Make My Move

by J Bree

  Make My Move

  Hannaford Prep Year Two - Alternate POV

  J Bree

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Also by J Bree

  About the Author

  CONTINUE READING FOR AN EXCEPT FROM

  Also by J Bree

  Prologue

  Copyright © 2019 by J Bree

  ASIN: B07WF6D8R2

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  To Laura, without whom there would be no book.

  Our friendship has always, and will always, be the best thing to ever come from my journey as an author.

  Ride or die, Friend.

  Chapter One

  Harley

  If there’s one place I don’t want to be on the night before school starts, it’s the docks of Mounts Bay.

  We’re headed to the southern end of them where not a whole lot of actual boating happens, but there’s plenty of dilapidated warehouses in that area that are now a staple in the party scene of the Bay. I’ve been to enough of these things to know exactly how fucking bad it is that my dickhead, psycho cousin has run off here for a hit.

  Obviously his dealer wouldn’t deliver to the hotel.

  The longer we drive, the more uncomfortable I become in my own skin. It’s like they can all see exactly how fucking shitty my entire existence is once we’re looking at the streets I grew up in, and it makes me a fucking dick to be around.

  I snap at Avery, “What the fuck is he doing down here? Floss, this is the fucking slums and if he’s down here then we’ll be scraping him off the fucking sidewalk because there’s no way he hasn’t run his mouth and been stabbed for it.”

  “There’s nothing I can do about Joey being down here. What do you want me to do, try and reason with the sociopathic asshole? We’re lucky Lips found him for us,” Avery snaps back from the front seat, and it’s like a slap to the face.

  My attention is firmly on her because Joey can fucking die for all I care, but what the fuck is the Mounty doing down here?

  She never goes to parties at Hannaford or shows any interest in drinking, so why the fuck is she at one of the most dangerous fucking places for a girl to be in the entire country?

  I’m pissed.

  Ash side-eyes me so hard it’s like a physical thing, a fist to the side of the head. I ignore it because he’s been pissy since I got home from my grandfather’s place, ready to argue about any fucking thing, but from the moment we realized Joey was gone he’s been savage.

  Fuck knows why.

  “I’m not leaving my car down here to go get Joey… it’ll be gone by the time we get him back,” Blaise drawls, still half asleep and driving like a reckless fucking dick.

  Avery shrugs as she taps away on her phone. “Lips says she’ll meet us out the front with him so no one has to leave the car.”

  “And how the fuck do you think she’s getting him out of the party, Floss? How can you not see it?” Ash sneers, and I struggle not to roll my eyes at him.

  It’s obvious to everyone except Ash why exactly he’s so fucking focused on her being a danger, but I don’t want to think about just how far she’s managed to dig herself under the skin of each and every one of us.

  Even Morrison is fucking doe-eyed over her.

  “Pull up at the gate; he’ll let us through,” Avery says, pointing exactly where she needs Blaise to drive like he’s completely fucking blind.

  He doesn’t comment, too fucking tired to bother with the inevitable fight, but when he stops in front of the gate and rolls down the window, it’s fucking clear that we’re not getting in.

  “Too late to get in, the party hour is over.”

  Fuck.

  The ‘party hour’ means it’s a very specific type of Bay party, one that the members of the Twelve have put together for a very specific reason, and it makes the entire situation a hundred times worse.

  I share a look with Ash but he’s just looking fucking livid. Fuck.

  How the hell do I fix this?

  Avery leans over Blaise to speak to the guy, her voice that icy tone that strikes fear into anyone with half a brain. “We’re here to pick someone up. As if we’d want to attend a party in the slums and catch some Mounty disease.”

  Fuck me.

  The guy’s lip curls, but Avery already has her phone to her ear. “We’re here but the guy at the gate won’t let us through.”

  She pauses for a second and then hands the phone over to the guy. He snarls, “Listen here, kid, we don’t let extra in after the open hour. Now you need to tell these little rich fucks to get on out of here—”

  His spine snaps straight so fast I think he might’ve fucking shit himself.

  What the fuck?

  He fumbles over his words like they’re burning him on the way out. “Sorry. I didn’t know they were with you. If they had’ve just said I would’ve—“

  He stops talking abruptly and hands the phone back to Aves, mumbling an apology under his breath and stalking around the car to open the gate. It’s fucking weird, his movements are all jerky like he’s barely holding his shit together.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Ash murmurs to me, as if I’d have a fucking clue, but at this point, it’s anyone’s guess.

  Blaise drives down to the warehouse and we find dozens of gangsters hanging around, all of them staring at the Maserati like they’re trying to calculate just how much damage they could do to it.

  Thank fuck we didn’t come in one of Ash’s cars.

  Then my eyes land on the Mounty and I might just lose my fucking mind.

