Havoc at Prescott High (The Havoc Boys #1) - C.M. Stunich Page 0,42

this shit, and I haven’t ended up in anyone’s bed. Isn’t that why I’m here? “Brilliant. So now what? Your mom’s trying to sabotage you?”

“She’s tried before,” he offers, not like it’s much of a surprise. But then his dark eyes find mine, and a slight smile—a very slight smile—edges his lips. “But I think seeing you frightened her. This is getting real; she might not actually end up with my grandmother’s money after all.”

“How much is the inheritance anyway?” I ask, not even bothering for nonchalance. I’m interested, especially since Vic mentioned we’d all get a cut. I don’t believe it for half a second, but oh well. The fantasy is nice enough.

“Not enough to change the world, but enough to set us up for life.” Victor snaps his fingers in Oscar’s direction. “Find out where my mother’s staying currently.”

“What are we going to do?” Aaron asks, speaking up for the first time. I’ve noticed that Vic relies on the other three more than him, even though it’s pretty damn obvious that Aaron is not only desperate for Victor’s approval, but also that he hates him.

“I don’t know,” Vic says, pausing as a car comes crawling down the street. It’s hard to see who’s in it with the thick wall of foliage, but I notice that Oscar isn’t the only one that casually slips a gun from an unseen place on his body. Cal has one, too.

The leader of the Havoc Boys turns to me.

His eyes burn.

As dark as they are, I shouldn’t be able to see fire in the shadows. And yet I do.

My teeth clench.

“You know how to multi-task, Bernadette?” he asks me, and I nod, feeling my lips dip into a frown. Multi-task? How about trying to finish homework, shower, and sleep while making sure your little sister doesn’t get raped by the man who fucked your older sister into an early grave? How about hating school so much you have tears rolling down your face at the thought of stepping into the hallway, but knowing you have to go because a degree might be your only escape? The bullying, the homework, the shitty home life. Oh, yeah, I know how to multi-task like the best of them.

“Why?”

“We’re used to fighting wars on multiple fronts,” Vic says, almost absently, his mind already moving onto the next subject. He looks me square in the face. “So, tell me about the fourth name on your list.”

My jaw clenches, and I look away.

Vic knows every person on that list because he's been around for so long, because the Havoc Boys have always been invading my life, one way or another. But he doesn't know about Donald Asher.

Nobody but me does.

I glance away, my eyes scanning the wall of foliage near the front of the property and wondering who the hell was in that car. One of the older men from the other night, one of the Ensbrook or Charter brothers, or someone else entirely?

Is that what Vic meant, fighting wars on multiple fronts?

And now, with my list, they'll be starting yet another one.

My eyes flick to the other four boys, wondering how thin I’m stretching them with my request. They don’t seem bothered, and I know they have other accomplices who aren't quite so … public about their affiliation with Havoc, but still, I wonder.

As I turn my attention back up to Vic's darkened gaze, I can see that he isn't playing around. What he said wasn't a suggestion, it was a command.

“You'll do what I say when I say it.”

But in this moment, I can’t imagine it, sitting here on the lawn with five men who are worse than strangers. Five men who were the little boys I'd gone to school with, watched from afar, worshipped. And then I'd finally, finally gotten one to myself in the form of Aaron. The perfect boyfriend, the perfect lover … turned tattooed asshole because life wasn't fair. And I’m supposed to just blurt my secrets out in the open?

“Later,” I say, mimicking Vic's reaction from the other day. His eyes narrow slightly, and I can tell I'm seriously getting under his skin.

“No,” he says, and my brows go up. Oh really? We're going to test the strength of the leash already? My lips flatten into a line as he stares at me, a brooding thundercloud gathered behind dark irises. On the outside, though, everything is calm, still. “Now.”

I rise to my feet and turn, heading for the house and intending to