I woke up to a heavy weight on my stomach and hot breath on the back of my neck. Panic gripped my chest until I remembered - I was in Ryder’s room. I couldn’t actually expect to kick him out of his room, after all. I was an unexpected guest.
I tried to slip out of his hold as carefully as I could - I didn’t want to wake him up after all. As I continued to try to slip out, I felt a harsh breath of air - a silent laugh - as his arm tightened around me.
“Good morning sleeping beauty,” he mumbled softly, his voice husky - the voice of a man who hadn’t yet spoken that day. My cheeks flamed as I felt his bare back pressing against my bare shoulders. The nightgown Jade had changed me into was anything but modest, and some part of me wondered what kind of mother would change a girl into a revealing nightgown, knowing she would be spending the night with her son.
He tensed a little, and I almost knew he was looking at the newly cleaned wounds on my back. “G-good morning,” I stuttered quietly, trying once more to wiggle out of his arms. His hold tightened and I froze, not wanting to anger him this early in the morning.
“Go take a shower. Kylie gave me some spare body wash and stuff that she keeps here to leave in the shower for you,” Ryder mumbled, lifting his arm from my waist. “I’ll go track down some clothes for you.” He left without another word.
As the door closed behind him and I slowly got up, stretching, I noticed an odd smell in the room. My eyebrows scrunched together as I looked around for the source until they landed on a still lightly smoking stick that was being held between the teeth of a skull. Incense. The smell was more pleasant than I’d like to admit, a mixture of relaxing vanilla and jasmine, along with something else that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The box that held more of the sticks next to the burner only said, “Night Queen.”
I padded my way to the bathroom with bare feet, the hardwood floors making me grimace. I hated walking on wood floors with bare feet - I preferred carpet over everything else. Carpet wasn’t cold in the morning.
I closed and locked the door behind me, though part of me knew that no one in this household would sneak in while I was taking a shower. I turned the shower on as hot as it could go and stripped out of the silky black material of my borrowed nightgown. I couldn’t help it as my gaze drifted to the long mirror in the bathroom, instantly locking on the lacerations across my back. Some were deep and some were barely scratches, but none of them were quite deep enough to require stitches. Mother had made sure of that.
My skin was ugly and marred, just as I was ugly and bony. I couldn’t stand the sight of myself anymore and stepped into the steaming hot shower.
The body wash I found was scented what the company called “toasted sugar,” but personally I thought it just smelled like sugar cookies. I liked it, finding comfort in the warm scent, but part of me wanted something more along the lines of dark and relaxing, almost like the incense that burned in Ryder’s room.
I washed myself quickly, being careful over my back, and used the shampoo and conditioner that was placed next to the body wash. When I stepped out of my quick shower, I immediately spotted a tube of body lotion that matched the scent of the body wash.
Cautiously, I stepped out into Ryder’s room, looking around. In a pile on his bed was a fresh pair of underwear, - my cheeks flamed at the idea of him handling something like that for me to wear - a pair of black socks, and a pair of black leggings with a sports bra. I took the pile and scurried back into the bathroom, dressing quickly. When I came back out with my arms wrapped around my torso self consciously, Ryder was sitting on the bed, staring at his hands.
I let out a short scream, embarrassed that he was seeing me like this.
His head snapped up, and he looked concerned until he registered why I screamed. A smirk slipped onto his face. Before he could say anything, however, I interrupted him. “I don’t have a shirt,” I said dumbly.
He bit his lip for a second before heading to his closet, flipping through various articles of clothing quickly. Finally he grabbed what appeared to be a worn dark grey sweater and walked over to me.
“Arms up,” he said simply.
I blushed as I lifted my arms above my head, feeling like a child. I couldn’t ignore the slight anger that boiled in my stomach, but it was too early to fight with him.
He pulled the sweater over my head and onto my torso, tugging it down a little more until it fell past my butt. He nodded in approval before handing me the tattered boots I had been wearing yesterday. As I slipped them on my feet, he leaned down and whispered in my ear, “You look fucking hot in my clothes, by the way.”
