Defiance Falls

by Ali Dean

  Defiance Falls

  Defiance Falls Book 1

  Ali Dean

  Defiance Falls.

  All I wanted was a little trouble. Okay, so maybe choosing Cruz Donovan’s 18th birthday party wasn’t the way to go about it. Three years ago, I fell for him. I thought he fell for me too. But when he broke it off, he took my heart and, as if that wasn’t enough, he took my best friends too.

  They aren’t the same boys I knew before high school started. They’ve got all kinds of secrets they’re keeping from me. If I want back in, I’ve got to be ready to play their game. I might be a killer soccer player, but I’m not real eager to join a team when they won’t tell me who the opponent is, how to score a goal, or what rules I’m supposed to be following.

  I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time, a pawn in games I don’t understand. Maybe I never should have gone looking for trouble in the first place. Is it too late to change my mind?

  ---

  This is book 1 in a 3 book series and ends on a cliffhanger!

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  About the Author

  Books by Ali Dean

  Sneak Peek

  Chapter One

  Dad walked by right as I was checking out how my ass looked in the mirror.

  He had a beer halfway to his mouth but he paused and narrowed his eyes. Then he looked at his watch.

  “Are you going somewhere, Hazel?” Dad didn’t hide his confusion. It was nine PM on a Monday night.

  I took a deep breath and turned to face him. I had gone back and forth on this but decided I wouldn’t lie. I’d spent years building up trust with Dad.

  “I’m going to a birthday party.”

  Dad’s frown deepened. He took a sip of beer. I waited, my heart racing.

  He continued studying me as he swallowed. “Whose birthday?”

  Shit. I was hoping he wouldn’t ask that. “Cruz Donovan. He’s turning eighteen.”

  Dad rubbed a hand over his face. His eyes met mine and I smiled, knowing it always made him soften. I looked into green eyes that matched my own, the color so deep it sucked me in, even if it was the same shade I saw in the mirror every day.

  “Fine. Your cousins will be there then. They know you’re coming?”

  I shifted, biting my lip. “Not yet. I’ll text them.”

  Dad nodded. “I’ll text them too.”

  Then he lowered his chin and put his hands on his hips, his signature dad-mode pose. His eyes skimmed over me. “You can’t wear that.”

  “Dad!”

  “Don’t ‘Dad’ me. You go to this party and these are my rules. One, change into something that’s…” Dad’s voice drifted off as he struggled to find the right words. He blew out a puff of air. “Can you wear your soccer clothes or something?”

  I stared at him.

  He sighed again, then walked down the hall and grabbed a flannel shirt from the clean laundry bin waiting by his bedroom door. “Just, wear this, okay? I know you’re going to take it off as soon as you get there but it will make me feel better. I can’t let you leave the house in that.”

  I rolled my eyes but put on the flannel. It dropped to my knees. My outfit wasn’t that revealing. I mean, it kind of was, but whatever.

  “Two, no drinking and driving. If you drink and need a ride, call me. Don’t get a ride with anyone who’s been drinking either.”

  I nodded, trying not to grin.

  “Third,” he said and then stopped. His shoulders sagged. “Never mind. You’re smart. Just, be smart, sweetie.”

  My grin broke loose then. This was hard for him.

  He shook his head at me and opened his arms. I went into them, resting my head on his chest. “Sorry, Dad. I was going to spare you the worry and lie about where I was headed. Or sneak out.”

  I felt his chest rumble with silent laughter.

  He patted my back before letting me loose. “Is this going to become a regular thing?” He crossed his arms, trying for a stern expression.

  “I don’t know, Dad. I hope so? It’s my senior year. I need to get out more.”

  “You’ve been on dates. You’re on a varsity team. You have friends. You’ve been to prom, homecoming. I don’t think you’re missing out on anything, sweetie.”

  I gave Dad a sympathetic look. He knew what I was missing out on. Trouble. It was time to find some.

