AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ason
Scarlette had slipped out of class before I had a chance to even gather my things.
Everyone tip-toed around me, not daring to make eye contact with me or Gabby. I knew that Gabby loved the fear that we instilled in everyone around us, but I hated it. Our lives were intertwined with evil and power and those forces oozed out of us like a sore.
Gabby smirked as one of the cheerleaders jumped out of her way. Shaking my head, I grabbed my books and swiftly began moving toward the door. I kept quiet and allowed our classmates to fear me because it was necessary to our lifestyle. Savannah was filled with dangerous mafia families and even though we never openly admitted to it, the entire city knew we were the heirs to the next mafia dynasty. Our kingdom had been built by our fathers and mothers and we would benefit from the blood they had spilled before any of us had been born.
Sure, we had money, but that wasn’t what gave us the power and envious looks from those who wanted to be us. It was the danger behind what our lives meant that made us so enticing. Every girl wanted to fuck us and all of the guys wanted to be us. It was like that for our parents and it would be like that for us forever, too.
“Ason, where are you going?” Gabby asked, turning as she noticed that I wasn’t walking into our class together.
Shrugging my shoulders, I spoke without looking at her. “Not in the mood for class right now,” I snapped.
Gabby rolled her eyes and laughed. “What crawled up your ass?”
She knew she was getting on my nerves, but honestly, Gabby didn’t give a shit. We were second cousins, but really, we were more like brother and sister. We were born less than a year apart and had spent every moment of our childhood together. She knew which of my buttons to push, and loved to jab those fuckers until I lit up like a Christmas tree. Her personality and spirit were just as fiery as the red hair she inherited from her mother, Gia, who happened to be my father's cousin.
“Nothing, just don’t feel like listening to Mr. Pitman talk,” I said, as I walked past her.
“Hey, I know about your punishment,” she said, her voice dripping with happiness at my shitty circumstances. “Isn’t rule number one that you stop skipping class?” she asked, wagging her eyebrows.
Shrugging, I smirked at her. “Beats me. Besides, I won’t skip all day,” I yelled back.
I didn’t bother to look back or listen to anything she said as I sauntered toward the exit. Teachers saw me leaving, but just like the students here, they were too petrified of me to say anything. My father threw money around this school all of the time to keep me from getting kicked out. They knew the rumors behind the Antoni name and none of them wanted to see if they were true or not.
I pushed open the metal doors and made a bee-line for the student parking lot filled with luxury vehicles that cost as much as most people's homes. My red BMW shined against the early morning sunlight. Pulling a cigarette out of my pocket, I lit the butt and then inhaled the smoke. Leaning against my car, I stared at the two-story brick building of Savannah Royal Academy. Our school earned its name from the various royal history that made their marks in our city. While none of us were truly kings or queens, most of us felt that way from our prestigious status.
I fucking hated it all.
None of this shit really mattered when you thought about it. Sure, money was great to have, but it couldn’t fill the emptiness that sat heavy in my heart. No matter how much my parents gave me, I never felt whole. The void that kept me in my constant miserable state continued to grow until one day, I feared that it may completely consume me.
I took another puff of my cigarette before dropping it to the pavement and stomping it with my Italian leather shoes. As much as I wanted to stay out here forever, I knew that I had to get to class eventually. I was on the baseball team—a requirement with our school that each student had to partake in a club or sport—and my coach would have my ass if he found out I skipped a whole day.
Crossing my arms, I leaned my head against the roof of my car and closed my eyes. The warmth from the sunlight felt good on my skin. Images of Scarlette, the quiet girl who always seemed to elude us, sparked in my mind. I knew nothing about her other than the fact that she never was seen at the parties we all attended on the weekends. She seemed to float through the halls like a ghost; she was physically there but no one seemed to notice her.
Well, no one but me.
Ever since middle school, Scarlette had intrigued me. She didn’t flaunt her tits in my face or try and become best friends with Gabby. Every girl at our school had fought for a spot with us—the Elite. Sure, I had fucked my way through most of Savannah’s private schools, but I had never honestly cared about any of the girls I had been with. They were all too forward, too stuck up, too greedy for me. They wanted the lifestyle I lived and none cared about me as a person because if they had ever cared enough to get to know me on a deeper level, they would have figured out how fucked up I really am.
But with Scarlette, she never seemed interested in any of us and that was what had attracted me to her in the first place. She was a good girl. Beautiful and smart and everything that most guys would kill to have. She would go on one day to be successful and live a happy life. A smile crept over my lips at the thought. She was the type of girl who deserved that type of life. But me, I would remain here in Savannah, moving into my father’s career as a made man and be perpetually miserable for the rest of my life.
“Hey, Ason, you going to skip all day?” I heard a voice call out from across the parking lot.
Anger flooded me as I opened my eyes and was taken away from my thoughts of Scarlette. I knew it was ridiculous. Thinking about her was wrong. I was wrong. Plus, I was already breaking one of my father’s new rules set for me.
“Fuck off, Talon,” I quipped.
Laughter filled the air. Talon was my cousin and best friend. We were close and even had been on my ass to straighten up lately. For Talon, making it into our father’s world was his main goal in life. He loved the power we held, while I was ready to give it away at any given moment. I had secretly applied to a few colleges and after seeing Scarlette take an Emory University pamphlet one day from the front office, I applied there, too. It was a long shot, especially when I was expected to take over the Antoni Mafia Family one day, but I had to try. And, I had to try and keep an eye on Scarlette, too. Even if she had no clue that I was watching her.
“So, aren’t you on punishment?” he asked, slapping my shoulder. His golden hair seemed to shine against the blazing sunlight. Talon’s wide frame shook as he chuckled. He was built like a brick wall which made him the perfect linebacker for our football team. Not only did Talon have the Antoni Family Mafia on his side, but he was a powerhouse in size. The lethal combination made people fear him more. Well, every except for me. To me, Talon was my little cousin who loved to throw partis and act wild. Out of all of us, he was the least of us to worry about.
Damn, did everyone know that I was in trouble? I hated how our parents talked so much.
“Does it matter?” I asked, rolling my eyes. “I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want anyway.”
This only caused Talon to laugh more. “I swear, I don’t know who I need to worry about more; you or Micah,” he whistled.
In reality, I was probably the only one of us truly lost. Micah was wild and reckless and had Hollywood good looks, but he always knew when to stop pushing the boundaries. I guess I was the more silent, crazy one. No one ever really knew what I was going to do—including myself.
“I guess not,” he said, kicking the tire of my car. “Seriously though, are you going to do what your dad says?” he asked, all trace of humor gone.
I had to pause before responding. I knew that my parents were fed up with my shitty attitude and were tired of paying to get me out of trouble. Still, I wasn’t sure I was ready to face Scarlette. No one knew how I felt about her. She was a secret that I wanted to keep all to myself, because in all honesty, she was too good for a guy like me.
“I guess we will see,” I said, shoving off my car and walking back toward the school.
I spent the rest of the day going through the motions of school, while trying not to think about tomorrow afternoon.
