Real Girl: Aston Creek High (Book 4) Read online

  © 2020 Sheridan Anne.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  All Rights Reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  Cover Design By: Sheridan Anne

  Photograph By: Kiselev Andrey Valerevich

  Proofread By: Heather Fox

  Editing & Formatting By: Sheridan Anne

  Introduction

  Lucien Valentine must die.

  It’s the thought that’s kept me going for four long years. I’ve imagined it, dreamed about it, relished in it. I want it so bad, but the question is, do I have what it takes to make it happen?

  Taking a life isn’t for the faint-hearted. Just ask Lucien, he knows.

  He’s taken me back to where it all started and I know exactly how it’s going to go. He’s going to hurt me and then he’ll marry me off to his millionaire business partner, Marcus Mahony, who has even lower morals than he does.

  I can’t let that happen.

  I have to get out of here even if it means finding out exactly what I’m made of, even if it means leaving a piece of myself behind.

  I thought the past six months were insane. It turns out that I hadn’t even touched the surface. One thing is for sure, I will never be the same again.

  Welcome. To. Hell.

  WARNING: The Aston Creek High Series is a Young Adult / New Adult Dark, Bully Romance. It features dark themes, LOL moments, teenage angst, and of course, all the swoon-worthy moments I know you’re all dying for.

  This series contains violent scenes, cursing, and sexual content.

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Epilogue

  Need More?

  Author Biography

  Other Series by Sheridan Anne

  Chapter 1

  Slade

  My arm stretches out over the bed, reaching for my girl. She knows better than to spread out on the bed rather than sleep in my arms. It’s where she belongs, but I guess I can’t hold her accountable for the things she does in her sleep…though I certainly have ways of punishing her. Wickedly, wild ways that’ll have her never wanting to leave my arms again.

  Fuck, I love her.

  As I feel her side of the bed, I find it cold and empty, making my eyes spring open and panic soar through me.

  Where the fuck is she?

  It’s an unspoken rule that Sky never wakes before me. She loves sleeping in. If that girl could trade places with Sleeping Beauty and spend the rest of her days curled up in bed, zonked out, she’d do it in a heartbeat. Don’t get me wrong, she’d demand to be woken for snacks and sex though.

  I glance around her room, expecting to find her in here somewhere. She had a rough night finding out that Lucien was back in town. He’d gotten to Roman Westbrock and beat the living shit out of him, and while Roman didn’t confirm anything, he was sent here to deliver a message – Sky’s time is up.

  I’ve never seen her so panicked and scared. There have been other times where Lucien has come through Aston Creek but every time, she was fierce and ready to fight, but last night, she looked defeated and it nearly killed me.

  I don’t want her to give up. The second her hope begins to plummet, it’s all over. She needs to fight. She needs to survive because without her…fuck.

  Sky needs to hold on a little while longer. I’ll be buying her a gun and taking her shooting today. She’ll feel better after that. More prepared at least and hopefully, it’ll give her what she needs to keep going.

  She’s so strong. I’ve never met anyone like her. She’s going to be alright. I just know she will. After all, she has me standing right by her side and I’ll never let him hurt her ever again. I’ll kill him before he ever gets the chance.

  I swing my legs over the side of the bed and run my hands over my face. We went to bed at 3 am and it feels way too early to be up. I grab my phone off the bedside table and light up the screen.

  “Holy fuck,” I grunt under my breath. It’s 6 am. No wonder it feels too fucking early. I had three hours of sleep.

  I push up off Sky’s bed and step into my jeans, pulling them up and fastening my belt before slipping my phone into my pocket. Skylah isn’t in here but considering both her closet and bedroom doors are open, I’d dare say she must have gotten up not long ago and snuck out so she wouldn’t wake me.

  It’s stupid though. She probably had less sleep than I did. She should climb back into bed and get a few more hours of rest even if it means I have to lie here with her, helping to take all the pain away. Besides, I doubt there’s going to be anywhere in Aston Creek that I can get a gun before 9 am. We still have a few hours to kill.

  I go to make my way out of her room when something sharp hits the side of my foot. I glance down and find Sky’s knife lying carelessly on the carpet.

  My brows furrow. What the hell is it doing down there? Sky was clutching it when she went to bed last night and I can guarantee that it stayed in her palm all night long. Though to be honest, I’m kind of terrified that one night she’s going to accidentally take me out. All it would take is one bad dream and that knife would be the end of me, but usually, when she’s sleeping in my arms, she doesn’t need it.

  Last night was different though. Very fucking different.

  I reach down and scoop the knife into my hand, briefly looking over it before glancing out the open door. Why the hell would she put it on the floor? She never does careless shit like that, especially with this knife. It’s important to her, the only thing she has of her father’s. This thing practically lives under her pillow and if it isn’t there, then it’s in the palm of her hand.

