The Eastwood Series

By M.E. Clayton

Samson
Samson Maddox has it all, but there was a very important part still missing. When an opportunity presents itself, he goes for it with everything he has.

Mackenzie Harden knew it was time for a change. When her unfortunate circumstances force that change, she pushes forward and never looks back.

Ford
Ford Abrams has a life that is easy and uncomplicated. However, when things end up a little more complicated than he's used to, he still doesn't run.

Amelia Prescott's life went from perfect to complicated in one night and it sucked. However, now she has to decide if she wants to complicate it even more.

Raiden
Raiden Cruz doesn't need to do anything but bask in his popularity and perfect life. However, things end up taking a dramatic turn and life isn't so perfect after all.

Charlie Harden knows her worth and is stronger than most girls her age. However, when her convictions are tested, she finds herself in for the fight of her life.

Duke
Duke Maddox is the easygoing one. He enjoys life and people. Then, one night, that all changes when he finds himself determined and obsessed with an expected pleasure.

Willow Davis doesn't have time for drama. She is a good girl, through and through. Then, one night, that all comes to a screeching halt when she decides to take an unwise walk on the wild side.

Alistair
Alistair Brown is ready for the beginning of the rest of his life. However, life throws him a curve ball, and while unexpected, it's not a game he hasn't played before.

Rory Simmons just wants to live an unassuming life. However, those plans get derailed when she's hit in the face with a blast from the past.

NOTE: This book contains adult language, adult situations, explicit sexual encounters, domestic abuse, drugging, and violence. If sensitive to any of the aforementioned issues, please do not purchase.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.E. Clayton
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005705381

M.E. Clayton

M.E. Clayton works fulltime and writes as a hobby only. She is also an avid reader and Pinterest addict. When she's not working, reading, writing, or on Pinterest, she is spending time with her family and friends, or her dog, Boy, or her cat, Seatbelt. She lives in California with her husband and enjoys doing nothing but reading. Seriously. She does nothing but read. However, that's how she likes it.

Book preview

Just a couple of things before I let you go and get your read on. While I am doing my best to work with better editing and proofreading software, all my books are solo, independent works. I write my books, proofread my books, edit my books, create the covers, etc. I have one beta who gives me feedback on my stories, but other than that, all my books are independent projects.

That being said, I apologize, in advance, for the typos, grammar inconsistencies, or any other mistakes I may make. Since writing is strictly a hobby for me, I haven’t looked into commitments in regard to publishers, editors, etc. My hope is that my stories are enjoyable enough that a few mistakes, here and there, can be overlooked. However, if you’re a stickler for grammar, my books are probably not for you.

Also, I am an avid reader-I mean an AVID reader. I love to read above any other hobby. However, the only downside to my reading obsession is when I fall in love with a series, but I have to wait for the additional books to come out. And because I feel that disappointment down to my soul, when I started publishing my works, I vowed to publish all books in my series all at once. No waiting here…LOL. Now, the exception to that will be if enough readers request additional stories based off the standalone, such as in Facing the Enemy. At that point, if I decide to move forward with a requested series, I will make sure all additional books are available all at once. As much as this is a hobby for me, I am writing these books for all of you, as well as myself.

Thank you, for everything!

NOTE: This book deals with delicate topics. If you are sensitive to physical abuse, please do not read on.

Contact Me

I really appreciate you reading my book and I would love to hear from you! Now, unfortunately, because I do have a full-time job, and a family I love spending time with, at this time, I’m afraid it would be very hard for me to maintain a multitude of social media sites. However, for the sites I do participate in, here are my social media coordinates:

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Dedication

For –

Anyone who’s ever had to make the decision they never

thought they were strong enough to make.

