Her Champions: A high school bully romance (Bad Boys of Jameson High Book 3)

by Taylor Blaine

  A moan from my right pulled my attention and I whirled, staring down at the floor.

  Crumpled in the fetal position and crammed in the corner, Sara weakly moved her arm and groaned again.

  I threw a furious glance at Danielle and flew to kneel beside my friend. I scanned her, gently brushing the ratted blonde hair behind her ear. Fresh bruises colored her fair skin, shifting the color of soft freckles to a darker relief on her skin.

  Her lower lip had been previously split but now was split further and swollen, increasing the size of her mouth down past her lip line. A dried trail of blood from her nose down past the corner of her mouth stood out starkly on her pale skin.

  “Sara? Oh, hell. Sara. What’d they do to you?” I rolled her shoulder back and her eyelashes fluttered. Good. She was still alive.

  She licked her lips and then focused on me, as if she hadn’t seen daylight in a long time, squinting at the light around me. “Gray?” Her voice cracked, sounding as dry as her split lips looked.

  “I’m here. Come on. Can you stand?” I’d never be able to move her on my own. Sliding my arm behind her back, I helped her sit up and waited while she steadied herself.

  “Are you okay?” My whisper echoed off the tile and I’d never been more aware of my vulnerabilities. A moment passed. Watching the opening into the showers as if Danielle was going to come through any second, I held out my hand and waited for Sara to take it as I stood.

  Sara widened her eyes and reached for my hand, gripping my fingers with surprising strength. Standing beside me, albeit wobbly and weak, she took a deep breath. “Are we alone?”

  “No, dear Sara. You’re not alone. I’m here. Did you need help remembering who I am?” Danielle laughed as she stepped into the opening and tapped the gun on the tile.

  Sara shrank back, her breath hitching as she tucked against my side.

  I arched my eyebrow, pinning my bitchy aunt with my gaze. “Did you do this?” I studied Danielle as if all the secrets of the hell we’d been trapped in the last month or so were hiding in the lines of her face.

  “You bet, little niece. I couldn’t touch her until we got here. Dominick wanted to make sure you couldn’t come in here and run away easily. Isn’t he smart?” Her almost reverent mutterings sent goose bumps along my arms. She really was obsessed with the creep. That just made my stomach curdle.

  I stared her down as I pulled Sara out of the shower area. “Come on.” Sara did what I cajoled her into. She moved slowly beside me, as if she would force her body to do whatever I asked of her, no matter how much pain she was in.

  “Where are you going? Didn’t you understand? You’re not leaving.” Danielle pulled the hammer back on the gun and I still didn’t stop.

  “Go ahead. Shoot us. I’m done being afraid of you and your stupid slave runner. You’ve lost it, if you think I care what you think.” I helped Sara reach the benches that the volunteer women had claimed earlier during my weigh-in. “Here you go. Sit here. You can rest your back there.” Sara sank into the stiffness of the seat and leaned back, slumping her shoulders as she folded her arms across her stomach. I didn’t stop her as her eyes closed gently.

  The butt of the gun slammed into the back of my head with a thud.

  I fell to the floor, my knees giving out before I realized what happened. The cool tile against my cheek snapped me out of the brief daze. I stared at the base of the lockers as they met with the tiled flooring a foot from my face. Danielle bent over me, twisting a chunk of my short hair and pulling my face backward. She hissed, “You’ll learn to be afraid of me, little girl. You’ll learn fear and pain and then you’ll beg.” She laughed, the sound almost a giggle as she danced past me and jumped on top of another bench, pretending to be a tightrope walker or something else with her silliness.

  A dust bunny moved slowly across my vision as I breathed, trying to shake the dizziness Danielle’s hit caused me.

  A subtle shiny line caught my eye and I blinked. Was I losing it? I must be, if I could see a line that wasn’t there. I blinked, focusing tighter on the line.

  A crochet needle or a knitting needle. Whatever it was it must have been dropped and forgotten by Ms. Stuble earlier that day. The needle was five inches with a hook at the end and just over half the width of a pencil.

