Ride or Die: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Rejects Paradise Book 4)

by Sheridan Anne

  “Thirty seconds,” Snake threatens, making a show of playing with his gun. “Please, draw this out. I fucking dare you.”

  Fuck.

  I back up another few steps. “Please, Colton. Just get in your car and go. They won’t hurt me. I have a gun, and you know that I’m capable of protecting myself. I’ll be okay. I promise.”

  He looks up at me, completely helpless, and as Snake pushes off the brick wall of the den, Colton lets out a sigh, his chances of getting me out of here quickly dwindling to nothing. “I fucking hate this,” he tells me, keeping a cautious eye on Snake.

  “I know,” I murmur. “I’m sorry.”

  With absolutely no choice left, he walks around to the driver’s side of his Veneno and watches me over the top of his car. Pain and heartache shine in his hazel eyes. “I’m going to fix this,” he promises me as the suicide door opens. “Mark my fucking words, Jade. I’ll fix this.”

  “I know you will,” I tell him, needing to give him that tiny bit of hope to keep him going. “I love you.”

  He clenches his jaw, and then just as Snake steps in beside me with his gun on display and a sick smirk on his lip, Colton tears me to pieces and drops down into his Veneno. The engine roars to life, and within a split second, he takes off up the road, his tires screeching along the tar.

  “Well, well,” Snake says. “I don’t know whether you’re too brave for your own good or just fucking stupid. You know he’s never going to get you out of here, right? Once a Wolf, always a fucking Wolf.”

  I clench my jaw and turn away, stalking back to the door, all while Snake’s booming laughter follows behind. “This is going to be fun.”

  Chapter 6

  Snake pushes me through the door with his gun pressed against my back, forcing me to move my feet faster than they can naturally go. I get over the threshold, narrowly avoiding throwing my elbow back into his junk. Now that I’m in and Colton is well and truly gone, I won’t be holding back.

  I spin around so fast that he flinches, and I instantly knock his gun to the side, only being able to get one up on him out of sheer surprise. “Are you about done?” I demand, getting in his face. “You’re a real big man waving your gun around every thirty seconds. I wonder how fucking tough you are without it.”

  His jaw clenches, and he doesn't hesitate to step in closer, lowering his voice to appear intimidating. But after having to send Colton away, I’m more than ready to take down dickheads like this. “Those are some real big words for a bitch in your position.”

  “Who’s the fucking bitch around here?” I laugh. “I’ve been here for less than ten hours and can already tell that you're Russo’s ‘yes man.’ Tell me, does it hurt being shoved so far up his ass?”

  He growls, and I can practically see the steam puffing from his ears like some ridiculous animation. “You’re going to regret ever walking in here.”

  “Why? You think you can hurt me? You think I’ll ever give you that kind of power over me? Keep dreaming. While you lay awake tonight, thinking of all the ways you could get to me, I’ll be sleeping like a fucking baby.”

  I laugh as I turn on my heel and walk away, straight back to the bar to where Jaren is busy filling glass after glass.

  Snake remains behind me and luckily keeps his distance. He stalks off, pissed that the pregnant seventeen-year-old has probably seen more shit than he has.

  Jaren turns back and eyes me curiously. “Are you okay, kid? Was that your boyfriend?” he questions, watching me over his shoulder as he effortlessly continues to work.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I say, shrugging it off and feeling Colton’s phone vibrating over and over again against my left tit as it remains squished inside my bra.

  “Just keep your head up around here,” he warns me. “You’re welcome at my bar anytime, but this isn’t the place you want to come to lose yourself. Keep your wits about you.”

  “I will,” I tell him, straightening my back and trying to figure out his meaning, but it’s completely lost on me. What’s he trying to tell me? That if I turn my back for one second that someone is going to try and hurt me?

  He gets back to work, and twenty minutes later, a plate slides down on the bar in front of me. “Eat,” comes a low, intimidating voice from behind. I whip my head over my shoulder to find the guy who had helped save me from Scarface settling into the vacant barstool beside me.

  He drops down and silently places his own plate on the bar. He gets comfortable and not a second later, digs into his meal.

  I gape in confusion. What the hell is this about?

  “Eat your fucking food, Oceania,” he warns, pointing at my plate with his knife. “You're pregnant, and you haven’t eaten a single thing since you got here. It’s not good for the baby.”

  I raise a brow, unable to stop staring at this over-protective stranger. “Who are you?”

  He lets out a sigh and focuses back on his plate. “Eat.”

  I glance down at the food, assuming I can trust him. My stomach constantly grumbles, taking in the steak and veggies that have been thrown together on the plate. It’s definitely not restaurant-worthy, but it smells damn good and has me reaching for my knife and fork.

  I dig in, and the second my fork hits my tongue, I groan in satisfaction. I should have eaten hours ago, but my day has been an absolute mess. Seeing that I’m being a good little girl and doing as I’m told, the perfect stranger beside me lets out a relieved sigh. “I’m Christian,” he mutters into his plate.

  I glance over at him while forking another bite into my mouth. “Um … well, thanks. You know, for this and for before.” He nods and gets back to eating, but I’m not quite done yet. “I’m Ocean.”