Playlist

Samson

Over My Head (Cable Car) – The Fray

Irresistible (Remix) – Jessica Simpson ft. Lil’ Bow Wow

Fighter – Keith Urban ft. Carrie Underwood

Something Just Like This – The Chainsmokers & Coldplay

Heathens – Twenty One Pilots

Ford

Love Me Harder – Ariana Grande ft. The Weeknd

Give Me Tonight – Shannon

You Drive Me Crazy – Brittney Spears

I Wanna Be Bad – Willa Ford

I’m Bad At Love – Maddy Benson

Raiden

Hold On – Nightcore

Where You Belong – The Weeknd

Fine Again – Seether

I Hope – Gabby Barrett & Charlie Puth

If It Isn’t Love – New Edition

Duke

Fight Back – Neffex

Born Ready – Zayde Wolf

I Love The Way You Lie – Eminem ft. Rhianna

Close To You – Maxie Priest

Whataya Want From Me – Adam Lambert

Alistair

I Still Go Crazy – Paul Davis

Broken – Seether

I Can’t Tell You Why – The Eagles

Love Song – Tesla

I Shall Believe – Sheryl Crow

Prologue

I couldn’t do this anymore.

My entire body protested as I sank to my knees and reached underneath my bed for the First-Aid kit that I kept hidden there. On my knees, I pulled the box next to me and my hands shook as I tried, twice, to open the damn thing, and I willed myself not to cry. Struggling to get the box open, I felt the punch of panic in my gut when drops of blood colored the lid.

I couldn’t do this here.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the box and got to my feet. I felt the dizziness like a fog of uncertainty threatening to push me back down and leave me there. I closed my eyes and forced some strength into my legs. Once I felt steady enough, I made my way to the bathroom, thanking God no one was home.

Hobbling into the bathroom, I couldn’t stop the painful cry that fell from my lips as the mirror didn’t lie. The box dropped into the sink as I leaned forward to get a better look.

Who was that girl?

I no longer recognized the girl in the mirror and that frightened me.

Badly.

My eyes searched every inch of my face to see if I could find the girl I used to be, but I couldn’t see anything. There was a time when I’d been convinced that I could still…save myself. But looking in the mirror, that time has come and gone.

I made my way over to the shelves next to the shower and grabbed a face cloth. After making my way back to the sink, I turned on the hot water and held the cloth underneath the faucet until it was wet and warm enough to soothe the mistakes stamped all over my face.

My hiss filled the silence as I pressed the damp cloth to my face just above my left eye. I was going to need stitches if I had any hope of keeping the scar to a minimum. I scrambled around in the First-Aid box to see if it came with butterfly stitches or medical glue because a trip to the emergency room would bring about too many questions and unpayable medical bills. I found a sleeve of butterfly stitches and closed my eyes briefly in prayer for small favors.

With the faucet still running, I rinsed the cloth out and the pink tinted water that circled down the drain pulled a whimper from my lips. I took a breath deep in my chest to calm the nausea threatening to make an appearance.

I placed the cloth back on my face and did the scariest thing I’ve ever done; I looked into the eyes of the girl in the mirror.

I couldn’t do this anymore.

But more importantly, I couldn’t hide this anymore.

I knew once I calmed down, I could probably come up with a believable lie to tell everyone, but I’d been doing that already for months. I didn’t know if I had any new lies to tell. I didn’t know what could be believable enough to make the mess of my face go away.

My body was easy; I slept wrong. I pulled my back. I’m going to the gym. I slipped and fell. The lies where endless when it was just your body that ached, but a battered face was a different story.

Tossing the cloth in the sink, I ripped open the package of stitches and read the instructions on the back. I went back to the linen shelves and grabbed a dry face cloth. I cleaned the gash one last time, then dried the skin around it. Starting in the middle, per instructions, I pulled the ragged edges of my skin together and placed the first stitch across the wound. I added another, and another, and another until there were five stitches in place. The First-Aid kit came with some antibiotic cream and I dabbed some on, then covered the entire thing was a sterile bandage.

