Loyalty

by L. P. Maxa

  “Climb on in, Katie Baby, you are about to get a crash course in all things Devil’s Spawn.”

  Chapter Six

  Katie

  The Devil’s Spawn? Did people really call them that? Or was that some affectionate nickname they’d given themselves? Cash was hot, hotter than his twin, if that made sense. Crue was cocky and full of like, swagger. But Cash seemed quiet—he seemed…smarter, to be honest. Jett and Marley, the other two kids Avory had mentioned, weren’t at the party. When I asked where they were, she said who knows? And for a spilt second, I really wondered, who actually knew where the rest of these kids were. Did anyone? And then I realized, it wasn’t my problem. I had a gift horse handing me a chance to live like a normal eighteen-year-old girl and I wasn’t about to look it in the mouth.

  “Are Avory and Crue like a big secret because they’re cousins and stuff?”

  Cash buckled his seat belt and started the ignition. “No.” He pulled away from the party, driving slow over the dips and hills in the field. “No one knows they’re together. They don’t want anyone at school to find out because then our parents would find out. And how the ‘rents would react is anyone’s guess. It’s safer this way.”

  “And your parents don’t realize that they’re together? How is that even possible? They both still live at home.”

  “Crue and Avory are careful, and we all help them keep their secret. We look out for each other.” Cash’s voice had taken on a hard edge. The words he was saying sounded supportive, but his tone said something different.

  “Avory said you were, uh, out on a date tonight.” I took a peek at his profile, shaking my head at how utterly handsome he was. “I didn’t ruin it or anything did I?” I was happy for the ride home, but the last thing I wanted to do was cramp the guy’s style.

  “I wasn’t on a date.”

  “Oh.” Had I heard Avory wrong? Or did we have different definitions of the word date? Ha, like I’d know anyway. I’d never been on one. The pool of guys to choose from at my school was miniscule. “I won’t, um, I won’t say anything to anyone about Avory and Crue.” I figured that probably went without saying, but I didn’t want them to think I was a narc or anything. I could be cool.

  “Thanks.” He glanced in my direction and then put his eyes back safely on the road. “We’ve all worked pretty hard at keeping the parents in the dark at this point.”

  Worked pretty hard? Was lying to parents hard? I’d never really done that before either. “I’m so freaking lame.” I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand, speaking through it, “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

  Cash was laughing quietly, sparing quick glimpses my way. “Why do you think you’re lame?”

  I wasn’t sure why I felt compelled to open up to him. But there was something about Cash, something that made me want to be honest with him. And with myself. “I’ve lived a very sheltered, very boring life for the last eighteen years.” I didn’t know this guy, yet I was going to be spending the next week with his complicated family.

  “How sheltered we talking?” Cash used his blinker, turning down a dark country road.

  I could see the gates to the compound coming up on our left. There was a security guard in a little house right inside the grounds. The gate opened and Cash waved to the uniformed man on our way through. “Well, up until today, I’d never drank alcohol. Or gone to a party. Or danced with a stranger. Or almost gotten kissed by a famous rock star.”

  “Famous rock star?” Cash pulled over on the dirt road that weaved through their property. “Who?”

  “Braxton Jones, from Clashing Swell.” I cleared some of the irritation out of my throat. That stupid giant is the reason I was here. “I ran into him backstage when I was waiting for my dad. Braxton was all flirty and meet me backstage and then he tried to kiss me.”

  “Did you want him to kiss you?”

  I frowned. “Honestly? No. I didn’t want my first kiss to be with a cocky stranger.”

  “I don’t blame you.”

  I liked that he didn’t sound shocked that I hadn’t kissed anyone before.

  “My dad walked in and freaked out. Punched Braxton in the face and decided that I needed to go home until my mom could join the tour to watch me.” I played with the hem of Avory’s dress, running the soft fabric through my fingers. “Pretty lame, right? Eighteen, never been kissed and in need of a babysitter.”

