Chapter 1: Taunt Her: Chapter 1

I look around at the only home I’ve ever known and feel conflicted. It’s a shithole, but it’s our shithole—the only place I and my brothers have ever called home. And if I wasn’t convinced that this move would benefit them, it wouldn’t be happening.

They throw their bags into the trunk of their heap-of-shit car without a word. Dread sits heavy in my stomach as I move on autopilot, as if we aren’t about to leave our home. The feeling isn’t an unusual one, nor is the fury that fills my veins on a daily basis.

Our uncle should have been here ten minutes ago to take us away to start our new life in Sterling Bay. Maybe he’s decided we’re not worth it after all. Chance would be a fine fucking thing.

I’m just about to tell them to give up and go back inside when the crunching of gravel by the trailer park entrance hits my ears.

Fucking great.

A black town car with equally blacked-out windows comes to stop in front of the three of us.

“I hope he’s not planning on staying long, that thing’ll be on bricks in minutes,” Conner mutters, his eyes locked on the driver’s door.

We haven’t seen our uncle in years, not since he left us with our shit show of a mother. It seems family only matters when his hand has been forced by the state.

I’d have quite happily been my brothers’ guardian for a year, but apparently an eighteen-year-old with a rap sheet like mine isn’t a responsible enough adult to look after others.

The door opens and I lean to the side to get my first look at the man who abandoned us to this life instead of fighting for his family, but the guy who stands isn’t one I recognize.

“Who the fuck are you?” I bark, much to the guy’s irritation if the widening of his eyes is anything to go by.

“I’m your uncle’s driver. He sent me to pick you up.”

“Fucking brilliant.” The laugh that accompanies my words is anything but amused.

“If you’d like to put your bags in the trunk, I’ll take you home.”

Home.

is my home.

My body tenses, my fists curling at my sides, as I step up to the man. He already looks totally intimidated by his surroundings, and I delight in him taking one step back as I approach. Slamming the door as I go, I stop him from an easy escape should he feel he needs it.

The scent of his expensive aftershave fills my nose, and it only makes me want to hurt the privileged asshole that much more.

“Let’s get a few things straight.” I don’t stop until I’m right in his face, so close I see the fear in his eyes. Now something I can work with, something I can feed off like a fucking leech. “Firstly, that place you’re meant to be taking us to is not our home. It’ll never be our home. And second, we’re not getting in this fancy-ass fucking car. Where the hell is James? I thought he was coming to collect us.”

“He’s been called out on business.”

This is a fucking joke. First he demands we move into his pretentious mansion—blackmails me into it when he knows it’s the last place in the world I want to live—and then the motherfucker can’t even be bothered to turn up himself. He’s probably too good for this place. No wonder he looked down his nose at us all those years ago and turned his back as fast as he could.

“He will be home later to greet you.”

I stare at him, no emotion on my face and a storm brewing in my eyes.

“If you could just get in and—”

“Un-fucking-likely. We can make our own way.”

I told James as much when he instigated this whole thing in the first place, but he insisted. Probably because he doesn’t want my brothers’ rust bucket sitting in his fancy driveway and bringing the tone of the area down.

“I really don’t think—”

“I don’t give a fuck what you think, .”

All the blood that was left in his face from when he first stepped out of the car drains away, and he swallows nervously.

“D-do you want to f-follow me then?”

“Marvelous, Jeeves. What a fantastic plan,” I mock, mimicking his posh British accent.

The second I take a step back, he scrambles into the car as quick as he can. Fucking pussy.

“I can’t believe he sent a car,” Conner mumbles as my brothers join me, and together we watch the town car roll slowly down the dirt track.

“Really?” I balk. “James isn’t our savior, Con. You think he’d even be taking us in if it weren’t for the court deciding I’m no good…” I swallow the rest of the words. Of course, no one would trust me with my brothers. Apparently, the fact that I’ve raised both of them since we were just kids doesn’t matter.

My chest tightens.

“It’ll be okay, Ace.” My brother squeezes my shoulder. “A fresh start could be just what we need.”

“Yeah, whatever.” I shrug him off. “We should probably get going.” There’s nothing left for us here.

