2. Chapter 1
Crusher – Two Months Later
I gently twitch my leg as I lean against my Harley. I stare at the school entrance gate, ignoring everyone around me while waiting for my girl to arrive with Clark, ready to pounce, my irritation slowly building.
Eight weeks, two fucking months, and every time I’ve asked her out, she’s turned me down, confusing the fuck outta me. It isn’t because I think I’m all that and shit.
I see the want in her eyes, fuck, I saw the fear in them when I was knocked down last week at a home game that clearly Clark forced her to attend.
Having Alexiana there, watching, it meant so fucking much, especially when I felt her eyes on me the entire time. I saw the way she gripped Clark’s arm when I was hit, and yet she still won’t give me the time of day.
I need help, but I can’t speak to my friend because I haven’t spoken to that fucker in two months. Not for lack of trying on his end, I’m butthurt over the fact that my girl is still wearing his fucking hoodie every day and I’m trying not to knock him the fuck out.
He says they’re just friends, yet, why in the fuck is she always wearing it?
I tense when I hear someone pull in, the cam belt squeaky as fuck, and the woman in question parks next to Clark before she climbs out of her beat-up Ford, bag in hand and wearing that fucking hoodie with a pair of jeans and sneakers, her hair up in a messy bun, a few strands curling around her face.
Would it be petty to burn the fucking thing, then give her one of mine, even if it means I’ve claimed her?
“You know, for two months you’ve barely said a word to me, and considering you're my wide receiver, you know it isn’t a good look, right?
” Linc says as he slides up next to me, but I don’t take my eyes off Alexiana, who, as if feeling my eyes, looks our way, our eyes instantly connecting, sucking me in like always.
Even from here, I can see the feelings she wishes she didn’t have for me, her body tense, yet her eyes, showing fucking everything that she wants but refuses to allow herself to have.
Every day, I have slowly tried to integrate myself into her life, showing up wherever she is. Fuck, I’ve even managed to swap seats in four of the classes that I had no idea I even had with her because I was always focused on school, but the woman won’t budge.
I hear Linc sigh before he bribes, “I’ll speak to her if you talk to me…” and I shake my head, not willing to go to him for help with this one, and he groans, “I said I was sorry fucker, I didn’t realize how much she meant to you and for fuck’s sake, stop ignoring me!”
My phone vibrates against my thigh, but I ignore it, knowing Dad is pissed I came into school today instead of going with him yet again on the run to learn the ropes. If I’m honest, I know more than him at this point. I keep my eyes on Alexiana, my freckles.
Even if it wasn’t finals, I refuse to miss a chance to see my girl.
I watch as Clark comes up behind Alexiana, then loops her arm through hers, causing Belle to scowl as Clark gently drags my girl this way. I tilt my head, keeping eye contact even when a small body slinks up near mine, and Linc snaps, “Get the fuck away from him, Roxy!” I keep my eyes on Alexiana.
I hear a huff, but I still don’t look.
Apparently, the head cheerleader I fucked, who lost her role to Toya last month, her name was Roxy, and now she’s latched onto me. It hasn’t helped win my girl over because even now her eyes slide towards the girl, her brows furrowed, and I swallow hard.
“Hey Alex,” Linc says as they go to walk past us, and she gives him a blinding smile that has me clenching my jaw. He asks, “You got a minute?”
Her eyes slide my way, most likely still feeling them on her, and she nods before unlinking herself with Clark. I grit my teeth when Linc puts his arm over her shoulders.
Don’t hit him, don’t hit him…
Fuck I really want to fucking hit him.
I watch as he guides her inside with Clark and Belle following, and I try not to drag her back, to fucking beg her to give me a chance as my phone vibrates against my leg yet again.
Taking a deep breath so I don’t snap at my father, I grab my phone out of my jeans pocket.
“Yeah?” I answer with agitation as I watch my girl disappear with my friend.
Dad growls, “Where are you?”
I roll my eyes and remind him, “I’m at school, Dad, it’s finals, remember?” I hear him curse, and I huff, “Of course you forgot, just like you forgot about my game again last week.”
