Legacy (RiffRaff Records Book 2) Read online

  “Whatever.” I spun around, my hair fanning out behind me and almost smacking Cash in the face. “I have a paper to write.” I marched back into the house, shutting the door behind me. I’d never rat on Avory and Crue, ever. And they knew that, but the fact that I’d noticed had sent him for a loop. Those two weren’t nearly as sneaky as they thought they were. I glanced at the clock on the wall. Speaking of my baby sister…

  “Hey, Hales.” I smiled when I heard Avory call my name as she walked in.

  “Your boy is outside. Ruining my life.”

  She laughed. “Scare off another one?” She pulled her dark hair into a ponytail, the loose curls falling down her back. Avory was the perfect combination of our mom and dad, with mom’s good looks and dad’s olive coloring. She always reminded me a little of a young Nina Dobrev, this girl on an old teenage vampire drama my mom and Aunt Dilly used to love. They made us binge on reruns one winter when we’d all come down with the flu.

  “You know it.” I sat down at the island while she pulled a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. “How was the game?”

  “Fine. We won.” She shrugged. “Cheering at basketball games isn’t nearly as exhausting as cheering for football.”

  Avory was everything I wasn’t anymore, but everything I’d used to be. She was wild and free and daring. She never let anyone in this family push her around or try to bend her will. She was a cheerleader and the perpetual life of the party. Crue spent most of his time trying to beat off other guys with a bat. Our parents didn’t know about them. They’d raised us all more like siblings than the cousins they’d said we were. As evidenced by the fact that the twins felt like they could ruin what little love life I had every chance they got.

  “Hey, you left your door cracked last night.” I watched her reaction; it was very similar to Crue’s. Pale and scared, but only for a moment. And then her playful smile slid back into place.

  “Well, I’m guessing no one else saw or mom and dad would still be screaming at me right now, huh?”

  “And dad wouldn’t be outside high-fiving the twins for running off another date.” Avory came and stood by me, her hip leaning against the counter.

  “How are things going with Crue?” I nudged her arm.

  Avory and Crue were somewhat of a surprise to me. Cash and she had been inseparable when they were younger. Cash was the yin to her yang, the calm to her storm. But the older they all got, the closer she and Crue had become. Then, one night I’d caught them making out in the shadows of the old treehouse. It had taken me a minute to realize it was them tangled together. For a moment, I’d thought I was seeing ghosts. That was about six weeks ago. And now? He was climbing in her window at night. I knew the squeak of the glass well.

  She bit her bottom lip, a habit we’d all acquired from both our mother and our Uncle Luke. “Good. Things are, uh, really good.” She wasn’t blushing, because that wasn’t who she was. “Crue is, well…Crue is intense and wild. And perfect for me.”

  In my opinion, Cash was perfect for her. But what did I know about love? Or lust, for that matter. I’d gotten my heart shattered when I was seventeen and had yet to recover. Even now, trying to move on was nearly impossible. Between my jerkface younger cousins, and my inability to find anyone I wanted to fight for, I was destined to become an old spinster with a bunch of cats. Or dogs. We were all dog people. “Make sure your door is shut at night. I’d even lock it for good measure. You know how mom likes to wake up at weird hours and check on us.”

  “We’re home!” Our youngest sister, Marley, walked in with Jett. Jett was Cash and Crue’s younger brother. Our parents told us that a new baby was born every year for a while. Between our immediate family and my uncles’, there were ten kids. Too many, if you asked me, but no one had. Marley was fifteen and the smartest of us all. She was a math genius. Science, biology, chemistry. Those were like elective classes to her.

  “In the kitchen,” I hollered and watched as Jett came in and went right to the refrigerator, rummaging around and pulling out all the ingredients to make him and Marley a sandwich. “Where have y’all been?” It was almost nine o’clock. Jett’s baseball practice let out at six and Marely had violin until six-thirty. They should have been home two hours ago.

  Marley took a big bite then talked around it. “We waited on Emmie to get done with dance and then dropped her at a friend’s house for Aunt Dilly.” At fourteen, Emmie was the youngest. Yep, ten kids between the ages of twenty-eight and fourteen. Landry, Beau, me, Evie, Cash, Crue, Avory, Jett, Marley, and Emmie.