Having taken care of the biggest issue, I cleaned the rest of my face and all that remained, after my ministrations, was some bruising already forming around my left eye and down the side of my face.

With my adrenaline crashing, I turned around and slid down the counter until my ass hit the tiled floor. The water still ran above me, but I couldn’t bring myself to care just yet.

I sat on the bathroom floor wondering how I got here. How did I let things get so out of control that I ended up here? I never dreamed that I’d become that girl, the one who let doubt and fear seduce her.

But I had.

I had, but I couldn’t be her anymore.

Something had to change.

And that something had to be me.

Chapter 1

Mackenzie~

You act like you’re headed to the guillotine, Charlie chuckled. I promise, it won’t be that bad.

I glanced over at my cousin as she laid sprawled out on my twin bed. No, I retorted. It’ll be worse.

She rolled over and propped her elbows up, resting her head in her hands, and grinned. Okay, so you might have been the girlfriend to the football captain of our biggest rival, she replied. "But you aren’t anymore. In twenty minutes, you will be an official Eastwood High Tiger. She rolled back over and threw her hands in the air. Go purple and gold!"

I rolled my eyes as I looked in the mirror and finished knotting my hair back in a french braid. Wisps of my black hair escaped to frame my face, but I didn’t care about those. All I cared about was that my layered bangs did their job and hid my scar.

I’ve only broken up with Ridgeview High three months ago, Charlie, I pointed out drolly. It’s going to take me a bit longer to move on from my love of white and green.

Three months ago, I sat in my living room, in the dark, and had waited for my mom to come home from work. My mom had been a hotel maid and she had worked different shifts. That particular day, she had been working a swing shift that wouldn’t have had her home until past ten.

When she had walked in, she had automatically gone to turn on the lights, but my desperate cry to leave them off had startled her into complying. I remember the fear in her voice when she had asked me what was going on. And I remember how cowardice had consumed me and how I had to admit that I needed the lights off or else I wouldn’t be able to tell her.

Turned out that Julie Kingston had been brave enough for the both of us.

She had sat down on the couch, next to me, and hadn’t said a word as shame and remorse had spilled out from my lips, landing at her feet. I hadn’t held back any of the painful details. I had told her everything, and it had been as if once I had gotten started, I couldn’t stop.

I had confessed my sins and my fears.

I had poured out my sorrow and my pain.

And the most empowering thing she could have done for me, she had done. Instead of falling victim to her own turmoil and emotions, she had held it together and had let me make the decision of what to do next. Mom had gifted me with the power to control something, finally, and I had grasped onto it with both hands.

As much as my mom had done to give us a good life since my father had walked out on us when I was six, I still knew the drill. I knew all about political and social classes. I knew money talked and the rich were favored in both the social and legal communities.

I knew that it would be my word against Brayden Mahoney’s. I knew that the police would come and question a girl who lived in an apartment with her single mother, and then go question a boy who lived in Mason Hills with both his upstanding, rich parents.

I also knew Mr. Mahoney would fire my mom the second that the police knocked on their pristine, untainted front door. Her job and our livelihoods had been the reasons I had kept my mouth shut for so long. The entire time I had dated Brayden, his parents had politely tolerated me, but that was about it. I knew accusing their son of abuse would have ended up in a disastrous legal fight.

When I had told my mom that I just wanted to run away from Ridgeview and never look back, she had called my uncle Silas the next morning and had told him we needed help. My father might have been a bastard that ran out on us twelve years ago, but his family hadn’t abandoned us like he had.

My uncle, his wife, Erin, and my cousin, Charlie, lived only one town over in Eastwood, and so I had been able to maintain a decent relationship with them over the years. With technology being what it was today, we had kept in touch a lot. We had an unspoken rule, though, and that was that we didn’t talk about my father. As far as I was concerned, Declan Harden didn’t exist.

