The Initiation (Darkness Within Duet 1)

“Isn’t it fun for you to just do what you want? Screw you, Draven.” She turned on her heel and left.

He picked up his burger, watching for the jocks’ waitress. She didn’t turn up, and he waited as Harper brought over their food. She leaned over the table as none of them were willing to pass the plates. As she did so, the skirt of her dress rode up a little, showing more of her thigh.

Draven didn’t mind. He made a note to buy her some shorts, and force her to wear them. What pissed him off was Ben.

The piece of shit ran his hand beneath her skirt and squeezed her ass.

She let out a scream, and as she tried to get away, his team held her in place, stopping her.

He’d seen enough. None of his boys tried to stop him. Draven jumped over the table, and grabbed Ben’s hand, twisting it so that he let her go.

Axel, Buck, and Jett were at his back. They pulled Harper up, drawing her between them.

“You don’t touch what belongs to us,” Draven said. He still held Ben’s hand.

“Are you for real? Seriously? You weren’t fucking joking. It’s Harper. You can have better pussy than what she has to offer.”

He’d heard enough. Slamming his first against Ben’s face, he used the momentum to grab his head and slam it on the table, once then twice.

The rest of the team got up and rushed toward him. Drawing his foot up, he kicked one in the nuts. He didn’t need to look to know that his boys had his back. They would always have his back. It’s the way they were.

“Stop this, right now. Stop!”

He didn’t listen. Ben was up now, nose bleeding and looking pissed off.

“You can’t share, Draven.”

“She’s mine. She belongs to us.”

“So no one can play?” Ben asked.

“You know how it is.”

Slamming Ben hard, he pushed him out of the window. The glass smashing seemed to freeze everyone in place.

Draven had gotten his message across.

The cops would be here and then his father would know. Most of the time he didn’t give a shit about his father finding out, but right now, the last thing he wanted to deal with was his father.

Grabbing Harper’s hand, he took off, knowing Axel, Buck, and Jett would get the hell out of dodge.

As they ran around the corner of the mall, he saw the cops heading their way. He rushed her into the stairwell. She didn’t fight him, running with him as they escaped the cops.

Once they were clear and inside the parking lot, he opened the car. Harper got in the passenger side without arguing.

Climbing behind the wheel, he pulled out of the parking lot, just as he saw Axel and the others entering the parking lot.

His knuckles hurt from the punch he’d landed to Ben.

“I can’t believe we just did that,” she said.

He glanced over at her and was surprised to see a smile on her face.

“You never ran from the cops before?”

“No.” She scoffed. “Some of us don’t make it a habit of being thrown in jail.”

“I’ve never spent a night or even an hour in jail.”

“You’re lying.”

“When you’ve got my last name, it takes a lot of balls for cops to be willing to throw me away. Besides, your dad is one hell of a lawyer.”

“Great.”

“You got an issue with the old man.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“You like to say that a lot.” He whipped his car around and came to a stop outside an abandoned garage. There was no one around, and he sat back, turning off the ignition as he waited for Axel to arrive.

“I left my stuff back at the diner.”

“You’re not working there again.”

“You’re not the boss of me. Don’t even try to tell me what to do. I don’t like it.” She opened the car door and got out.

He rolled his eyes, doing the same.

She folded her arms and stared up and down the street. “Which way is home?”

“I’ll take you home when I know the others are here.”

“I can walk.”

He stepped up toward her, trapping her against the car. He liked doing this, loved the shocked look that always appeared in her eyes whenever he caught her off guard. When she went to touch him, he captured her wrists and held them against the car.

Once again, he saw her jaw clench. The anger was just beneath the surface. He wanted her to get angry, to stop holding it in, to stop accepting that this was her life.

“Let me go.”

“Make me.”

“Fuck you.”

“You keep saying that. One day I might. One day we all might.”

“I’m not one of your gangbang whores, Draven. I don’t even know why I’m suddenly of interest to you.”

“What makes you think you haven’t always been interesting to me?”

She rolled her eyes, those blue eyes that reminded him of the ocean.