  I couldn’t miss this opportunity when I’d missed the chance to take the gun away from Danielle. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but if I could grab it and hold onto it, it was the only one I had.

  I slowly moved onto all fours, slipping my hand under the bench and sneaking the needle into my grip. I ran its length up my wrist. I was dressed in my skimpy fighting outfit and there weren’t a lot of places to hide things.

  Using the bench beside Sara, I pushed myself to a standing position and then sank onto the seat beside my friend. Wearily, and I should add warily, I stared at Danielle, the pulsing in the back of my head throbbing with increasing intensity where she’d hit me.

  My aunt continued to dance, humming and murmuring some kind of a rhythmless song only she could hear the parts to. She swayed her arms in a figure-8 while she waved the gun up and down and all over.

  Sara rolled her head toward me, her movements small and measured. “Are we going to make it out of here?”

  I didn’t take my eyes off Danielle as she dipped and weaved and danced. “Yes. I’m just not sure how yet.”

  Only a few inches separated us. Sara crept her fingers across the short distance, her hand finding mine. The contact was sudden but welcome and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel so alone. I squeezed her fingers. We sat there for a few minutes, gathering what strength we could from each other and trying to think ourselves out of there.

  Neither Sara nor I were the type of girls to wait for someone else to come rescue us. We knew the harsh reality was, no one was more capable than we were. Just once, though, it would be nice to matter to someone so much that they would risk their lives for us. Like Sara had risked herself for me. Like I had risked myself for her. And like the Jamesons had risked themselves for each other.

  I glanced at her and I couldn’t help grinning softly as I nudged her elbow with mine, the movement subtle and hard to see but easy enough to feel. I kept my voice to a low whisper so as not to disturb Danielle’s party-of-one. “I think Brock likes you, but don’t say I said that.” I winked.

  Her slow smile brightened up the pallor of her skin and pink flushed her cheeks. “What? Really?” She glanced past me to check on my aunt and then turned her eyes back to me. The side corner of her left eye was bloodshot, but it didn’t detract from her excitement. “Are you serious? Or are you just messing with me?”

  “I’m serious. Why would I make that up? Every night I called you, he made sure he was around. I’m just sayin’, I think he’s interested.” I wrinkled my nose and grinned.

  “What are you guys talking about over there? Trying to come up with a way to escape?” Danielle jumped down, striding over to stand in front of us on the bench. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at us, tucking her gun under an elbow. “Tell me what you’re talking about, Gray, or I’m shooting your friend in the leg.”

  I furrowed my brow and stared up at the woman I didn’t recognize as my aunt. I took a deep breath and decided the truth wasn’t a big deal and I might as well talk candidly. “Okay, sure, whatever. I was just telling her that I know of a guy that likes her. He’s been wondering about her while she’s been gone. Not a big deal.” Except it was. It gave Sara something to look forward to and me something to think about, because wouldn’t it be fun if she dated Brock and I was with Stryker?

  To think that way, I had to shove aside the horrors of that day, the last few weeks to months. I had to ignore that my mom and my dad were involved in my nightmares and my aunt dated the devil. Other than that, though, I mean, what else could be a problem?

  “Ah, yeah, dating. You guys are just babies. I loved dating when I was your age.” Danielle’s face took on a far-off expres
sion and she stared at a spot between Sara and me.

  Was that going to be the moment I broke through to her? I held onto Sara’s hand like she was a life-ring and I took a deep breath. “Danielle, can you tell us about Hunter? You sound like you really liked him.”

  Blinking, Danielle brought her focus back to me and Sara. She nodded, her lips curving into a smile. “Oh, yeah, Hunter was… everything I wished I could have forever.” She held up her empty hand. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Dominick. I worship him. But Hunter…” Her features twisted with sadness and I could see her addiction in the swing of her moods. She was wrapped up in something bad, I just wasn’t experienced enough to know what.

  “Why did you like him so much?” Sara tilted her head as she asked the question.

