Steel Crew : Books 1-3 (Steel World Box Set Book 7)

by Mj Fields

  “Only one that she wouldn’t have to fake it, on a good day.” I hear Gabrielle heckle him and almost laugh.

  She catches up to me, and I smirk at her.

  “He talks too much. It’s a complete turnoff.”

  Once out the door, she says, “See you tomorrow.”

  I wave.

  The entire week is much the same, and I’m pretty damn sure I found the magic position of popularity. Be an aloof, surface bitch, never let them see inside, and keep your circle small enough that everyone wants to join but very few can.

  By Friday, I’ve turned Harrison’s request for a “proper date” down enough times that I’m hopeful he doesn’t ask again. Part of me wants to just dive in, knowing full well he’s not what I want, not at all, but the boyfriend experience is one we all want the thrill of … riding. My preference would have been Tobias, but no matter how strong that feeling still is, he’s the worst kind of boy there is.

  I have kept up my side of the broken promise, because that’s who I am and fuck him. I’ve heard rumors, aka Alexa told me what she’s heard. Apparently, Justice has been secretly tormenting Tobias, but neither have mentioned it, so I take it for what it is—gossip. And if it’s true, well, it’s somehow kept them from calling a rematch, and I would rather be ignorant to whatever else is going on. So, maybe I’ll play along with Harrison for the thrill of it, but right now, after the week I’ve had—no, make that two weeks—I just want to take a nap.

  I open the door to Patrick’s Jeep and slide in.

  “Don’t make any plans for tonight.”

  “I have a date.”

  “T, seriously? You don’t even like him.”

  “It’s with my bed.”

  He laughs as he throws the Jeep in drive. “Good. Take a power nap. Then you, JT, and I are gonna see how the other side of the area lives.”

  “The bay side?” I yawn and pull my feet up, hugging my knees and resting my head.

  “The other side.” He winks.

  “What about Brisa and Tris? Max and Amias?”

  “Just us soon-to-be seniors.”

  “I could use a weekend off from the social circus.”

  “You can.” He hits the gas and peels out of the parking lot. “Starting tomorrow.”

  “So pissed he made other plans,” Patrick grumbles as he pulls onto a tree-lined dirt road.

  “He’s probably sleeping, like I should be.”

  “Pretty cool your parents are finally chill about shit, though,” he says as we bounce over the ruts in the road.

  “Took until junior year. I’m seriously going to remember this when I become a mom. Wade my kids into the water, one tiny toe at a time, instead of tossing them in and hoping they can swim.”

  Laughing, he nails the gas. “What’s the fun in that?”

  I grab the dashboard. “You asshole.”

  When we pull up toward a clearing, beyond the borders of the trees surrounding us, a beautiful lake comes into view. The sun is nearly set beyond them, but its beauty is still not lost in the near darkness. That thought—beauty in the darkness—will never be the same.

  Patrick slows to a stop then leans toward the dash. “Lake Sarco, but they call it Crystal Lake. I can see why now.”

  “You promised, if I hated it, we could leave.”

  He looks over at me and nods. “But seriously, look at this place.” He sits back, hits the gas lightly and inches us into the clearing. With the view unobstructed, I see a huge bonfire and about a dozen Jeeps, trucks and a van.

  “Who’s here?”

  “The blenders.” He hits the gas, smiling.

  “The what?”

  “The ones that blend in. The ones who have money and don’t flaunt it like the cheesedicks at Seashore. The ones who are here on scholarship. The ones who are chill, T.”

  “So, stoners.”

  “Some of them, yeah. Chillest crew outside of you.”

  Now I get the little trip. “So, your not-crush Savvy is here?”

  “Don’t you dare plant a seed that’s never gonna bloom, T. She’s tits, but it ain’t happening.”

  “Ain’t happening now or ever?”

  “T, don’t.”

  I put my hands in the air. “Okay, okay.”

  After he parks by an old Volkswagen van, he hops out.

  “Tricks!” a bunch of them cheer.

  “Side crew!” he yells back. “Brought my girl Truth with me.”