  She’s naked… or she may as fucking well be with how little she’s wearing. She’s standing there in underwear, shimmering as she moves with glitter everywhere and her hair pulled up in a way that makes her look both younger and older at the same time. She’s too fucking skinny, the weeks of being back in the Bay have melted away the tiny bit of weight she’d put on by the end of freshman year, and that hits me full force in the gut. Avery has taken care of every last one of my needs from the moment she bailed me outta juvie. I haven’t had to worry about where my next meal was coming from or outgrowing my clothes.

  Lips has been alone, starving and hanging out at the slums of the Bay.

  The guy standing next to her would have to be in his mid twenties and is grinning at her like he’s in love with her, and there isn’t a fucking chance I’m leaving her here.

  Nope.

  Fuck that.

  I barely register that Joey is passed out and slumped over some guy’s shoulder as he walks him over to Ash, my focus entirely on getting the Mounty in the car and the fuck away from here but as I help shove Joey into the car she bounces over to Avery’s window with a smirk, murmuring with her like they’re besties.

  Fuck, I guess they are now.

  She fin
ally takes stock of each of us; Blaise watching the gangsters we’re surrounded by and Ash struggling to get Joey strapped in the car. When she finally looks up at me, I’m pretty sure she can see just how fucking pissed I am.

  “What the hell are you doing here?”

  I’m not sure what I’m expecting from her but it’s definitely not what comes out of her mouth. “Watch your fucking tone, we are not at school.”

  It’s like a slap to the face and my head snaps back. A quick look over my shoulder and sure enough, every last fucking eye is on me. Who the fuck is she hanging around with down here that I need to be sweating over talking to her?

  Could tonight get any fucking worse?

  I roll my shoulders back and shut the car door, stalking over to where she’s still standing there with Avery. I can feel the eyes all following me and my jaw just about snaps, I’m clenching down so hard.

  She watches my every move, her body tense, and Avery curses under her breath at me but I ignore her. I’ve been on her shit list for months over the Mounty, what’s another night of pissing her off if I can find out what the fuck is going on.

  “What are you doing here? Dressed like that?” I murmur, and her eyes narrow at me like she’s planning my death.

  “Do not suggest that I’m a prostitute. I’m here for a job and as soon as I get paid I’m leaving.”

  Fuck.

  What can I say to that with the crowd of thugs behind us ready to slit my throat? Fucking nothing, so I nod at her and wait her out. There's no fucking way I'm leaving her out here, wearing tiny scraps of clothes, with the gangsters of the Bay.

  She makes that same little huffing noise that she does when she's pissed and I brace myself for whatever excuse she's gonna throw at me when the lights of another car hit us. I move without really thinking it through, stepping in front of her and trying to crowd her back against the car.

  She doesn't take it well.

  I grunt as she punches me in the back and snaps, “That would be my payment. You guys need to leave.”

  Who the fuck is paying her and what could some tiny Mounty orphan do for someone driving a fucking Merc that isn't selling herself?

  “We’re not leaving without you,” I say, crossing my arms as she steps around me.

  She gives me a look but the doors of the car are opening and it's clear she doesn't want to be arguing with me in front of the three guys who get out. They're dressed in cheap suits, hair slicked back and guns strapped to their belts but in the wrong position. It's an obvious show of power and intimidation, flashy and so fucking 'Mounty-slum-gangster' that I want to shove Lips in the car and leave.

  They look around the empty parking lot and then assess us all one by one. Lips takes their eyes on her body without a flinch but the second they turn that scrutiny onto Avery, she steps in front of her until she is completely obscured from their view. There's something we can agree on.

  I really don't want them getting a look at my cousin either.

  If they don't hurry the fuck up, Ash is going to realize Avery is in danger here and come out fucking swinging. I let my eyes creep over to the Mounty but she's completely blank... nothing on her face at all even as the car door opens again and another man gets out.

  With the sleazy smirk on his face, clearly he's the boss. What the fuck is the sleazeball paying her for if it's not sex?

  “Hello, puss.”

  What.

  The.

  Fuck.

  What the fuck kind of nickname is that? I look him over again and I almost lose my head at the sight of the hard-on he’s so fucking nonchalant about. Inside the car Blaise snarls something, having spotted it too, and Avery snaps back at him, but I keep my attention on what the fuck is happening in front of me because if that piece of shit takes a single fucking step toward the Mounty, I’m going to kill him.

  Lips isn’t as concerned as the rest of us. “Wire my money through and I'll give you the package.”

  The creep smiles at her and waves a hand. One of his thugs pops the trunk of the car and pulls two bags out.

  What the fuck is going on?

  “Seriously? I told you I only deal in transfers,” Lips snaps at him and holy fuck, that’s her payment… two giant fucking bags full of cash? What the actual fuck did she do for him? I know she’s a fucking genius but there’s not all that much I can think of that would demand those sorts of prices.

