Rixon Raiders: The Collection

by L A Cotton

  “Hails,” Flick’s hushed voice carried on the breeze as I leaned over the hood to reach the windshield, spraying with as much accuracy as I could manage given the lack of light and my current lack of sobriety. “Hurry up.”

  “Coming, I’m almost done.” Stepping back to survey my handiwork, I smiled to myself. Jason was going to kill me. If there was one thing he loved almost as much as football, it was this car. And when he realized… shit. It suddenly occurred to me I might not be the first suspect to pop into Jason’s mind.

  The Raiders had a messy history with Rixon East High. A rivalry dating back decades. A rivalry that had only burned brighter since Jason became QB One for the Raiders. Crap. What if he thought someone from their team had done it? I could be the match lighting a long-simmering fuse. It was too late to worry now though. I had no way of removing the sticker or spray paint.

  Scooping up all the evidence, I shoved it in my pockets, and checked the driveway again before ducking back into the shadows. But the sound of voices startled me, and I dashed back to Asher’s Jeep, crouching down behind it.

  “You sure you’re good getting home?”

  It was Cameron. Thank God. At least it wasn’t Jason; maybe I could still get out of this without being caught. The cars were parked in front of the double garage adjoining the house so if no one came around here, then I would be fine.

  “Yeah,” a female voice said. “I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself. It’s cute you care though.”

  He gave a strained laugh and my stomach knotted. Cameron and a girl. It shouldn’t have surprised me. The words Raider and manwhore practically went hand-in-hand.

  “Thanks,” he said. “For… you know.”

  “It’s always a pleasure, Chase. I’d coming running any day of the week for that trick you do with your…” The soft purr of a car engine drowned out her words. Thank God, because I really didn’t want to hear all about Cameron’s amazing skills in the bedroom.

  Shuffling to the other corner of the Jeep, I leaned up slightly to try to get a look at whoever Cameron was saying goodnight to. But all I caught was the flash of long dark hair before she climbed inside the Uber car.

  Now was my chance, I had to get out of here. Crouching down again, I slipped out from behind the Jeep and ran. But right before I hit the tree line, the cannister fell out of my pocket, rolling to the floor with a loud clunk. I froze, my body paralyzed as I held my breath, waiting. Maybe Cameron had already gone inside, maybe he was—

  “What the fuck?”

  Shit.

  Shit!

  My pulse pounded against my skull as I tried to figure out my options. I could make a run for the trees and hope he didn’t give chase, or I could turn around and fess up. Either way, it wasn’t looking good for me. I’d hoped to be safely tucked up in bed when Jason discovered my latest handiwork.

  Deciding to take my chances, I took one step, ready to dive for the trees, but footsteps crunched on the gravel behind me. “Who’s there? Thatcher, if that’s you, you’d better—”

  I turned slowly, loosening the cord of my hood to reveal my face. Cameron’s mask of fury faltered for a second, his eyes widening. But they quickly narrowed dangerously as he stalked closer. “Sunshine? What the actual fuck?”

  “Hmm, hey.” I gave him a wry smile.

  He grabbed my arm and I wondered what the hell he was doing until he pulled me further into the shadows. “What the hell Cam—”

  His head flicked up to the house where there was a CCTV camera. Crap. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Probably because you’re drunk on vodka mixer and high on adrenaline, idiot.

  “Now,” his voice was cold. “Want to explain to me what the fuck you think you’re doing?”

  “Hmm, about that… Well, I thought Jason’s car needed a little facelift?” It came out more of question than the sarcastic wisecrack I’d been shooting for.

  Cameron blew out an exasperated breath and I’m sure I heard him whisper, “You’re not making this easy for me.” But I figured my ears were playing drunken tricks on me. “You couldn’t just walk away, could you?” His eyes pinned me to the spot.

  But screw that.

  And screw him.

  “Then maybe you should rein your boy in.” I jabbed my finger at him. “I can take him messing with me. But not Flick. She’s not a part of this.”

