The Eastwood Series

by M. E. Clayton

  Brayden’s abuse had started out subtlety, as physical abuse often did, but his manipulation had been smooth as silk, and a trap I had never seen coming. And that’s because it had started from the beginning. Though he’s never admitted it and I have no proof, I knew he had chosen to date me because my mom worked for his dad. He had aimed to control me from the beginning, and I had been none the wiser.

  Fourth period would have been uneventful had it not been for a guy who kept glancing over at me all through class. His perusal hadn’t been subtle either. He didn’t whisper like everyone else or shoot me sly glances. No. He practically stared at me with his light blue eyes, and it had made me wonder what was up with him. Also, he had looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him. By the size of him, I assumed he was on the football team because he was huge. And that would make sense since that’s the only way I would have seen him. I’d never hung out in Eastwood, so anyone I knew of or have met before, I had met them or heard about them at the football games Brayden had made me attend, or a random party when Eastwood High kids had made their way to Ridgeview.

  I did my best to ignore him, but it had been difficult. Not only was he being obvious, but he was a good-looking boy, no doubt. He had dark blonde hair that paired fantastically well with those light eyes of his. I only prayed his attention wasn’t of the prank variety and I got back to paying attention to the teacher.

  Four classes down, only three more left to go.

  Chapter 4

  Samson~

  Even though we were outside, the noise level in the courtyard was thunderous. Everyone was reconnecting from summer break, comparing their classes, talking sports, and spreading gossip.

  Everyone had gravitated towards their cliques and like-minds, and we were no different. Our table consisted of mostly football players with a few exceptions, but those guys were still jocks in one sport or another. Duke usually sat with us too, but today, he was with his baseball buddies.

  I was doing my best to tune out the noise and focus on our table talk, but that came to a halting end when Ford dropped his tray on the table and said, “Guess who I had fourth period with?”

  I didn’t really care, and I doubted Raiden did too, but he asked the question anyway. “Who?”

  His eyes were on mine when he delivered the news. “Mackenzie fucking Harden.”

  My entire body locked up in tension so tight, it was a wonder I didn’t splinter into a million pieces from the pressure. “What?”

  “I swear,” he continued. “She walked into my fourth period class, books in her hand, and taking a seat like she belonged here.”

  “No way, man,” Raiden replied, his voice disbelieving.

  Before Ford could say anything more, Darren Whitley, the J.V. starting center, confirmed the news. “No, yeah. He’s telling the truth,” he chimed in. “I passed her in the hallway this morning between first and second period.” He shrugged a shoulder. “At first, I wasn’t sure, but then she glanced at me and, come on, dude, who else do you know in the world who has purple fucking eyes?”

  Mackenzie Harden.

  The first time I ever saw the girl, it had been last year at our opening season game against the Ridgeview Eagles. Eastwood’s rivalry with Ridgeview was so violent, whichever school hosted the games between the two schools always had to put up a metal blockage straight down the middle of the stadium. You had to show your school I.D. to get in and you had to sit with the school you attended.

  We had just finished kicking their asses when a fight had broken out on the field. Usually, football scrimmages weren’t as bad as baseball ones, but our schools hated each other so much, the entire bench from both teams had run out onto the field and fists were flying even if they couldn’t do much damage with all our protective gear still on.

  I’ll never forget when I first spotted her. Coaches, refs, and parents had managed to separate the teams, and as I was still casting hateful glares to their sidelines, several girls had run down the field and rushed towards their boyfriends, brothers, whatever, to console them for losing the fight and the game, and getting their asses kicked at home.

  It had been like a goddamn romance book or elaborate fairy tale. A girl with black hair and a body that didn’t belong on any teenage girl had rushed the field and everything else had faded into the background. I had stood in the middle of the field, frozen and pissed, that Ridgeview High possessed such a human. And when she ran straight towards Brayden fucking Mahoney, I had wanted to murder him. The bastard had played it up, too, causing her to fawn all over him.

