Start a Fire: A Dark High School Bully Romance (The Savage Crew Book 1)

by Julia Wolf

  “Who?” We drove by Sebastian’s house, and my heart jumped into my throat.

  “Nate Bergen and a couple of his football buddies. He did most of the destruction though, they acted as lookouts. Mr. Frederick said although it was your art he destroyed, the materials were school property, so he’s going to be in pretty serious trouble. Quite possibly expelled.”

  She pulled the car into the long driveway while I slumped back in my seat. I didn’t know why I was so surprised, but I was. I guessed it made sense, though. Nate knew I was working in the shop, and I’d humiliated him at school. This was his payback, and he’d struck me right where it would hurt the most.

  I flexed my hands in my lap. “Wow. He really hates me.”

  “I doubt he hates you. He’s angry, and he took it out on you. You’re not responsible in any way for his behavior, babe.”

  I nodded, curling my fingers inward. “I know.”

  We approached the grand front door, and Diedre Sanderson answered quickly once we rang. She was an older version of Elena, blonde, striking, immaculately put together. But where Elena had a coldness about her, Diedre was all sunshine warmth.

  She hugged me tight, telling me how beautiful I’d become and cooing over my height. My mom hugged her next, then Diedre led us to their casual dining area off the kitchen. Elena breezed in carrying a pitcher of juice as we arrived. She offered a smile to my mother and a nod to me.

  I didn’t want to be here. I would have rather been at the T, eating buttery eggs and greasy bacon. Instead, I had a grapefruit half, homemade blueberry muffins—which okay, were pretty legit—and egg white quiche cups. I had not crawled out of bed to eat healthy.

  We spent most of breakfast catching up. Well, Mrs. Sanderson and my mom did. Elena and I ate quietly. As time ticked by, I failed to see the point of this. Elena and I hadn’t made peace—I kind of doubted that was possible. All I was getting from this breakfast was a stomachache.

  “So,” Mrs. Sanderson patted her mouth with her cloth napkin, “let’s address the elephant in the room. Do the two of you want to speak in private, or would you like us all to talk?”

  Elena and I made panicked eye contact. “Private, please,” I said.

  She stood from the table so fast, her chair scraped on the floor. “We can go to my room.”

  Her mom gave her a loaded look. “Be nice, El. Despite everything going on now, you two were the best of friends once. Remember that.”

  We went upstairs to Elena’s room, which was about a mile from the dining area. Her bedroom had had a makeover since the last time I was here. Instead of girly pink, it was decorated in muted grays and blues. Subtle for Elena, but easy on the eyes.

  She perched on the end of her bed while I idled by a bookcase filled with framed photos and knickknacks rather than books.

  “I heard Nate trashed your art.”

  I nodded. “Apparently. My mom just told me this morning.”

  She flipped her long hair behind her shoulder. “He’s always been pretty psycho.”

  I huffed a humorless laugh. “I guess so. The pretty face hid it well.” I crossed the room, grabbing the chair from her desk so I could sit in front of her. “I really screwed up when I pursued him. I broke girl code and I was a bad friend for that. You have to know I regret everything about what happened that night. I was in a bad place, and Nate took things farther than I wanted, but that’s no excuse. I’m sorry for my part in everything.”

  “Well…” she crossed her arms over her chest, “you’re right. It was shitty of you to pursue him. I will never say it wasn’t. However, I know I went too far. I let my ego get the better of me and I hurt you when you were already hurting. If I could go back, I still would’ve slapped you in the face, but I also would have kneed Nate in the balls and called it a job well done.”

  I sucked in a deep breath. That was probably as good as I would ever get from Elena. I didn’t really want an apology for any of it at this point, but I guessed it was good to hear her acknowledge she’d gone too far.

  “Can we just be done with each other now? You go your way and I’ll go mine.”

  She nodded sharply. “I think that’s for the best. But let me just say one more thing before you go.”

  “Okay.” I leaned forward in my chair, braced for anything that might fly out of her pretty, venomous mouth.

