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

by Sheridan Anne

  Nic straightens and turns to face Roni as though she’s the bigger threat out of the two of us, and honestly, after her upbringing, she might just be. She doesn’t squirm under his stare, and the way he watches her is filled with curiosity. “If it isn’t little Veronica Russo,” Nic murmurs, roaming his eyes up and down her body as though she’s about to be his afternoon snack. “I’ve been waiting for my chance to get at you. I couldn’t believe my luck when Ocean mentioned her guidance counselor was a Wolf. I couldn’t resist doing my homework. Both the Widows and Wolves have been looking for you for a very long time.”

  Nic goes to grab her, but she yanks her arm away, evading his vice-like grip. She steps into him, not fearing him one bit. “Touch me, and it’ll be the last thing you do.”

  Nic’s lips lift into a smirk, and the way they drop is almost seductive. What the fuck is going on here? Is he trying to get into her pants or kidnap her to use as bait against the Wolves? “Have you always been this brave, or have you just been away too long?”

  “What I've been doing is none of your goddamn business,” she spits, looking at him with a deep hatred in her eyes. There has to be something else going on here, something deeper. Maybe they have history. They both would have grown up around the same time, perhaps gone to school together. “Now get off my school grounds. I won't be asking again.”

  Nic laughs as if she were a child having a tantrum. “I'll leave when I'm ready,” he tells her. “So be a sweetheart and take that fine ass back to wherever the fuck it came from. Ocean and I were in the middle of a talk.”

  “You and Ocean were finished. You have no right to enter school property and speak with a minor.”

  “Tough shit. She’s not a minor anymore. I’ll talk to her whenever the fuck I want to.”

  “Alright,” I snap, done with their back and forth bullshit. “This is ridiculous. Nic, she's right. You need to leave. I'm done with ... whatever this bullshit is,” I say, waving a hand between us. “Nothing has changed. You killed my father, you forced my hand, and I won't be stopping until you've paid for what you did. I don't even care how much I have to hurt myself to make it happen.”

  Nic glares, his eyes digging into me like two lethal laser beams. “You're going to be responsible for the end of the Wolves, you know that right?”

  I step out of Miss Davies’ shadow, reminding him just who he's talking to. “Bring it on, Nic. You know how much I love it when dickheads like you underestimate me. It only pushes me harder.”

  Nic scoffs, and I see the change in his eyes. He's ready to go in for the kill, and as he goes to make his move, the familiar sound of a bullet being loaded into the chamber of a gun sounds through the dead parking lot. “You've been asked to leave twice now,” Colton says, his gun aimed right between Nic's eyes, the same way Nic had done to him as we were leaving the hospital. “You don't want to find out what it looks like when I have to ask you a third time.”

  Nic slowly raises his eyes to Colton, not afraid of his gun in the least. “You don’t want to do that,” he warns him.

  “You see, I think I really do. More now than ever.”

  The two remain locked in a heated stare until Nic finally slices his gaze back to me. “You’re making a mistake, O,” he tells me, keeping his eyes locked on mine for a moment too long. His unrelenting stare is too intense, almost as though it’s filled with a million messages. Six months ago, I would have been able to read those messages as if they were my own thoughts, but now, I get absolutely nothing.

  Nic finally tears his gaze away, and with three quick steps, he’s back at his driver's door. He drops down into his car and revs the engine before screeching out of the student parking lot and finally giving me a chance to take a deep breath.

  Miss Davies sags in relief beside me and drops down onto the hard pavement before letting her head sink into her hands. “Holy fuck,” she breathes. “That was too much.”

  I stare at her in shock before dropping down beside her. “Are you okay?” I ask, my eyes wide and concerned.

  “Yeah, I just … I haven’t seen Dominic for a very long time. He’s worse than I could have ever expected.”

  “I …” I press my lips together, unsure why her statement bothers me so much. Why am I still so desperate to defend him? I feel as though I should be running my mouth and telling her about all the good he’s done for me over the years, but I don’t. I let her opinion sit, knowing that she might just be right. “Yeah, he’s certainly changed.”

  She shakes her head, and I watch as a single tear falls down her cheek. “I’m sorry, I need to go,” she says, shakily getting back to her feet. “Will you be alright?”

  “Yeah, I, um …” I glance back at Colton, who stands back, giving us this moment. “I’ll be fine.”

  Miss Davies nods and then practically runs away, leaving me more confused than ever. I don’t get it. She was so tough before, so in charge and ready to face down the enemy, and now she’s an emotional wreck? What’s going on? There must be more to it, something that I’m missing.

  Colton steps into my side, and I instantly curl into his chest. “Thanks,” I murmur, curling my arms around him as he holds me against his chest. “I wasn’t exactly expecting that today.”

  “It would have been better had you not provoked him,” he grumbles. “You're just lucky that Christian called me when he couldn’t get through to you. He panicked, thinking something was about to go down.”

  “Nic would never hurt me,” I tell him.

  “Right,” he says with disbelief. “Just like you thought he’d never kill your father or lie to you. Nic really isn’t the guy you’ve always believed him to be.”

