AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Mykie shivered as she looked at the closed door in front of her. She took one step forward, and then another, knowing she was possibly walking to her doom.
The building—Pearl's Pub—had a lot of history, and Mykie's time there was only a blimp in comparison to how long the building stood in upstate New York. What went from a soda-pop diner to a pharmacy and back to a dining place was now one of the most known hotspots in the state outside of New York City. It was in a fairly large town with over a hundred thousand population, which made some compare the town to a city. The internal part of the town held most of the businesses while the outskirts was mostly for residents.
But Pearl's didn't only host the local drunks and the young partying crowd.
It was the main territory of the Cantils gang. Mykie never met any of the Cantils before, but it was common knowledge to whoever lived in the town that they weren’t a group you should mess with. It was only a month ago that the bomb was dropped on her that made her want to be one of them.
It excited her to be standing outside of their bar, but also scared the living daylights out of her. If you worked and fought for the Cantils, they have your back. However, the commitment to the Cantils was for life.
Only death let you escape a deal made with Chance Lauder.
That is, if you made it through Initiation.
Which was exactly what Mykie planned to do.
Pushing the door open, she was faced with the sound of people, and she was brought back to reality again. She was surprised how large the room was compared to the outside as she walked down the stairs to enter the bar fully. There were at least five different areas with two couches and a lounge chair surrounding wooden tables. Half of the people she could see were wearing black jackets, the Cantil snake symbol on the back.
Through the yelling and sounds of bottles smashing, Mykie didn't hear the laughing and footsteps behind her until an arm was swung over her shoulder. She cringed and looked up at the one holding onto her. There were two other guys, but the one near her was the obvious leader of their group.
He had scruffy blonde hair, long enough that it reached his shoulders. He appeared to be in Mykie's age-group, which was old enough to know not to pick random fights or approach girls without permission. He was almost double the size of Mykie and definitely had more muscle than the tiny girl.
"Hey, it's the girl Chance has been hyping up." He paused, looking her up and down. "You think you've got what it takes to be a Cantil, Princess?"
The room had quieted, and it almost fell to a standstill as Mykie looked at all the faces waiting for her next move.
"I don't want to fight," she murmured, pulling out from under his arm.
He tsked. "Not so fast, Princess.”
He grabbed her by the shoulder, keeping her in place. "You aren't going to get away that easily. Show me what you got, and maybe I'll let you show me a good time. If you're still alive in the end, that is."
Mykie gasped. Did he just imply...
Her nostrils flared, and her fists clenched. "Take that back."
"What? You're a pretty girl," he murmured, a sly smile on his lips. He stepped forward and lifted a strand of her hair before looking at her again. "Pretty enough to suck my c—"
Mykie slapped him before he could finish his sentence.
"You're disgusting," she bit out.
The boy had turned his face with her slap, but his hand didn't drop the strand of hair between his fingers. He grabbed a fistful and yanked her head to the side.
"That wasn't very nice," he muttered. "You should say you're sorry."
Mykie smirked, grabbing a fistful of his own long locks and pulling his head the same way he pulled hers. "Good thing I'm not nice, then."
From there, it devolved into a fight as fists started to fly. The room picked up in the volume again, picking a side and setting bets on who would win: Jered Andrews—one of the few teenagers in the Cantils—or the ashy blonde girl who thought she was good enough to join a gang of rabid men.
“Andrews! Andrews!” Almost the entire male crowd cheered as Jered attempted to pin her to the ground and beat the living shit out of her without damaging her completely. After all, women were weak and pushovers, and wouldn't last in a fight beyond a few punches, right?
“Just quit already, girlie!” One guy screamed once Jered started to knock her around even harder than before. She got onto her feet again with a kick to his stomach and a hard push.
“Yeah! You’re wasting our time. Andrews will kill you!”
There was a loud uproar of cheering at the second guy’s words. It was possible that Andrews would beat her, considering that she was half his size. He almost had her pinned, too, if wasn't for the voice that cut through all the yelling.