  “Nosey.” Jett made a face in my direction.

  “Concerned.” I made a face back. “There is already one Matthews-Conner hook up happening. We don’t need to add another.” All the kids knew what was going on, even if the adults were blind. The Devil’s Share legacy didn’t keep secrets from each other. Our parents raised us to be united, to be a team. It’s us against the world, that’s what they always said. I think it backfired on them, though. We were a pretty tight unit for the most part; we didn’t let them in if we could help it.

  “Speaking of.” Jett gestured with his head toward the back door as Crue came inside.

  “Hey, babe, when did you get home? I was about to come pick you up.” Crue put his arm around my sister’s neck and pulled her to him. He kissed her temple and ran his hand across her bare midriff. “I thought maybe we could go down by the—”

  “Incoming.” Jett coughed into his hand and Crue stepped away from Avory just as Uncle Luke came walking into the house. We all looked out for each other. They’d done it for me, and I’d do it for them. I watched Crue as he kept his eyes on Avory, his smirk playful. I just prayed my little sister didn’t end up like me—broken.

  “If it isn’t all my favorite people in one room.” He went into the fridge and grabbed two more bottles of beer. “Although, the fact that all my boys are home by nine o’clock on a Friday night is more than a little disappointing.”

  Crue grinned. “We can fix that real easy, Dad.” Crue winked at Avory. “Who wants to hit up a party? I’m driving.”

  “I’m game. I just need to go change real quick.” Avory took off in the direction of her bedroom and I could see Crue itching to follow her.

  “Can I come?” Marley took another large bite of her sandwich. She was rail thin, with blonde hair and black-framed glasses. The parents always joked that she looked more like Uncle Luke and Aunt Lo, while Jett looked more like my parents with his dark hair and green eyes.

  Crue said no the same time Jett said yes. They stared at each other. The twins weren’t the only ones in our family that communicated silently. We all did. I could read their conversation loud and clear. Crue didn’t want Marley to come because she was only fifteen, and he didn’t want to have to keep an eye on her. Jett thought it was shitty to leave her behind and volunteered to watch her. In the end, Jett won. “Let’s go, MVP.” Her name was Marley Van.

  She shoved the rest of her sandwich in her mouth, brushing the crumbs off her hands onto Jett’s already filthy baseball pants. Those two were close, and they were trouble with a capital T. I’d never taken the time to follow them to wherever they snuck off to in the middle of the night. I should really make a point to do that one of these days. Make sure they weren’t doing something illegal.

  “That’s more like it.” Uncle Luke headed toward the back door. “Go out, live a little.” He pointed a finger at Crue. “Watch your cousins.”

  Crue nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  Cash came in the door right after his dad walked out of it. “We leaving?”

  “Yeah, let’s hit up Benson’s party.” Crue looked at me. “You want to come?”

  “No thanks.” I looked around the quickly emptying kitchen. “I have a paper to write.”

  “It’s Friday night, Hales.” Cash put his arms around me and rested his chin on top of my head. “You had a date that brought you home before nine o’clock. You’re as lame as Evie.”

  I was lamer t
han Evie. At least she’d gone away to college this year. I was still here at the compound, trying to figure out how to get a life. “You guys go, have fun.”

  Cash sighed. “You’ve gotta get back out there, Hales.”

  I laughed. “Says the guy that scared my date away.” I was trying. I really was. It wasn’t like I had any other choice, really.

  “Masters is a douche. We did you a favor and you know it.” Crue studied me from across the island. “Did you honestly want to spend your Sundays having fancy dinners with his WASP-y parents?”

  I slumped down in Cash’s embrace, exhausted. “No.” Johnny wasn’t someone I wanted to spend time with. I’d agreed to go on the date because I’d made a promise to myself that I’d move on. That I’d at least try to put my past in the past where it belonged.

  “Ready.” Avory came waltzing back into the kitchen, tight jeans and another midriff-baring shirt. She was so beautiful, so full of life. I envied both my baby sisters.