  A heavy beat pulsed through my truck and I bobbed my head and rolled my shoulders, wiggling my hips as I worked some seated dance moves. Belting out the lyrics, I felt my boobs bounce as I went over a pothole on the dirt road leading up to the Lake. I hadn’t been here in years, and a spike of adrenaline shot through me as I spotted cars parked in the field. Pulling up beside one, I bit my lip and rolled my eyes at myself. There were only a dozen cars parked. I should have known I’d be too early.

  Leaning back in the seat I closed my eyes and let the music wash over me.

  I am sexy. I am awesome. I am confident.

  I pulled the flannel over my head and tossed it in the passenger seat. Then I took a deep breath and stepped outside.

  “Is that Hazel Ross?” I turned and found a carload of girls getting out of a vehicle behind me. They must have pulled up at the same time as me.

  I smiled wide and waved. “Hey!” I recognized them from soccer tryouts this morning. Sophomores or juniors, I wasn’t sure. They hesitated a moment and then all five of them swarmed around, chattering away.

  “I can’t believe we ran into you first!”

  “We thought we might be too early, but Mel has a midnight curfew so we didn’t want to wait.”

  “Are you sleeping in your truck? I heard a lot of people crash in tents.”

  “Do you think we were supposed to bring presents? I didn’t know but my older sister, she leaves for college soon, you might know her?” She told me her sister’s name, that she was on the JV soccer team in high school, but it didn’t ring a bell. “She gave me this bottle of whiskey to give to Cruz. Do you know if he likes whiskey?”

  Their nervous energy eased my own as we moved past the cars toward a bonfire. Their questions came so fast that I didn’t need to answer. I kept smiling, leading the way like I knew exactly how this worked.

  I didn’t tell them the last time I was at the Lake was for Cruz Donovan’s fifteenth birthday. Or that I knew about as much as they did, based only on what I’d heard from others, about how these parties played out.

  See, people assumed I was popular. Maybe I was, but not in the way everyone thought. I had status and respect because of soccer. I’d had big boobs since middle school and ever since I’d fallen into that category of girls. Okay, it wasn’t just my boobs. The truth was, I attracted the attention of guys. Even when I wasn’t trying. And tonight, I was trying. So there was that.

  But when it came to friends, I had too many. No, I’m serious. I couldn’t decide where I fit. Punks, hippies, jocks, nerds, outcasts and social climbers, they were all my people. And yet none of them really were. I suppose my default group was the overachieving crowd. I was in all the advanced placement classes with them and one girl, Louise Janik, played socc
er with me too. She worked too hard though, took herself so seriously, and really didn’t seem to have much fun. Kind of like me, actually. Hence why I was here tonight. This year was going to be different.

  I spotted my second most common group by the bonfire now. The soccer girls. Not just the ones who played at school, I was surrounded by some of those right now, but the ones who played for my club team outside of school too. A couple were on ODP with me, the Olympic Development Program. Soccer was huge in Defiance Falls. If you were good, you got mad respect. If you were the best, well, there you go. Instant popularity, boobs or not.

  The top soccer players were girls I spent a hella lot of time with. They were cool chicks. And they partied hard. But they could be bitches too. Bullies even. Some were worse than others but I’d learned real quick that nearly every top female soccer player had an inner diva who came out eventually. It was possible even I had one I hadn’t discovered yet. So I kept it friendly enough with them, but didn’t go deeper.

  I could go on and on, but that’s how it was with every group. Surface friends. It was cool. I liked it this way. I could do what I wanted. And tonight, that meant I was at the Lake. In short shorts and a halter top. People must have carpooled because there were more people standing around the bonfire than I expected from the dozen or so cars parked. Maybe forty or fifty already.

  “Hay-Zel!” Isaiah spotted me first. He whistled as we came into the light by the fire. “Girl you are lookin’ F-I-N-E fine.” Isaiah was loud.