  “I know,” I murmur. “Just let me pretend for a little while longer. It’s easier than knowing the real Nic is a monster who gets off on other people’s pain.”

  Colton rolls his eyes and starts pulling me toward the front of the school where his Veneno is parked. “Like you can talk. You get off on my torture all the time.”

  I shove my elbow back into his ribs, unable to help the laugh that bubbles from deep within my stomach. “That’s different, and you know it.”

  “What can I say?” he questions, shrugging his shoulders as his hand trails down my back until it’s cupping my ass. He gives it a tight squeeze. “Do you wanna go and get off on my torture now?”

  My, oh my. It seems my day is already starting to turn around.

  I grin up at him, my eyes sparkling with excitement. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Chapter 30

  I barge through the door of the pool house on Friday night and come to a screeching stop as I find Mom filling every moving box that she could possibly get her hands on. I gape at her in horror. What the hell does she think she’s doing? I knew the whole getting married thing meant that she’d be moving in with Roman, but to start packing without even giving me the heads up … holy hell, I was not prepared for that.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I demand, walking into the pool house and feeling my heart beginning to grieve for how much I’m going to miss her when I can’t just walk into a room and find her smiling back at me.

  “Just getting a head start on the packing,” she tells me, climbing up onto the kitchen counter to reach the top shelves, oblivious to the world of panic currently soaring through me. Am I seriously going to be living without my mom? Usually, the kid gets to decide when they’re ready to move out, and the parent cries about their baby being all grown up and moving on. Not the other way around.

  Fuck this. I don’t like it, but damn it, I was the one who told her that she should follow her heart. What in fresh hell was I thinking?

  “Wha ...why. What do you mean?” I demand, my arms flailing about as I stare at her unbothered back. “You’re not supposed to be going anywhere until you get back from your honeymoon?”

  “Oh, I know,” she says, grabbing the vase that sits in the top of the cupboard, the one she’d received from her mother the year before she
passed. “Here, grab this for me,” she says. “I don’t want to drop it.”

  Is she kidding me? Does she have no idea that the essence of her womb is currently having a moment?

  I let out a huff and walk through the kitchen until I have the vase safely in my hands. I place it down on the counter, being extra careful, knowing how special this is to Mom. “Umm … hello? This is a bit extravagant for just ‘getting a headstart’ don’t you think? Your honeymoon is for like … I don’t know. Is it five weeks long? Six? You can pack when you get home. Better yet, I’ll pack up while you’re gone, so you don’t have to worry about it. You’re making it too real.”

  Mom glances down at me and finally gets a look at the devastation on my face before bursting out into uncontrollable fits of laughter, which only has my jaw dropping to the ground. “Excuse me,” I scoff, watching as she tries to climb down from the counter. “I don’t find any of this funny.”

  “I’m sorry,” she howls, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I shouldn’t be laughing. You’re the leader of the West Side Wolves, and you’re getting your panties in a twist because Mommy is getting organized. Surely you must see the humor in that.”

  I scowl, crossing my arms over my chest while trying not to pout my bottom lip. “Nope. I really don’t.”

  “Come here,” she laughs, pulling me into her arms and holding me tight. “I’m your mother, and I birthed you after seventeen agonizing hours of labor with no pain relief. So I’m entitled to laugh at your quirky little ways.”

  “No, you’re not,” I grumble, unable to resist her hug and wrapping my arms around her back, holding her close.

  “You’re such a brave, tough girl, but deep down, you’re still my sweet baby who hated when her peas touched the carrots.”

  “They’re different colors. They can’t touch. It’s absurd. It’s like a little vegetable massacre if they’re not all in their little sections. I can’t handle the chaos.”

  “Yet you mix your peas into your mash potatoes,” she says, pulling back and raising a brow, giving me a smug grin.

  I roll my eyes, pulling out of her arms. “Don’t get me started on you,” I tell her, grabbing the vase and wrapping it in bubble wrap, only to have Mom come over and undo everything I just did to do it again her own way.

  “What’s going on?” she asks, glancing back at me. “This is the last thing I would have taken you to get emotional about. Is everything alright?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine. I guess I’m just stressing about the whole Nic thing, and then there are all these ridiculous pregnancy hormones. They’re making me an emotional wreck. Yesterday, a butterfly flew past me and its wings just fluttered so peacefully, and it didn’t have a single care in the world as it passed, and I couldn’t help it, I burst into tears. Colton panicked and called 911. He thought I was hurt and was in the middle of demanding an ambulance by the time I was able to actually get the words out that I was alright. It’s insane.”

  Mom bites down on her bottom lip before studying the bubble wrap very hard, fighting the smile that’s desperate to tear across her face.

  “Mooooom,” I whine, walking around the pool house and flopping down on the couch, studiously ignoring the amusement on her face.

  “I’m sorry,” she says. “It’s just funny. It’ll pass, and soon enough, your body will learn how to handle it all. It gets easier. Just be thankful that you don’t have absurd morning sickness like I did. I was throwing up in my shoes while riding public transport with you. It’s still one of the most humiliating moments of my life.”

  I gape at her, horrified. I’d die of embarrassment if that were me. “Are you kidding? I’ve never heard that story.”

