He chuckles. “It feels fucking great. I forgot how much I missed just chilling with a beer and good company.”
I scan the room once again. It’s packed with Black Creek men that Cain has recruited, plus the recruits he saved from the compound. I see Reaper Reject tattoos on the ones who have obviously decided to stay and help Cain, but some of the kids are far too young to be getting involved in any of this. They should be growing up in houses, with parents and a backyard to play in. They should be going to school and complaining about homework. Cain is still trying to find their families, or suitable homes if they have no families. It’s a slow process, but he’s getting there. I think, after not being able to save his sister, it gives him a sense of accomplishment to be able to help these kids.
I even spotted the guard Hadley said was Meena’s brother earlier—Marcus. Apparently, now that he’d found out what happened to his sister and gotten his revenge on the people who had killed her, he wanted to help Cain get revenge for Evie.
“I like Hadley,” Oliver states. His words have my eyes drifting toward her, not even having to search her out in the crowd. I’m attuned to her every movement. After everything we’ve just survived, there’s no way I’m ever letting her out of my sight again. She’s currently standing on the far side of the room, chatting to a dark-haired girl, Oliver introduced as Sophie, and Aiden has moved to join them, pulling the girl into his chest. He looks completely besotted as he just stands and listens to the two girls talking.
I can’t help the sappy-as-fuck smile that lights up my face. She looks so at ease here, mingling with others. She and Sophie seem to be hitting it off, and I noticed her earlier, talking to some of the kids from the compound. I wonder if being able to talk to people that have been through the same as her helps at all.
Cain chuckles beside me. “I still can’t believe you’re sharing a girl with three other guys. No way I could do that shit.”
“It’s the same sort of relationship Aiden and Ty are in with Sophie,” Oliver explains. “It was a bit of a shitshow at the beginning. The other two guys, Preston and Barrett”—he points them out to us—“couldn’t be any further from us. Preppy, trust fund kids, but they really stepped up when Sophie needed them, and they all seem pretty happy together.”
“You’ll understand when you find the right girl, man. I didn’t think it was my thing either, but Hadley has a habit of getting herself in trouble.” I laugh. “Let me tell you, it takes the four of us to wrangle that girl sometimes.”
“I’ll take your word for it, man. I just don’t think it’s for me. I’m all for sharing a girl for a night, but long term?” He shakes his head and scrunches his nose. “I don’t think it’s even the sharing. I’m just not a relationship person.” Even as he says it, one of the slutty girls that have been hanging around, mostly bothering with the mass of new recruits that are milling about, fully enjoying themselves, makes her way toward us. Everything about her screams come fuck me, from the seductive sway of her hips, to the heated look in her eye, and the way she bites on her lower lip.
“Hi, handsome,” she purrs, running a long red-painted fingernail along Cain’s massive bicep. “You were looking awfully lonely over here.”
Cain emits a dark, throaty chuckle as his eyes drop over her scantily clad body. I’d forgotten how few clothes the girls in Black Creek wear. Girls who hang around gangs are even worse. Something I’m struggling to get used to, but clearly Cain has no such issues, as he eyes the girl like she’s his next meal.
“Let me talk to my boys, but come find me later, okay?”
She smiles coyly. “You got it.”
With a cocky grin, he turns to us. “See? Why would I give all that up for some chick?”
I just shake my head and roll my eyes.
“How is everyone settling in?” I ask instead, changing the subject.
“Good, I think. It’s been a bit of an adjustment.” He sighs. “Some of them were so fucked in the head when they first got here.”
So far, Cain has found homes for most of the younger kids that he rescued from the compound, but there’s still a surprising number of recruits here. You can still identify who in the room came from the compound. They all have that look about them, the same one I still see on Hadley at times—that wariness. Even now, at a party, they’re the ones that frequently dart their gaze around the room. They don’t fully relax, albeit they do seem at ease around their fellow Reaper Reject members.
“So what’s your plan now?”
I notice Cain’s hand tighten around his beer bottle, and there’s a sharpness to his voice that wasn’t there before. “Our numbers are growing every day. You know what my game plan has always been—it’s the reason I’ve built all of this.” He waves his arm around the room. “I won’t let what happened to Evie be in vain. This town has gone to shit the last few years, and I’m fucking sick of it.” He pins me with a dead serious look. “I’m claiming Black Creek as mine, and I’m taking down every single one of the fuckers that played a part in that day.”
THE END
Rebels & Rejects (Black Creek #1)
Keep going to read the first chapter!
Did you hear the news? There will be a Pacific Prep Novella live releasing in February 2022.
I enrolled at Pacific Prep four years ago.
I’ve worked hard to not only keep my scholarship, but to earn full ride to college.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve played hard, too.
Still, I don’t know if I started living until Hadley showed up. And now she’s missing.
Her guys are being tight-lipped and trying to keep me out what’s going on, but I’m not backing down. Not from them, and definitely not from her gorgeous, arrogant brother, Hawk.
My calm in the storm comes from the most unexpected place, because Wilder Clearwater is by my side constantly.
The elite have never included me, but the lines drawn are becoming blurry.
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Keep going to read the first chapter of Rebels and Rejects (Black Creek #1) due April 2022 (might be brought forward!) If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review so others can find it and read it too.
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