  I remember the coach threatening me with everything he could think of to get me moving to our side of the field, but nothing had worked as I remained rooted to the ground, wondering who she was and why the fuck was she with a shithead like Mahoney.

  And I’ll never forget how Mahoney had stormed over to meet me in the middle of the field to impress her. His coach, a couple of his defensive team members, and the girl had followed him. Both coaches were trying to stand in between us, but I hadn’t cared about Mahoney or his teammates. My eyes had gone to the girl, and when she had looked up at me, I had nearly groaned.

  She had purple fucking eyes.

  My heart had beat a wild tattoo inside my chest and it had taken my coach, Ford, Raiden, and three other teammates to drag me away from the huddle. Mahoney and his friends had been hurdling shit our way, but he was so self-centered, he hadn’t realized that I hadn’t even been paying attention to him. I had been mesmerized by his girl. That little stunt had caused me to be benched the next game, but I hadn’t cared. That night I had gone home and had found a couple of Mahoney’s social media pages, and when I found out who she was, I internet-stalked the fuck out of her.

  Mackenzie Harden.

  I had spent the following week fucking any girl who offered up her pussy in an attempt to get that girl and that fucking moment out of my system, but nothing had worked, so I had stopped. And I haven’t fucked a girl since the last girl I had used to try to get Mackenzie out of my system. If I needed to ease the tension, I wrapped my fist around my dick and jerked it to mental images of Mackenzie Harden.

  And I’ve been fucking obsessed with her ever since.

  “What’s she doing at Eastwood?” Raiden asked.

  Steele Prescott, one of our defensive backs, jumped in to answer that. “Rumor is her mother got a job with the city, and her mom thought it was a good idea to live in the city she worked for.”

  “How you do know that?” Darren asked.

  “Her cousin, Charlie, is friends with my sister,” he explained. “When I asked my sister earlier if Mackenzie Harden was really going to school here, that’s what she told me.”

  “Ridgeview is only a twenty-minute drive,” Raiden pointed out. “Why not just drive there and back for school?”

  Steele shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe she doesn’t have a car.”

  “Think she’s still fucking around with that asshole, Mahoney?” Darren asked in general.

  Ford and Raiden glanced at me. They both knew how I felt about the girl. I had confessed my insanity a few weeks after the game when Raiden had asked me why I had started turning down pussy. They couldn’t understand how I could lose my shit over a girl I didn’t know, but they understood me well enough to leave it alone, and respect the madness I was submerged in. Duke knew about my obsession, too.

  Steele snorted. “Fuck yeah, she’s still with him. Who in their right mind would let that girl go?”

  Darren grinned. “You’re probably right. I can’t see Mahoney letting a twenty-minute drive come between them. They’ve been together like a year, or so, I’ve heard.”

  “Then why not drive her to and from school?” Ford asked, still looking at me.

  “Ah, who knows,” Steele replied. “At any rate, she better hope she’s still dating him.”

  “Why?” Raiden asked.

  Steele’s laugh was filled with a touch of amazement. “Dude! Can you
imagine if she were single? Every swinging dick in this place would lose his fucking mind.” Darren put his hand up and Steele high-fived him.

  I gritted my teeth.

  In addition to everyone being in awe of the color of her eyes, Mackenzie Harden had a good reputation from all accounts. I’d never heard anyone say anything bad about her, other than she had bad taste in men. But, supposedly, she was nice and kind to everyone, and was more academically inclined than sports orientated.

  And Steele was right.

  If it turns out she’s no longer with that douchebag, it’d be open season on her. Every single guy here would go after her. Hell, even the not-so-single guys would probably go after her.

  At any rate, I didn’t want to sit here and discuss Mackenzie Harden and the swinging dicks that might go after her.

  “As long as Mahoney doesn’t think he can just start showing up here, it’s not really our business,” I said, finally weighing in on Mackenzie Harden attending Eastwood.

  “There she goes, right there,” Raiden said, and every male head at the table turned to look her way.

