Striker: A Dark Bully Romance (Redwood Rebels Book 1) Rachel Leigh (the reading list book .TXT) 📖

I’ve marked her as mine. Yet, somehow, she also lingers in my clothes and my hair and my cologne. Masking every inch of me, no matter how hard I try to wash her off. I can’t rid myself of her, even if I wanted to. Even if there was another way.

But there’s not. It has to be this way.

She has to be sacrificed so that I can have somewhat of a normal life. Whatever normal is.

“You ok?” she asks. Like we didn’t just get questioned by the police. As if she didn’t just invade a part of me that has been closed off to humanity. Part of me that I didn’t even know existed, and I’m still not convinced it does.

Why can’t I look at her the same way I did before this?

Yell at her. Call her a bitch. Do something to show that I still have the upper hand.

“Just hungry. You want something?”

Yeah, sure. Feed her. That’s really putting her in her place.

“Nah, I think I’m gonna lie down for a bit before the party starts.” She walks away, and with every step, I fight not to shadow her. To go up there and get in her head and rattle shit around just to get a rise out of her—though, it would likely be a fall, my fall.

“Dude. What the fuck?” Lars bellows, as he and Tommy come trudging down the hall from the kitchen. “What the hell were the cops doing here?”

I pull open the door and don’t see their vehicles out front. “Where’d you two come from?”

“We parked at Zed’s and walked.” He swats Tommy’s shoulder. “This asshole was too scared to drive up after we saw the flashing lights.”

Waving my hand through the air, I brush it off as no big deal. “They were just wondering where Zed was on Halloween. It’s all good. They have other people to question. We’re little fish on their radar.”

“You’re downplaying this too much. I know you’ve got your own shit going on, but don’t get too comfortable. We still need to be on our toes,” Lars says.

“It’s fine. Quit stressing so much, you’re just gonna get Zed all worked up again.”

“Yeah, well, Zed has come unleashed. He’s pissed off that you’re sheltering this girl like a lost puppy,” Lars says, as Tommy flops down on the couch.

“Good. He’s been getting on my last nerve lately.” I look at Tommy, who’s just standing there listening. “What’s with him?” I ask Lars. Tommy has been particularly quiet since this whole plan took afloat and it’s unnerving.

Lars rolls his eyes. “Don’t worry about him. He actually thinks she is a lost puppy.”

Tommy finally speaks up. “I just don’t think she deserves this shit. You’re tempting a lion, and she’s the bait.”

“Don’t go getting soft on me, Chambers. We talked about this, and if you think for a second that you’ll be her knight in shining armor, you’re dead wrong.”

Taking a seat on the couch, Tommy pulls a black sharpie out of his pocket. “You’re the fucking devil. You and Zed both.” He seethes as he begins marking up his white canvas shoe that’s crossed over his leg.

“Damnit, you two. Is that all any of you guys do anymore is fucking fight?” Lars shouts.

I change the subject quickly. “Back to Zed. He’s a problem. I feel like he’s losing control. I’m pretty sure he’s got a thing for this girl.”

“Yeah. We’re pretty fucking aware of that. But it sounds like you do, too,” Tommy chimes in.

I flip him off, neither confirming nor denying his claim.

Lars taps his phone on. “Gimme the security password. You don’t have your phone. Someone needs to keep tabs on the house and on her.”

He’s right. We have too much going on to let our guards down at this point. No one can be trusted, not even the three guys I call friends. The same guys who I made a pact with to face the in between together. Real times bring out true colors.

“Redwoodrebels. All lowercase. Do not share it with Zed. Not until we know what he’s up to. Something tells me, it’s not good.”

Lars tosses his hands out. “He’s our boy. He wouldn’t betray us for her.”

My brows shoot up. “You’d be surprised.” If I almost thought she was worth it, Zed definitely thinks she is. Zed misconstrues love and hate. He loves the chase. He hates that he can’t catch her. In his eyes, his actions are plausible.

We’re all playing Call of Duty in the rec room when Lars gets a call from his step-sister about some family emergency. He leaves and tells us he’ll be back for the party. There’s an abundant amount of tension sitting between Tommy and I, and I wanna reassure him that we’re cool, but the good thing about these guys is, we don’t need words to show our loyalty. And the truth is, if I had to trust one of these guys with Marni, it would be Tommy. He has that empathy that most people do. He was raised by good people, and for the most part, he makes good choices, aside from running around with us since he was six years old, vandalizing private and public property with paint, and stealing glances at his dad’s wife.

Grabbing the metal tin on the end table, I pull out a joint and spark it up. After a long drag, I pass it to Tommy in an attempt to break the ice. “You going to school tomorrow?” Smoke rolls out of my mouth and I cough on the last exhale.

He smirks. “Guess we’ll see what the night brings.” Taking a drag, he passes it back to me then begins cursing at the game.

Tommy is passive aggressive when it comes to our vile ways because he knows what a mess we all are. I’m pretty sure he pities our past and that’s why he’s always stuck by us and defended our actions.

We continue to puff and pass and I use this opportunity to