Renegade Hearts (Rebels of Sandland 1)

“Ask her if she saw the toxicology report, or better yet, get her to take a photo of it like she did with the account. We can find out who faked it then,” Zak suggested.

“Or even better, Hardy can sneak around the house and find it himself after he’s fucked her into a coma… Oh… I forgot, you haven’t even kissed her yet, let alone tapped that ass.” Brandon was back to giving his asshole opinion yet again.

“You haven’t kissed her yet? What were you doing last night after you dropped her home, swapping knitting patterns?”

Not helpful Finn. I thought you were on my side.

“Fuck you. You can’t talk. You clam up every time one of us so much as mentions Effy Spencer. And you…” I turned on Zak now. “Are you seeing Liv again? Or is it Kelly Hopton now? I can’t keep up.”

“Don’t drag me into this. Liv knew the deal. I don’t do dating. I like to keep my options open.”

“Great plan. I hope you wrap it up, otherwise the STD clinic will be dedicating a chair in their waiting room just for you,” I snapped and turned to face Brandon, but I just couldn’t be arsed anymore. “As for you. I have no idea what to say. I don’t even want to go there.”

In his defence he didn’t sugar-coat shit, none of them did really.

“I’m sampling the goods until I get the right girl. She’s out there waiting for me somewhere, baking cookies and shit until I come along.” Brandon smirked.

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. There’s someone for everyone, right? And they do say opposites attract. So hopefully you’ll meet that good-looking, intelligent, honest, smart and cultured princess real soon.” I chuckled waiting to see what witty comeback he’d give me.

“Maybe I already have.”

“What was that?” I’d heard him, I just wanted him to say it again.

“I said, here’s a little poem I wrote in my head, especially for you, bro. Roses are red, violets are blue, I’ve got five fingers, the middle one is for you.” He flipped me the bird and picked his controller up, going back into his game and blocking the rest of the world out.

“With sweet words like that you’re bound to win her over.”

“I take all my relationship tips from you, Ry. I mean, look at you now. You’re killing that boyfriend gig.”

“Oh, I will be. Just watch and learn my friend. Watch and learn.”

I knew I was right that Liv would take a few days to cool off. I’d sent her a text to try and smooth things over, even rang a few times, but all I got was her voicemail. She’d come round eventually. I’d sown the seeds. I just needed to be patient and wait.

As for Chase, he was totally ignoring my calls. Probably because he knew what I was going to say. And my texts? They went unread. That guy was not ready to hear the truth. He was living in cloud cuckoo land as far as dating me was concerned. Between them and all my angst over Ryan, I was slowly going insane.

That’s why I’d come into the back garden to do a bit of weeding. Tend to the plants and generally block out my life for a few hours. I had my air pods in and was singing along to Machine Gun Kelly, when something moved out of the corner of my eye and I turned, almost falling backwards onto the grass, ready to scream blue murder at the same time.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I ripped the air pods out of my ears and stuffed them into the pocket of my jeans. Then I stood up, brushing the dirt off my hands and knees and scrunching my nose up at Ryan bloody Hardy, who stood mere feet away from me in my back garden. “How did you get in?” I knew he did some shady shit sometimes, but I hadn’t factored breaking and entering into my home to be one of them.

“Your gate was open, and I heard you murdering one of my favourite songs, so I thought I’d better come in and save it.”

“Such a hero, aren’t you?” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I try my best.” He was smirking like he had a secret and really wanted me to ask him about it. I wouldn’t. I liked making him work for it.

“You’ve got balls coming in here.” I narrowed my eyes at him, but his grin only grew wider.

“Yep, I’ve got balls. Big ones.”

His eyes twinkled as he spoke, and I knew he was trying to make me feel uncomfortable… again. Turns out, he’d succeeded. Discussing Ryan’s balls or any other part of his anatomy was not something I was overly keen on doing. Not in front of him, anyway. Now in my room, where no one could see… Oh shit, Em. You need to stop that train of thought right now. You chose you, remember? I was starting to think my choices were really fucking lame.

“You’d better leave before-”

He cut me off. “Your dad’s not home. I know that for a fact.” He took a step towards me, his head resting to one side like he was gauging my reaction. Seeing if what he was doing was okay. “Anyway, I wanted to see you. Is that really such a bad thing?”

“I don’t have anything else for you, if that’s what you’ve come for. I looked last night, but there’s nothing else on the Rotherham account. Not yet.” I spoke way too fast, feeling tense and all out of sorts.

“Who said I came for that? Can’t I come round just to see you?”