Renegade Hearts (Rebels of Sandland 1)

“Does daddy know you have such a dirty mouth?” He grinned and then stood up and opened my door.

“What are you doing?” I made a grab for the handle to close it again, but he put his body in the way, forcing me to pull back.

“You need to get out. I’ll get your car onto the back of the truck and then you can ride with me back to the garage.”

“I’m not getting into that thing with you. I’ll stay in here and you can tow me with it.”

He laughed and shook his head, crossing his insanely muscular arms over his broad chest.

“Sorry, sweetheart. No can do. It’s against health and safety. The car goes on the back,” he said, pointing to his truck and talking to me like I was a five year old. “And you go in the front… With me. Or you can stay here and enjoy the view a little longer.”

I was so done. This day sucked balls, big time. Every day of being eighteen sucked ass. In fact, things had been pretty shitty ever since Danny had gone, but I pushed that thought to the back of my mind. Instead, I took a steadying breath, braced myself, and got out of the car. I could do this. It couldn’t be more than five or ten minutes tops until we made it into town, where his father’s garage was.

Seeing me acquiesce he gave a smug, satisfied smile and started getting things ready to hitch my car up onto his truck.

I made a point to give him a wide berth as I headed towards the front of his pick-up and then I noticed a car heading towards us. A red sporty number that slowed down as it got closer, and once it was parallel with my own, the tinted windows came down and a familiar head poked out. A f

riendly face beamed back at me, and the relief it gave me made some of my butterflies disappear.

“Emily, are you okay?”

Chase Lockwood had been in our year at school. He was a good guy, worked hard, and always had time for everyone. Effy had had the biggest crush on him a year ago, but I didn’t see it myself. That goofy, nerdy, but secretly hot librarian thing he had going on did nothing for me. He made us all laugh though, and he was super kind.

“Chase, hey.” I went to walk over to his car, but Ryan blocked my way, giving me a warning glare as he did. What was his problem?

“Have you broken down?” Chase asked.

“Observant, isn’t he?” Ryan said under his breath.

“Do you need a lift anywhere?” I felt Ryan tense up as Chase said this. He obviously wasn’t a fan of the nice guys.

I went to speak, but it wasn’t my voice that answered.

“No, she doesn’t.” I frowned at Ryan and gave him a warning glare.

“I can speak for myself,” I snapped, but Ryan turned his back to me and muttered something I couldn’t hear to Chase.

Instantly, Chase sunk back in his seat and looked at the road straight ahead. “I’ll see you around,” he said, not even daring to look at me, and sped off down the road, leaving me at the mercy of the psycho mechanic.

“What the fuck was that?” I marched over to Ryan, feeling braver than I had all day. “What did you say to him?”

“I told him to mind his own fucking business. Now, get in the truck.”

“Mind his own business? Are you crazy? Chase is my friend. I wanted to go with him. I’d rather get a lift off him than take my chances in this shit heap with you.”

“Stay here then, princess. No skin off my nose.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? To leave me here on my own. You’re making a habit of fucking with my life just lately, aren’t you?”

“You’ve got no idea,” he said, coming closer towards me and penetrating me with his stare.

“I wouldn’t give you the satisfaction of leaving me here. I’m gonna get in this bloody truck, and not because you’ve ordered me to. You’re the last person I’d take orders from, but because I want to get out of here. I want my car fixed and I’m getting really good at blocking your crap out.”

He laughed at me, full-on threw his head back and laughed.

“Whatever you say, sweetheart. But just know this…” He came right up to me, forcing me to back up against the truck. “You have no idea how bad I can make things for you. Keep trying to block me out, Winters, but you won’t succeed. If I wanna be heard, I will. And you will fucking listen.”

This was not going how I’d planned it in my head. It certainly wasn’t going the way we’d discussed back at my place. It’d been all Brandon’s idea to mess with her car. Cut some wires, loosen up a few things. I wanted to wait a few days, bide my time, but Brandon was all for striking while the iron was hot. He thought we had her spooked after last night, thought now was the perfect time to chip away a little more. Get her while she was weak. Only thing was, this girl was anything but weak. She might’ve been spooked at the time, when we cornered her in those hallways, but she wasn’t scared now. Just one look at her standing there in the middle of the road, with her hands on her hips and that pissed look on her face when she saw me, told me she was ready to fight back, and I liked it.