Football players are assholes. I know; I'm related to their king. My older, and annoyingly overprotective, brother Jake is the star quarterback at Santa Cruz High School. I love him but hate living in his shadow. Everyone worshiping the air he breat...
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Instead of designer clothes or Cardinals paraphernalia, I approached my first day wearing the armor of indifference hardened with distrust. And with two bodyguards.
Red brick, aged to brown, covered the two-story prison. My steady pulse quickened, and awareness pricked my skin. Ghosts whispered in my ears.
Test. Slut. Best fuck he'd ever had.
"Hey." Harper patted my shoulder. "No one knows. Or, cares."
Dark, cracked asphalt passed under my steps. A cold sweat built in my palms as I curled my fingers. "Yeah, but I do."
Three years, and I still needed to shake away the memories. That was the effect of bullying. Years passed, and everyone forgot. Except I didn't. Neither did Harper, who grabbed my hand and led me across the parking lot. I clutched it with a tight grip, thankful for a friendship that came with a giant middle finger raised at the whole school.
Jake shook the car with his slammed door. His red face parted the sidewalk with one glare. "If they need a reminder to mind their fucking business, I'll give them one."
As Ryder's backup, Jake was as much a powerless victim of Ryder's revenge threats as I did. He had to listen to those rumors without retaliation and still came home with tears in his black eyes.
My eyes lowered under the equal weight of temptation and experience. The movement dipped my chin, and my peripheral vision shrank to Jake and Harper's feet. Feeling eyes on me raised tingles on the nape of my neck. Whispers hissed through the air and made my stomach clench. I couldn't look at the smirks or looks of disgust. I used to wish they knew the truth, but no one wanted to be friends with the school slut.
"Look up, Elle," Harper whispered.
Elle, not Ellie. Her idea to change it was a good one.
Ellie, Ellie, Ellie... You're soaking wet.
A shiver ran across my shoulders and sent goosebumps down the back of my arm. It trembled our connected hands and brushed my knuckles against my thigh. Friction from my jeans rubbed with each step.
My torture only began that night. Even with my best friend and brother's support, I withdrew and turned my back on the school that turned its back against me. Freshman year was the longest year of my life. Sophomore year was a new start. Junior year pushed the situation into a forgotten past. This year? I didn't know. Eighteen months since my previous nightmare, and now I'd had two. Were they a warning? Had everyone eaten lies and deceit for breakfast again?
I stopped the dreams before. I'll do it again. No one could have that power over my self-worth. No matter what. That promise cost me every potential relationship I'd encountered since then. And-
Harper squeezed our interlocked fingers. "It's not what you think."