  Mom smirks. “And there’s good reason for that. You never would have let me live it down.”

  I laugh. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” I tell her, watching as she gets back to her packing.

  The heaviness instantly comes over me again, and I sink back into the couch, wishing there was some way for me to hold onto her forever. Though, I don’t know why it’s hitting me so hard. She’s only going to be two minutes down the road, and it’s not like I can’t just visit her whenever I want.

  Mom glances up, pausing midway through wrapping the photo frame of us with dad, the very last family photo we had together before Nic decided to ruin everything. “This is really bothering you, isn’t it?” she asks, her brows furrowing as she watches me.

  I press my lips together and gently nod my head as I let out a heavy sigh. Mom instantly comes around the counter and joins me on the couch. “You can always come with me,” she reminds me. “Roman said it was an open offer. He’s already got a room for you right beside Hendrix’s. All you have to do is say yes.”

  I shake my head. Mom and I have already been over this, and she knows damn well that I’m not moving away from Colton. Not now. Things are too real between us, too serious. He's my forever, and while I’ll never actually say the words to Mom, she knows it just as well as I do. “Why can’t Roman move into the pool house?” I question, smirking at the thought of the billionaire moving from a ginormous mansion into a small, two-bedroom pool house. “Drix and I could get bunk beds.”

  Mom laughs. “And have to share a bathroom with that girl? You know that would drive you crazy. I’ve walked past her room in the mornings and nearly suffocated from the fumes that came out of there. The perfume, body sprays, deodorant, and hairspray. It’s honestly the most horrendous thing I’ve ever seen.”

  I can’t help but laugh knowing exactly what she’s talking about, after having to suffer through it once with her. I never agreed to stay the night again.

  Mom takes a deep breath and curls her arm around me before tugging me in beside her. “You can always come and visit when you’re missing me,” she tells me. “I’ll never be far away.”

  “Except for when you’re on your year-long honeymoon.”

  “Six weeks is hardly a year,” she grumbles, rolling her eyes.

  “Feels like it,” I say before sitting up. “Just do me a favor and leave the packing for now. Just get yourself ready for your honeymoon. Drix and I will do everything else while you’re gone.”

  Her brows crease. “Oh, honey. That’s sweet, but I can’t ask that of you. It’s too much.”

  I give her a blank stare. “Mom, we hardly have any possessions after the bank took it all. It’s fine, really. Besides, you’re not asking. I'm offering.”

  Mom groans and lets out a loud huff before finally agreeing. “Fine,” she says, preparing herself for the list of rules and regulations that Drix and I will have to abide by if we’re going to start messing around with her things. Only she never gets the chance to voice them before Colton barges through the door.

  “What happened to you?” he questions, reaching up and grabbing hold of the top of the door frame, making his shirt ride up above the waistband of his jeans, showing off his perfect V and making me drool. “You were supposed to be getting dressed so we could go? I warned you, Spencer will start the party without you.”

  My eyes bug out of my head, and I cringe. “Shit, I kinda got distracted.”

  “Yeah, no shit,” he grumbles, a smirk pulling at his lips. “Now unless you’d like me to come over there and force your sweet ass into your closest, then I suggest you hurry up and do it yourself. Otherwise, you’re going to end up in that skimpy red dress and those boots that come halfway up your thigh.”

  Mom’s mouth drops. “Excuse me?” she demands, gaping at me. “What boots? They sound like hooker boots to me.”

  Colton grins, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Oh, they are.”

  That fucker.

  I groan, pulling myself off the couch. “Alright,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I’m going, but I’m driving, and just so you know, I’m taking the Veneno and driving like I just stole every last cent you had.”

  Without giving him a chance to get another word in, I strut away while shaking the ass that my momma gave me.

&nbs
p; Half an hour later, I drive the Veneno down Spencer’s long-ass driveway and gape at his home. How have I never been here before? This is ridiculous. I mean, it’s not as ridiculous as Colton’s mega-mansion, but it’s definitely one of the more impressive homes in Bellevue Springs.

  It’s after nine at night, so it’s hard to see all the finer details of the home, but from where I’m sitting, it looks as though it’s been pulled right out of a novel. It’s a beautiful white manor home with massive pillars around the whole building stretching right up to the third story. Just like every other mansion in Bellevue Springs, there’s a stunning staircase that leads to the front door, and I’m left speechless. I’m going to have to come back during the day to get a proper look at this place, maybe sneak in through the service entrance to give myself the grand tour.

  Colton glances over at me as we pass the tree-lined driveway with each of the trees lit up with their very own spotlight. I mean, what else do you do when you have too much money? Give your trees lights. It leaves me wondering what other little treasure this place is hiding.

  “Why do you look like that?” he asks me, staring at me as though I’ve just gone a little insane.

  “Look at his place,” I screech, taking my hands off the steering wheel to point it out. You know, in case he can’t see the absurdly huge building right in front of his face. “This is insane. Why have I never seen this before?”

  Colton dives over and puts his hand on the steering wheel, way too precious about his special little car, but I have to admit, every time I drive this thing, I think I come a little. “Will you concentrate on what you’re doing?”

  “I can’t help it. I think I’m in love.”