  He leaned in, curling his fingers around mine. “And you don’t think when he finds out you did this, he’ll come after you with everything he’s got? Think about it, Sunshine.”

  “Stop calling me that.” I couldn’t think straight when he said it.

  Cameron’s mouth curved, only a fraction, but enough for me to know he was enjoying this. Asshole. He was just like my step-brother. Worse even, because there had been a time when I truly believed he was different. But I was young and foolish and I’d learned my lesson where Cameron Chase was concerned.

  “What are you going to do?” He frowned at that, so I added, “Are you going to tell him?”

  “Let me worry about Jason, you just worry about yourself.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  More voices pierced the air and Cameron glanced to the gate beside the garage. “Shit,” he mumbled. “You need to get out of here.”

  “But what about—”

  “Hailee, just go. Now.”

  “Hails?” Flick burst through the trees, her eyes glassy and wide, panic etched into her soft features. Cameron cussed under his breath. “Are you both drunk?” he sounded pissed.

  “I… we…” My eyes moved to the gate, the clunk of metal catching my attention.

  “Get her out of here, now. And don’t come back.” Cameron wasn’t talking to me now, he was glaring at Felicity as if she was somehow to blame for all this.

  “Don’t look at her like that,” I started but Flick already had her hand on my arm, trying to pull me away.

  “Yo, Chase? You out here?” My step-brother’s voice was close now. “I thought I heard a car.”

  “Go, now,” Cameron’s voice was a deadly whisper.

  Vodka obviously gave Flick super-strength because she yanked me into the trees like I weighed nothing, Cameron’s face no longer fully visible through the leaves. “What the hell was that?” she hissed.

  But I couldn’t answer because I didn’t have one.

  “Motherfucker!” The boom of Jason’s voice, the anger dripping from every syllable, drowned out all my thoughts.

  “Shit.” I jumped into action. “We need to get out of here, now.” My hand found Flick’s and started pulling as I moved quickly through the woods. We’d walked to Asher’s house from Flick’s. She only lived a couple of blocks over, but it was far enough for Jason to find us if we didn’t hurry the hell up.

  Once we were clear of the Bennets' property, we ran. Neither of us were very athletic but we didn’t need an excuse tonight. Our feet pounded the ground, trees and branches rushing past us, shadows dancing across my vision. When we spilled out of the woods onto the street, I’d never been happier to see Flick’s house up in the distance.

  “Come on,” I said breathlessly, linking my arm through hers, and glancing over my shoulder one last time. “We should probably get inside.”

  Forty minutes later, we were both showered and lying on Flick’s bed in our pajamas. “I can’t believe Cameron caught you,” she said, taking a bite of Twizzler.

  “I wonder what he told Jason.”

  “I guess you’ll know soon enough.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” My brows crinkled.

  “Well, if he does tell Jason, you can expect some awful retaliation, and if he doesn’t, then I guess you’re safe… for now.”

  “You make it sound like an episode of Game of Thrones.”

  “More like the Battle of the Sexes,” she joked, and I nudged her shoulder with mine.

  “It was weird though, right? Cameron could have cussed me out right there, but he didn’t. He told us to go.” Flick sm
irked, and I added, “What?”

  “Nope. Nothing…”

  “Come on, tell me.”

  “I know you think he doesn’t want you, Hails, but you have to admit, it seemed a little bit like he was protecting you.”

  “Protecting me?” I sounded incredulous. “Two minutes earlier he was saying goodnight to his little fuck piece.”

  “Little fuck piece?” Flick exploded with laughter, rolling onto her back, but I wasn’t laughing. I didn’t know what I was anymore. Senior year was turning out to be more confusing than I anticipated.

  I rolled over too, lying shoulder to shoulder with her. We both stared up at the ceiling, letting the events of the night settle over us. “Did you have fun?”

  “Fun?” she balked. “Getting chased off Asher Bennet’s property by Cameron after you tagged Jason’s car, isn’t my idea of fun, Hails. Why?” Suspicion dripped from her question. “Did you have fun?”