I scoffed as I straightened up - still pathetically short compared to him - and smacked his chest angrily. “You are such a pig!” I snapped, before I froze completely. “Since when do you have a labret?”
My hand reached up, fingertips gently brushing against the purple garnet the sat in the middle of his lower lip. His lips pursed a little as he moved his head a fraction of an inch and kissed my fingertips. “I don’t usually wear it.” He pulled away, avoiding my eyes, “Bad for fights.” And the spell was broken. I remembered who he was and why he should terrify me, why he should terrify everyone. And why it terrified me that I wasn’t terrified of him.
He jerked his chin towards the door, “Let’s go eat breakfast.” He left without waiting for my reply, so I followed him quickly. I didn’t want to risk getting lost.
The ceilings were high, easily ten feet above my head. I followed him down the long hallway nervously, unsure of what to say. We were both silent until we got to the stairs - loud conversing could be heard from the bottom of the stairs, where I assumed either the kitchen or the dining room was.
Making our way downstairs, Ryder led me to an extremely large and ornate kitchen. It could have passed for a professional kitchen, and I’m sure that’s the way it was designed.
There was a large amount of food spread over the center island of the kitchen where six members of the Halley family sat, laughing together. Walking over, somewhat embarrassed, Ryder lifted me up on to one of the tall stools surrounding the island. This, naturally, made me blush a bright red.
Stupid Ryder, I cursed in my head. A plate was placed in front of me as I stared at my lap, and my head snapped up, meeting the dark brown eyes of Kade. He gave me a small smile, something he obviously seemed uncomfortable doing, and placed a small bundle of purple grapes on my plate, along with a few sausages and a waffle. I ate the grapes slowly, my cheeks flaming a darker red as the conversation was turned to me.
“I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced,” the oldest guy there said. “I’m Darren Halley. I believe you’ve met my wife.” Jade gave me a soft smile.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Halley,” I said softly.
His nose wrinkled in disgust. “Please, call me Darren. I’m not old enough to be a Mr. Halley.”
A quiet giggle left me lips, because Darren definitely was old enough to be classified as a Mr. Halley. I almost missed the shocked looks coming from the four Halley boys.
“She can laugh!” exclaimed Diesel, sending me a playful wink as my cheeks flamed. I hid my face in my hands, embarrassed beyond belief. Ryder stayed next to me, completely oblivious as to why his brother’s were so shocked.
“Well of course she fucking can, she’s not a robot,” he snapped.
“Ryder,” Jade said, her tone laced with warning. “Language at meals.”
His cheeks flushed a light red and he looked away as he handed me a handful of small green grapes. I looked at them curiously when the action caused the rest of the Halley boys to once again gasp loudly.
“Hey, how come she gets some!” Hunter exclaimed, shooting a pout towards his older brother. When Ryder ignored him, he turned to me, explaining. “He never shares his cotton candy grapes. They’re practically his lifeline.”
I picked up one of the grapes between two of my fingers. “Cotton… candy… grapes?” I asked slowly, inspecting it.
“Yeah, you’re so lucky!” Kieran exclaimed at the same time the Kade asked, “Hey can I have one?!”
“They’re for her, keep your grubby hands off of them,” Ryder snapped, his face a bright red. I blushed lightly as well, placing the grape into my mouth slowly and chewing. Incredible sweetness exploded across my tongue, and I had to admit, they did taste exactly like cotton candy.
Biting my lip as I finished off the handful of grapes that I was given, I made one of the stupidest decisions I had ever made.
Stretching up on my stool as high as I could, I leaned over to where Ryder was sitting next to me, and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. Ryder froze under the touch of my lips momentarily, his movements ceasing. Too embarrassed to say anything, I pulled away and quickly went back to eating my breakfast, ignoring the loud laughter of the other Halley brothers who were talking about the expression on Ryder’s face.
I refused to look at him as I ate the sausage on my plate, my cheeks stained a dark red.
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After I finished helping Jade clean up after breakfast - something I insisted on doing, no matter how much she protested - Ryder’s hand found it’s way to the small of my back as he led me towards the back of the house, to the side. My cheeks hadn’t lightened at all over the course of breakfast, and they only managed to stain darker every time any sort of interaction between Ryder and I happened.