  I slip the knife into my pocket and make my way toward her door. Something doesn’t feel right here. It’s one thing for her to have gotten out of bed early if she couldn’t sleep, but to drop her knife on the floor and leave her bedroom door open. It feels…odd.

  I get to her door and find the carpet beneath my feet soaking wet.

  What the fuck?

  I look down to find a glass of water has fallen to the carpet, it’s knocked over with a crack in the glass, sitting on Skylah’s jacket which I pulled off her last night.

  My heart rate starts to increase. Something’s wrong.

  “Sky?” I call out, hurrying out to the living room. There’s no sign of her and so I start checking the rest of the house. “Babe? Where are you?”

  The kitchen is empty and so is the bathroom and by the time I reach Blake’s bedroom, I’m practically running. I throw his door open. “Sky?” I call, hoping she came in here to crash, needing the comfort of her brother while he’s busy in the hospital trying to heal.

  “What’s with all the noise out here?” Shay questions, groggily stepping through her bedroom door, looking pissed to have been woken so early.

  “Sky’s not here,” I rush out, pushing past Shay to look i
n her room.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I mean she’s gone. I just woke up and she’s not here,” I say, starting to double-check every room I’ve already been through. “Her glass of water was dropped on the carpet, her knife on the floor, and her door wide fucking open. I’m telling you, Shay, he’s got her. He fucking took her.”

  Shay starts shaking her head and begins furiously looking around her home. “No. I refuse to believe that,” she demands. “She’s got to be around here somewhere. Have you called Damian or Nessa? Maybe she’s with them. Maybe she went to see Blake.”

  Devastation starts to cloud me, making it impossible to think straight. There’s no way. She wouldn’t just walk out of this house to visit her friends. She wouldn’t be that careless, especially with Lucien around. She knows what’s at stake.

  I race back out to the living room and to the front door of the house. The locks aren’t locked, the bolt isn’t bolted, hell the door isn’t even shut the whole fucking way. She’s been through here. Sky would never leave the house without locking it, not unless she was taken…

  Fuck.

  I throw the door open wide and rush out into the yard, looking up and down the street, desperately searching for any sign of her.

  What have I allowed to happen? She was taken right from under me. I told her that I’d keep her safe. I promised her. She put her faith in me and I let her down. I was supposed to protect her.

  I failed her.

  I start rushing up and down the street for any clue, sign, or hint that this is all just some sort of misunderstanding. She can’t be gone. I fucking love her. What am I supposed to do without her? How am I supposed to breathe without her?

  I get a few houses down by the time I pull my phone out of my pocket and press it to my ear. I don’t even remember selecting a number to call but apparently, I did as it starts to ring.

  Blake’s sleepy tone cuts through the phone only a few short seconds later as I hear Shay’s wailing sobs coming from the curb behind me. “What the fuck, man? Do you have any idea what time it is?”

  “Is she with you?” I rush out.

  “What?” he grumbles on a yawn. “What are you talking about?”

  “Skylah,” I demand. “Is she with you?”

  “No,” he says, his tone sharp and demanding, suddenly not so sleepy. “What do you mean is she with me? It’s six in the fucking morning. She should be at home.”

  “Just please, tell me that you know where she is,” I beg, feeling my desperation coming to haunt me. “I don’t even fucking care if she left me. If you’re just trying to protect her because she doesn’t want me to know where she is, then that’s fine. Just let me know that she’s safe. You’re the only person she’d go to. I just…if she’s not here and not with you, that leaves only one other option and I’m not ready to believe that…I can’t believe that she’s gone.”

  “FUCK,” Blake yells. “Please tell me you’re fucking with me? Tell me this is a joke. Does he have her?”

  “This isn’t a fucking joke, man,” I say, my eyes growing watery as I drop down into the curb, not giving a shit about the chill in the air as it seeps into my bones. I’m fucking numb anyway. What’s a little cold weather going to do? “She’s gone. Her knife was on the ground, a glass of water dropped at her bedroom door, and the front door was left cracked and unlocked. She wouldn’t just walk out and leave the house like that. She was taken.”

  Blake goes quiet, the only clue that he’s still on the line is his heavy breathing that comes in sharp, fearful gasps. “She can’t go back there,” he whispers, his tone filled with agony. “If he doesn’t marry her off first, he’ll fucking kill her.”

  My head drops into my hands, feeling completely helpless. “She was right there in my fucking arms,” I tell him. “How could she just be taken like that?”

  “You know Skylah, Cruz. She wouldn’t have left without a fight, unless…”

  I let out a heavy sigh. “Unless she was trying to protect someone she loves.”

  He doesn’t reply, but he doesn’t need to. I already know. The only way Lucien would have gotten her out of the house without her making a single sound would be if either mine or Shaylee’s life was at stake, and considering the knife on her bedroom floor and the spilled water by the door, I’d dare say it was mine.

  Lucien would have killed his own flesh and blood just to get Skylah back. That’s fucking sick.

