Trace Rooks has fallen irrevocably in love with the son of her family's sworn rival, and she knows in her bones nothing can tear them apart. Until Nix suddenly pushes her away and into the arms of his best friend… But Trace isn't ready to give up on a future with Nix–and if he won't fight for them, she will.
“A pact?” I sniffled and turned to him. “What kind of pact?”
“One that’s forever. One that protects people rather than hurts them.”
“How do we do that?” I was suddenly interested. What if I could make all the hurt go away?
What if I could save everyone!
“We do this.” Chase pulled out his pocketknife and cut open his hand, then nodded to me to do
the same thing. Without pausing I cut open my hand and handed back the knife. “Blood brothers. We’re
never gonna hurt each other and we’re gonna save those like your ma, Nixon. Ones who can’t save
themselves. We’re going to protect them.”
“How?” I watched as the blood dripped from my open palm.
“Rules.” Chase shrugged. “They keep people safe, right? At least that’s what my mom says.” He
smiled. “We make rules and we start our own club. That way, we don’t have to listen to anyone but us.”
I liked it. I chewed on my lower lip. “What do we call ourselves?”
“The chosen?” Chase offered.
“No, that sounds lame. We have to sound… more powerful than that.”
My eyes flickered to the road, and a sign poked into the ground. It said election. “Elect.” I
pointed. “Let’s call ourselves The Elect.” It made sense; after all, the president was elected, wasn’t he?
We weren’t exactly chosen, but we were making the choice, we were electing ourselves protectors.
That’s what we were.
“Who else can join?” Chase asked.
“Tex and Phoenix. They’ll want to.” A weight suddenly felt like it was being lifted off my twelve-
year-old shoulders. “Should we shake on it?”
“Yeah.” Chase smashed his hand against mine as our blood mixed. “No going back, Nixon.”
“No.” I shook my head. “No going back.”
I pressed my fingers to my temples and watched, replaying that moment over and over again in
my head as the outline of Chase and Tracey flickered in the moonlight. Would he really do this to me?
After all the shit we’d been through?
I gauged her reaction, hoping that I would be wrong. Praying to God that Trace would just this
once listen to me. Her eyes flickered with interest for a few brief seconds before she looked down at the
“Shit.” I waited in the shadows. A part of me knew this would happen. The part that told me to
damn my feelings to hell and ignore all the warning signs that I’d been seeing. But now it seemed like it
was too late. I stayed, planted where I was, watching, waiting.
“Chase, you can’t…” Trace shook her head. “You can’t be like this. We can’t do this!”
“We aren’t doing anything,” Chase said in low tones, reaching for Trace’s hand. “Don’t you?” He
looked directly at me, although all he saw was a shadow. I knew I was well hidden. “Don’t you feel the
same way?”
Trace jerked her hand away from Chase’s. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. It’s not about me,
“But it is.” Chase reached for her again. This time her hand grasped his in such an intimate
embrace I thought I was going to vomit all over the ground. The outside air was cold as hell as little
pieces of ice tried to find their way into my wool coat.
“It isn’t.” Trace sighed. “It never was.”
Chase jerked her toward him. She fell against his chest and looked up into his eyes. “What are
you doing?”
Chase sighed. “What I should have done a long time ago.” He grabbed the back of her head and
pulled her in for a kiss. Their lips touched.
I had to look away.
The only sound in the night was that of my soft footsteps as I walked away… leaving my heart in
broken pieces where I’d last stood. She was lost to me; it wasn’t even the Sicilians that had taken her,
but my best friend.
A gunshot rang out loud and clear in the night air. I turned back around just in time to see Trace
collapse into Chase’s arms.
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