Page 36 of Marked By Myth

Cowboy would never lie to me. He always told the truth, even when it hurt, so I knew he was being honest.

“Are the Royal Bastards at war, Grayson?”

The way he lifted his head and the grim expression on his face told me the answer before he carefully avoided telling me the truth. “Not yet.”

And I was here, in the clubhouse, while a war was brewing.

“Myth is due back soon,” he said, before pushing off the bed and taking the rubbish with him. “Talk to him.”

“Why can’t he just let me go?” I found myself calling out as he got to the door. His hand on the doorknob, he turned his head slightly, not quite looking at me.

“Ask him what happened to Stacey.”

With that, he left the room and closed the door behind him. I didn’t even try to see if it was locked again, all of his words tumbling around in my mind had me reeling.

I still fucking loved the asshole. One way or another, we were going to be either each others’ salvation or ruin.

Fifteen years ago

Detention Hall, Carnegie High

Another fucking detention slip. My mother was going to flip her lid. I groaned as I stood outside the door, all my friends leaving down the end of the hall to go home. Fuck this. I could just leave. Go home and face the wrath of missing detention later, but I knew my father would be called then, and my mother would lose her ever loving shit more than normal. The divorce hadn’t been easy on her. She was one bad decision away from actually losing the plot and my siblings kinda needed her.

So instead, I came here, to school, to rebel.

My bright purple pink and blue streaks through my dark brown hair was the first thing I did much to my mother’s horror but as she said, ‘could have been drugs’. Next was my first tattoo, on my ankle because why not, and she’d ripped me a new one about it. I liked it. It was a little skull and he had a thorny crown. My religious grandmother was horrified, and truthfully, I hadn’t even thought about the religious links to the thorny crown, but I wasn’t sorry I got it.

Now, it was my failing grades, which of course the school had made my dad aware of and now I was copping it from both sides, and to my dismay he’d been taking it out on my mum.

I didn’t hate my parents, even if they thought I did, in fact, I loved them. I knew they were doing their best given the circumstances but I was different. I always had been, but now I wasn’t afraid to start to express it. I just wished they could accept me this way, rather than throw up threats to send me to boarding school and the looney bin.

“Another one?”

I turned to see my best friend Stacey standing next to me, a grin on her face as she saw me hesitating at the door.

“Yeah.”

“Your mum is going to flip.”

“I know. Think I can ditch?”

“And stay at Carnegie? No way.”

That was true. I had tried that before which was why I knew what would happen if I did.

“It’s one detention, Roxy. See you tomorrow.”

I watched as she flounced her way down the hall toward her boyfriend, Carnegie’s superstar soccer star. He already had offers to go pro and he was only seventeen. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and walked her out of the building with a smile on his face.

Slowly, I turned back to the door and opened it. Stepping through, I knew all eyes turned on me, they usually did, and the teacher manning the detention today sighed.

He hated me.

And I hated him with equal measure.

Fucking C-grade prick of an asshole. I aced that paper, he just didn’t like that I opposed his beliefs.

“Ah…Miss Terrence, pleasure to have you back here.”