6
Keir
I want her. She is everything I ever wanted.
She's gorgeous, she likes knives and she knows how to use them. She will be my queen.
She doesn't act like the other people here. She doesn't care about titles or names and the way she talks makes me think she's been through some serious shit.
I want to protect her from everything and maybe that means she shouldn't be around me but I can't let that happen. She's mine.
I watch her leave the cafeteria with the sway of her hips mesmerizing me.
"I like her," Alek says from beside me. "She's tougher than she looks."
"Sweeter too," I mutter with a smirk before stalking forward to my next class, gym.
I get changed into the gym uniform and ignore the usual locker room talk.
I have to grind my teeth when I hear some comments about my Grace.
I can't show that I like her too much. It would make her a target and I can't live with that but make no mistake, if anyone disrespects her, they will pay.
Making my way out of the locker room, I hear my Grace before I see her.
"I really don't care who you are. You try that shit again and it will be the last thing you do. Do you understand?" She hisses. Whoever she's talking to is silent but I hear a crunch of something before she walks out into the gym and stops my heart.
I can’t help but notice her ass in the school provided burgundy shorts as she makes her way to the coach. Then I see them. Scars. They litter her body. Some are big, some are just groups of tiny little things scattered along her arms and legs. What happened to her?
I barely notice when the coach gestures over to goddamn Liam McConnell. I watch her walk over to him with a friendly smile and they stand together.
The lucky bastard is her partner for the obstacle course. We start with a run around the track outside. I only watch her. I watch her pace herself and outlast just about everyone. An odd sense of pride fills my chest as I watch her.
She says something to make Liam laugh and I have to force down a litany of profanities aimed at that asshole as I line up behind them at the obstacle course with Alek.
"Breathe, man." Alek chuckles. He has a point, I need to calm down.
Just as I'm about to get my heart rate back to normal, she starts bouncing on her toes.
Fuck. She pulls her back hair up into a pile on top of her head and I see she has a tattoo on the base of her neck.
It's hidden beneath her shirt but I can see the general shape through the white fabric. A black spade like on a playing card.
Alek takes a loud intake of breath that makes me turn to him.
"L-later." He says distantly. I don't like it but I'm cut off by the starting whistle.
Grace
Liam is pretty funny. And he didn't look twice or make a big deal about my scars. I like him. Also, sexy as sin. I mean, my god, between him and Keir, how am I going to pass this class?
We line up at the start of the obstacle course together.
I'm so excited I find myself bouncing on my toes as we wait.
I pull up my hair into a get-shit-done bun and hear a gasp from behind me.
Shit, my tattoo. I didn't think anyone could see it through my shirt.
That was fucking sloppy of me. Maybe it's something else that caused that reaction.
I mean, who would recognize it in a place like this?
I glance behind me and meet Alek's pale, shocked face. Oh, he totally knows. Fuck. Oh well, what's done is done. I'll deal with the aftermath. It's probably worse to hide itright now. I don't want to draw more attention to it or look guilty. I'll deal with it later.
The whistle blows and Liam and I charge up the balance beam and swing on the rope across the pit.
I keep up with Liam and try not to focus on how deliciously his body moves.
We climb the wall and crawl under the net and jump hurdles until the finish line.
Liam and I laugh and high five as we cross the finish line. Go team!
The people who finished the course get let out early so I run to showers hoping to make it before anyone sees the full extent of my scars.
I do not want to deal with that. I make sure to check all the stalls before I get undressed and double-check that asshole from before isn't hiding out with another camera.
I mean, I already smashed the one. But I don't know how many he has.
Rich people are weirder than I gave them credit for.
I rush through a shower and slide into my uniform and thigh rig before anyone else makes it to the locker room. I walk out into the hall and make my way to my locker. Where Alek is leaning against my locker looking away from me.
"Excuse me." I smile making him startle. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." I joke trying to keep my voice light.
"It's all good." He mutters turning pink. "I wanted to talk to you."
"About?"
"Your tattoo." Shit. Play dumb.
"Which one?"
"The spade." Fuck.
"Oh? It's one of my favourite. I do wish I had put it somewhere else though..." I laugh. He gives me a thoughtful look and smiles.
"Yeah, it's cute. It reminds me of something else though. I just can't put my finger on it." He lies.
"Huh." I shrug.
"What other tattoos do you have?" He asks.
"I have a bird tattoo."
"Where?" He presses eagerly, losing a bit of his cool.
"Under my tits," I say shortly putting my hands on my hips. "What the hell is going on?"
"Nothing, sorry." He mutters before walking away. I shake my head. That was too fucking close. Of course, someone recognized it on my first day. It's just my luck. I'll have to keep an eye on Alek.
"Did I hear that you have your tits tattooed?" I hear from behind me. I turn to see Kennedy grinning.
"Just under them." I laugh.
"What was that about?" She asks nodding towards Alek's retreating form.
"He was being weird." I shrug. Not a lie.
"Whatever, let's go." She says leading me to her car and I call Rudy on the way to Andras' place.
"Hey Rudy, it's me."