  Cash rotated fully toward me, resting his wrist on the steering wheel. “When I saw you tonight, lame was not a word I would have used to describe you, Katie.” He smiled and my stomach got a little fluttery. “You looked so free, so wild and sure of your every step. You didn’t care who was watching. You didn’t need an audience. You seemed so happy to be dancing in the dark, singing that old Ryan Bingham song.” He reached over and tapped my knee. “I fell a little in love, to be honest.”

  “Well, now you know the sad, boring truth.” I laughed quietly. “Feel free to fall a little out of love. I won’t hold it against you.”

  “Did your dad make you go on tour with him? To keep an eye on you?”

  I shook my head. “No. I wanted to go. I was excited.”

  “Why?” He wasn’t asking in a rude way, like Avory earlier, he seemed to be asking because he was honestly curious.

  “I wanted to see some of the world, get out of my bubble. I wanted to live for a bit, you know?” I snorted. “I promised my Uncle Pax that I would rebel a little, act like a normal eighteen-year-old for a change.” Actually he’d told me to run away from my dad, get a tattoo, and get drunk. In the span of one day I drank and managed to get separated from my father. Uncle Pax would be so proud of me. I should text him.

  “You want to live a little?”

  The way he said those words, his voice rough and soft at the same time, had chills forming on my bare arms. “Yes.”

  “Well then, Katie Baby, you’ve come to the right place.”

  I smiled warily. “Avory said the same thing.”

  He huffed out a little chuckle and veered the truck back on the road, driving a few more feet and then pulling up outside Avory’s house. “When you go in there, you need to make up a lie about where Avory is and why I had to bring you home.”

  “What?” My hand was on the door handle, but I was suddenly terrified to go inside. “You want me to lie to Avory’s parents? Can’t I just say I don’t know where she is?” Guess I was about to answer my own question. Was lying to parents hard? Well, let’s find out, Katie.

  He shook his head, a grin playing on his lips. “No, you can’t tell them that. If you say you don’t know where she is then they’ll feel compelled to go look for her.”

  That made sense, unfortunately. I opened the truck door. “I already feel guilty for lying to her parents and I haven’t even done it yet.” When Cash laughed, I narrowed my eyes and straightened my spine. “I can do this.” I could make something up to keep Avory from getting into trouble. That’s what normal teenagers did for their friends. “Besides, it won’t be a total lie, because in reality, I have no idea where she is. So whatever dumb thing falls out of my mouth has a chance of being true.” I nodded my head, giving him a take-that look.

  “She’s about five miles from here, hooking up with Crue in an empty field.”

  I deflated, hanging my head in despair. “You know, when I first met you, I thought you were more attractive than your twin.” I hopped out of the truck. “But now, I’m not so sure.”

  “You wanted to rebel, you wanted to live like a normal teen.” He held his hands up in surrender. “I’m simply giving you the tools to do it.” He smirked, and I hated that I liked it. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  I frowned in confusion but shut the door. I had to have heard him wrong.

  Life on the Devil’s Share compound was not at all what I expected it to be. And I was positive that it wasn’t what my dad had either. He’d have never sent me here if he knew about the parties and the drinking and the cute boys who loved t
o climb in windows. I’d only been here for like five hours, and I’d already had more life experiences than I’d had in eighteen years on the ranch. I made a mental note to embrace the crazy, to have fun with all these weirdos for as long as they’d let me. No matter how far out of my comfort zone they pushed me.

  Then, I took a deep courage-filled breath and strode into the Conners’ house.

  “Oh hey, you guys are home.” Mr. Conner came around the corner, like he’d been sitting in the living room. His pretty wife was right behind him.

  “Hi, Katie, I’m Lexi. We’ve met, but I’m sure you don’t remember me.” Her face was friendly as she pulled me in for a welcoming hug. “We’re so glad that you’re staying with us. If there is anything you need, anything at all, please don’t hesitate to ask, okay?”

  “Sure. Thank you.” I smiled my most innocent smile. Well, I assumed it was my most innocent one. I was pretty innocent and it was my only smile.

  Mr. Conner looked behind me. “Where’s Avory?”