  “I know,” he says. “You’re the princess of Breakers Flats and Bellevue Springs. Even before you walked your stupid ass in here, we’ve all known who you were. We’ve been watching you since you were just a little girl.”

  My brows drop. “What? What do you mean?”

  “You’re Big Lou’s baby girl. It was our job to keep you safe, and then Nic and his friends moved into your life, and you became a priority.”

  I stare, my mouth hanging open in surprise. “You’ve been watching me for that long?”

  “Mmhmm. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but we’re family here. When it comes down to it, we have your back.”

  I scoff and start working on my dinner again. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

  Christian nods, knowing that was a fair call. “You’ll understand soon enough. There’s a lot to learn about being a Wolf.”

  “You mean, figuring out the best method to hide your joint up your ass before getting strip-searched and frisked?”

  A smirk pulls at his lips, and he shakes his head in amusement. “Just stick with me, and you’ll be alright.”

  I can’t take my eyes off him as he focuses on his dinner. “Why are you being so nice to me? No one else around here gives a shit about me except for maybe Jaren, but I think he’s just talking to me out of boredom.”

  “Probably,” Christian agrees before taking a deep breath. “Look,” he starts. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but for some fucking reason, I feel very protective of you.” I gape at him, but luckily he continues before I can think anything else of it. “You remind me of someone I used to know.”

  “Used to know?” I question, suddenly a little more intrigued by this mystery man.

  He nods. “My little sister, Roni. She’s about five years older than you.”

  “Why do I get the feeling that this isn’t a good story?”

  “Oh, it is,” he tells me. “It’s the best story. She’s living the dream and did the impossible, but doing the impossible means that she can’t be in my life.”

  There’s pain in Christian’s voice, and it has me leaning in, more desperate to know about this sister of his and how the hell she managed to pull off getting out of Blaxlands Grove. Doing that is just as hard as escaping Breakers Flats. I got lucky by moving to Be
llevue Springs with Mom. But even living two hours away, I’m still attached to this place and unable to completely break free. If Colton was smart, he’d ditch me and go and find himself a girl that isn’t going to drag him down like this. He deserves so much better, but unfortunately for him, I’m a selfish bitch and won’t ever let go of him.

  “What happened to her?” I question, hoping I’m not crossing some invisible line.

  He looks over at me and gives me a tight smile. “She was always so smart. She didn’t belong here like the rest of us. I don’t know where she got them from, but she had brains like I’ve never seen before. She was too kind for this place. She needed to be somewhere that wouldn’t destroy her. So, after she graduated high school, I gave her my car and every cent I had to my name, and I told her to drive until she found a place that would accept her.”

  My brows shoot up. “You just let her leave?”

  He nods. “Sometimes, when you love something, you have to let it go in order for it to shine to its best potential, and that’s exactly what she did.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She got herself a job and worked her ass off for four years while she put herself through college. I can’t say that I really loved that part. She was working at Hooters for three years, and it drove me insane, but she suffered through it like a fucking boss. She rented this shitty little apartment with a few girls, and they supported each other all the way through to graduation when she came out top of her class.”

  “Wow,” I say in awe, thinking of my own acceptance letter sitting on the kitchen counter in Colton’s pool house. “Girls from around here hardly ever get into college, let alone graduate at the top.”

  “I know,” he says, pride shining brightly in his eyes. “She did amazing. I stood in the back and watched her accept her diploma. It was the best moment of my life. She made it.”

  “That’s amazing,” I whisper as an agonizing jealousy tears through me. I was so close to having a future like that. I glance down at my plate, assuming I can trust him. “What happened after that?”

  “She worked her way up. Last I checked, she was working as a school guidance counselor in one of those rich, private schools.”

  Rich, private schools? “Wait,” I say, scrunching my brows and staring at him as though he just grew a second head. “Did you say Hooters?”

  “Umm … yeah,” he says slowly, his eyes narrowing to slits.

  “You’re not talking about Miss Davies, are you? The guidance counselor at Bellevue Springs Private school?”

  He pulls back ever so slightly, watching me with caution. “Yeah. You know her?”

  My eyes go big as excitement tears through me. “Holy shit,” I laugh. “Yes, I freaking know her. I’m a student at her school. She’s the reason that I got into college. She pushed me to be better because she didn’t want to see another girl from Breakers Flats with the same, boring generic life. She’s the first person to have believed in me in a really long time.”

  “No shit?” he questions, a proud as fuck smile stretching across his face.

  “Yeah, she told me all about you. You’re the brother who got jumped in so she wouldn’t have to.”

  He nods. “Damn fucking straight, I am,” he says, leaning back into the barstool as though he can hardly believe what he’s hearing. “How was she? Did she look alright? I haven’t checked in with her for a while.”

  “She’s doing great,” I tell him. “Super cocky about being the one girl who made it out of Blaxlands Grove, though I think she was putting it on just so I’d want to be better. She told me that she bought her own house.”

  His brows shoot up, and he laughs as the pride begins to overwhelm him. “No fucking way,” he says, shaking his head in disbelief. “She really fucking made it.”