  I didn’t have to look around to know that Cruz wasn’t here yet. All the attention had shifted to me, and conversation quieted. The girls I’d walked over with began to fidget and then stopped walking forward altogether. Being the focus didn’t faze me though, and I strode toward the basketball player.

  “You clean up nice yourself,” I told him with a wink, going in for hugs with the others he was standing around. After Cruz Donovan, Isaiah Cross was one of the best athletes to come out of Defiance Falls, Massachusetts.

  People quickly returned to whatever they were doing and I felt the weight of the eyes leave me. I knew Cruz and his guys weren’t here yet. Everything was heightened when he was around. Right now, the air was easy to breathe and the vibe was mellow. No, that wasn’t right exactly. There was still a zing of energy pulsing around the bonfire. Anticipation.

  This was Cruz Donovan’s party. His family’s property. He’d get here soon, and everything would turn up a notch.

  Isaiah threw an arm around my shoulder. “Haven’t seen you all summer, Haze. Were you hanging with Blake?” He’d managed to tone down his voice from the initial greeting, but everyone in our circle stopped talking, waiting for my answer.

  I’d started dating Blake Carmen after Christmas break, knowing he was graduating a few months later, and club soccer season would keep me busy. It was safe. There was an easy out.

  “Nah, we split at the beginning of the summer.”

  Hanna, another senior soccer player, didn’t hide her surprise. “Seriously? Man, I thought you guys were together this whole time. Will he be here tonight?”

  I couldn’t hide my grin. There was the inner bitch coming out. I hadn’t seen it from Hanna yet, not really, but she was now looking at me with eager eyes. My teammate, a girl I played on not one, not two, but three different soccer teams with, wanted to bang my ex-boyfriend. Wasn’t even trying to be subtle about it.

  I shrugged. “Maybe. He might have left for Harvard already.”

  She pulled at her bottom lip. “Do you think I should text him to see if he wants to come?”

  She was really asking me this. “Uh, yeah. Sure. Why not?”

  I started to turn around, and then remembered Isaiah’s arm was still on my shoulder. And that he had been the one to ask the question. Oh, ah, I got it now. I looked up at Isaiah, deciding how to play this smooth, when I heard the roar of an engine. My head spun toward the noise and I spotted a green Hummer coming toward us, veering off the dirt driveway.

  Its horn blared a few times, and then it parked inches away from a group of people. Spike Matlock leaned his head out the open window. “The kegs have arrived!” he shouted. The announcement was followed by hoots and hollers and everyone moved in that direction.

  I stood rooted in place, waiting for Cruz to get out. But it wasn’t Cruz who stepped out of the passenger seat. It was Peter Moody. Tall, lanky, and the poster boy for cool geek, I found myself doing a double-take every time I saw him these past few months. He’d grown at least half a foot and filled out some too. The boy was no longer awkward and gangly. He was kind of a hunk actually. Moody was used to being the least attractive of this group when it came to the ladies, but I didn’t know if that was true anymore. He had swagger, he just didn’t know it yet.

  Next, my cousins got out of the backseat.

  Bodhi and Emmett Boyd were only two months younger than me, born a week before Christmas. They weren’t identical, but the resemblance was unmistakable. Dark hair, blue eyes, soccer player builds, I knew they’d be the hottest guys in school if Cruz had remained at Mayflower Academy. They had mischief written all over them from day one. Mimi – our grandma – sometimes still referred to them as Trouble and Double Trouble. Tonight was no different. There was a glint in their eyes as they looked around the bonfire, searching. I sighed, remembering Dad texted them I’d be here.

  I’d grown up with these two since birth, Moody and Spike since kindergarten. The five of us had been best friends through elementary. In middle school, the four guys began to hang out more without me, and I lost my footing. It wasn’t intentional, not exactly. All of us played soccer with the same club, on ODP, and at school. That was where we spent all of our time. By age twelve they kicked me off the boys’ teams and I had to play with the girls. That was the same time Cruz Donovan joined the guys’ club team and ODP. Eventually, he took my place.

