The Maxwell Series Boxed Set: Books 1-3

by Alexander, S. B.

  Kade took long strides, his boots leaving large footprints in the thin layer of snow on the black pavement. I had to take an extra step to keep up with him.

  The tension between us vanished when we made it to the back entrance of the school, where we saw Aaron. Then all my ire was transferred to him. He sauntered toward us with a swagger that said, “Fuck with me and you’re dead.” We’ll see about that, I thought. I’d been stewing on what I would do if he messed with me.

  As he approached, I did a double take. Purple bruises contrasted with his green eyes and dotted his jaw. He appeared worse than Kelton. He smiled broadly as though he was genuinely happy to see Kade and me. Again, I had to look twice. He never smiled at Kade, let alone me. I felt like I was in some alternate universe.

  “Maxwell,” Aaron said as he blocked us from the school’s entrance. His blond hair stuck out of his blue ball cap.

  Kade scowled.

  “Hi, Robinson. We have practice inside today.” His tone was kind, not snarky like it usually was.

  I looked behind me just to be sure he was talking to me. I wasn’t the only Robinson in the school.

  “I’ll be there,” I said in a sarcastic tone. It was hard to be nice to him. He’d had his girl, Tammy Reese, break into my locker to steal my sports gear during tryouts last September. “Did Tammy do that to your face?” I raised my fingers to my face. I didn’t think she had, but maybe my question would throw him off and he would come out and tell me who did.

  Aaron asked in sugary tone, “Your arm ready for a great season?”

  “I’m ready for anything.” Again, I couldn’t help but be scornful.

  “Well, then. I guess you’re in for a fun time.” He was talking to me, but his eyes were on Kade.

  The scowl never left Kade’s face.

  Whatever. Aaron Seever might be crazy. He also might be extremely smart. It didn’t matter. I was onto him and ready for any psychological games he had in store. I was also ready to get into a boxing ring with Kade.

  After the little encounter with Aaron, Kade went his way and I went mine. We only had one class together—psychology—and that was the last class of the day, although we would see each other at lunch. Maybe by then I would have calmed down, and it would give him time to process whatever he was keeping from me.

  Most of the morning dragged. I tried to concentrate on my subjects, the teachers talking, even Becca, my best friend, jabbering about her weekend. But all I could think about was why Kade wouldn’t tell me what had happened to him and Kelton. After seeing Aaron, I suspected Kelton and Aaron had gotten into it. I could be wrong though.

  Since it was our free period, Becca and I headed to the library.

  “Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” Her dark eyebrows furrowed.

  The final bell rang, and the students in the hall scattered.

  “I will.” I thought the separation from Kade would help me to calm down. Maybe talking about it with Becca would help. Maybe Kross had filled her in. “I’ll meet you in the library. I need to use the restroom.”

  She went on ahead and disappeared around a corner. As she did, Coach Dean, the baseball coach, spotted me and headed my way. His bald head shined. Next to him was none other than the bane of my existence, Aaron. He had a sinister grin glued to his face as though he was up to something. Or maybe it was all the cuts and bruises that made him appear more evil.

  I silently growled.

  They both settled in front of me. I kept my focus on Aaron, tightening my hand around the strap of my backpack.

  “Lacey, just the person I wanted to see,” Coach said flatly. “I’d like a chat with you and Aaron in my office in fifteen minutes.” Then he left Aaron and me alone.

  Aaron’s green eyes roamed up and down the entire length of my body. I yearned to punch him. My problem was that I already had one strike against me for fighting with Tammy Reese last fall. I’d also promised my dad I’d be good. More importantly, I had to be an angel. Otherwise, Coach would reprimand me or, worse, throw me off the team, and I couldn’t get thrown off the team. The college scouts would be at our games, and I needed to be on the team for them to see me.

  “You got a problem?” I removed my phone from my jeans and pretended to read a text. I was really hitting the record button. I decided that anytime I was alone with Aaron, I’d record what he said to me. I had no intentions of letting him scare me away. I slipped my phone back in my jeans.