  “I think I’m wired wrong,” I admitted. Because while I’d been terrified coming face to face with Cameron, I couldn’t deny a part of me liked it. The danger, the heart-pounding thrill as I stickered Jason’s car with his rival’s logo.

  “You’re not wired wrong,” Flick sounded sad. “You’re just so used to being on the defensive, to playing these stupid games with Jason, that it’s altered your perception of what’s fun and what isn’t.”

  “You mean I’m hardened?” I flinched, remembering the word she’d called me earlier at Ice T’s. It already felt like a lifetime ago.

  “Yes… and no. I do think you're hardened, Hails, but you’ve had to be, I get that. But this thing with you and Jason, the constant back and forth; you don’t have to prove anything to him.”

  Prove anything?

  She thought I was trying to prove myself to him?

  “That’s not what I’m doing,” I said, but as the words came out, I realized maybe she had a point. Jason had been so quick to write me off when our parents first got together. He never even gave me a chance. And maybe part of me engaging in this battle of wills with him was about more than knocking him off the pedestal the school, the town, put him on. Maybe deep down, I wanted him to realize I was a good person. A person worth knowing.

  A sister worth having.

  Ugh. I hated feeling like this. Weak and at his mercy.

  I hated feeling like Jason’s opinion of me mattered at all.

  Rolling onto my side, I turned away from Flick. After a couple of seconds of silence, her voice drifted over me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “It’s fine,” I choked out, swallowing the tears threatening to fall.

  I wouldn’t cry.

  Not over this.

  And definitely not over my asshole of a step-brother and his friends.

  “I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” she said, rolling behind me. Flick slipped her arm around my waist and tucked herself against my back. “I know you, Hails, and I know you’d never let things go too far, but Jason? I’m not so sure about him. He has to be the best, come out on top, whatever the cost. You should know that by now.”

  I did.

  He was cold. Focused. Determined to succeed no matter what.

  And for as much as I talked a good talk, even walked it sometimes too, I wasn’t like him. I was hardened, yes, but I still had feelings. I still hurt. Cut me open and I was pretty sure I’d still bleed red, unlike Jason who would bleed blue and white. Or maybe even black to match the color of his soul.

  My best friend was right. If I wasn’t careful, this game between me and Jason was going to chew me up until nothing was left. It’s what Cameron had been warning me about too. Jason wouldn’t stop. He’d keep pushing, keep coming at me, until I surrendered.

  But even knowing he might hurt me, that in the end, Jason might successfully smash through my walls, I still didn’t know if I could do it.

  I didn’t know if I could walk away.

  Chapter Eight

  Cameron

  “After Thatcher talking shit on Twitter and Snapchat all week, my money's on him.” Asher took a long pull on his beer, slouching down in one of the La-Z-boy chairs in his games room.

  “Well he’s got a fucking death wish, if it was.” Jason’s whole demeanor radiated anger. After he saw his car—and Hailee’s handiwork—I thought he was going to detonate. Asher acted quickly and shut down the party, sending everyone home, while we tried to clean up his car and calm him the fuck down. We’d gotten the sticker off without any damage, but the paint was going to need removing professionally.

  “We can’t jump to any conclusions,” I said. “If we go after Thatcher and we’re wrong that could cost us—”

  “Yeah, but come on, man,” Asher folded his hands behind his head. “Who else is dumb enough to do something like... Hailee.” His eyes lit up. “It could have been her.”

  “Nah, man,” I said trying to act cool. “She’s up for a prank or two but criminal damage?”

  Jason was quiet. Too fucking quiet. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, trying to figure out what was going on in that head of his.

  “You checked the CCTV?” he asked Asher who nodded.

  “Like I said before, my old man switched off the system before the summer when it started glitching. He still hasn’t gotten around to fixing it.”

  Thank fuck.

  Jase grunted, rubbing his jaw. “Nah, Hailee wouldn’t do it. She’s ballsy but she’s doesn’t have balls big enough to pull something like this. It had to be Thatcher.”