  I was officially a baby deer caught in the blinding lights of a Mack truck. “Um, she uh, she rode with Crue. To, like, help a drunk friend home.” I nodded, more than proud of myself. “Yeah this girl was really wasted and she kept falling down, so Crue offered to take her? But, uh, Avory rode with him, so you know, to make sure everything went okay.” I was still nodding. I locked my neck so I would quit. “Cash brought me back to the compound.”

  “Drunk? There was alcohol at the party?” Mr. Conner’s forehead became wrinkled.

  “What’s that now?” I frowned, and started shaking my head. “No. No, this girl, this hot mess girl, she got drunk at home and then came to the party.”

  Mrs. Conner let out a little gasp. “She drove drunk? That’s so dangerous. We should call her parents.”

  “She hired a car service.” I was back to nodding. I was going to give myself whiplash. “Yeah, she got drunk at home then hired a car service to take her to the party. And when Avory saw how messed up she was, she demanded that Crue help get her back to the, uh, safety, of her um…house.”

  “Oh.” Mrs. Conner looked like she wanted to ask me more questions.

  “The drunk girl threw up, like, right next to me?” Why did I make that sound like a question? “I’m going to go change because I think some of the splatter…you know.” I gestured down to my boots, making a grossed-out face.

  “Okay, sweetheart.” She pointed down the hallway. “Halen’s room is right before Avory’s.” She smiled and put her hand on my cheek. “We’re heading to bed, but holler if you need anything, okay?”

  “Okay. Thank you.” I took off down the hall before they could ask me anymore questions.

  In conclusion, lying to parents was actually a little difficult.

  Chapter Seven

  Cash

  I parked my truck and climbed out, hiking through the dark field, carefully avoiding gopher holes. When I’d first laid eyes on Katie, sheltered and boring were not two words I’d have used to describe her. Fiery, wild, sexy, fun…those had been more my train of thought. I understood protective parents, I understood sheltered. None of the ‘rents liked us in the media spotlight, and they did everything possible to keep us in our safe little corner of the world. The difference between Katie’s parents and ours was benefit of the doubt. Katie’s dad apparently didn’t give anyone a chance to mess up. The Devil’s Share dads? They handed out chances like they did backstage passes in the 2000s.

  Plus, it was only Katie and her little brother. Here at the compound there were ten of us, and that number seemed to keep growing. There were plenty of accomplices at the ready, and always someone willing to one-up your poor decisions.

  If that gorgeous girl wanted to live like a teenager for the week, I’d do my best to help her. If that meant I had a good excuse to spend time with her, so be it. Katie was nothing like the girls I’d been with lately. She was a breath of fresh air. She was everything I’d been craving out of life. Maybe the universe was giving me a gift, rewarding me for helping my twin and…Nah. I doubted the universe rewarded lies and trickery.

  “AH! Holy shit.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh when Katie let out a little yelp and put her hand to her heart.

  “What are you doing?” She was whisper-yelling, her eyes darting frantically to the still open bedroom door as I climbed in easily through the window.

  “I told you I’d see you in a few minutes.” I crossed the room and gently shut the door, grabbing a pen and paper from Halen’s old desk to start my list.

  Katie’s hand was still clutching her shirt, her breathing a little heavy. “I thought I heard you wrong.” She sat down on the edge of Halen’s bed, but then hopped up again, smacking me in the shoulder. “I lied to those sweet people out there, in case you were wondering.”

  “Oh yeah?” I smiled at the exasperation in her voice. I liked Katie. I liked her range of emotions and her honesty. “How did it go?” She wasn’t falling all over me, begging for attention. She didn’t give two shits who my dad was. And she wasn’t above slapping me.

  “I don’t think I did half bad, for my first time anyway.” She sat back down, pulling off her boots. “I told them that Crue and Avory had volunteered to take a drunk girl home.”

  “You told them there was alcohol at the party?” I raised an eyebrow, biting my lips together to keep my humor from showing. “You tattled on all of us for underage drinking?” I was pretty damn positive that all our parents assumed there was drinking at the parties we went to, but messing with Katie was so much fun.