He led me through a door and into a garage, walking over to a sleek black sporty looking car. He opened the passenger door for me, and as my cheeks flamed red I grabbed my stuff that was sitting on the seat before slipping in.
Ryder closed the door gently before he made his way to the driver’s side and got in, starting the engine. He must have felt my eyes on him, because he jerked his chin towards the dashboard, where the radio was, without looking at me. “Pick something to listen to,” he hummed quietly before resting his hand on the back of my seat as he turned around to back out of the garage.
I reached forward and fiddled with the radio until I found a rock station, where I immediately stopped, letting the music fill the car. Rock always reminded me of my dad, because he used to love listening to it.
I only caught a glimpse of the overwhelmingly large Halley Mansion before it was out of sight, Ryder speeding down the long, tree-lined driveway. It was beautiful, and I truly loved it, but the fact that part of me couldn’t wait to come back made my cheeks flush. The fact was, I didn’t know if I was even going to come back. After today, I may never hear from the Halley boys again.
It didn’t take long to get to our high school, surprisingly. Ryder parked in a spot right in front of the school, but he didn’t unlock the doors, so I couldn’t get out.
He looked at me for a second before clenching his jaw and cursing under his breath, looked away. His body was tensed with anger, and I immediately wondered what I did wrong.
“Are you okay?” I asked softly.
He glared out of the windshield where I could see curious students glancing over, wondering what the ugly girl was doing in a car with one of the Halley boys. Especially the available Halley boy.
His eyes stayed focused on a group of guys who were staring intently, until I rested my hand on his arm gently. His eyes snapped to mine, searching them for a moment before he cleared his throat. “I was just thinking about someone else touching you, and now I can’t decide whether I want to break their hands or my own.” His voice was dark, and serious, and there was only what could be described as pure anger in his eyes.
Despite this, I was confused. The part of me that loved his eyes, and the way he flexed when he was angry, and was delusional enough to think that he might like me one day, hoped that he meant touching me romantically, as impossible as that sounded. I hadn’t had my first kiss - it was highly unlikely that anyone would ever want me at this stage of my life. And then there was the part of me that was realistic. He probably meant touching me in the way my mother touched me, with anger and only to inflict pain. But there was still that little part of my brain that said, “But that would mean he’d have to touch you like that, as well,” but with that was another part, saying, “Or maybe he just hates the possibility that he could one day inflict pain on you.”
My mind was racing, my heartbeat erratic, and I almost didn’t notice as he leaned across the center console and placed his lips on my forehead. “No one will ever hurt you again,” he mumbled, his lips still pressed to my skin. My cheeks were still flamed red, and I couldn’t take it anymore, so I changed the subject to one that didn’t quite confuse me as much.
“We should get going. Class will be starting soon,” I whispered, looking up at him through my eyelashes.
He stared at me for a moment, his face impassive, before giving me a short nod and unlocking the doors. We both got out and I watched my feet as we walked into the school together. His featherlight touch on my back kept me moving forward, and part of me wanted him to stop, wanted him to pretend he didn’t know me so maybe I could be spared any attention for the day.
I felt bodies moving around us, flanking our sides, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed Diesel standing on my right, his face neutral except for the steely gaze he levelled on anyone who looked at us. Next to him stood Kade, looking just as menacing. On Ryder’s left I could pick up the sound of Hunter and Kieran conversing with him quietly.
It took me a moment to realize what was going on.
They were protecting me. Ryder the closest at my side, there to stop anything that his brothers couldn’t handle. Diesel and Kade, the two brothers most prone to fighting, close to me as the first line of defense. Kieran and Hunter there to hold bystanders back in case it got to the point where any of the boys actually had to fight for me. I felt safe. I felt protected. They didn’t stop the glares from some of the students, but no one even dared say a word to me, and that was liberating in a way.
They stopped in front of my first period class, and I didn’t even bother to wonder how they knew what class the had. The Halley boys had a way to know everything - or learn it, if they didn’t already know.
