All Grown Up (Eden High)

I don’t know how he did it, but Jace got us all here with him; same school, same house just minutes away from campus. We’ve got a full house, babies, and all with Jace playing watchman over his little kingdom. I never knew for sure which direction life was going to take me, but I should’ve known Jace and his nosy ass would be in my shit until the end.

I honestly wasn’t sure that we’d still be together this long I mean, we met when we were in diapers. And though we’d always said we’d stay together, people say that shit all the time, and it never pans out. But not only did Jace stick to his word and dragged our whole crew along with him, but he’s also gone and got us involved in some shit that I’m sure none of us ever gave thought to ever have to deal with.

I can honestly say between the whole Mandy debacle and the Stanley bullshit that I thought our lives would go back to being the way it was. We’re just a group of teens with more money than we could ever spend in a lifetime and a bond that has stood the test of time from kindergarten until now. But in the last year of high school, Jace had gone rogue, that’s the only word for it, and by no surprise, the rest of us were only too happy to follow.

I thought getting out of Cali and moving to the little college town would be a place to unwind while getting the education none of us were too worried about since we’ve always done well in school, but then we met the great Mancini and that whole squad and life took another turn.

If anyone had told my happy ass while I was fritting around L.A. that we’d be here, I would’ve laughed in their faces. I’ve never been involved in anything more serious than trying to keep one of my boys from doing bodily harm to some asshole that stepped out of line. Now here I am, just a few months after a short visit to Georgia where we met the squad, knee-deep in a human trafficking sting.

I guess when you look at it, we’re the perfect candidates. No one would expect the five of us to be caught up in something like this. Five well off young men from upstanding families who seemed not to have a care in the world. It was a good cover.

Now we have a new addition, thanks to Mancini, one that the rest of us are still feeling out. We’ve all grown very protective of our space over the last year or so since we started this. Seeing that shit firsthand, wading in to get some unlucky girl out of the clutches of monsters, has left a lasting impression on all of us. To the point that we’ve all become even more close-knit than before.

I’m an uncle with a niece and a nephew whom I love beyond words, and the thought of someone harming one of them, or their mother, or any one of my sisters in law for that matter, makes me mental. Not to mention my girl who’s all those miles away.

She has no idea that my making her call me every time she leaves the house has a twofold meaning. She thinks it’s cute that I’m so overprotective, but she has no idea. I’m just glad I haven’t scared her off with my actions so far. I shut it off when I opened the door to the office and saw the others already hard at work—another day in the underbelly of hell.

Cassie

I felt like such a fraud as I hung up the phone. How long can I keep up this pretense? It’s getting harder and harder not to show my hand, but I’m so afraid of driving him away with my constant complaining. In the beginning, he was very good about picking up on my moods, but once I realized that and that most of our conversations were centered around my issues, I made a conscious choice and effort not to share that stuff with him anymore.

It’s hard enough being away from him this long, the constant worry that he’d find someone else making me lose sleep and all-around focus. I don’t need to add fuel to the fire by being a big crybaby about everything as well. Though I want so badly to tell him what’s been going on, want to tell someone, but fear of the unknown has made me overly cautious.

I know that I can tell the girls even if I’m afraid to tell Alex, but I’m doubly sure that they’d tell him anyway, so what would be the point? Besides, as much as I love and trust Sian and the others, this is not something that I’m free to share because, in the end, I’m not the one who would suffer the consequences.