Chapter 3
APRIL
Oh no! Oh no!
No. No. No. No.
“Did you see his face?” Mercy giggles hysterically.
“Talk about hilarious,” Kayla says, bending over, laughing her ass off. “He was totally pissed.”
“I know.” Mercy snorts, shaking her head. “Good call on picking a room in the guest hall.”
It was funny, I have to admit, but I’m not sure it was a good idea.
It was him who got hit by our prank. He didn’t look like he appreciated it.
His brothers seemed to have found it amusing, judging by the hysterical laughter I heard.
JC and Lo, who had been leaving the hall, turned around in time to see what happened, and I heard them curse from around the corner.
“Mercy, Kayla, April, I swear to fuck I’m going to throttle the three of you one of these days,” Twister remarks, finding us sitting outside by the swing set built years ago when Kayla and Mercy were just babies.
The three of us used to play out here a lot.
We still come out here to hang when none of the younger kids are around.
“Do you three not know how to control yourselves?”
“I’m sorry, Daddy, but you know us,” Mercy says sweetly, batting her lashes.
“What I know is that you three are in a world of trouble,” Twister says, glowering at each of us. “You don’t know them. Your prank could have caused a shitload of problems for the club. You’re damn lucky they thought it was funny and that JC and Lo were smart enough to give them a heads-up.”
“Uncle Twister, it’s not like we did anything dangerous to them. I mean, seriously, you know there are a lot of other things we could’ve done besides shaving cream and glitter,” Kayla remarks brazenly.
I simply keep my mouth shut. As funny as it’s been, the prank we played on them is nothing compared to what we could’ve done.
We’ve done a lot more, for sure, and worse.
Like the time we put hair removal cream in Lo’s girlfriend’s shampoo bottle two years ago.
None of us cared for her. She’d been a total bitch toward the three of us, mostly to Kayla, when no one was around.
It pissed Lo way the hell off, but she finally showed her true colors around him, and he ditched her.
Twister looks at me and raises a brow. “Not going to add anything to save your asses?”
I give Twister a small smile just as my phone starts ringing. “You know us,” I say, looking at my phone. “Sorry, I need to take this,” I tell them, hopping off the bench to move away while answering. “Hello?”
No one says anything at first, so I repeat my greeting.
Still, only heavy breathing could be heard on the other end.
“Look, if this is some sick game you’re playing, Samuel, then you can knock it off,” I snap quietly, not wanting anyone to hear me.
I don’t need them to know what’s going on at school, or that one of them is calling me while we’re on break.
They don’t need to know about Samuel or his friends.
I’ve kept my tormentors a secret from all of them.
“What will you do to get us to knock it off?” the bastard has the nerve to ask. “You know all you gotta do is . . .”
I hang up before he can finish what he was about to say. I know exactly what he’d have said, and I don’t want to hear it. It’s always the same.
I take a breath to calm myself and shove my phone back into my pocket. The last thing I want is for my friends to know what’s going on back at school or that one of my tormentors is calling me. They’ll question it and want to know exactly what’s going on.
Turning back to where my friends are still sitting, I give them a bright smile and hope they don’t see through it. Twister, on the other hand, is a hell of a lot harder to hide from, especially when he’s watching so closely.
I don’t like the idea of him watching me under a microscope. If anyone could read me, it would be him or Horse. Well, my best friends could do it too, or maybe even their moms, but those men aren’t stupid by any means.
Returning to the group, I rejoin them on the bench. “Sorry about that.”
“Who was on the phone?” Kayla asks, raising a brow.
“Yeah, since when do you walk away to take a call?” Mercy adds.
“Nobody, just a guy from school.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. It’s just not someone I wanted to talk to or tell about.
“A guy? Who?” Mercy demands. “You didn’t tell us you were seeing anyone.”
“I’m not,” I tell her. “We’re working on a project for a class we have together.
He was checking whether I stayed on campus this week or gone home.
It’s due next Friday.” A total lie. Well, not completely.
There is a project, and it’s due the week we get back from break, but I’m not working on it with anyone.
It’s just me, and I already have mine completed and turned in.
“Oh, okay,” Mercy says, now watching me closely as well.
Kayla and Twister stay silent, but I feel their eyes like lasers on me. I swear, sometimes it’s eerie how alike they all are.