The same day that my mother had made that phone call to Uncle Silas, he had driven to Ridgeview from Eastwood and had asked for details, to which my mom hadn’t given him. She had simply told him that I was having trouble at school and I needed to start over somewhere else, and he had taken my face as proof of that. I remember how worried he looked, but he hadn’t pried. And then Uncle Silas had us packed and moved into their home by the following week, and all without one phone call to my bastard of a father. It had made me wonder how both men could have been raised in the same household and turn out so differently.

My mother had given her two weeks’ notice, and though it took about a month, Aunt Erin had been able to get her a job with the city of Eastwood as an office clerk. We were still living with Uncle Silas, but we were only two weeks away from moving into our own place. Uncle Silas had wanted my mom to save as much money as she could before moving out, so we could have an advantageous start in Eastwood.

I was also starting my senior year at Eastwood today.

The official story was that my mom had gotten a new job, and even though Eastwood was only a twenty-minute drive from Ridgeview, my mom thought if she was working for the city of Eastwood, we should live there, too. Only Uncle Silas and Aunt Erin knew there was more to the story, but I knew I could trust them.

As for my friends, I only kept in touch with Shondra and Ella. However, it was mostly through texts and phone calls. I had deleted all my social media accounts with a lame excuse that watching my ‘friends’-because they had all been Brayden’s friends-move on and have fun without me would be too sad to witness. However, to make the lie believable, I couldn’t change my phone number, so I just blocked Brayden instead.

Brayden.

My heart still throbbed when I thought about him, but not for sentimental reasons. It throbbed as a shameful reminder that I had let someone manipulate and control me because my eyes weren’t open enough to recognize what mattered and what didn’t. I had endured months of physical and emotional abuse because I thought my mom’s job was more important than her love for me. She didn’t know that I knew, but I heard her crying every night, for a week, after everything that had happened. We had to share a room when we moved in with Uncle Silas, but we each had our own twin bed to sleep in, and when my mom thought I was sleeping, I could hear her break down and silently cry out her pain and regret. We’ve come a long way, but I knew she still blamed herself some.

As for my face, Uncle Silas, Aunt Erin, and Charlie thought I had been jumped by a bunch of catty girls at school. That was the story we told, and we were sticking to it. If Uncle Silas knew the truth, he’d insist on calling the cops and that wasn’t a route I wanted to go. At least, not right now.

I knew a lot of people would disagree with me, and even go as far as to call me a coward, but escape had been more important to me than pursuing a justice that I knew I wasn’t going to get. However, the one thing my mom had insisted on was taking pictures. The next morning, I had stripped down to my underwear and had let my mom take photos of what it was like to date Brayden Mahoney. Maybe, one day, I’ll be strong enough to press charges, but today I just wanted to get through my first day of school.

I examined my jeans and plain light blue shirt and grimaced. Maybe no one will notice me, I muttered.

Charlie choked out a genuine laugh. You are insane if you think no one is going to notice you, Mack, she said. "You’re the only female in a hundred-mile radius that has black hair, purple eyes, and a body that belongs on a grown ass woman. No one is going to not know you’re you, no matter how many baseball hats, fake mustaches, and sunglasses you wear."

Shut up, I retorted. My eyes aren’t purple. They’re blue. They’re just dark.

Charlie snorted. They’re freakin’ purple, she insisted. And the only other living person in the world with eyes that color is Jase. Jase was my older brother. He was twenty-two and a Marine. When Mom had asked if I wanted her to call him, I had made her promise not to tell him. Jase was a good man and even better big brother. If he knew, he would come back and kill Brayden, and happily spend the rest of his life in prison. I couldn’t do that to him. Besides, he was off on assignment somewhere and his safety was more important than my drama. I needed Jase to focus on staying alive over there in the Middle East, not be distracted by worrying about his little sister.

Charlie wasn’t entirely wrong, though. Jase and I had inherited our unusual-colored eyes from my mother’s great-grandmother, and it was a trait that appeared in random offspring. Mostly the color became a dark blue like my mom’s, but Jase and I had more purple in our irises than blue.