Conner gives me a weak smile before following Cole to their car. It’s an ancient Ford they somehow manage to keep running despite the fact that it should have been scrapped at least ten years ago. Cole doesn’t even spare our trailer a backward glance as he climbs inside and guns the engine. I’ll need to keep my eye on him; he’s always been a quiet kid, but lately he’s been even more brooding.

They follow Jeeves’ lead before I throw my leg over my bike and rev the engine. The vibrations instantly help to cool me off. The anticipation that I’ll soon be flying down the coastal road helps to push my ever building anger over this fucked-up situation down a little more.

I gun the engine once both the town car and my brothers have disappeared from sight and take one last look at this place. It’s dark and dingy, like Hell on Earth. But it’s our home…

our home. We’re moving. Heading over the border to the rich side of town. Like we’re ever going to fucking fit in there.

Dust and gravel fly up behind me as I speed off to find my brothers’ taillights somewhere up ahead. We know roughly where James lives, but I’ve no idea which of the insanely pretentious houses actually belongs to him. Probably the biggest one, knowing that pretentious stuck-up prick.

I catch them just before the road opens up and the bright blue sea appears in the distance. I guess that’s one good thing about where we’re going: the girls on the beach. It’s just a shame they’re all going to talk like Jeeves, as if they’ve got a spoon permanently stuck in their pouty mouths.

“Fucking hell,” I mutter to myself as I follow the two cars up a long ass driveway. It’s not until the very last moment that the actual house appears. It’s a huge place on a hill overlooking the ocean. The kind of house I’ve only ever seen images of in magazines, or on the TV when the piece of shit worked.

Images of the parties we can have here start to fill my mind. Maybe this place won’t be so bad after all. I can get off my face and attempt to fuck some rich chick looking to take a walk on the wild side… in every room of the house.

Parking between my brothers’ car and a flashy Mercedes, I throw my leg over my bike and head in the direction I just watched Jeeves walk into the house. He obviously thought against helping with our belongings. Wise man. He’s learning quickly.

With our bags in hand, we climb the stairs to the double front door. It’s a damn sight different to the one on our trailer that swelled up so bad in the summer we had to crawl out through a window, and that allowed the wind and rain to come inside during any storms.

“Holy crap,” Conner gasps as we walk into the entrance hall of all entrance halls. I swear to fucking god that the only house I’ve seen quite this lavish is the Playboy mansion. I’m half expecting scantily-clad women to pour through the doors for a welcome party at any moment.

Sadly, the only person who emerges from one of the many doorways is Jeeves.

“Would you like a tour?”

“Or a fucking map,” Conner mutters. Cole, however, stands totally mute and looking bored out of his skull. I know he’s taking everything in, though. It’s how his brain works.

“Just point us in the direction of our rooms. I’m sure we can figure the rest out ourselves. We might be from a trailer park, but we’re far from stupid.”

“I’m well aware of that. I’m William, by the way.”

“I would say it was nice to meet you, Jeeves,” I spit, curling my lip in disgust, “but in all honesty, it wasn’t.”

“Right, well. You can get to your rooms via this staircase, but you do have your own at the other end of the house. If you’d like to follow me.”

For once, the three of us do as we’re told and trail behind him until he comes to a stop at a slightly less audacious staircase, although it’s still much grander than any I’ve seen before.

“At the top you’ll find four rooms. Each has a fully stocked en suite, but if you need anything extra please speak to Ellen. You can usually find her in the kitchen, which is directly behind the main staircase, and she’ll see you have everything you need.”

“How about an ounce of weed and a few bottles of vodka?”

He stares at me as if I’m going to laugh at my own joke. It’s not a fucking joke. I’m going to need that and then some if I’m meant to live here.

“If that’s all, I’ll leave you to find your feet.” He spins on his heels and fucks off as fast as his legs will carry him.

“Shall we do this shit then?” Conner asks as we all stand like statues at the bottom of the stairs.

“Fuck it.” I move first, but they’re not far behind me.

I take the furthest door from the stairs, and the one I’m fairly sure will have the best view. I might be here for them, but they can fuck off if they think they’re getting it.

“Fucking hell,” I mutter, walking onto the insanely spongy cream carpet and looking around at my new digs. This one room alone is about double the size of our trailer.

