Lost Boys (Slateview High 1)

Then again, who would’ve taught me? Dad, who hadn’t cooked a thing in his life, ever? Mom, who’s culinary acclaim started and stopped with ordering the kitchen staff around?

I shook my head, pushing my hair back and rubbing at my temples. Maybe I was being a little testy—but in my defense, eating nothing but cereal and box meals was starting to get to me.

As I cleaned up, resigned to eating breakfast from a vending machine at school, I heard a car horn blare loudly outside. My brows furrowed, but I ignored it; random bangs, shouts, and other loud noises were common in this neighborhood at any hour of the day or night, something I was still getting used to after living in the bubble of quiet that had surrounded our gated mansion.

Another honk came just a few moments later, and a third one sounded as I was grabbing my backpack. Huffing an irritated breath, I pushed the door open and stepped outside, prepared to glare down whoever was making the racket as I walked past them on my way to school.

But as the door clicked shut behind me, I froze, blinking in surprise.

The Lost Boys’ trashy convertible was parked in our driveway; all three boys sat inside, and all three were looking at me. Waiting. Bishop had his hand up like he was about to lay on the horn again, only to stop when he saw that I’d emerged from the house.

“Jesus! ’Bout damn time!” Misael called. “Hurry up. We’re taking you to school.”

It wasn’t a question. Unlike the tiny window Bishop had given me last night, this time there was no room given for me to say no. I could have tried to resist—could’ve veered left and headed down the sidewalk until they physically forced me into the car or trailed behind me at a snail’s pace like last time. But I had a feeling the boys wouldn’t balk at taking either of those two options.

And if I was being honest with myself, I didn’t really want to walk. I was exhausted and hungry, and the day was already uncomfortably humid.

Was I ready to face the implications of what accepting a ride meant though? To admit that I had accepted their bargain—that I was theirs?

“Come on. We ain’t gonna bite.” Misael grinned. “Bish even kept the front seat open for you.”

My eyes flickered to Bishop, heat rising in my cheeks. He just gazed back at me with half-lidded eyes and an almost bored look on his face. There was nothing in his expression that gave any indication he was thinking about last night—or even that he remembered it.

A strange sort of pain clutched my chest at that thought. He couldn’t have forgotten, there was no way that was possible. But maybe that sort of thing was so common for him that he’d already brushed it aside, added me to a long list of girls and marked another notch in his bed post?

The tightness in my chest got worse, making it hard to breathe, but I straightened my spine and forced my features into an expression matching his. I let a slight smirk play across my lips and arched a brow slightly. Bishop huffed and looked away, shaking his head.

Good. Better for him to think it hadn’t meant anything to me either. And really, what had I expected? That I was special? That what had happened between us had knocked his world off its axis just like it had mine?

It’s not like that, Cora. Don’t ever forget it.

“Uh, seriously, Princess. Any fuckin’ day now.”

Misael’s laughing voice dragged me out of my thoughts, and I jumped as I shifted my gaze back to him.

I bit my lip. It was either walk or ride, and ironically, riding had fewer drawbacks than walking.

Besides… if I rode with them, it might mean that I wouldn’t be bothered by other students today. That Serena and Logan and everyone else would leave me alone.

And I needed that win.

Sighing, I hiked my backpack higher and marched over to the car. Kace rolled his eyes and went back to his phone, Misael grinned at me, and Bishop—well, Bishop shook his head and sighed, peeling away from the curb almost as soon as my butt hit the seat.

“We’ll be taking you to school every day from now on,” he said. “So be ready on time. I don’t like waiting.”

I kept my bag in my lap as we rode to the school, uncertain of what to say, or even if I was supposed to say anything. Was I supposed to do something, other than just… sit here?

“Yo, Bish. Stop up there today for breakfast,” Misael called from the back. I looked around, seeing the run-down Burger King that I passed every day on my way to school.

“You’re gonna turn into a damn burger you keep eatin’ ’em for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” Bishop muttered, shaking his head but changing lanes to head toward the fast-food restaurant.

“Yeah, well, it’s better than getting Taco Hell. You know how insulting it is they try to pass that shit off as Mexican?”

“About as annoying as it is every time you point out it’s not real Mexican, like we don’t know that already?”

They went back and forth like that, and I sat back, listening quietly. It was weird to see them act like normal boys—or what I assumed was “normal” here, because they still didn’t act like any of the boys I’d known in my old life. Every other time I’d interacted with them, they’d seemed so powerful and dominating, untouchable almost. It felt odd to hear them joke around and banter with each other so casually, and it almost felt like I was seeing something I shouldn’t, peeking behind the curtain at something few people ever glimpsed.

Bishop pulled the car up, sliding behind another that was already in the drive-thru. Burgers for breakfast, huh? I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been at a Burger King. Maybe once when I was out shopping with Ava? But it’d been so many years ago that I couldn’t remember what it tasted like at all.