  Mackenzie was walking with her cousin, Charlie Harden, towards the table where Steele’s sister, Amelia, and her friend, Alistair sat. I watched as the girls sat down and started being all animated with introductions and chitchat.

  I knew Raiden and Ford were going to have questions for me later, but I wasn’t sure I would have any answers for them. All I could do was pray she wasn’t in any of my classes or that she was still with Mahoney. As much as I hated the guy, I didn’t poach. If I did, I’d have gone after her the day after I’d first seen her.

  “Well, we’ll know soon enough,” Ford said. “There’s no way her relationship status won’t come out. Nothing’s much of a secret nowadays with social media.”

  “We’ve got six games before we meet up with Ridgeview,” Darren remarked. “I can’t wait to see how that asshole plays, knowing his girl is rubbing elbows with Tigers all day.”

  Steele laughed, and then they went on to talk about football and the upcoming season. Meanwhile, Ford and Raiden were still eyeing me. “You okay?” Ford asked, his voice low enough not to draw attention.

  “I’m fine,” I lied.

  Raiden scoffed. “Yeah, okay.”

  Yeah, I wouldn’t believe me either.

  Chapter 5

  Mackenzie~

  Lunch had turned out to be a bit of a breather. Charlie and I had sat with two of her friends, Amelia Prescott and Alistair Brown.

  Amelia had turned out to be really easy-going and cool. She was also very pretty, with her dark milk chocolate skin color and big brown eyes. Her hair was a spring of perfect curls and she pulled off being slim and curvy at the same time.

  Alistair was her complete opposite with his almost-white blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He had been super nice, and while I wasn’t in the market for a boyfriend, the guy was tall and had a nice built that even I could appreciate.

  They had welcomed me into their fold easily and happily, and that was just another thing I had to thank Charlie for. We might just be friend-adjacent at the moment, but at least, now, there were two other people at Eastwood I could wave to in the hallways.

  I walked into fifth period and felt like I was granted another small reprieve. It was a study period and I was going to use it to mind my own damn business. Every class, so far, had been introductory and filled with teachers introducing themselves, handing out the syllabus for the year, and giving us a rundown on the rules and expectations of their classes. I expected fifth period to be more of the same, minus the syllabus.

  I walked in and, with my head down, I automatically headed towards one of the empty seats in the back. It wasn’t until I was seated and looking around in my bag for my phone did I hear the first, “Hey, Maddox,” followed by a, “Samson, my man.” Then there were a few female voices calling for some attention. “Hi, Samson.”, “Looking good, Samson.” I kept my face down and rooted around in my bag like the Hope Diamond might have fallen into it.

  Samson Maddox.

  The first time I ever saw him, I had almost pinched myself to see if I had been dreaming. It had been at last year’s first football game at Ridgeview. Our Eagles had lost, but I hadn’t thought anything of it. Again, I wasn’t a sports fan. However, Kevin Diamond sucker punching one of the Tiger players had set off one of the worst fights I’d ever seen. My breath hitched as the memory brought me back to fourth period and the guy who had been staring at me.

  Ford Abrams.

  He’d been the one who Kevin had sucker punched, and the entire Tigers team had taken exception. I remember being sickened and horrified by such a chickenshit thing to do, but the Tigers had gotten even ten-fold. Not only had they won the game, but they came out the victors of the melee.

  I remember rushing the field, after the two teams had been separated, concerned for Brayden. A lot of girls had run onto the field to get to their boyfriends and I had been just one of many. However, things had taken a turn for the worse when Brayden had spotted Samson Maddox standing in the middle of the field, looking like an avenging god, all by himself, taunting the entire Eagles team. Oh, he hadn’t been doing anything but just standing there, but that, in itself, had been the taunt. He had stood there like an untouchable deity.

  And he had known it.