  “I’m not interested in Sebastian Vega. What you saw at homecoming was an attempt to make Nate jealous. Sure, I would have slept with him if he’d been interested, but I don’t love him or anything.” She shuddered like the idea was repulsive. “The poor guy has been crazy over you for years, Grace.”

  “What?” I breathed out in shock. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, the only reason we ever spoke was when he asked me about you. He got back from military school and wanted to know if I’d heard from you.” She shrugged. “He was cute and moony-eyed over you. I saw an opportunity to take something from you, even if you weren’t aware it was happening.”

  “Well, I guess you succeeded.”

  Her blue eyes turned glacial as she looked me over. “Come on. I thought you were made of heartier stock. You’re really going to dump him for good over this? I get you were angry, I would have been too. Obviously.” She smirked, laughing to herself. “But I am telling you, he is devoted to you and has been forever. He beat the shit out of Nate to defend your honor, Grace. He’d ask me to tell him things about you. God, I think that was what got him hard more than I ever did.”

  “Oh god.” I covered my mouth as I gagged. “Please don’t tell me things like that.”

  She held her hand up. “Sorry. My mouth gets ahead of me sometimes. My point is, Sebastian isn’t mine. He’s never been mine. He’s always been yours. Maybe you don’t want him, and if that’s true, then it’s an entirely different story. But if you let me be the reason you’re not with him, then you truly disappoint me.”

  As she spoke, I remembered something. The thing that had been niggling in the back of my brain ever since I first saw Sebastian. My first day of school definitely hadn’t been the first time I saw him. I could picture him now, younger, skinnier, bent over a sketchbook. The image was so clear, I had no idea how I’d forgotten.

  Trauma had to be the only explanation. My brain got rewired a few times over the last couple years and some things faded away.

  I stood suddenly, needing to move. To run.

  “Thank you, Elena. I think...we’re good.”

  She saluted me. “We’re not friends, you know.”

  I rolled my eyes as I made my way to her door. “Don’t worry, I’m well aware.”

  My mom and Mrs. Sanderson had moved into the living room. They looked up at me as I entered, expectant smiles curving their lips.

  “We buried the hatchet, and not in each other’s backs. Don’t expect us to be bridesmaids in each other’s weddings, but hopefully we’ll be able to coexist in peace.” I gripped the back of the couch, my stomach gurgling with nerves. “Thank you for inviting me, Mrs. Sanderson.”

  “My goodness, of course, Grace. You’re always, always welcome here.”

  I bent down to speak softly to my mom. “I’m going to talk to Sebastian. Is that okay?”

  She nodded, patting my hand. “Absolutely. Call me when you need a ride home.”

  “I love you.”

  She kissed my cheek. “I love you too, babe. Good luck.”

  I straightened and waved goodbye, striding for the front door. Once I was in the driveway, I ran, hoping Sebastian was ready and willing to catch me.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Martina let me in through the side door of Sebastian’s house, waving me down to the basement. As soon as I hit the stairs, booming bass vibrated my chest. I called out, but there was no way Sebastian heard me over the music.

  I went straight to his room, but he wasn’t there. What I found instead staggered me. I had to hold on to the doorframe to steady myself. His furniture had been pushed to the center and
covered in plastic tarp. The wall behind his bed had been painted over, a new picture emerging on the deep blue background. It drew me in. I had to see it closer.

  The mural was a scene from The Nightmare Before Christmas, but he’d made Sally into a boy and Jack into a girl. They were in front of a full moon, and their mouths were touching as they stared into each other’s eyes. It was beautiful and filled with sorrow. It made my soul throb with longing.

  The music switching off had me spinning around. Sebastian was propped in the doorway, wiping his fingers with a paper towel.

  “In my head, when you saw this, it was completely finished.” He tossed the paper towel down on the tarp and walked into the room. “What are you doing here?”

  Nerves made my belly swoop. “I was next door.”

  He winced. “Shit, why?”