I turned to face my cousin. I’m just nervous, I confessed. Even though I was never into the whole school team spirit stuff, Brayden had been captain of the football team two years in a row. He’ll probably be captain again this year, and I just…I didn’t need drama. Everyone’s going to judge me the second I step foot on that campus.

Charlie sent me a sympathetic look. She got off my bed and drew me in for a hug. When she pulled back, she smiled. It’s going to be fine, Mackenzie, she lied. I’ll be there to help you and Phyllis Montague is the only mean girl we have. Everyone else is pretty cool.

Phyllis Montague was Eastwood’s reigning queen, and I’d met her a few times over the years, but we’d never had problems. But I’ve never breached her territory before, so who knows. I never understood why mean girls were mean. Phyllis was beautiful and rumored to be smart. She’d been class president two years in a row and had no reason to feel threatened by anyone. Least of all, me.

I let out a deep breath. We’ll see, I replied, my lack of confidence obvious.

Charlie showed all her teeth. We will.

Chapter 2

Samson~

Best thing about today? I can finally drive myself to school, Duke announced as he strolled into the kitchen to grab some breakfast. I turned around and shoved a plate of sliced fruit his way.

Duke was a junior this year and had turned seventeen over the summer. I was already eighteen but still in high school because my birthday had fallen past the registration deadline during kindergarten registration, and kindergarten registration was no joke. There was also the fact that my parents had wasted no time after I was born.

Duke was also growing like a fucking weed. I was still taller than his six-foot-one by an inch or so, but it was hard to tell that he was younger than I was sometimes. We looked the same with our dark brown hair and hazel eyes we inherited from Dad, but we couldn’t be more different if we tried. Where Duke loved baseball and had a tonfuck of friends, my passion was football and I only had two friends: Ford Abrams and Raiden Cruz.

I snorted. Yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly why you love that car so much.

Duke grinned as he tossed a piece of cut up melon in his mouth. I can’t help it if girls dig fast cars. He hadn’t been in a rush to get his license when he had turned sixteen, but he was appreciating having it now.

They dig your father’s wallet, I corrected. And don’t forget it.

Our father was Samson Maddox, and he was the fearless leader of Samson Industries. And our mother, Clara, was his perfect accessory. And while I loved my parents, they could do a little better in the rearing of their two children. They weren’t horrible or neglectful. They were just…uninterested, I guess would be the best way to describe them. Even if your children didn’t get into trouble, they still needed to know that they shouldn’t. Our parents just assumed that because we’d never been suspended or arrested that all was going well.

If they only knew.

Duke rolled his eyes. I wrap it, okay? he groaned. I swear.

When Duke had been a freshman, he had come to me with stars in his eyes, professing his undying love for Lilly Montague. Lily had been in the eighth grade still, but they had met at a party, and apparently, Lilly had said all the right things to make Duke think she was The One. He’d been ready to lose his virginity to her and slip a ring on her finger.

However, later, I had learned from a girl who was doing all she could to ride my dick, that Lilly was just playing with Duke at the behest of her older sister, Phyllis. Phyllis Montague had been hoping that by Duke dating Lilly we would automatically pair up.

I had seen fucking red.

It had been the only time I had ever purposely hurt my brother. I had sought Lilly out at her school, and with Duke hiding around the corner, I had hit on her and she had instantly turned on her sister. Duke had heard it all and it had been a hard lesson learned. Ever since then, Duke’s trusted me with the subject of women and Lilly’s duplicity had been enough to make sure he always wrapped his dick up to avoid any kind of trapping of a Maddox.

As for Phyllis, I avoided her when I could. I never believed in physical violence against the fairer sex, but if there was ever a female I wanted to punch in the face, it was her. She used my brother for her own agenda, and I wasn’t a forgiving one when it came to my family.