  Crue took her hand in his and led her around the corner to the front door. There was a thud and then I heard her giggle. Cash stepped away from me, walking toward the couple. “You guys have really got to be more discrete.” He turned right before the doorway, looking back at me. “You sure you’re going to be okay? I can stay home—we could watch a movie?”

  I smiled. “If you stayed home, who would watch out for all the Devil’s Spawn hooligans?” I climbed down off my stool. “I’m fine, Cash. Go have some fun.” I stuck my head out the back door, where the parents were still sitting. “Everyone just left. I’m going to get some homework done.”

  My mom looked at me, her eyes sad. “Baby girl, why didn’t you go with them? It’s Friday night.” My mom, both my parents really, knew I wasn’t as outgoing as I had once been. They weren’t blind. They knew I didn’t go to parties; they knew I rarely dated. But they stopped asking me what was wrong. I’d never tell them anyway, and neither would any of the other kids. We kept each other’s secrets, no matter what.

  “It’s fine, really. I have a lot of reading to catch up on anyway.”

  My mom looked over at my dad. He gave her a slight shake of his head, telling her to let it go. He turned in his seat. “Okay, sweet dreams.”

  I could feel Uncle Luke’s eyes on me. He was worried too, probably more so than my parents. He was my godfather and we’d always been close. For two years now I’d been a homebody; for two years I’d been healing. “Goodnight, sweetheart,” he half-sung.

  I smiled at him. He’d sung me to sleep with the same song for years. Even though he’d had babies of his own to get ready for bed, he’d still come over and sing to me when he could. “Good night.” I closed the door, positive that as soon as the latch clicked the adults would start to talk about me.

  I walked past the front entryway and down the long hallway to the last door on the left. My bedroom. The same room that I’d slept in since I was six weeks old. I flipped on the light and collapsed on my big fluffy bed, pulling my phone out of my pocket and checking the time. Nine-thirty on Friday night. This was my sad, pathetic life. I did have a paper to write, but it wasn’t due for another two weeks. And I was all caught up on my readings. Hell, I’d already read the stuff I needed for next week. I had a lot of time on my hands and little to fill it with. Agreeing to live at home while I attended UT was a poor decision. Everyone else had flown the coop. Landry, the oldest, was in Florida. She had graduated medical school from Aunt Dilly’s alma mater. Landry was doing her residency and was on her way to becoming a surgeon.

  Evie was in living in Dallas, attending SMU. And Beau? Well, Beau was off seeing the world on the back of a motorcycle. At least that’s what I assumed he was still doing.

  He’d peeled out of my driveway two years ago, and I hadn’t seen him since.

  ***

  “You let Beau get a motorcycle?” My dad was standing in my aunt and uncle’s driveway, his hands on his hips. “Are you insane?”

  My Uncle Jacks laughed. “It’s Beau. He’s nineteen. I didn’t let him do anything.” Uncle Jacks ran his hand over the black leather seat. “I’m jealous as hell though.” Nineteen—I smiled at that because today I’d turned sixteen. For just a few marvelous months Beau and I were only three years apart and it never failed to make me giddy. Or make me daydream that he’d see me as something other than his best friend. His family.

  My dad chuckled. “Yeah, me too. You think Lex would let me get one?”

  Uncle Jacks crossed his arms over his chest. “Not a chance.”

  “What do you think, Sweets? You like it?” Beau stood on the other side of the remodeled Triumph. Sweets. It’d been his nickname for me since I was five and he’d discovered a grocery bag full of hidden Halloween candy wrappers in my room.

  “I love it.” And I did. The bike just added to Beau’s slight Rebel Without a Cause persona. A movie I’d watched with my mom and aunts about a dozen times. Beau was James Dean material for sure.

  He grinned. “You want to go for a ride?”

  “Yes.” I answered quickly and without hesitation. I loved being alone with Beau, loved having all his winks and smirks to myself. It didn’t happen all that often. Our parents had too many kids.

  My dad snorted, “Not a chance.”

  “Oh, come on, it’s her birthday.” My Uncle Jacks rolled his eyes. “And it’s Beau. You think he’d ever let anything happen to Halen? He’d jump in front of a train for your girl.” I bit my lips together to keep from smiling too big.

