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Prologue
All of our dreams were coming true, and I still didn’t know how to feel about it. While we had the papers to prove that it was happening, a part of me was still waiting for someone to jump out from the shadows and tell us all that it was just one big joke.
It was incredible to think about how we were all finally going to get out of Hammond, Illinois, and though our demons were also coming along for the ride, getting out of this fucked-up town and away from our fucked-up families was a start.
I glanced over at Orion, and I couldn’t imagine how the guy felt. He was the only one with a sibling that was going to be left behind while we chased our dreams, and if I felt like I was going to throw up every time that I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine how he felt. Luckily, Nova was tough, or else we’d all stay, leaving our dreams for another life.
Especially, Sebastian.
“This fucking sucks,” I announced, making Raven laugh.
“No shit,” Sebastian agreed.
In an amazing turn of events, we’d discovered that we all possessed some athletic skill that was sending us to college, scattering us all over the country. Best friends since kindergarten, I had no idea how I was going to move forward without these guys at my side. Since I could remember, Sebastian Havoc, Atlas Braylon, Raven King, Orion Knight, Nova Knight, and I had all been best friends. We saw each other every day, and if a day had ever gone by when I hadn’t seen all or one of them, I couldn’t remember it.
Sebastian was going to college for baseball, Orion was going to college for basketball, Atlas was going to college for hockey, Raven was going to college for football, and I was going to college for soccer. So, with all of us excelling in different sports, we were all headed to different colleges.
It really did fucking suck.
Sitting on the rooftop of Sebastian’s house, Atlas took a drink of his beer before saying, “It’ll be fine. We’ll get through college, and once we’re in the pros and making some real money, we’ll be able to visit each other all the time.”
“Provided we can stay out of trouble long enough to make it to the pros,” Orion added dryly, but we all understood his negativity.
“No sweat,” I said encouragingly, and four heads turned my way. My brows rose. “What?”
“Dude, you were ten seconds away from being a teenage father,” Raven reminded me. “It’s not us who have the problem staying out of trouble.”
Trisha fucking Rimes.
Yeah, it was only a pregnancy scare if the girl was actually pregnant, but Trisha’s little scheme had been enough to scare me straight. In fact, I was pretty sure that all the guys were scared of girls now because of what Trisha had tried to pull.
I just grinned. “And I learned my lesson. No babies over here.”
“Look, we still have the summer together,” Sebastian pointed out. “It’s not like we’re saying goodbye tomorrow or anything.”
There was a comfortable silence as we all drank our cheap beer, moments like this one that made me grateful that Sebastian’s parents were so neglectful. Yeah, that wasn’t a good thing in the scheme of things, but it allowed us these private moments, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. My real family was on this roof with me, minus Nova, and I knew that the guys felt the same way. Our shitty childhood had bonded us in a way that I’d give up everything that I had if one of these guys ever needed me; fuck the rest of it.
“Pros or no pros, we stay family,” Raven insisted, always the father-figure of our group. “Money, schedules, women, fame…none of it comes between us. None of it becomes more important than this right here.”
“Fuck yeah,” I agreed.
“Amen,” Orion added.
“Nothing and no one,” Sebastian vowed.
“The five of us and Nova,” Atlas swore.
Yeah, no matter what the future held for us, there wasn’t a force strong enough on this planet or any other that could ever break us apart, and I believed that with all my heart.
Chapter 1
Titan~
The thunderous noise was rocking the stadium, but I was used to it. I had learned early on how to compartmentalize, so I was an expert at drowning out outside noise or distractions. No matter how loud the world around me became, I knew how to focus without sacrificing a goddamn thing.
Growing up in Hammond, Illinois, compartmentalizing had been a necessity for survival. Had it not been for my four best friends-five if you counted Nova-I would have probably ended up stuck in Hammond, working two or three jobs just to get by, or I would have ended up in prison. It was hard to escape poverty when it came with a side dish of abuse.
We’d all had our own brand of demons growing up, some darker than others. However, by the grace of God, the five of us had also managed to get out of Hammond, creating a life that had never seemed possible at one time.