  “I see you made it back from California. What a shame.” He dragged the back of his thumbnail just under his bottom lip as he sized me up again.

  “How come you didn’t lead with that statement when I was with Kade earlier?” I wanted to scrub my body with a pumice stone to rid my skin of all the oily sleaze he was giving me. “Afraid he would’ve added to your collection of bruises on your ugly mug?” Anger began to coil inside me like a rattlesnake getting ready to strike. I balled my hands into fists.

  He scanned the empty hall in all directions then slid closer to me. He lost the creepy smirk. “A plane crash would’ve been best.” He went to touch my hair.

  I moved back, holding in a gasp. “It would be kind of hard for you to cause a plane crash, unlike a motorcycle crash. Isn’t that how you got rid of Mandy Shear?” I didn’t think he would tell me, but why not ask the tough questions even though all I wanted to do was run, panic, and puke?

  “We need to see Coach.” He started to swagger off like he was above everyone else.

  I grasped his arm. “Who messed up your face?”

  He half snorted, like an ass. “Your boyfriend hasn’t told you?”

  I felt my eyebrows coming together as I inclined my head, releasing his arm.

  “Oh, this will be good. Have you asked Kade how he got his fat lip or Kelton how he got his bruises?”

  Voices peppered the hall. A couple of kids were congregating near a bank of lockers not far from us.

  “Get to the point.” My hands were still balled at my side.

  “Well, let me be the bearer of some fantastic news. Kade beat the shit out of my cousin. Kelton and I went at it. Then my cousin got shot by one of Pitt’s thugs.” He laughed, a sound that sliced through every one of my nerves. “Classic Maxwell brothers. Not sharing.” He made a pouting face. “I also bet you asked what happened and they gave you some bullshit answer.”

  I pushed my tongue against my bottom teeth as I held my breath, debating whether to push this asshole out of my face or find Kelton and give him more bruises to match the ones he already had. Or hunt Kade down right now. A buzzing in my head started low.

  “You’re dating the wrong guy, sweetheart.”

  The word sweetheart unleashed my pent-up rage. I raised my balled-up fist. The buzzing in my head grew louder. Over the noise, two words resonated. Baseball scholarship. My hand stopped just before Aaron’s face. He didn’t flinch.

  “Go ahead,” he said. “I’d love to see you get benched your first game.”

  Baseball scholarship. Scouts.

  I lowered my hand but moved closer to him so only a paper-thin space separated us. His breath smelled like onions. “You’re not worth it. It’s sad you get off taunting girls with your psycho horseshit. You’re going to end up a lonely man.” I realized at that moment that he had to have low self-esteem to be jealous of a girl. Or maybe he was screwing with me because his cousin and Kade had a longstanding feud. Kade had said at one time that Greg would do anything to get back at him. Whatever the case, Aaron needed to know he wasn’t getting under my skin.

  I stormed into the bathroom, went directly to the sink, and splashed water on my face. Why couldn’t we just get along? The only good thing to come out of the conversation was he confirmed my suspicions about Kade lying to me, which wasn’t even good. Unless Aaron was lying, which I didn’t think he
was. He had satisfaction written all over his face.

  My heart hurt. I didn’t understand why Kade would keep that from me. He knew the rumor mill at school. He also knew I would notice Kelton’s bruises. Something wasn’t adding up.

  The door creaked open.

  “Get out, Aaron,” I sneered. “Do you want to get benched your first game for being a stalker?”

  “Touch Aaron and I’ll use my last strike with Principal Sanders,” said a familiar voice. “It sure would be worth it to break your limbs so you can’t play ball at all this season.” Tammy sidled up to the sink next to me and posed in the mirror, smoothing a hand over her cheerleader uniform like she thought she was beautiful.

  Well, she was. Her wide blue eyes stood against her silky reddish-brown hair that fell below her ears. But she lost all that prettiness when her snarky attitude got in her way.

  I grabbed a couple of paper towels. “Mind your own business.” I patted my face.

  She pushed me away from the sink. “Aaron is my business.”