  I hung in the shadows now, not ready to be sucked in. I was waiting for Cruz to get out of the Hummer. I wanted to watch, take it in. But he didn’t get out. The guys circled around the back and I wondered if he’d been sitting in the trunk with the kegs? No. Cruz Donovan wouldn’t take a bitch seat.

  And once again, with the frenzy of their entrance simmering down, I realized I already knew he hadn’t come with his guys. My body wasn’t tingling with awareness, the electric current wasn’t pulsing yet in the air. So I relaxed. Only for a beat though.

  Bodhi, aka Double Trouble, had spotted me and he made a beeline through the crowd forming around the Hummer.

  He was grinning wide and his twin was hustling behind him to catch up. When he reached me he put his hands on his hips. “Haze.”

  I raised my eyebrows before mimicking his movement. “Bodhi.”

  Emmett bulldozed us a moment later, tackling me with a hug and taking his brother down with him. The three of us ended up in a tangled heap on the ground.

  “Get off, you jerks,” I said with no punch behind it whatsoever. “Was that really necessary?”

  “Hell yeah,” Emmett said, rubbing my head with a noogie and jumping to his feet before I could retaliate. He put out a hand to pull me up and I took it, but then used all my force to tug him back down. Em stumbled but managed to stay upright.

  Bodhi licked the side of my face before getting to his own feet. I wasn’t surprised to smell tequila on his breath.

  “Come on, Haze, we’re just happy to see you,” Bodhi protested. This time, the two of them worked together to scoop me up onto my feet.

  “You saw me yesterday at Pops and Mimi’s,” I grumbled. Sunday night dinners at our grandparents’ were mandatory. The only exceptions came when we had to travel for soccer tournaments. Otherwise, no excuses.

  The doofuses kept grinning at me, eyes wild with excitement, and my heart rate picked up. Shoot. I hadn’t really thought this part through.

  Bodhi and Emmett exchanged a look then and when their smiles got even bigger, I took a step back. “Don’t even think about it,” I warned.

&nb
sp; “No, not that. We just think you need to loosen up. Come on.” Em gestured for me to follow him but I shook my head.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” I said, squinting at them suspiciously.

  “What if we promise not to throw you in the lake?” Bodhi asked, trying and failing to sound genuine.

  “I wouldn’t believe you.”

  “That’s fair,” Bodhi conceded.

  “We just want to help you loosen up a little so you can enjoy yourself,” Em declared, walking backward with his arms out in a conciliatory gesture.

  I started to roll my eyes but then I felt it. That shift I’d been waiting for. The hum of energy that went straight from my head to my toes and settled low in my belly.

  The twins must have sensed something too because they looked over my shoulder. The fifty or so people who had been here when I arrived had already grown in number in a short time. Most of them had been working their way to the keg, half focused on Moody and Spike while keeping a curious eye on the twins. No one had noticed the figure gliding through the trees. Why was he coming from that direction?

  Shadows danced across his face as he emerged into the clearing. His eyes met mine. Everything quieted for that instant and I sucked in a sharp breath. His mouth parted and then his lips tilted up. The air crackled, or maybe it was just the bonfire. My entire body was on high alert. Kind of like it got before game kickoff or a penalty shot. Only this wasn’t just in my blood and bones. It was tingling along my skin and low in my belly. Cruz’s eyes remained locked on mine as I tried to steady my breathing.

  After all these years, my infatuation and subsequent heartbreak should have faded. I’d been with Cruz for a shorter time period than my other ex-boyfriends, and I still wasn’t even sure we’d been anything real. We were so young. It was before high school even started. Yet even now, going into our senior year, I had no control over my reaction to him. My mind went haywire and my body lit up. It never dulled. I swear, it was only getting stronger with time. Did he have any idea what he still did to me?