  Beau put his hand over his heart. “You know I would, Uncle Dash.” He took the second helmet off the back of the bike. “Just some back-road cruising, nothing fast and nothing far.”

  My dad looked over at me then back to Beau. He hung his head. “Fine. But only back roads.” I squealed and took the helmet from Beau, climbing on behind him. “I’m holding you personally responsible if one hair on her head is harmed.” My dad pointed at Beau, using his stern-parent face and tone.

  Beau just nodded. “I’ll guard her with my life.” He grabbed my hands and yanked to wrap them around his waist. Then we took off, snaking slowly through the compound until he got to the exit. He stopped and leaned back with mischief in his voice. “Hold on tight, Sweets.” And then we shot out onto the main road. I couldn’t help but giggle. Everything about this moment was such a rush. We drove for miles, winding through back roads lined with beautiful oak trees. The bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes were in full bloom, the colors rushing by me in a blur.

  When the sun started to set Beau pulled off onto a small dirt road and cut the engine. He climbed off the bike with ease and removed his helmet, resting it on a handlebar. Then he reached up and did the same with mine. He gestured his head to the sky behind me. “You watch the sunset while I take a leak.”

  I wrinkled my nose at his guy crassness and he walked off, throwing a wink over his shoulder. I turned to the side, watching the sun sink deeper, toward the horizon. The sky was pink and red, with the sun burning a fiery orange. There was nothing like a Texas sunset. I climbed off and walked farther out toward the field of wild flowers, taking a seat on a fallen tree trunk.

  “It’s perfect, right?” Beau came and sat next to me, his jean-clad thigh brushing up against my leg, bare in my cutoff shorts.

  “It is.” I leaned my head against his shoulder, something I’d done a thousand times in my life. “Thank you for bringing me out here.”

  I felt his head turn, and I knew he was looking at me. “You don’t have to thank me for hanging out with you, Sweets. I wanted to.” I sighed. My sixteen-year-old heart was reading more into his comment than I should. He’d take me home soon, drop me at my door, and then head out to meet up with his friends. With the girls that were always falling all over him. And I’d go to bed wishing he wanted me like that.

  I put a smile on my face, glancing down at my watch. “Six-thirty on a Friday night? I’m sure you have other places to be.” And I was. Beau swore he wasn’t a partier, but I’d seen him pullin
g onto the compound past curfew a few times. Not that I stayed up waiting or anything.

  “I have other places I should be, Hales. But nowhere else I’d rather be.”

  I sat up, turning to look him in the eye. There was something different about the tone of his voice in that moment. Goosebumps rose on my skin. “Yeah? Me neither.”

  “Okay, I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to respond without thinking. You get like two milliseconds to answer.”

  I grinned, nodding my head. We used to play this game on long car trips when we were kids. He, Landry and I would spend hours cracking up in the back seat. He cleared his throat. “If you could have anything for your sixteenth birthday, what would it be?”

  “A kiss.” I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand. “I, uh, I meant. A…” Fudge. What rhymed with kiss? Or sounded even remotely like kiss? Shoot. I winced. “Sorry.” I didn’t even know what I was apologizing for. I put my face in both my hands, completely mortified.

  He peeled my palms away, not letting go afterward. “Hales?” I peered at him through my mostly still closed eyes.

  “Yeah?”

  “Why a kiss?”

  I opened my eyes fully at his soft tone. He wasn’t laughing, or making fun of me the way I thought he might. The way any one of the other boys in my family would. “The truth?”

  He nodded.

  Well, too freaking bad, because I was not about to tell him that I had a monster crush on him and that him kissing me even just once would make my life complete. “I don’t know. It was the first thing that came to mind.” I shrugged. “It’s not like I’ve never been kissed before or anything.” And it wasn’t. I’d been kissed. Just never very well in my opinion. My toes never curled, my heart never skipped a beat.

  “You’ve been kissed?”

  I smiled nervously when his eyes turned dark and his trademark smirk disappeared. “Uh, yeah. A couple times.” I licked my lower lip and swallowed past the lump in my throat when his eyes followed my tongue.