  “Then tell your boyfriend if he dishes out his psycho crap then he better be prepared to take what’s coming.”

  I marched out because otherwise I wouldn’t be playing any ball. The only strikes I wanted were on the ball field—not the kind given out by the principal.

  I jogged all the way to the sports complex. Once inside, I sent Becca a text about my meeting with Coach. Then I stuffed my bad mood into a box, rolled back my shoulders, and ambled down to Coach’s office. I’d read an article in a magazine on the plane about attitude. I couldn’t remember all of it, but the one line that had stayed with me said that life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you react to it. Why not experiment to see if I could control myself? So, I checked my attitude at the door.

  The buzzing in my head diminished as I entered. A boy I hadn’t seen before was sitting in one of the two chairs in front of Coach’s desk. He had curly blond hair and wore black-rimmed glasses. Aaron sat in the other chair.

  “Come in, Lacey.” Coach waved me in.

  Immediately the new guy stood like a gentlemen while moron Aaron didn’t move.

  “Hi, I’m Shaun Spears. Take my chair,” he said as he moved to stand to the side of Coach’s desk.

  “Thank you,” I said before silently snarling at Aaron.

  “Shaun enrolled today,” Coach said. “He moved up from North Carolina and is interested in the remaining pitching position we have open. He’ll be joining you at practice today. I won’t be there, so Aaron,” Coach said to our captain, “show him the ropes. Get him warmed up. Work with him on pitches. See what he has. I’ll have time to put him through drills later in the week.” Coach glanced at Shaun. “Lacey is our starting pitcher. She’ll also help you. I want you both”— his head bobbed from Aaron to me—“to be civil. If Shaun is as good as his stats say, and with Lacey’s arm, we have an even better shot at State.” He clasped his hands on his desk. “Any questions?”

  No one said a word.

  “Good. Shaun, you can go. I need to speak to these two alone.” Coach wagged his finger at Aaron and me.

  Shaun smiled at me then left.

  “I promised a colleague of mine at Swain Middle School that I’d supply two of my ballplayers to help him with ball practice at some point within the next few weeks. I wanted to give you a heads up that you two have been selected. I’ll let you know when Mr. Camp is ready.” He picked up a pen.

  “Why us?” I crossed my arms over my chest. Not that I minded helping out, but I wasn’t sure working with Aaron was the best idea.

  “Helping and teaching others the game of baseball helps you to sharpen your skills. Volunteer work will help your college applications.”

  Aaron went to open his mouth.

  Coach held up his hand. “That’s all.”

  Aaron glowered at me and stomped out. I stared at Coach, trying to figure out what he was up to. He knew Aaron and I didn’t get along. Not that we argued on the field, but the tension was super thick between us. Coach also suspected that Aaron had been involved with Tammy when she stole my gear, and he knew Aaron had bullied Mandy.

  Somehow Aaron and I had to find common ground so we didn’t kill each other. Otherwise, the chemistry of the team would go to shit, and we wouldn’t be a well-oiled machine. I wanted to win State, and I wanted to impress the ASU scouts. I couldn’t have Aaron rattling my cage the entire season.

  Chapter 10

  Kade

  The news of Sullivan getting shot spread around school like wildfire, and the ass didn’t even go to our school. By lunchtime, I knew I should’ve spilled the beans about the fight to Lacey before school. I was an idiot. I wasn’t thinking straight. I was so worried she would panic. I knew she was starting to connect the dots, especially after we ran into Aaron. I was scratching my head as to why he hadn’t bragged about the incident. He’d also sounded sweet. I chalked up his nice demeanor to his psychological games. Or was he really being nice because Pitt put the fear of God into him? He did piss his pants, after all.

  I was sitting with Kelton in the busy cafeteria when I caught sight of Lacey walking toward me through the crowd. With her shoulders back, fury swimming in her eyes, and her nostrils flaring like a raging bull’s, she looked like she wanted to knee me in the balls. She knew about Friday night. I didn’t think it was Aaron who’d told her since I’d sent him a glare of warning. I wasn’t sure if he’d gotten the message or whether he would keep his mouth shut if he had. I shrugged it off. I’d been in the doghouse before now anyway.