  “Hey, Truth.” They all wave.

  I whisper, “This is like Woodstock without an acid trip.”

  “Just ask me before you take a toke off anything.”

  “You smoke acid?”

  He shakes his head and laughs. “Let’s go.”

  As soon as we get closer, I see a beautiful blonde in a black cat suit, black biker boots, and a red flannel that is way too big for her, hanging perfectly off her shoulders. I’ve seen her in school. She hangs out with a bunch of kids who will someday have the perfect plan to overtake the government and be too fucked up to do it. No judgment here at all. I’d like to change the world, too, but at present time, with my head as fucked up as it has been, I’m thinking they have a better shot than I do.

  “Hey, Tricks. Hi, Truth.” She smiles.

  “You must be Savvy.” I put my hand out to shake hers.

  “What the fuck, you assholes?” comes out of nowhere, and I turn to see a girl, shorter than me, wearing Boho style, super colorful flowy pants, a tank top, and a dark gray army style jacket come running out of the woods, full force at a group of guys who are all laughing. Her hair is long, thick, and wild, just like I assume her personality is, as she shouts profanities at them then dives onto them, toppling some of them over.

  “Nice directions, dickheads! I have bug bites on my ass and probably just wiped with poison ivy! Payback’s a bitch.”

  When she gets up, she kicks sand at them. “Sleep light tonight. One eye open and shit,” she sighs and looks around. “What is wrong with all of—” She stops when she sees Patrick.

  “Hey, Savannah.” He smirks.

  She crosses her arms and taps her bare feet. “How many times do I have to tell you my name’s Savvy?”

  Everyone starts laughing.

  “Why are you here?” she asks then looks at me. “And, you, please tell me you didn’t blast this on that miserable fucking app. This is an asshole-free zone. Which, again, I ask the question”—she looks directly at Patrick—“why are you here?”

  He sighs. “Come on, Savannah.”

  “Oh my God, was this one dropped on his head repeatedly on purpose? You can tell me the truth. I won’t turn his parents in. As a matter of fact, I don’t blame them.”

  Patrick lunges at her, picks her up over his head, and then pretends to body slam her but sets her down gently on the ground.

  “Has he always been such a giant child?” she says, jumping up.

  “He’s always been full of love, light, and a little fuck you,” I laugh, watching him interact with her.

  “Who’s got the hooch?” Patrick laughs.

  “Am I driving?” I whisper.

  “Tent’s in the back, so—”

  “What?” I snap quietly.

  “If you’re not having a good time, we jet. If you are, we stay.”

  “My parents—”

  He holds his arms up in the air. “Already got the okay.”

  “ ’Cause he has a dick,” comes from Savvy, who is flouncing around, because she can’t seem to keep still. “And, and he’s a white man. You’re all—”

  “Shut it down, Pocahontas,” he interrupts her.

  She dives at him, and he purposely falls. Then they roll around, laughing.

  “See? You’re all the same.” She grabs his neck and starts mock-strangling him. “Indian with a dot, not a feather.”

  He rolls over and pins her. “Savannah, to me, you’re Pocahontas, because you’re a—”

  “Savage,” they all say then bust up laughing.

>   He pops up and looks around. “Let’s hear some tunes?”

  An hour later, I am honestly having a great time. Probably the most fun I’ve had at a non-family function ever.

  The conversation is as intense as I imagined it would be, and Savvy is smart as fuck. They all hang onto her every word, most of which are curses and hate-filled rants, but every one of them warranted. She’s intense, and listening to her for just an hour, I am convinced she’ll do at least one of three things: start a cult, change the world, or make Patrick fall even harder for her than he obviously already is.

  “How about some hooch?” I elbow Patrick.

  “Yeah?” He smiles.

  “This is nice.”

  “Intense, yeah?”

  “That, too. But watching you fall—”

  “Not happening.” He shakes his head.

  “Why the heck not?”

  He smiles at her. “She hates everything our family is about, and I’d never want to change a thing for her.”

  I’m about to have an awe moment when she plops down on his lap, drunk and grinning.

