – he won by one measly goal last season – who also happens to be the captain of the team.
The whole town treats him like a king.
Which means free drinks, free food at local restaurants, posters on park benches and light poles. Back pats from people on the street and of course, all the attention from girls.
Trust me when I say that these two will go to any lengths to be the winner.
They’ll do anything to mess with each other, ruin each other’s game on and off the field just so they have a better chance of scoring goals.
And for years I’ve heard about it, about their rivalry, about him.
I’ve heard how corrupt he is, how evil and twisted. How he’d do anything to win at soccer. How much of an asshole, douchebag, bastard, motherfucker, and all those things he is.
But of course, I can’t call him that. I can’t call him all those names.
I’m a good girl.
I don’t curse.
Besides, my brothers curse enough for all of us.
Hence the name: A Gorgeous Villain.
Anyway, it’s game day and I’m at the soccer field right now.
A little personal confession: I don’t like soccer. Not at all.
I think it’s boring and I’d rather be home right now, either baking cookies or cupcakes, or knitting in my favorite armchair by the fire. Two of my favorite things to do.
Another personal confession: I don’t understand this rivalry either. I don’t understand this whole need to win and be the best at any cost. I mean, they play for the same team, don’t they? If the team wins, they win, correct?
But as I said, I’m a good girl and so a good sister.
I’ll always support my brothers. No matter what.
They’re my whole wide world. I love them to pieces, and I know they love me to pieces too.
So here I am, sitting on the bleachers, watching a game I don’t really care for, just so I can support Ledger and cheer for him.
And also Conrad, my oldest brother, who happens to be the coach of our high school soccer team.
So soccer is not only this town’s sport, it’s also our family sport; my other two brothers, who are away at college right now, played for Bardstown High as well.
This kind of makes me soccer royalty by extension.
But anyway, good. That’s what I am. A good girl. A good sister.
Good. Good. Good.
Are you, Callie? Are you?
Are you really a good sister? Are you really cheering for your brother, Ledger, or are you also cheering for him?
Oh my God.
Blasphemy.
I’m not cheering for him. I would never ever cheer for him.
He’s the enemy.
Yes, he is.
He is. He is. He is.
My agitated thoughts come to a halt when someone – a frazzled-looking girl – stumbles and almost falls on me. My arms automatically shoot up and clutch her shoulders to help keep her balance.
Even though I manage to save her from falling, the tub of popcorn in her arms tips and a flurry of kernels falls on my lap and my feet.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” she asks as she manages to straighten up.
“I’m fine,” I assure her, brushing popcorn off my dress. “Are you okay though?”
“Yeah. No,” she replies, and clutching the huge tub of popcorn to her chest, she raises her finger in a gesture for me to wait.
Looking back, she shouts at someone, “Asshole.” Then she sighs and plops down on the empty seat beside me.
“Ugh. I hate this. He wouldn’t move his leg.
Idiot.” She rolls her eyes before fixing her gaze on the field.
“And I was so excited for the game tonight. Am I late? I’m late, aren’t I? ”
“Maybe a little.” I shrug. “But nothing’s happened yet. It’s 0-0. It’s the day of the defenders. So, you’re good.”
She smiles. “Thanks.” Then she thrusts the tub of popcorn toward me. “Want some? I already spilled on you, so.”
“Sure, yeah. Thanks.” I pluck out a few and pop them in my mouth. “I’m Callie, by the way.”
“I’m Tempest. Nice to meet you.” Her smile is bright and friendly. “So I’m assuming you go to school here?”
“Yup.” I nod. “And I’m assuming you don’t?”
There’s something familiar about her. I can’t put my finger on exactly what though. But I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen her before.
She shakes her head at my question. “Nope, I’m just crashing the party. I go to school in New York.”
“New York? That’s exciting.”
“Meh. I completely hate it there. I miss home too much.” She shrugs. “But anyway, I wanted to be here for the game. I’m supporting someone. He’s gonna completely freak when he sees me. He has no idea that I’m here. You? Are you supporting someone too?”
“Oh yeah. I’m…”
My words get swallowed up when she bends to set down the container of popcorn.
Because I understand who she’s talking about. Who’s going to completely freak when he sees her.
It’s written in the back of the t-shirt, or rather soccer jersey – in school colors, green and white – that she has on. The name and the number.
In bold black letters, Jackson, 11.
She’s here for him.
The Gorgeous Villain, my brother’s rival.
Reed Jackson.
Actually, Reed Roman Jackson.
That’s his full name. And all us freshmen call him by his full name.
Well, except for me. I already call him something else, but yeah.
To freshmen, he’s a celebrity. A shiny star to admire from a distance. An awe-worthy creature.
And she’s here for him.
“You’re here for R-Reed?” I blurt out instead of answering her question.
I not only blurt it out, but I stumble on his name too.
Like it’s a roadblock in the dark. A jagged rock on an otherwise smooth trail in the woods.
Something that trips you. Makes you fall.
Something that you don’t see coming, not until you’ve already fallen.
“Yeah.” Tempest gives me a quizzical look. “Why?”
Avoiding her eyes, I clear my throat, feeling embarrassed. It doesn’t matter that she’s here for him. Lots of girls are here for him.
He’s a playboy, remember?
“Nothing. I just noticed, uh, his name on your t-shirt.”
“Do you know him?”
“Not at all,” I say quickly. A little too quickly and it only increases her suspicion. So I immediately follow it with, “I-I mean, except for the fact that he plays for the team. My brother plays too.”
That seems to distract her. “Your brother?”
Okay, good.
I don’t want to talk about him. I don’t even know why I got so jarred at the fact that this girl, Tempest, has specifically come down from New York to visit him.
It’s none of my business.
“Yes,” I say proudly. “Actually, my other brother is the coach.”
“Other brother?”
“Yes. I have four.”
“Holy shit. I can’t handle one.”
I chuckle. “I know, right? Brothers can be…”
“A pain in the ass with all their protective shit?”
“Yes.” My chuckle turns into a laugh. “Exactly. They can be a little overprotective.”