  Danielle’s expression lightened and she looked like I would imagine a teenage version of herself would look as she took on a starry-eyed expression that seemed to smooth the age from her skin. “He had this way of being loyal without any effort. You knew you could trust him, what he said, because he did what he said he would, you know? And his eyes. He had these silver eyes that could dissect you in anger or make you… just melt. Stryker looks a little like him.” She pointed at me and nodded.

  “I think Hunter is Stryker’s uncle which would mean he’s Dominick’s brother.” I spoke to Sara as if I was catching her up and not trying to get the suggestion past Danielle’s mental guard, she seemed to have in place by Dominick.

  “You said something about that already, Gray. What do you mean? What did he have to do with anything? Did he come back?” Danielle bit her bottom lip and glanced around as if she might get in trouble just for asking about Hunter.

  “You don’t know what happened to him? Stryker said he killed himself after he came back from fighting in the Middle East.” I looked at her, feeling bad that I was the one to tell her the truth about the man she’d loved so long ago.

  She blinked at me, her eyes rejecting what I’d said and she didn’t move otherwise. We sat there, staring at each other like we waited for something to click. Was it going to be that she thought I was lying? Had I said too much? Some things you could handle and some things you couldn’t. I had a feeling Danielle was close to losing it, completely.

  Her lower lip quivered and she scratched at the inner skin of her forearm, shaking her head. “No. Hunter is alive and he’s living in California. He has like three kids or something.”

  I arched an eyebrow, ignoring Sara’s tight squeezes on my hand in warning. “Who told you that? Dominick? The Hunter I know about came home, got married I think, had one son and then was deployed again. He and his other two brothers were deployed a few times until two of them didn’t come home. When Gunner got home, he was hired for his skills and he couldn’t take it anymore and he killed himself. That’s all I know.” I tucked the crochet needle under my thigh and held my hands up, fingers splayed as I let go of Sara’s hold.

  Danielle’s chest rose and fell in rapid succession as she jerked her head side to side. She scrunched up her lips as if she’d tasted something bitter and she pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t believe you.”

  “That’s fine. You don’t have to. I don’t gain anything one way or the other, if you do. I’m just telling you what I heard from Stryker and the boys. There’s nothing else involved.” She must have heard the honesty in my voice. I wasn’t going to gain anything from her knowing about Hunter or not. We’d already been attacked. We were held there in the locker room. I’d already won the fight I’d been told to win. If nothing else, we should be let go.

  I waved my hand and shook my head. “Wait a minute. I won my fight. Dominick was supposed to let Sara go, if I did that. Didn’t he tell you that?”

  Danielle refocused, her expression confused as she tried to figure out what I was talking about as she also tried to process what could be the truth about her Hunter. “Um, I wasn’t told that. I was told to shoot Letesha’s brother and sister if she lost and then shoot her, but you ruined that.” She pointed at me and then Sara as she spoke. “I was supposed to beat her after getting her in here after the weigh-in and then detain you, no matter what the outcome.”

  I snort laughed, shaking my head. “Of course, Dominick went back on his word. He’s a damn snake. What you see in him is beyond me.” I rolled my eyes toward Sara. “See, why you need a good guy? There are too many out there who just want to screw you over.”

  “Tell me about it.” Sara shifted on the seat to face me, ignoring Danielle and her gun. “The best thing about the last two weeks was the fact that my uncle couldn’t get to me. I actually slept, believe it or not. Your mom kept the guys off me.”

  “You don’t actually believe in ghosts, do you?” It was Danielle’s turn to scoff as she stared between us.

  “Ghosts? What does that have to do with anything?” Sara blinked at Danielle. I looked at my aunt as well. What in the world was she on?

  “Yeah, ghosts, dead people. Dominick said Maria died last year. Was it a ghost that helped you or what?” She didn’t even seem sad that her own sister appeared to have died.

  I wasn’t sure how to take the information that my mom could have died. I’d believed she was the one who had called me so much over the last two weeks. Stryker had seen her or so he’d said. Did I really think she was dead and that maybe Stryker was going crazy? How could Dominick keep my mom and Danielle separately controlled without any knowledge of each other?