  My brain is still struggling to process when he says, “Sorry, puss. I didn't get the chance to pop this into the bank before they closed. You know how it is. How ‘bout you walk that sweet ass of yours over here and get your money?”

  The tone he uses with her has my vision going red and my fists clenching with the need to beat the life outta him. “Like fuck.”

  The guy takes note of me standing there with her, dragging his eyes over me like I’m a slab of meat for sale. Something stirs in my gut, something bad, because this man is a fucking predator if I ever saw one and I decide here and now that I’m never going to fucking let the Mounty out of my sight in the Bay again.

  Whether she likes it or not.

  “How about I double the payment and you give me him, puss?” Lips rolls her eyes at him, completely unrepentant as his eyes narrow at her sass.

  “How about you get one of your little friends to bring me my money and I'll hand him the package so we can all get out of here, hmm?”

  He laughs and waves his guys forward. One of the guys hands me the bags and the stench that comes off of him is fucking putrid. I almost fucking gag and Lips shoves a USB into his hands like she’s also trying to shove him away.

  The guy walks back over to his boss and hands him the USB. The creep smirks and salutes her with it. “Pleasure doing business with you, puss.”

  We all hold our breaths until the car is out of the parking lot completely. Once it’s out of view, Lips turns and holds her hand out for the bags of cash but I’m not handing them over… not when she’d probably just disappear into the night without us, so instead I head for the trunk of Morrison’s car. I tap it gently and Morrison pops it open for me.

  Lips is on my ass in a hot second. “What are you doing?”

  Once they’re secure I give her a look. “I told you. I'm not leaving without you.”

  She might be a blank slate around the gangsters down here but her emotions are all over her face for me. I try not to crow over that fact, but she gives me so fucking little to work with it’s hard not to gloat.

  She huffs and snaps, “Fuck. Fine, leave it open. I have the rest of my stuff here too.”

  I nod and walk over to where the rest of her bags are, where the guy who was flirting with her when we first arrived is still standing and watching us both. As I walk up he takes a step forward, over the bags, and crosses his arms.

  I’d love nothing more than to take some of my frustration at this fucking night out on him with my fists. To just smash that longing look he keeps throwing at Lips right off of his fucking face.

  So I smirk at him and watch him roll his shoulders back, ready to throw down over some bags and the Mounty.

  Fucking perfect.

  Except then Lips walks over and says, in a voice I’ve never fucking heard outta her with all its teasing and husky tones, “Luca, it's fine. My feet hurt and I need a bath.”

  She fucking pouts at him, flirting right back, and he leans down and brushes a kiss against her cheek without breaking eye contact with me.

  I’m gonna kill him.

  I don’t know the where or the how of it, but I’m gonna fucking kill him.

  Lips steps around me to grab her bags and then shoves one into my chest with a look.

  Doesn’t matter.

  I’ve already marked him for death.

  As we walk over to the car, the asshole calls out, “I’m going to miss that ass while you’re gone, princess.”

  Lips laughs as I turn back to glare at him, wishing so fucking badly that Avery wasn’t down here and there weren’t a dozen ot
her gangsters here watching because they’re the only things stopping me from taking the asshole down.

  “You get more ass than the average Mounty street girl on a Saturday night, Luca. I’m sure you'll survive without mine.”

  What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

  The asshole grabs his chest with another flirty grin and I get the car door open for Lips, ready to shove her in and leave.

  I’m gonna spend the rest of the year convincing Avery to get the Mounty to stay with me next summer, as far away from this place as fucking possible.

  Lips startles at the sight of the Beaumonts in the backseat and darts around the car to Avery, chuckling when Floss opens the door to her straight away and sliding right in.

  The moment I get in the back and shut the door, Morrison takes off, as eager as I am to get the hell out of the slums.

  The girls start whispering amongst themselves and I use an arm to help Ash prop Joey up so the cunt doesn’t choke on his own tongue.

  I wish the fuck he would though.

  “Where should I drop you off, Mounty? Feel free to tip me for my services,” drawls Morrison. I hear Avery snort at whatever face the Mounty has pulled and for some fucking reason that only pisses me off more.

  “She’s coming back to the hotel with us,” I say.

  Ash turns on me with a scathing look and snaps, “Why?”

  “Thank you, Lips, for finding my coked-up brother and getting him out of danger before he got himself stabbed by an angry Mounty girl for not keeping his hands to himself,” Lips says, the sarcasm dripping from every word.

  Ash doesn’t know the meaning of backing down. “Thank you, Mounty, for traipsing around the docks dressed like a slut and tripping over Joey. Do all your clients pay you in large bags of dirty money? Is your puss really that good?”