  “Savannah, what—” She slaps her hand over his mouth, and he finishes in a muffled, “Brings you here?”

  “He’s afraid I’d change him is more accurate. That I’d have him joining the Peace Corps with me, and he’d end up wiping his million dollar ass with leaves and drinking from red Solo cups.”

  He laughs. “What would likely happen, Savannah—”

  “You’re so annoying,” she says before taking a drink.

  “—is the second I was balls deep in you, you’d wave your white flag and surrender to my dic … tator ways.”

  “In your dreams.” She gives him a sloppy grin and plants an even sloppier kiss to his cheek, then jumps up and skips away. “Let’s play beer pong!”

  Thankfully, Patrick is a kick ass beer pong player, and I’ve only had to drink a few beers. Unfortunately, this means I’m drunk and more apt to join Savvy’s cult.

  “Lemme grab the cooler from the Jeep, and we’ll grill some burgers and dogs,” Patrick says when I flop down next to Savvy.

  “No meat, you murderous bastard,” she slurs.

  “Got tofu shit for you, mouthy,” he says, jogging toward his Jeep.

  I roll to my side and face her. “Do you like him?”

  “Nope.” She laughs. “I hate everything he stands for.”

  “But do you like him?”

  She rolls to her side and smiles. “Hottest guy I’ve ever seen in my fucking life, and he shaves his chest, legs, pubes—”

  “Wait—how do you know that?” I grin.

  “Caught him in one of the study cubicles with that ho.” She points behind her to the blonde.

  “I heard that!” the blonde yells.

  “Wasn’t trying to hide it. Own that shit.” She raises her cup and spills a little on herself.

  I can’t help laughing.

  “I like you.”

  “I’m so likable,” she says. “Said no one ever!”

  “I’m drunk, Savvy, but you are wasted. Let’s go find something to nibble on while we wait for—”

  “Patrick’s meat.” She laughs as she pushes herself up.

  “Nothing vegan about that, girl,” Patrick says from behind her.

  “Except the metal rod shoved—”

  “What!” I interrupt her.

  “Metal is vegan.”

  “Thanks for blowing my spot, Savvy,” he groans.

  “You know what?” I cover my ears. “I don’t even want to know.”

  Chapter Twenty One

  Idiom

  High as a kite.

  Truth

  I shot for the freaking moon.

  “She ate the fucking brownies, man.” I hear, but my eyes are heavy and the entire world is spinning. Behind it? A green laser beam.

  “Savvy, what the hell were you thinking?”

  “Leave her alone,” I croak out, like a frog, a frog who swallowed cotton balls.

  “How was I supposed to know she’s never been fucked up?”

  “I’ve been White Claw wasted,” I groan out. “I need beer.”

  “The hell you do.” Patrick laughs.

  “That the cops?” someone says.

  “Fuck! That’s the cops, man.”

  “Chill. There’s like three sets of headlights. If three cop cars are rolling in, I’m gonna guess we’re fucked anyway.”

  Patrick. That was Patrick.

  “Nah, man, that’s not the cops; that’s the boys. It’s fucking payday.”

  “I wanna go home,” I groan as I push myself up.

  Patrick sighs. “Yeah, that shit’s not happening, Sally Stoner.”

  “Help me up,” I say, slapping at him, his voice—something.

  “You’d be better off staying still, sleeping it off.”

  “I don’t want the cops to catch me, Patrick. I don’t want them to,” I whine as everything spins.

  “It’s not the cops; it’s those fucking assholes,” Savvy jumps in. “Who told them we were here?”

  “Gotta get paid, Savvy. Been a fucking week.”

  Who’s paying what? I wonder.

  “Couldn’t you have waited one more fucking day? Jesus, this place is sacred. A paradise hidden from the capitalists. You assholes just invited the enemy here.”

  “Calm down, Savvy.”

  Harrison?

  “Fuck you, Harry.”

  “Harrison is here?” I try to push myself up.

  Savvy snaps, “Yeah. Now this place is—”

  “Savvy, your drama is daunting. Save it.”

  I force my heavy eyes open to see Harrison crouch down beside me.