I dump my bag on the window seat and look out at the ocean beyond, exactly as I’d hoped. Staring out at the perfect postcard view, I hope its calmness will somehow transfer into me. No such luck, because when I turn and take in the room around me, the need to smash it up is all-consuming.

I don’t want to fucking be here.

I want my old life. My shitty trailer. My state school and dead-end opportunities.

Pulling my cell from my pocket, I sync it with the speakers I find on the sideboard and turn it up as loud as it’ll go. This house might be a mansion, but I’ll make sure Uncle fucking James knows we’ve arrived.

Retrieving the packet of smokes from my bag, I pull one out and place it between my lips before falling down onto my bed. I can only assume there’s a no smoking rule in a place like this. I smile as I light up and blow smoke right into the center of the room.

I didn’t follow any rules before, so like fuck am I about to start.

I can’t hear anything over the sound of my music, so it’s not until the door opens that I realize someone wants me. Looking up, I expect to find my brothers, but instead Uncle James stands before me in his sharp three-piece suit, slicked-back hair and clean-shaven face.

“What do you want?” I bark, turning away from him and lighting up once again.

“I was coming to see how you were settling in, but I see you’ve already made yourself at home.”

“What the fuck?” I seethe when the cigarette is plucked from my lips, seconds before it’s flicked out the window.

He pulls up the front of his perfectly pressed pants before sitting down on the edge of my bed. If he’s trying to look authoritative, then he needs to try fucking harder.

“A few house rules are in order, I think.”

I scoff but allow him to continue so he can list his challenges, because you can bet your sweet ass I’m going to breaking each and every one just to piss him off.

“No smoking in the house. You want to kill yourself with those death sticks, then you do so outside. You will not bring any drugs or drink into this house. If you want friends here, you can use the pool house. I’ve set it up as a den of sorts for the three of you. That’s your domain.”

“So we can smoke, drink, and do drugs in there?”

“No. There will be no parties, no girls, nothing that will cause any trouble of any kind.”

“If you’re not looking for trouble, then you invited the wrong guys to come and live with you.”

“You are no longer in Sterling Heights.” He frowns. “Things are different around here. I think it might be important for you to remember that.”

“Whatever.”

“School starts in two weeks. Your uniforms are already in your closets. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the place before the hard work starts, because there is no way you’re not graduating this year,” he jibes, knowing full well that I fucked up what should have been my senior year last year. Not my fault that someone had to earn some goddamn money to support my brothers.

I look to the other side of the room as if his mere presence is boring me.

“Dinner will be served in an hour. I expect you all to be cleaned and dressed appropriately.” I see his gaze from out of the corner of my eye drop to my ripped jeans and oil-stained shirt. “My girlfriend and her daughter are coming to welcome you to town, and I shouldn’t need to tell you that you will be nice to both of them.”

Well, doesn’t that sound like a fucking fun way to spend our first night in Sterling Bay? A nice, cozy family meal with the man who only wanted us when we had no parents left in this world.

He makes out like he wasn’t aware of what our lives were like.

He’s a fucking liar.

“An hour. I’ve already warned your brothers. We’ll be waiting.”

I do shower and change—not because he told me to, but because I fucking stink, and to be honest, I can’t deny that the rainfall shower in my en suite wasn’t appealing. It was a shit load better than the open pipe we had in the trailer.

Wearing a different pair of ripped jeans and a slightly cleaner shirt, I step out into the hall at exactly the same time both Cole and Conner do. They’re dressed similarly to me; it seems they took Uncle’s warning about as seriously as I did.

The sounds of voices direct the three of us toward the dining room. My curiosity as to what hides behind each door we pass is high, but I don’t look. I don’t want to seem like I care, because I really fucking don’t, I’m just intrigued as to why a man who’s always lived alone needs so many fucking rooms.

As we join them, all conversation stops and three heads turn our way. I know our uncle is here but don’t pay him any mind. The brunette, however, captures my imagination quite nicely.

He might have warned me about no girls already, but he didn’t mention one who clearly already spends time here.

He walks over and wraps his arm around both the brunette and her mother. “Ace, Cole, Conner…” He grins like the cat who got the cream, and I fucking hate it. “This is Sarah, my girlfriend, and Remi, her daughter.”