"Hey, Gracie. What's up? Ray didn't see you last night. Or today." That's all I needed to hear. Ray is worried.
"I'm fine. Shit went down with my parents and the police had me shipped off to the good part of town. I'm safe. Tell Ray to chill before he does something stupid." I hear Kennedy chuckle beside me.
"Good. I'm glad you're okay. You happy?" He asks in father mode.
"It's an adjustment," I admit.
"I bet. What part of town are you in? "
"High class."
"Well, shit. Big adjustment."
"Yep. I'll come to visit soon."
"Alright. Fight night on Friday."
"Oooh... alright, sign me up." I grin as he chuckles.
"Glad you're okay, kid."
"Right back at ya, old man. Give Ray my new number. See you soon." I hang up and feel better. I should have called this morning.
"Who was that?" Kennedy asks.
"A friend of mine from back home."
"And Ray? Is he a special friend?" He wiggles her eyebrows making me laugh.
"No. He's cute but, no. He's my best friend."
"My mom always says I should marry my best friend." She smirks.
"You are the worst." I chuckle as we pull up to the gate. "Sup, Greg," I say waving at him in his guard box.
"Hello, Ms. Soprano." He chuckles. I snort at his teasing as he lets us pull forward.
"What was that about?"
"I gave him a fake ID when I first got here.” I shrug as we park.
"What?!" She gasps. I wave her inside with me. Richard is holding the door open for us.
"Hey, Richard, thank you. How's it going?"
"Very well, Miss." He says stiffly but I see a tiny smile sneak across his stern face. One day I will get that man to laugh.
I lead Kennedy up to my room and I start stripping out of my uniform.
"Well, hello to you too." She giggles and I halt my steps. I didn't realize I was this comfortable here yet. Or with Kennedy. Huh. i shrug and make light of it. I will deal with that later.
"Oh please, you have the same equipment."
"I do not have a knife strapped to my thigh, thank you very much." She argues.
"I don't know why not." I laugh. "Help me out with what to wear," I beg trying to cover my stomach before she sees too much..
She steps into the closet and tosses me a loose blue cropped top and high-waisted black skinny jeans. I put them on and collect my usual knives. One in each boot, one in my pants pocket and one in my jacket, and one between my boobs. Thank god, my scars are still covered in this.
"I like your tit tattoo by the way." She giggles. "Heh, tit tatt..."
"Thanks," I say with a grin at her joke while admiring it peeking out of the bottom of my shirt in the mirror. "I'm getting another one on my hip."
"Nice. Can I come with you?"
"Of course." I smile as we head back downstairs to the kitchen. I find Ruby singing and dancing to ABBA. I smile and walk up to her, grabbing her by the hand and spinning her around. She laughs as I dance with her.
"Kennedy, come join the party." I laugh.
Kennedy drops her bag and shimmies her way over with a giggle.
Ruby laughs as we dance and sing with her.
Ruby spins me out across the kitchen and I bump into a hard chest. I look up still laughing and see a chuckling Christian looking down at me.
Feeling absolutely no shame, I grab his hand and drag him into the dance party.
Ruby does not hold back and starts cackling while shaking her hips at him causing him to blush furiously.
I see Richard out of the corner of my eye and drag him into the party too.
Before long, he's doing the Saturday Night Fever dance better than John Travolta.
I watch as Kennedy messes up Christian's hair in a weird dance move and Ruby cackles pointing at Andras moon walking badly into the kitchen to join us.
"I was wondering who was responsible for laughter in this house." He chuckles.
"Sorry, not sorry!" I laugh spinning Ruby around again.
The doorbell rings cutting our dance party short. The men all become professional again in the blink of an eye and head to the door. Shame.
Ruby turns off the music and hands me a debit card wrapped in a watermelon post-it note with the code on it. I kiss her on the cheek and thank her.
Kennedy and I head to the door but I stop in my tracks seeing Liam in the Waiting Room. Yes, that's what I'm calling it now since that's where everyone is put to wait.
"Liam?" I ask startling him out of looking at one of those weird paintings.
"Grace! Hi! I was looking for your uncle." He says loudly, his voice echoing through the hallway.
"Oh, well he should be around soon. Everything okay?" I ask. I hope it's not something serious. However, if he needs a criminal lawyer, it probably is serious.
"Yep, I'm good." He says stiffly and a bit more quietly. I don't think I believe him but I don't really know him well enough to call him out on it or pry into his personal business.
"Okay... well, we're headed to the movies. I'll see you tomorrow?" I ask.
"Yeah, I'll see you then." He says quickly. We get through the door when Kennedy bursts out.
"That was weird, right?"
"Oh yeah." I agree as we pull away to her house. Her house is a sprawling stucco estate. Very Mediterranean-esque.
I follow her up to her room. Her house looks super clean but, cold, and empty. Until we reach her room. It's a mess of colour and noise and movement. Between the music playing and the posters covering the walls and the huge aquarium full of colourful fish, I feel like I'm in her brain.
She starts stripping down and throws on a black mini skirt and an MGK band tee and some chucks.
"Looking hot! Let's roll!" I cry making her laugh.