  “No.” She winced. “I mean, yes, but then I covered it and said that she’d gotten drunk at home, before the party.” She sighed, dejected. “Then they wanted to call this imaginary girl’s parents because drinking and driving is really dangerous. So I told them she hired a car service.”

  “A car service?”

  She nodded, with attitude. “Yeah. It’s a thing.”

  “I know it’s a thing. But most kids our age don’t use phrases like car service.” Even when she was trying to lie like a teenager, she didn’t quite hit the mark. “It’s okay, you got through it and you did fine. If you’d have botched it, Uncle Dash would’ve called me asking where my brother was and what trouble he was getting Avory into.” Which in and of itself was ridiculous. They always assumed Avory was with Crue, like they’d always assumed Halen was with Beau. But, Halen had been with Beau, because they’d been in love. And yet, Uncle Dash and Aunt Lexi never wondered if the same thing was happening with their middle daughter? My family baffled me sometimes.

  “So I did good?”

  “You did good, Katie Baby.”

  She wrinkled her little nose. “I’m not sure I like that nickname.”

  “It’s what we do.” I handed her the list I’d been making for the last five minutes. “Here you go.”

  “What is this?” She took it, narrowing her eyes as she read.

  I stepped closer to read over her shoulder and point out a couple of phrases. And also to smell her hair; it reminded me of wildflowers and I was becoming addicted. “It’s your to-do list, a list of all the things normal teenagers do during their summer breaks.” I fell backward, landing on Halen’s old bed. “You wanted to live? I’ll help you.” I put my hand behind my head. “For the next week anyway.” Katie had given me the perfect opening in the truck, the perfect excuse for spending time with her without seeming like I was a stalker. She needed to have some fun, and I had the time on my hands to help her.

  I was no longer Crue’s standin fuck boy, and when you didn’t need the money, a summer job wasn’t all that appealing. Plus, Katie was cool as hell, and I wanted to know her. I wanted to hang out with her; I wanted to take her on a date. I wanted to make her smile and laugh and I wanted her singing along to old songs in the passenger seat of my truck.

  “Skinny dip? Sneak out? Smoke a joint?” She looked up from the list, her eyes wide. “There are a lot of illegal things on this list. Is that what being
a kid is all about? Breaking the law?”

  “You do know the definition of rebel right?” When she didn’t say anything I got up, put my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “I’ll be right next to you, for all of them, okay? I won’t let anything bad happen to you, or to anyone else.”

  “You’ll babysit me.” She sent me a pointed sneer.

  I shook my head. “Think of me more like your partner in crime—your extremely qualified partner in crime.” Experienced was more like it, and even that was the understatement of the year. The gorgeous girl standing in front of me hadn’t even had her first kiss yet. “Go over the list, and if there is anything you want to add, write it on the bottom. I even helped you out and added things you can immediately cross off. I tapped the paper in her hand. “We start tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at ten for brunch at Beau and Halen’s house.”

  She sent me a sarcastic toothless smile. “At my window or at the door?”

  I winked and then climbed back out of the window.

  ***

  “You still awake, man?”

  I put my pillow over the top of my head. “Still awake? No. Awake again? Yes.”

  “For someone who gets laid on the regular, you sure are cranky.”

  Laid on the regular? I didn’t really count the girls I hooked up with while pretending to be my twin. “Why are you sneaking in my window?” I gave up the idea of sleep and glared at Crue while he climbed into my bedroom, a sleepy content smile on his dumb face.

  “Dad’s caught me coming in mine too many times this month.” He turned and carefully, quietly shut my window. “I figured if he caught me in the hall, I could tell him you and I were playing the Xbox or something.” He perched on the end of my bed, running his fingers through his disheveled hair.

  “I gave my Xbox to Benson six months ago.” I swung wide, connecting a pillow to his head. “Do you ever think before you speak? I swear I have no idea how you haven’t been caught yet.”