Page 51 of The Lost Kings
Chapter 20
Presley
AGE 16
Socializing wasn’t as easy as I assumed it would be, and people were as cutthroat and horrible in real life as I had always watched in movies and on dramatic TikToks and reels. Rake Forge High School was teeming with kids who wore swirls of red, black and white. The cheer squad brushed past me without giving me a second glance, their hair in bouncy ringlets. The football players wore their letterman jackets, and backward ball caps, laughing and joking. Ignoring anyone who hadn’t been in their group since childhood.
At least that’s how it seemed.
I had been going to school for roughly a month, and I hadn’t made any friends yet. Me being a senior who was just sixteen wasn’t exactly going over smoothly with my peers, and I wish I had considered that before agreeing to this. That and the number of times I would raise my hand to answer a question that no one else in the room seemed to know. After a few side-glances and glares, I realized my brain wouldn’t be the thing that got me asked to parties or kissed by a boy. So, I started drawing in class instead so at least I wouldn’t be garnering any more glares or whispers about being a know-it-all.
I didn’t actually need to graduate, so I didn’t need to turn in the assignments, and I didn’t need to be so smart. I also changed how I dressed, or I tried to, but that part wasn’t easy either. I typically wore leggings and activewear. No one else beyond the physical education teacher wore that, so I asked my mom if we could go into town and buy me some jeans. She’d teared up, and I rolled my eyes, regretting not just asking Scotty to take me.
I could deal with the lack of friends, and the lonely lunch bench that no one ever filled, but what really dug at me was how Gio and Kingston interacted with the girls in the school. Every time I went to the bathroom, I’d have to hear about the girls’ obsession with them. They had no problem becoming instantly popular with as many friends as anyone could ever hope for. They were invited to everything.
And why wouldn’t they be? They were athletic and handsome in a way that reminded me of someone from Hollywood. They’d each slip on a pair of sunglasses, and you’d think the girls had lost their minds. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t also been impacted by their toned arms, or the way their clothes fit them just perfectly enough that they looked like models. The warm brown skin they’d inherited from their dad, the thick, black hair that still managed to look like raven feathers, styled perfectly. They both had wide jaws; their dark brows and thick lashes made them look dreamy.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t see what everybody else did; I simply didn’t understand why everyone else got to experience them and I didn’t. They’d agreed to attend school, but for the safety of our family, Scotty had suggested it would be best if we acted as though we didn’t know one another. They’d merely be eyes and ears, keeping me safe from a distance.
Insecurity started to spill into my chest, infecting my lack of interaction with people and my confidence. I wanted to just hide behind the assignments and go find a spot in the library until the end of school, but that’s not what I was supposed to be doing here. I was supposed to be making friends.
There had to be someone here that liked me.
Glancing around, I found a guy from my biology class staring back at me. I waved, and he waved back. Within seconds, he walked over and sat across from me.
With blond hair, swept away from his face, a strong jaw and light blue eyes, he was cute, and I liked his smile. I couldn’t believe it, but I felt myself blush as he started talking to me.
Finally, it felt like perhaps I had a chance at making a friend, or better yet, a boyfriend.
I ignored the sensation that someone was watching us and tried to enjoy my conversation with Landon. Finally, things were going in my favor.
Chapter 21
Kingston
AGE 17
I’d cut off my arm and hand it to Presley if she needed it, but this public-school gig was getting old as fuck. Gio sighed, and I knew he was feeling it too. We’d already finished our courses, so the classes didn’t keep our interest. The only thing that did was sneaking out to take turns to watch Presley in each of her classes.
We were only here for her, and the fact that she wouldn’t even be able to complete the entire reason for attending school, was starting to frustrate me. We had to play a part, and that was fucking exhausting. Like now, as we watched some kid in her class smile at her and offer her his notes. If I wasn’t pretending to be a senior in high school, I could walk over to him and explain in vivid detail what I’d do to him if he ever tried to smile at Presley James again.
Gio watched them as intently as I did, and I glanced over at my brother, seeing the same rage that burned inside me reflecting in him. It reminded me of that time in Mexico when he’d pushed me into the pool. I wasn’t sure that feeling ever left him, but he’d seemed to get better at hiding or managing it.
Presley took the offered notes with a smile and the guy relaxed while the two started to chat. Maybe he’d be brave enough to ask herto prom, and we’d have to ruin that for her just like we did with anyone who ever dared to get too close to her. She’d never get that first kiss, and while I didn’t mind preventing any other idiot from touching those perfect lips of hers, I did feel guilty that she had no idea she was being sabotaged. But then I’d play out the scenario of what would happen if she fell for one of these pricks and Scotty found out. He’d kill them, and Presley would blame herself.
Gio tipped his head back next to me, staring at the moon that was still visible in the sky.
“You want to do it, or me?” I muttered quietly.
“I’ll do it, you took care of the last one.”
Yeah, the jock who I’d heard saying Presley’s ass was the most perfect thing he’d ever seen wouldn’t be coming back to school anytime soon, not after I’d “accidently”spilled my drink on him at a party and then tossed my lit Zippo at him. When he was screaming “what the fuck my problem was,” I had simply explained he needed to stay away from Presley. He didn’t fight back, and he was fine. Barely a single mark on his stupid pristine face, but the thing that pissed me off was that none of these idiots ever fought us on seeing her.
I wondered what would happen when we finally found the guy who would. Not that it mattered, we knew the score.
I watched as the kid leaned over Presley’s shoulder and pointed at something on the paper. My gut twisted with something unfamiliar. If I took long enough to examine what that feeling was, perhaps there’d be a way to make it stop. As it was, anytime anyone got close to her, or made her smile, it felt like I was the one burning on the inside.
Pushing off the wall, I turned away from watching her and reminded my brother to be quick as I walked toward the car.