  I didn’t know what to do. On the one hand, I could fess up and deliver Hailee right at his feet... or, I could withhold the truth and give him more ammunition to go after Thatcher.

  Either way, it was a shit show waiting to happen.

  But could I rat Hailee out knowing Jason would come after her with everything he had?

  “Still,” I said making my decision. “Without evidence, you need to tread carefully. Finnigan is just itching for an excuse to come down hard on you. If he so much as gets a whiff of trouble with East he’s going to pounce.”

  Jase sat back, considering my words. While Asher liked to stir trouble, I’d always been Jase’s voice of reason.

  “Fuck, I want to destroy that piece of shit.”

  “So, do it on the field, where it’ll hurt most.” Thatcher was much like Jason; hard-headed, arrogant, and devoted one-hundred-and-ten percent to the game. Losing to the Raiders would be almost as good as any retaliation Jase and Asher could dream up for him.

  “Or we go across river and show that fucker what the Raiders are really about,” Asher said around a shit-eating grin.

  I cut him with a hard look, but Jase surprised me when he said, “Nah, Chase is right. Although I’m ninety-five percent sure it was him or one of his guys, we can’t hit back. Not yet. Not with Finnigan breathing down our necks.”

  Asher grumbled under his breath but didn’t argue. Jase’s word was final, it always was.

  “Doesn’t mean I still don’t need to get Hailee back though.”

  “Now we’re talking.” Asher rubbed his hands together, mischief dancing in his eyes. “Can we play with Felicity too?”

  Jase’s expression hardened; only for a split-second, but I saw it.

  Interesting.

  “Nah, Hailee is right, this is between me and her.” Except he was all too happy to get us to do his dirty work now and again.

  Asher shrugged. “Yeah, whatever, man.”

  “I’m going to get another beer,” I said. “You guys want?”

  They both nodded and I left them to it. I was right to lie to Jason. If he knew Hailee was the one behind what happened to his car... well, I didn’t want to think about what he would do. But I realized now he wasn’t ever going to give up this game of cat and mouse with her. And if he misdirected his anger at Thatcher toward her, things could still get ugly.

  Unless Hailee was put in her place once and for all.

  Monday rolled around and everyone
was talking about the upcoming pep rally. It was always a big deal with the whole school showing up to support the Raiders and welcome this year’s Varsity team. Khloe had been blowing up Jase’s cell phone all day wanting to know when they could get together to plan our grand entrance. Eventually, she’d pinned him down during his free period, but I’d left him to face her alone, saying I needed to show up for class. He’d pointed out that I was already late, but I’d just grinned and got the hell out of there.

  I hadn’t expected to walk straight into Hailee as I rounded the empty hall. “I need to talk to you.” She grabbed my arm and yanked me into the janitor’s closet.

  “Hello to you too.” I glared down at her, confused about how I felt about her manhandling me. On the one hand, my dick liked it. If the hard bulge in my jeans was anything to go by, it liked it a whole lot. But my head knew it was a dangerous game she was playing.

  “Why didn’t you tell Jason it was me?” Her eyes narrowed with suspicion, but I didn’t blame her. How could I when she had every right to be wary of me?

  “So, you heard the rumors then?” A slow smirk tugged at my lips. “About how Rixon East snuck across the river and tagged our captain's car? Tsk, tsk.”

  “Cameron...”

  “Sunshine...” My smirk grew.

  “God, you’re infuriating.” Hailee backed up, putting some space between us but it was the janitor’s closet so there really wasn’t much.

  My brow quirked up. “Me? I’m infuriating? You might want to take a long hard look in the mirror, Suns—”

  “Stop calling me that,” she snapped, before releasing an exasperated breath. “Why did you do it? Why did you protect me?”

  “You think that was me protecting you?” My gaze hardened as I folded my arms over my chest. “Sorry to burst your little bubble, but that wasn’t me protecting you. That was me protecting my best friend from himself. From doing something really fucked up.”