  “I don’t know how extensive the lies are, but Dominick isn’t telling you the truth about everything, Danielle.” I shifted on the bench. Did I attack her with the needle or did I let her own confusion and mounting distrust break us free?

  The door to the locker room squeaked and Danielle swung the gun in that direction.

  Who else were we bringing into the situation?

  Chapter 20

  Gray

  Danielle tightened her hold on the gun, steadying it as she straightened her arm and kept the barrel pointed our direction. She wasn’t taking any chances as she stared over the bank of lockers toward the door. The disruption of her beliefs was obvious as she blinked and then raised her free hand as if to steady herself from falling over.

  Now would be the time to jam that needle into her neck or an eye or something. But the way she froze told me to wait, just hold on.

  I couldn’t see anything from my vantage point on the bench. I wanted to yell for whoever it was to run, escape, before they got caught up in something they had to die to avoid. But my voice failed me as I stared at the glossy weapon in Danielle’s hand and heard the long-ago voice of my mother carrying through the door. “Don’t piss me off. There’s only one way out. Do you understand me?”

  The sound startled Danielle, too. She halfway lowered the gun, staring over the edge of the lockers with more intensity, narrowing her eyes to see better.

  With Danielle’s eyes averted from me, I slid the needle under my sports bra band, tucking it up where it was easy to get to but not in my way. One way or the other, I’d be able to get away at the end of this. Plus, I had to be able to get Sara out of there and as it was, she wasn’t moving just yet.

  Reality was too close to being a dream. Seeing what was going on became my number one priority. I couldn’t wait until the newcomers made their way to the aisle we were held in to see. I stood, pushing the hand holding the gun away from Sara and me so I could see over the lockers, too.

  My eyes grew wide at the sight of my mother holding a gun on Dominick, Stryker, and Brock. She motioned them inside the room and when it shut, she twisted the deadbolt lock and secured us all inside.

  I blinked, turning to take in Danielle’s equally dumbfounded expression. She glanced at me and seemed to gather her senses about her as she licked her lips and stepped back so she had a full grip on the gun with me and Sara in her sights as well as the end of the aisle.

  I turned to stare at Sara. Her gaze held fast to me; her eyes narrowed as she tried to work through her pain. I c
ould see the wincing and flinching with each breath and attempt to sit upright.

  “Where are they? Dammit, Dominick, where’s Danielle? Where’s Gray?” My mother’s voice had the strident tones of a woman who had enough and wasn’t taking anything from anyone anymore.

  “Mom? I’m here. I’m back here.” I stared Danielle down as she snapped her worried gaze back to my face. Her knuckles grew white as she clutched the handle of the gun tighter.

  Mom didn’t speak as the shuffling of feet and the clicks of heels on the tile told me where everyone was. The sounds grew louder and louder until there they were – my mom, Dominick, Brock, and Stryker.

  Dominick faced us, his hands held at chest level and a bored anger twisting his features into a mask of ugliness that his previous charm had only barely covered.

  Stryker and Brock stood more behind my mom which led me to think maybe she didn’t hold the gun on them. But wasn’t anything possible? Hadn’t it been in the back of my mind and suggested more than once by others that Stryker, Gunner, and Brock benefited the most from the things Dominick did? How could I trust any first impressions? How could I assume that my mom was on any side other than hers or that the guys had any other motive other than theirs to push?

  All I had was an emotional connection to a guy I barely knew. Even I had the sense to know I could be getting played. Anything was possible at that point.

  Mom stopped, studying me with an intensity I remembered from when she was home, checking to see if I was telling her the truth or just being real. Then she shifted her gaze to Danielle.

  “Maria, what are you doing?” Danielle swung her gun toward her sister, staring at the man she swore she loved more than anything. “Dominick, what is going on? You said Maria was dead.”

  Mom inhaled sharply, then lifted the gun and pistol-whipped Dominick along the back of his head behind his ear. He ducked, lifting his hands as if to cover himself from any other attacks. He sank to the bench on the other side of Sara and my friend slid as far from him as she could get. Even going so far as to move her legs past Danielle with whatever energy she could summon.