Well, at least, now you don’t have to chauffer me around for baseball practice, Duke said, changing the subject. I didn’t mind driving Duke around, but it would free up my time if I didn’t have to.

I grabbed a grape and tossed it in my mouth. After swallowing, I said, I told Raiden and Ford to make sure there’s a spot carved out for you. Ford didn’t have a car, so he always rode with Raiden to school. They lived in the same neighborhood, so it was easy for Raiden to pick him up. And we always parked in the same spot because students went stupid over sports royalty at Eastwood High. Creating an empty space between my car and Raiden’s to make room for Duke would be no problem.

I was Eastwood High’s reigning championship quarterback, while Raiden was my go-to wide receiver, and Ford was my offensive right tackle. Ford protected the fuck out of me and my arm. I hadn’t known them when I had started Eastwood, but we had bonded as freshmen when we had tried out for football and the seniors had tried to haze us.

It hadn’t gone very well.

Ford was a right tackle for a reason; the dude was huge. Raiden and I were similarly built and could hold our own, to which we had. And then once we had showcased our athletic abilities on the field, everyone had backed off and we’ve been given a wide berth ever since.

Where I had dark brown hair and hazel eyes, Raiden had dark brown hair with blue eyes, and Ford had dark blonde hair with light blue eyes. The only thing we had in common were the scowls we constantly wore on our faces. None of us suffered fake groupies with grace. The happiest person in our group was Duke, but that’s how I liked it. I wanted my brother to feel safe enough to be happy.

Me?

I already knew people were shit. It became glaringly obvious the first time I threw a touchdown pass to win our freshman division championship.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the spoils like every other horny teenage boy, but I wasn’t blinded by the lights or the glory. If I needed to get laid, I picked a girl and got the deed done. If I needed someone to talk to, I had my brother and friends for that.

Okay, he said, chewing around another piece of fruit. Do you know if Mom and Dad will be here this week? Dad traveled a lot and he always took our mother with him. That was probably the sweetest thing I could say about their marriage.

Our father was a multi-millionaire, with Samson Industries having its fingers in damn near every fucking thing, and he kept himself up. Women have wanted a piece of the man for as long as I could remember. But as far as I knew, he has never strayed from my mother. She didn’t work, so she could follow him wherever he went, and he made sure she did. The few times she’d been forced to stay behind because she was sick, or whatever, Samson fucking Maddox had cancelled whatever business he had to in order to stay home with his wife. It was almost as if they were so absorbed in one another, Duke and I were afterthoughts. Every kid wishes their parents were happily married, but our parents took it a bit far in my opinion. But to be fair, I’ve never been in love like them before. I didn’t know the force of its power, even if I did know it was powerful.

I think so, I told him. Their anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks, and Dad needs to clean up the office before taking her to St. Lucia for their trip.

We ate our breakfast in silence for a while until Duke said, I heard a rumor at Tessa Grier’s back-to-school party last weekend. Last weekend? And he was just now mentioning it? I’ve been debating tell you, he mumbled.

Why?

Duke huffed, stood up from his seat, and picked up his backpack from the floor where he had tossed it when he had walked into the kitchen. Because you get mean and ugly when people do or say stupid shit, he pointed out, hoisting the bag strap over his left shoulder.

I do not, I denied.

He arched a brow. Really? he deadpanned.

I ignored him. What did you hear?

So, there I was, he began, with my hand up Kim’s-

I threw my hand up. Stop, I ordered. I don’t need details, Duke. Just tell me what you heard.

He rolled his eyes. I overheard a couple of girls talking, but I didn’t really pay attention to who they were because I was…uh, otherwise occupied. But when I heard your name, my ears perked up. Their loyalty to you runs deep. Jesus, this kid. Anyway, I heard them talking about Phyllis Montague, and I guess she’s thinking three years is long enough for you to forget what she tried to do. It sounds like she might have you in her sights again and isn’t taking no for an answer, this time.