  I would have laughed if I hadn’t been on the verge of crying. “My mom and Mrs. Sanderson set up peace talks.”

  “How’d it go?”

  “As well as anything could go between us. I said sorry, she did too. She told me things...about you.”

  He groaned, scrubbing his face with his paint-speckled hands. “Are you here to tell me to stay the fuck away from you?”

  I shook my head. “No. When she was giving me entirely too much information, a memory came back. A memory of you, sitting in the art hall with me, bent over your sketchbook. After a week of that, I asked you to show me what you’d drawn. It was a character from an anime I liked. I showed you mine. I’d drawn “The Great Wave.” I told you it was my dad’s favorite.”

  “I know. I painted it a thousand times after that.”

  “And on the side of Wheelz.”

  It had been staring me in the face and I’d missed it. If I’d stopped to ask him why he’d painted that particular picture...I couldn’t go there. It didn’t matter now.

  He came closer, but still kept a wide berth between us. “I never stopped thinking about you. Even when I had given up on you ever coming back. Those two weeks with you really fucked me up, Grace. It’s not going away, especially now that I really know you.”

  “You were angry I didn’t remember you.” He nodded slowly, affirming what I knew. “That first night you drove me home, when I said I hadn’t known you existed...I get your reaction now. I get it.”

  “I had no fucking right to be angry. But I’m twisted. I think my brain got warped from all the drugs my mom did, in a way that makes me only see you.”

  “Am I Jack?” I whispered. “Floating around, missing the obvious?”

  He huffed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess so. You missed how much I fucking love you. That no one exists for me but you.”

  I tried to smile, but I had to bite my lip to stop from crying. I’d done enough crying lately. I wanted to be happy. “I’ve lost so much. Too much. As we got closer, all I could think about was the end. How it would hurt, but it was inevitable.”

  “Never gonna happen.” He reached for me, finally pulling me against his chest. “I didn’t touch Hells. I had no intention of touching her, despite what Gabe told you.”

  “I know.” My voice quivered with relief at being near him again. “I see you, Sebastian, and I love you.”

  He gripped my chin, tipping my face gently. “What?”

  “I love you, Sebastian. I have for a while now, but I was too caught up in being afraid, and then Elena...well, she gave me an escape hatch.” I leaned into his touch. “I don’t want to escape you.”

  “Because you love me?” He sounded like he didn’t quite believe me, and I got that too. Sebastian hadn’t been loved by a lot of people in his life. And maybe he had a little bit of Jack in him too because he was oblivious to how incredible he could be when he wanted to.

  “Yeah, I do. And I need you to make crazy promises about our future no one will believe will come true, but we’ll know they will.”

  His lips twitched, and a slow, wide smile grew. “Fucking Grace. The things you say.” He covered my mouth with his, kissing me hard and deep enough to make up for everything we’d missed and all we were gaining.

  Once the dam had burst, the seal broken, we went mad. We clawed at each other, ripping clothes away, baring skin and scars and our souls. Sebastian dropped to his knees, burying his face between my thighs. I fell back against the unpainted wall, riding his devoted tongue. Sounds came out of me I never knew I was capable of making. But mostly, I said his name and that I loved him. Admitting to the feelings that had scared me gave me power.

  When I came, it was with his name on my tongue.

  He pulled me down to the ground, fitting himself between my legs. Cupping my face, he slid into me so fast, I gasped, tossing my head back. His mouth came down on my exposed throat, giving me fresh marks where the old ones had healed. For once, I didn’t mind or protest. I’d missed him so much, I would have let him do anything to me if it brought us closer.

  “Don’t ask me to let you go again.” He pressed his face next to mine. “I won’t be able to.”

  I wrapped my legs around his back. “Just keep your promises, Bash.”

  “Always, baby.”

  We writhed and rocked on the floor, fucking hard and fast, kissing and talking the whole way through. When we both came, we clung to each other, riding the waves of pleasure out together. Nothing had ever felt more right than that crazy, sweaty moment on the floor of Sebastian’s bedroom.