“Shit, son, don’t be like that. I just don’t want you fucking up,” he says softly, and my anger clouds over.
Years ago, he was a fun-loving dad, then I hit an age where he deemed fit to micromanage my fucking life.
All because he fucked up his role and fucking Roxy and whoever else at school is the only fun I’ve ever fucking had, which says a lot, and the only reason why I’m on the football team is cause Mom got involved.
She told him he’d lose me, but unfortunately for Mom, he already has.
“And when pray tell have I given you any indication that I’d fuck it up to begin with?
You’ve been pressuring me for fucking years, Dad, and I’ve had enough of it!
It’s finals, you know, the time that will dictate whether I can take AP classes?
So, I can go into the mechanical field like you wanted me to! ”
Do I want to be a grease monkey? No, not really, that is more Bash’s calling because the fucker loves being under the hood, me, however, I would love to go into the medical field, maybe be a paramedic. Instead, I have this dumbass need to impress my stupid father.
“Yo, Killer, we’ve got to roll,” I hear shouted in the background just as the warning bell rings and Dad mutters, “Shit, look, I’m sorry I forgot, son, make sure you ace them, yeah, and when you get home go to my office and study the maps, and I mean it, straight home after school!”
That said, he hangs up, and I shake my head before storming inside the packed school, ignoring everyone around me as I shove my phone into my pocket trying my hardest not to smash it.
Sometimes I wonder why I should even fucking be a brother because right now, just like Splinter with Liam, he only cares about having a child to take his role. He doesn’t give a shit about his kid as long as they don’t fuck up their role.
***
“You seem pissed,” a sweet voice says from beside me, and I half smile, hearing her voice.
We’re in the fifth period, and unlike the other days where I’d try to get her attention, I’ve been in my head.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve sat next to her and shit, I’ve just struggled to concentrate since that call with my dad and the four messages reminding me that I’m to go straight home after school like I’m some child he still gets to boss around.
“My dad, he messed up once years ago, and he’s become a little controlling over the role I’m supposed to take on,” I admit quietly, and she hums as her eyes take me in, looking over my piercings.
“I’m sorry your dad is hard on you,” she whispers as the teacher plays the slides in front of us, which I couldn’t even fucking tell you what it’s about because this beautiful creature has my whole attention, something I know everyone has noticed these past two months.
“Thanks, freckles,” I murmur, and her cheeks heat a little bit.
She gently chews her bottom lip as she looks at her work, but I don’t take my eyes off her, her features striking.
She’s breathtaking, and over the past few months, I’ve also realized she’s top of our class, an almost guarantee for valedictorian next year.
She’s even beating Miles, our tech guru, by a landslide already.
She’s sweet, kind, and very fucking hard-headed, like someone hurt her and she’s closed off kind of hard-headed, but oh so fucking perfect.
She looks back at me, and as our eyes connect, she whispers, “Linc says you’ve never acted like this over a girl before,” and my heart thuds.
“I haven’t,” I admit.
Her eyes race between mine, “So if I accepted a date, you wouldn’t break up with me in a few months?” she confirms, and I smile softly at her.
“Freckles, I wouldn’t hurt you in fifty years, because, whether you are aware or not, I want to claim you. In club terms, that means everything, it means the brothers will see you as my wife essentially,” I admit lowly, and I watch as her throat bobs, her pulse in her neck.
“That’s quite um…” Her words trail off, and I finish, “Scary?”
She nods, and I agree, “It is,” before I admit, “I would never intentionally hurt you, but I, I know you feel this as well.”
“I work most days,” she whispers after a few minutes, and I swear my heart skips a fucking beat.
“Okay, then it looks like I’ll be spending my evenings with you at work,” I murmur, not giving a fuck if it pisses my dad off and she blushes again.
For that look alone, Dad can give my role away for all I care at this point because fuck, years I’ve been at his beck and call, and now, I want something for myself.
Her eyes soften as I gently move a piece of soft hair behind her ear and she looks at me like I’m all she can see, I know she’ll be my forever.
All I want is her.