What makes you say that? I really wasn’t interested because there was no way I’d ever fuck, much less date, Phyllis, but a man could never have enough information on his enemy.

One of the girls had mentioned that it was a shame you weren’t at the party because she was really hoping to blow you-

Duke.

He laughed. What? It’s true. I’m just repeating what I heard, B.B. B.B. stood for big brother because when Duke was little those two words had been a struggle for him. She mentioned wanting to blow you and the second girl had warned her that she had better watch it because Phyllis was claiming you this year..

I shook my head. Don’t worry about it, I told him. She’s a nonfactor. And I’m not going to get mean or mad. She doesn’t matter, Duke.

Duke grinned. I can’t wait for the day a girl comes around and knocks you on your ass.

Little did he know.

Chapter 3

Mackenzie~

My head was so far inside my locker, if someone came along and shut the door, it’d sever my head.

This day sucked.

Contrary to Charlie’s pep talk this morning, things weren’t okay. It wasn’t that people were being mean, or anything, but everyone was whispering, and I knew they were whispering about me. It didn’t help that I had Phyllis Montague in my second period, and I had gotten some serious territorial vibes off the girl when I had passed her to go sit in the only empty chair in the back of the room.

Okay, so maybe I lied, my cousin’s voice hit me from behind.

I pulled my head out of my locker and looked at her. You think?

She winced, but then tried to fake it with a lopsided smile. Brayden’s not very well liked around here.

I had never bothered following football just because my boyfriend had been on the team. All I had known about Brayden and football was that he had been a defensive end and a captain of some sort. Brayden wasn’t overly big, but he was quick and tenacious. And, supposedly, good at the position he played.

However, even if I had been completely ignorant of sports, everyone knew the sports rivalry between Ridgeview and Eastwood was serious in every category. The baseball teams couldn’t play without at least one fight breaking out between the two teams. I heard the swim teams were even worse. Could you imagine trying to win a swim meet but fearing you’ll be drowned if you did? But even I knew football was the be-all-end-all of the rivalry. Brayden hadn’t made any friends in Eastwood, and me having been his girlfriend for over a year wasn’t doing me any favors right now.

I grabbed my AP English book from my locker and was grateful Charlie had this class with me. It’s not like I was a cheerleader or something, I mumbled discouragingly. I just went to his games and watched him play. Hell, if I’m being honest, I didn’t even watch him play. I played on my phone half the time.

Mack, even if you weren’t who you were, you’re still the new girl, Charlie replied sympathetically. You would still garner attention. Besides, a lot of these people don’t know that you’ve broken up with Brayden.

That was another lie I had to pull off. I had told Charlie, Shondra, and Ella that Brayden and I hadn’t wanted to do long-distance for our senior year, so that’s why we had broken up. Ella and Charlie had bought it, but Shondra was more astute. She had pointed out that it was only a twenty-minute drive between towns, and that was hardly long-distance. I had finally convinced her when I had pointed out that senior year was all about sowing wild oats and having fun. What kind of fun would me and Brayden have just missing each other? She had bought it. Or so, I had hoped.

But Charlie was right. Since I had deactivated my social media accounts, there hadn’t been this big social media announcement that we had broken up. Well, at least, not from me. But I suspected Brayden hadn’t posted anything, either. I wasn’t sure if he’s moved on or not, but I wasn’t about to open myself up to finding out. I wanted nothing to do with Brayden Mahoney and I wasn’t going to go fishing to find out what his relationship status was. It should be single, even if it was subtle.

We headed towards class and the stares and whispers hadn’t subsided just because Charlie was walking with me. Maybe I could have the administration lady broadcast it over the speakers when she does the morning announcements tomorrow, I said wryly.

Charlie

Reviews for The Eastwood Series

[aljaira · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book is totally deserving. I loved them, and I think they are must read. If you have some great stories like this one, you can publish it on Novel Star, just submit your story to [e-mail] or [e-mail]