  He collapsed half on me, half beside me. His head rested on my chest, and I stroked his soft waves.

  “What kinda crazy promises are we going to make?” he asked.

  “Well, I was thinking we’d promise to apply to colleges in the same town.”

  “Done. I already told you that was my plan.”

  I scratched at his scalp, grinning. “But you see, I thought you were joking.”

  “Nah, just me being crazy over you.”

  “I should have known.” I kissed the top of his head.

  “What else?” His fingers traced lazy trails on my hip bone, sending sparks up my spine.

  “We might want to live together.”

  His fingers stilled. “Really? You’d want that?”

  “If you do.”

  He raised his head. “I want everything from you. You’re telling me I have the choice to have you in my bed every night?”

  “Our bed. And yeah, but obviously not until we go to college, so you’re going to have to be patient and make sure you keep loving me until then.”

  His brow furrowed over his shining eyes. “Grace, baby, what don’t you understand when I say I am incapable of not loving you? I’m obsessed, but I also wear your tag on every wall of my heart. I’m yours for life.”

  I met his gaze without flinching. “I’m lucky then.”

  He lowered his forehead to mine. “The things you say,” he whispered.

  “Yeah,” I whispered back. “I promise you all the Sundays.”

  “I like that promise. I need you to keep it.”

  “I will.” My stomach twisted with nerves over the next promise I needed him to make me. “There’s something else.”

  He raised his head. “This sounds like some shit I’m not gonna like.”

  “Nate was the one who trashed my sculptures.”

  Bash bristled and started to roll away from me, like he planned on hunting Nate down right this second. I tugged him back down, digging my nails into his arm.

  “Stop. I need you to make me a promise, Sebastian.”

  “If it’s anything less than me killing that motherfucker, then it’s not gonna happen.” His eyes were blazing now, and his muscles trembled with fury.

  “You can’t. He’s going to be expelled. If you go after him, there’s no way you won’t get in trouble too. You told me you’d be my shadow, Bash, but Bradley will send you away if you mess up. You’ll leave me alone and I don’t want—” I shuddered, unable to say the words. Now that I was back here with him, the thought of losing him, losing this, over Nate fucking Bergen, made my s
kin crawl. “Promise me you’ll let him dig his own grave. Stay with me. Help me remake my art. Let this go.”

  He stared at me for a long time from beneath slanted, angry brows. Then he slid a hand under my head, cupping my crown. “If he ever comes near you again, he’s dead.” He exhaled and touched his lips to mine. “I don’t think I can say no to you. As long as that piece of shit pays, I promise you I’ll let it go. The last thing I want is to be shipped back to military school when I could be with you.”

  I blinked back tears, grinning up at my swoony, slightly-homicidal love. “And you’ll help me fix my art?”

  “Anything, baby. I’ll do pretty much anything you ask.”

  We went on, whispering crazy, outlandish promises that sounded a lot like forever. Anyone looking in on us would say we were out of our minds to think our high school relationship would stand the test of time, but I didn’t really give a damn what anyone thought. Sebastian and I would never be normal, and to me, that was a good thing.

  He was my obsessive, stalker, lunatic boyfriend, and I loved that about him.

  He was twisted, but like he once told me, maybe I was a little twisted too.

  Epilogue

  One Year Later

  Sebastian

  She had no idea I was there, watching. Stalking. Tracking her every move. She strode along the path to her next class, laughing with a new friend and struggling with her portfolio over her shoulder.

  When they reached the end of the path, she and the friend said goodbye, going their separate ways. I followed from close behind, matching her steps as she climbed the stairs to the art building.

  At the top, I paused outside the doors, giving her a chance to get ahead of me so I wouldn’t be spotted, then I went inside, searching for my prey.

  She wasn’t in the quiet hallway.

  She’d disappeared.

  Had she seen me? Did she know she had a monster after her?

  I walked down the corridor with caution, heading toward her classroom. As I was about to turn the corner, a hand darted out, grabbing my shirt and yanking me into a dark room.