A throat clears behind us, and I twist to see the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen. I thought it when I saw him outside when they first got here, and I can’t help but think it now, even with glitter still shimmering on him, though he has changed shirts.
“You need something, Fool?” Twister asks.
I take a quick glance at the patch, which indeed shows the handsome man’s name is Fool. It makes me wonder how in the world he got a name like that.
“Yeah, wanted to meet the brains behind the sneak attack on my room.”
Twister nods and points to each of us. “This one is my daughter, Mercy. Next to her is my niece, Kayla. Then, on the end, you have my other daughter, April.”
Other daughter?
Seriously?
I whip my head around to look at Mercy’s dad. Did he seriously just do that?
“All three of them are off-limits. Spread that to your brothers. If they get an eye on any of them, they won’t like what will happen.”
“Daddy,” Mercy snaps.
“Uncle Twister,” Kayla hisses.
I stare at him in shock. I don’t plan to pursue any of the guys who visit or are involved with this club.
The men here are like family—brothers or cousins.
Although I realize this good-looking man is just a guest and I might feel tempted, but I won’t do anything.
Still, I wouldn’t mind getting to know him.
However, part of me definitely wishes to .
. . but I should stop thinking about that.
I’m still a virgin for a freaking reason, and I’m sticking to it.
I’m not going to be like my mom, who didn’t mind spreading her legs for any man who would have her.
That’s not who I am. I made a promise to myself as a little girl that I’d never be like her.
I wouldn’t give something so special away and keep doing it for just anyone.
It’s important that someone wants me for me, not because of what’s between my legs.
“Wouldn’t disrespect your club like that,” Fool remarks.
“Just wanted to tell these three it was a good prank. Pissed me off at first. Don’t appreciate looking like I got rubbed up on by a stripper, but it was a good one.
Granted, I’m sure they could’ve come up with something better than shaving cream and glitter, from what I’ve heard. ”
“Don’t give them any idea they could do better,” Twister grunts. “Need them to clean up the mess?”
“Nah, Cannon got one of the prospects to clean it up.” Fool smirks. “Just glad it ain’t me.”
Mercy and Kayla both snicker as I do my best not to stare at him like an idiot.
“Right,” Twister remarks, moving toward Fool. “You’re Hazard’s brother, the one who was—”
“Yeah,” Fool interrupts Twister with a curt nod. “I got out, and Hazard recruited me. Just got my cut not long ago. Hence the reason I’m glad not to be the one doing the cleaning, and one of the prospects is doing it.” He grins and gives a fake shiver. “Glitter.”
The way he spills a single word from his lips makes me and others giggle.
I glance out of the corner of my eye at Twister to see him watching Fool closely, unfazed by Fool’s attempt at humor. “Got some brothers here, more than you’d think who served. If you need a sit-down with any of them, they’ll be willing to talk and listen.”
It takes me a minute, but I realize what they’re talking about. From the look on Fool’s face, it’s not something he seems to appreciate being brought up. Still, he nods.
“Appreciate it, but I’m good,” Fool says calmly.
“Food’s ready.” We all turn toward Kenny as she comes around the side of the building. “Kayla, can you and Mercy run over to the house and grab the box by the front door while April helps us set out the rest of the food?” she asks.
Please don’t let that box be for me. The last thing I want is for them to give me anything. They’ve already done enough.
“Sure, Mom,” Kayla answers, hopping off the picnic table. “We won’t take long.”
“Thank you,” Kenny calls out, a beautiful smile on her face as she looks directly at me. “Come on, birthday girl, let’s get everything set out, and then I’ll let you be.”
“Okay,” I say, then mutter to myself. “I should have just stayed at school. I hate my birthday.”
I didn’t realize, though, that I said this loud enough for not just Twister to hear but for Fool as well. As I made my way toward Kenny, I also didn’t notice the looks both men gave me.
No, what’s going through my head has nothing to do with them.
It has everything to do with why I despise my birthday so much and how things could have been different if I hadn’t been born to the woman who gave birth to me.
My dad is not to blame for the way I am.
He’s just my dad, a man who, when he’s around, is the greatest, but he is who he is, and nothing changes that.
It’s about the woman who didn’t treat me as her daughter but rather as a nuisance.
If I had a mom like Kenny or Izzy growing up, I wouldn’t have to be dealing with the troubles I’m having at school this year.
I wouldn’t have to be thinking about the things I’m constantly thinking about to protect myself from being hurt or from hurting those around me.