  “She did, and it’s all thanks to you. Now she’s helping other girls that were in her situation do the same. She turned my life around at least, for a while she had, and because of her, I was actually looking forward to my future. You know, until now.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” he tells me, moving straight past my last comment. “What’s her situation? Does she have a boyfriend? Married?”

  “I don’t know,” I say with a shrug. “I didn’t see any ring on her finger, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn't have someone.” He nods, lost in thought. “When was the last time you checked in with her?”

  “It’s been a while,” he tells me. “Maybe two years. I try to keep my distance. The less I’m in her life, the less reason she has to come back.”

  “I get that, but don’t you think that—”

  “Ocean,” Russo’s deep, booming voice calls across the bar. My head whips his way as Christian presses his lips into a tight, disapproving line. “With me, now.”

  I swallow back fear, hating the uncertainty. What does he want with me? I hesitate for a moment before Christian nods, silently telling me that it’s not wise to keep him waiting. I scoop my drink off the bar and start following Russo out of the bar when Christian calls back to me. “Ocean,” he says. I glance back to find his eyes on mine before he mouths, “Lock your door.”

  I nod, letting him know that I’ve understood him and consider running for the door when Russo snaps at me. “Keep up. Your boyfriend's pathetic little pissing contest has already wasted enough of my time tonight. There will be consequences for any more lost time.”

  Fuck.

  I hurry to keep up with him and follow him through a maze of doors until we come to a long hallway. “These are the living quarters,” Russo explains. “These are for Wolves who find themselves without a place to sleep.”

  “I already have a place to sleep,” I remind him. “And it’s in Bellevue Springs.”

  “I appreciate that,” he tells me. “But until I can be sure that you’re not about to go running back to Dominic or his friends, here is where you’ll stay.”

  “But what about school? I go to school in Bellevue Springs. I can’t go all the way there and back every day. That’s insane.”

  Russo presses his lips into a tight line. “Well then, you better gain my trust fast.”

  He comes to a stop outside a bedroom door and slips a key into the lock. He gives it a quick jiggle before finally getting it unlocked and pushing the door wide. “I suggest you get a good night’s sleep tonight. You have a lot of talking to do tomorrow.”

  With that, he hands me the key and leaves me to fend for myself.

  I step over the threshold into the dark room, feeling around on the wall for the light switch. After what feels like far too long, I get the light on, and the room floods with a dull brightness. I instantly close the door behind me and lock it, just as Christian had said.

  I start looking around the small room. There’s a single bed with sheets that look used, a dresser that’s missing its handles, and a single bedside table with a shitty lamp. It’s like a cell in here.

  There’s a small bathroom attached to the room, and I’m honestly terrified of walking in there, but I haven’t peed since the doctor's office this morning. After sitting at the bar all day, I’m getting a little desperate.

  I start making my way toward the bathroom door when I hear someone walking toward my door. Panic settles into my soul—deep and terrifying. Without thinking, I throw myself across the room and shove my shoulder into the dresser. I push it hard, over and over again until the heavy wooden piece of shit is firmly in front of the door. Then just to ease my fear, I pull Scarface’s gun from the back of my school skirt.

  I find myself standing still, listening out as the footsteps come closer. My heart races and my palms begin to sweat.

  When I came here, I never imagined that I’d have to stay the night. There are a lot of things that I can deal with. But being caught alone in a warehouse full of predators is not exactly something a normal seventeen-year-old is experienced with.

  The footsteps sound right outside my door, and I hardly hear them over the sound of my pulse beating right in
my eardrum. There’s a short pause before the footsteps pick up again and continue down the hall.

  The relief is so heavy that I fall to my knees, still clutching the gun tightly in my hand.

  Seconds turn into minutes and by the time half an hour has ticked by, I can finally breathe easy and remember my desperation for the toilet.

  I get myself sorted out, and a few moments later, I sit on the floor, too disgusted to go anywhere near the bed. I pull out Colton’s phone and quickly put in his passcode before staring down at the screen. There are a million missed calls, and I don’t doubt that they’re all from Colton.

  Knowing that when I call him back, he’s going to refuse to hang up, I go through the messages and realize that Colton must have told Eli, Sebastian, and Kai, that I have his phone. I can guarantee the unread messages from them on Colton’s phone are certainly not for him.

  I open up the messages from Eli.

  Elijah - Ocean, I’m so fucking sorry. I failed you. What did you think you were doing walking in there?

  Elijah - Please answer me, girl.

  Elijah - You fucking hate me, don’t you? I told them all that you’re pregnant. I’m sorry, I had no fucking choice. I had to break my promise. They needed to understand why you went there.

  Letting out a sigh, I move onto Kai.

  Kairo - You should have come to me. If you were hurting or needed help, I would have been there. Not them. Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you’ve just gotten yourself in?

  Kairo - I know you got that rich boy’s phone. Don’t act like you haven’t got my message.

  Kairo - Fuck, Ocean. Just tell me that you’re still fucking breathing.

  My jaw clenches as I read over his texts twice and then three times. If only he knew what Nic had really done. I wonder if he’d change his tone. Surely he must know that after everything we’ve been through over the past few months, coming to them is just not an option anymore.