  Brayden had noticed him and he had stormed over. I had followed like a fool, along with a couple of his teammates, and I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, but it hadn’t been for Samson Maddox to aim those intense hazel eyes my way. Ignoring Brayden’s bullshit and the coaches yelling at the boys to get back, Samson had held my gaze and I had felt like the worst human being on earth when my body started to shiver with the power of his stare. My boyfriend had just lost a game and a fight at the hands of the Eastwood Tigers’ quarterback and his teammates, and I had been standing there, staring back, and letting emotions I’ve never felt before drown me in guilt.

  When Samson’s coach and team had finally pulled him away, I had felt like I could breathe again. I had pushed away that small moment of madness and had fawned over Brayden the rest of the evening. The afterparty had turned into an awful, uncomfortable gathering where everyone had talked shit about Eastwood and their football team.

  Brayden had been sour and mean, and that should have been my first hint at what really lay beneath his surface, but I had convinced myself that anyone would be upset after losing the game and the fight in front of the entire town of Ridgeview. Just like Eastwood, Ridgeview was a sports town and it had been a crushing defeat.

  I had kept my face stuck in my bag as Mr. Amblin explained that, since we were seniors, he wasn’t going to babysit us. As long as we didn’t disrupt the class, we could pretty much do whatever we wanted.

  I let out deep breath and pulled my Kindle from my bag. I had brought it with me just in case. My phone wasn’t charged enough to play Matchington Mansion on it for forty minutes.

  Just as I was opening the cover, my phone vibrated in my back pocket. Thinking it was Charlie checking on me, I pulled it out of my jeans and saw that it was Shondra texting and not Charlie.

  Shondra: Quick ?

  Me: Ok. Shoot

  Shondra: Lots of girls r after ur man. He’s saying u guys r on a break. I thought u guys broke up?

  Me: We r NOT on a break. We r broken up. For good.

  I hit the send button, and immediately regretted it. My reply was too aggressive for the story that I had given that we had just called it quits in a mutual agreement to spread our wings. The lack of jealousy or concern in the text might set off a red flag.

  Shondra: That’s what I thought. I got ur back. I’ll clear up the rumors

  My stomached turned at the knowledge that Brayden was telling people we were just on a break. Even though I tried to downplay the breakup, he shouldn’t be telling people we were on a break. He should be telling them we’re broken up and…I don’t know, that…that we’re open to other relationships. Brayden tel
ling people that we were on a break made him unavailable permanently to someone else.

  Me: Thnx. I just don’t want any drama. He’s free 2 date whoever he wants.

  Shondra: Got it. Also, I miss u! <3

  My heart warmed. I missed her and Ella, too. But not enough to set foot in Ridgeview ever again. I didn’t want to chance running into Brayden somewhere. After graduation, I could go wherever I wanted. Even if it wasn’t college, it wouldn’t be Ridgeview or a town only twenty-minutes from it.

  Me: I miss u 2! <3

  We texted for a few more minutes, catching up about classes and she wanted to know all about what it felt like to be in enemy territory. I told her that Charlie was saving my ass and she said to tell Charlie hello for her.

  Once I let her go, I texted Ella and our exchange had been pretty much the same. I had to smile at how out of control we were during the first day of school. I was sure tomorrow phones would start to be confiscated and detention slips handed out.

  Putting the phone back in my pocket, I finally pulled up the latest book I’d been reading and hoped I didn’t embarrass myself by laughing out loud or bawling like the romantic book sap that I was.

  I had science next, then the last break of the day, then P.E. with Charlie. That had been a Godsend. P.E. at the end of the day was every high school girl’s dream. No girl wanted to have P.E. first thing in the day, risking her hair and makeup. Not that I had anyone to impress, but it was easier to give P.E. all I had to give, knowing I could go home immediately afterwards and shower.

  I was also kind of hoping Amelia or Alistair would be in my next class. Science class sucked when there was pairing up for an experiment and you didn’t know anyone. I knew the optimists would say it was a good way to meet someone knew, but I wasn’t exactly optimistic about my situation.