  Pulling myself up from the curb, I blink back the sting in my eyes. There’s no point sitting here and crying about it. All I’m doing is wasting time, precious fucking time. I’m never going to get her back like this. I have to save her. I have to get her home. I’m her only shot.

  “What’s the address?” I ask, heading back to my home at a jog and tearing through the front door in search of my keys.

  “I…I’m sorry, Slade. I can’t. Believe me, this is my fucking sister we’re talking about. She saved my ass more times than I can count. No one wants her safe more than me,” Blake says with a strange hesitation that seems to tear him up. “But you’re the only shot we have of getting her home. If you run in there with your fucking ego, demanding her back... it’ll be a fucking suicide mission. He’ll kill you. I can guarantee it. We need to play this smart.”

  “I don’t have time for smart,” I roar down the line. “Give me the fucking address.”

  Blake sighs. “I’m sorry, man. I can’t. You getting killed is not part of the plan. She didn’t go willingly just for you to get killed anyway. Just trust that she’ll run the second she has a chance. She’ll come back to us…”

  “TRUST? That motherfucker isn’t going to let her out of his sight. She’ll be raped or fucking married before she even gets a shot at running.” I stride back out my door and over to my truck. “I’m going to find that fucker’s address with or without you, Blake. I’m going. If it means giving my life for her, I’ll fucking do it. Don’t make me resent you for the rest of our lives. Help me give her a shot at freedom.”

  “Fuck, Slade,” Blake groans, breathing heavily and clearly conflicted. “Don’t make me regret this.”

  I climb up into my truck and as I start her up, Blake finally gives me what I need and hangs up, begging me to get his sister home.

  I throw my phone down on the passenger seat and within seconds, I peel away from the curb and shoot down the street, passing Shay as she sobs in the street, head in her hands as her world falls to pieces.

  Chapter 2

  Pain rocks through me as Lucien’s hand slaps hard across my face. I gasp, forcing myself not to cry out. He grabs me and I bite down on my lip.

  I will be strong. I will not give up.

  I’m pushed up the stairs, struggling against his tight grip as he forces me through the house I grew up in. The last time I was here…shit. It’s not a time I ever want to remember.

  I’m jostled left and right, stumbling up the grand staircase. My head spins. It’s roughly an eight-hour car trip fro Aston Creek and I only regained consciousness as Lucien drove through the gates of hell, but considering I was dripping wet and cold, I’d dare say that he threw water over me, forcing me to wake.

  My body aches from being shoved into the backseat and my head is pounding from the way Lucien slammed the butt of his gun down over my temple. Despite the pain, all I can think about is the image of Slade peacefully asleep as Lucien pointed his gun at his head, ready and willing to shoot him.

  Lucien finally gets me to the top of the stairs but it’s not done without the added twist of my arm, pull of my hair, and fingers biting painfully down into my skin. He gives me a hard shove, forcing me down the hallway towards my old bedroom.

  I shake my head. I can’t go in there. I can’t be forced into the same bed where he stole my innocence. The sheets probably haven’t even been changed. There’s most likely dried blood from where he beat me and his DNA spread all over the sheets.

  The thought has me choking back vomit.

  I
just want to go home and be in Slade’s arms but I know that’ll never happen. I’m never getting out of here, never knowing peace again. I’d give anything to be able to tell him goodbye. I can only imagine what he’s thinking right now. He’ll only just be waking up to realize that I’m gone.

  He’s going to hate me for giving up. He’s going to think I went without a fight and just handed myself over, but he’ll never know what it feels like to see the person you love with a gun trained at their head and a psychopath hovering over them. I had a choice to make and I know he won’t understand it, but I made the right decision. I’d do anything to make sure he was safe, even if it means living my life out in the worst kind of hell.

  I hate it here. I hate what this place stands for. I hate Maria. I hate Lucien. I hate this house.

  This place is a representation of everything bad in my life, every tragic decision that was made for me, every life-changing moment that crushed me. The only positive thing about this place are the memories I shared with Blake as we grew up.

  Without even needing to walk in there, I know his bedroom is going to be the only comfort I’ll find here, but it won’t last long. My eighteenth birthday is twelve days away and I know exactly what’s going to happen when that time comes.

  I’ve never been less excited about a birthday in my life. My seventeenth was hard as I knew that officially put a countdown on my freedom, but I still had a whole year. Now, that year is up.

  “Get moving,” Lucien growls, giving me a hard shove and making my feet pick up their pace. I stumble around, not yet ready to be up and walking after being knocked out. My head spins and I do my best to keep moving.

  Lucien isn’t going to put up with my incompetence for long. He’s already starting to get frustrated with me, especially after evading him for so long. He’s going to punish me. He’s going to blame me for the acts he committed against Blake, he’s going to fault me for him ramming me and Slade off the bridge, and he’s going to tell me that had he shot Slade this morning that it would have been on me too.