My best friend and I want the same girl. But Lace Lowell is mine. She was mine first. She’ll be mine forever. Sure, she was his friend when they were kids, long before I ever met her. But that’s in the past. This is now. I’m Warren Jinkins. War. My name is my battle cry. I take what I want. I don’t ask, and I want her.
I’m in love with two men. Bryan Jackson is the guitarist in our band, and War is the lead singer. They’re sexy bad boys, the most dangerous guys in our school. All the girls at Southside High want them. But loving two guys is a problem—especially when those two guys also love each other.
Warning: Southside High is intended for mature readers over the age of seventeen. Contains sexual situations, strong language, and drug use. It is also a two-part story. The resolution takes place in Irresistible Refrain, available as an individual title or inside The Complete Tempest Rock Star Series, Books 1–6.
War
“He got arrested.”
“Again?”
“Yeah. They threw him in that alternative school for troubled teens for a while.”
The murmurings of fellow students followed me as I confidently strode onto school property like I owned it, which I practically did.
The first bell was about to ring, and the patchy lawn in front of the school swarmed with disaffected youth. Irritated by the buzz my return had stirred, I considered shoving my fist in someone’s face, agitate the hornets in the nest while letting off a little steam of my own, but I decided against it.
Arrogantly cool was always the way to go, so I kept my sunglass-shaded gaze trained straight ahead. I knew how to play the game. At Southside High, having a bad attitude was everything.
“Fucking shit, War,” my wingman said. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back to school today?”
Lifting his sunglasses onto his head, Bryan Jackson tossed his cigarette aside and broke away from a group of smokers by the front steps. His expression as chill as mine, he fell into pace at his rightful position beside me. We hadn’t seen each other in months, but he didn’t mention it. He knew the drill. We’d come a long way from our middle-school days when we’d had our asses handed to us.
“Got shit to do, Bry.” Beneath the shadow of the two-story brick building, I veered to my left, following the sidewalk that led around it. “You up for dishing out a potential ass-kicking this morning?”
“I’m up for whatever.” Bryan huffed beside me. “But slow down.” His chin held high, he let his gray-green gaze pass through other students like they were just background noise, same as mine did.
“Been gone a while.” I slowed my steps. “Back now. Wanna get the usual bullshit over with. Reestablish my cred.” I glanced at him. “Who’s taken advantage, I mean, taken over in my absence?”
“Kyle.” His strong jaw tightening, Bryan shook his head, unleashing long layers of his brown hair. “He’s been acting all high and mighty, hinting that you were never coming back.”
“Fucking bastard.”
“You know how it is. Only one can rule.” Bryan shrugged one thickly muscled shoulder.
We both worked out. Pounding the weights had been my gym credit at the alternative school, but even so, I remained middleweight boxing class to Bryan’s heavyweight.
“Getting ready to fix that shit right the fuck now,” I said firmly. I might be a middleweight, but I had heavyweight power behind my punches.
We turned the corner together. Without the building to buffer it, a strong gust of wind whipped at both of us. Bryan’s shorter hair blasted back from his face. My medium-length hair escaped the red bandanna I wore around my head to contain it, preferring to be unrestrained like I did.
With that wind, it was bite-ass cold. I wanted this done so we could go inside.
Kyle was right where I expected to find him, in my spot next to the scraggly hedges behind the building. An unlit cigarette dangled from his lips. His head was down, his riotous black hair casting sinister shadows into his greedy gray eyes. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t alone. He had a client with him and a protector.
Kyle was a dealer. I’d known him since middle school. He was always dealing.
“Kyle, psst,” his protection hissed, his red-rimmed blue eyes narrowed on me. “Look-it. War’s here.”
I didn’t recognize the hulk-sized dude who was his new sentry. His previous one had been shipped off to the alternative school along with me, but unlike me, he hadn’t