  “What have we here?”

  “Back off, buddy. I’m joining the revolution. Fuck capitalism.”

  “Someone’s had a few too many libations.” He helps me sit up.

  “I want more vi … viv … vibrations. Less brownies.”

  “Never took you as a battery-operated boyfriend fan or a cannabis girl, Miss Steel.”

  “Don’t judge me. I love THC.”

  “It’s obviously an unrequited love,” he says, moving behind me then pulling me back. “Much like ours.”

  “Tricks, he’s got your cousin between his legs!” Savvy yells.

  “No need to worry, Patrick. She’s between mine; I’m not between hers.” He whispers in my ear, “Yet.”

  “Probably not gonna happen.”

  “I’ll take that over definitely.”

  I lay my head back. “Can you stop the spinning?”

  “We’re not spinning.”

  “Everything is spinning. I hate it.”

  He rests his chin on my shoulder. “Picture the world as your music box. You’re at its center, pirouetting.”

  “With no talent and a messed-up ankle?”

  “You’re extremely talented, and your ankle will heal.”

  “You gave me mean stage notes.”

  His chest rumbles against my back. “I gave you the most notes. Much different than mean.”

  “Why?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he asks, running his lips across my shoulder, pushing my shirt aside so his skin is touching mine. I like the feeling. The feeling of being touched in the darkness. “Miss Steel?”

  “Shh …” I whisper as I close my eyes, trying to picture the face of the man whose lips I wish were on me.

  He presses his lips against my skin. “This okay?”

  “Mmmhmm.”

  I feel his hand snake around my waist. “So fucking tight, just like I knew it was. You have a beautiful body, Miss Steel.”

  “Say my name,” I whisper as I put my hand over his and slowly move it up.

  In the distance, I hear a voice warning, “Money man is here and coming in hard, too.”

  “What the fuck?”

  Shit, Patrick.

  I jump, expecting him to be looming over me—us—catching me in the act.

  “Harrison, no.”
I pull his hand away.

  “At some point, I’m going to grow tired of this little cat and mouse chase you seem to enjoy, Miss Steel, and then it may be too late.”

  It already is.

  My eyes attempt to adjust to the headlights that are now a foot away from me and shining in my eyes when I hear a door slam.

  “Cops are on their way. Get the fuck out.”

  Tobias.

  “What the fuck are you bringing trouble to our lake for?” Savvy yells.

  “Jesus, Savvy. Someone get her the fuck out of here, or she’ll end up in jail again.”

  “None of us can fucking drive, man!” someone yells.

  “Then throw your illegal shit and take a trespass ticket.” He storms toward me.

  “Don’t you fucking touch her,” Harrison says as Tobias grabs my hand.

  I try to pull it away. “Fuck you. I hate—”

  He yanks me up. “I’m aware.”

  “Unhand her!” Harrison yells.

  “Guessing you’ve got about thirty Gs in your vehicle and no withdrawal slip to explain why since no money has touched my account. You may want to get the fuck gone.”

  “You threw a fight. You lost us money,” Harrison hisses at him.

  Tobias laughs angrily. “I’m not getting arrested, so I’m out.”

  “Take her with you!” Patrick yells.

  “No!” I yell back.

  “You’re so fucked up right now, Truth,” Patrick says as if his words hurt him.

  “I wanna stay with you!” I yell as Tobias throws me over his shoulder. “Patrick! Dad, Mom, Justice are going to—”

  “I’m not saying shit. Go to his place. Toss me your phone.”

  “No!”

  Tobias opens the door to an old Ford Bronco and drops me inside. I try to open the door as Patrick runs over, reaches inside, and grabs my phone from my hoodie.

  “You’ll be fine, T. No one will know. Just sleep it off until I can get there.”

  “Let’s go!” someone from the crowd yells, and I watch them all run toward the woods.

  “Patrick!” I cry, opening the door. “Come with us!”

  “Not fucking happening.” Tobias yanks me back in as I try to pull away. Then he leans across me, holding me in place with the weight of his body, slams the door, and buckles me in.