  All of sudden my head hurt as I tried to anticipate what the fuck I was going to say. The truth, asshole. The bustling cafeteria certainly wasn’t the place to have a conversation. No, first I had to make sure she wasn’t going to make a scene. When she got mad, her emotions got the best of her to the point where she wouldn’t listen. It was a normal reaction for anyone, but her rage was stage worthy. She’d flipped out in this very room when she’d thought I’d lied about my feelings for her. The cafeteria ladies had run for cover.

  “Who pissed in her Wheaties?” Kelton chomped on a toothpick. “Uh oh, I bet she knows about Friday. You’re going to have to come clean, bro.” He lifted his legs to rest on the chair beside him.

  I knew he was right. I was waging a war with myself about telling her about my meeting with Pitt. The fight was one thing, but my conversation with Pitt was a whole different ballgame. I had to verify what Pitt had told me. I didn’t want to ruin Lacey’s relationship with her father for no reason. I didn’t want her panicking or blacking out. Her blackouts ripped my heart to shreds each time. Maybe I was trying to protect myself more than her. All I wanted was for my girl to be happy and healthy and live her dream instead of her nightmares. She wanted that scholarship to ASU as bad as I wanted a future with her. I had to keep her focused on her dream and keep her safe at the same time.

  “I will when the time is right. Whatever she’s mad about, I’ll deal.”

  “It’s your funeral. That girl will have your dick twisted forty different ways.” He winced.

  I was about to tell my brother to fuck off when Tyler Langley strode up to Lacey. I kicked out my legs and crossed my ankles, keeping watch on Tyler. The star quarterback of Kensington High wanted Lacey badly. Too badly in my book. I still wasn’t over the fact that he’d been at her house when I’d shown up unexpectedly a few months back. The fact that I’d found Lacey with her blouse open just made matters all the worse, but she’d told me they were just friends. I trusted her. I sure as hell didn’t trust him.

  “It’s kind of sad,” Kelton said. “Tyler wants to eat your girl. You better pray she doesn’t dump your ass for lying.”

  “Tyler knows I’d lose my shit on him if he ever touched her the wrong way,” I muttered.

  Kross came out of nowhere and slid into the
seat next to me.

  “Since you’re both here,” I said, “can one of you give Lacey a ride to and from practice and afterwards stay with her until I get back? I set up a meeting with Pitt this afternoon. I shouldn’t be too late.”

  “Sorry, I can’t,” Kross said. “I have to meet Jay. He lined up another fight. So I need to work out.”

  I swung my gaze to Kelton.

  “No way.” Kelton shook his head. “I got a date tonight.”

  “Kel, I don’t want her alone.” I checked on Lacey. She was laughing. What the fuck was Tyler saying to make her laugh?

  “Well, I don’t want my balls to be alone.” Kelton swiveled in his seat to face Kross and me.

  Some girl snickered at the table one over from us.

  “Postpone the love fest.” My tone dropped. I hated to exert my big-brother authority. But we were talking about Lacey. If I lost her, my life was over. She gave me the strength to move forward, to see that life could have a purpose. “It’s a couple of hours at most. Kody has guitar lessons. I’d ask Hunt, but he’s meeting me at Pitt’s office. You’ll still make your date. Besides, after tonight, we’ll have bodyguards on her.”

  “So, you’re taking the tutoring job?” Kelton asked, dropping the attitude.

  “If Pitt meets my demands, then yes.” I hadn’t figured out all my demands, except that I wanted Hunt to be one of her bodyguards. He’d told me on the phone this morning he was now working for Pitt.

  “Probably a wise move,” Kross said.

  I prayed it was. I also prayed I’d relax a little and get my head clear enough to figure out the connection between Mr. Robinson and Lorenzino.

  Lacey wasn’t talking to Tyler anymore. Becca was standing with her and another dude who I’d never seen before, and I knew practically all the faces in this school.