Ryder stood me in front of him, my back against the wall as his brothers made a sort of makeshift wall around us. He held a hand out, and when I looked at it curiously he simply said, “Phone.”
My cheeks flamed. “I, uh, don’t have one,” I said quietly.
Letting out a silent groan, Ryder leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling briefly before holding a hand out to Hunter. “Burner.” I had no idea what he was talking about until a small disposable phone was placed into his hand. It was an old flip phone, nothing special, but as he handed it to me, I couldn’t help but feel special despite all of that. “Our numbers are on speed dial. Text us, call us, whatever.” He looked into my eyes, his intense gaze making my heart race. “We will always pick up.” He looked down at the phone distastefully before looking back up at me. “We’ll get you a real one this weekend.” It was Thursday - that meant I only had two days with this phone.
I knew better than to argue with him, so I only nodded, looking down at my feet. I felt his lips just barely brush my forehead before he turned and walked away. His brothers began making their way to their own classes - or whatever it is that they were going to do - but I placed a hand on Diesel’s arm, stopping him.
He turned and looked at me with his intense hazel eyes, but I didn’t say anything until I had wrapped my arms around his torso in a tight hug. “Thank you for saving me,” I whispered, feeling his arms settle around me as he hugged back.
“You’re one of us now,” he said shortly, but I didn’t miss the soft look in his eyes as he pulled away. He nudged me into the classroom gently, waiting at the door until I was safely seated before walking off.
I sat in my seat in the middle of the class, just fiddling with the phone. I couldn’t exactly wrap my head around it, the fact that they had given me a phone to call them with in case anything happened. It just didn’t make sense to me. They were taking care of me, and that was new, and comforting, but above all else weird.
My thoughts were interrupted by my lovely sister appearing at my side. “What do you have there, Big One?” she asked, blowing a bubble with her gum.
Her appearance startled me and I fumbled with the phone, accidentally pressing a button.
“Oh, that must be the phone everyone saw Ryder give her this morning,” one of her best friends, Isis, supplied, sending me a glare.
“Oh, how lovely,” Hannah said sarcastically, attempting to snatch the phone away. I ripped it out of her reach, my heart hammering as I saw the timer going up as the phone was making a call, but I couldn’t focus long enough to find the end call button. “Give it here, you little bitch. What did you do to get that thing anyway?”
My words were caught in my throat as Isis’ boyfriend Justin appeared behind me, wrenching me from my seat. “I heard she did them all last night, and that crappy thing was her payment,” he laughed, his hands digging into my back and making my eyes water.
A tear escaped, and my sister laughed, “Oh look, the little whore is cr-” she was cut off by Hunter storming into the room, and the sight of him terrified me. I had never seen the youngest Halley boy angry, but saying he was angry was an understatement. He looked furious. Nothing short of rage could be seen in his eyes as he made his way over to where Justin was holding me.
He ripped me from Justin’s grasp, only placing me behind him and looking at me for a second before spinning around and sending a fist flying into Justin’s jaw. He was knocked to the ground, and Hunter levelled a chilling look over all three of them. “Tell everyone if they mess with her, they mess with us,” he snarled, jerking his head over towards the door of the classroom. My head snapped towards it, along with everyone else’s, and I saw the rest of the Halley boys standing with their girlfriends tucked into their sides.
Ryder was standing in front of Sarah, his hand gripping Diesel’s bicep as he fumed with anger, his chest heaving from the effort it was taking him to stay back.
Kylie stepped forward, into the room and away from her pissed off boyfriend. She glanced over her shoulder briefly, getting approving looks from the other girls before she spoke up. “And with us,” she added, sending a threatening glare to my sister and her friend. I knew what that meant. Not only could boys not hurt me because of the brothers protecting me, but now not even my sister could hurt me - their girlfriends would beat her up if she tried.
The next thing I knew, Hunter was scooping me up into his arms and walking out of the classroom. He paused at the door briefly, leaning down to give his girlfriend a soft peck on the lips - presumably to calm him down, it seemed - before he straightened up and continued walking down the hallway.