Moments That Define Us (ebook)

Chapter One

Jack

Four months after graduating high school.

I wanted to freeze the moment in time, fearing that it would be our last. I threaded my hands through Jenni’s long, silky hair, wrapping the dark strands around my fist then releasing them to fan over the pillow. I shifted, bracing myself on my forearm so my weight wasn’t crushing her. My gaze traced every inch of her, from her cute chin to her pixie nose and finally to her big almond eyes. God, she was gorgeous. I brushed my fingers along the curve of her heart-shaped face, and my heart thudded against my ribcage. She’d had that effect on me from the first time we met, a little over a year before.

The first time I saw her in high school, I knew she would be mine. If it hadn’t been for her brother’s determination to keep us apart, I would have had everything I wanted.

Her lips were still swollen from my kisses. Not able to resist her, I closed the distance between us and brushed mine against hers again. I nipped at the plump bottom one, and she groaned. Her mouth parted, and I deepened the caress, our tongues tangling together. It was always the same—I lost myself in her. She was an island of pleasure away from an existence of uncertainty and pain. Minutes passed as we made out, and I wanted badly to go for another round beneath the sheets with her.

Her hands splayed against my chest, and the gentle push caused me to break our kiss and give her the space she was asking for. Her flushed cheeks belied the subtle change in her demeanor. I knew what she was going to say and hated our current fate.

“I have to go.”

Anger swirled in my gut. “Stay with me tonight. It’s Friday, and there’s no school tomorrow.” I dropped my hand to her hip and felt the bone that seemed to protrude even more than the last time we were together. She was losing more weight, and she couldn’t afford to.

A year younger than me, she was in her last year of high school. It’d been easier when we were both there. At least I was able to see her every day. I’d been out for a few months, but it was September, and she was back in school.

Jenni scooted out from under me and grabbed her discarded T-shirt from the floor. “I wish I could, but Rex has been breathing down my neck lately. I need to be home this weekend. Especially after last time.” She sighed and rearranged her lips into a sad smile. “I know you want to protect me, Jack, but he’s my brother. It’ll be okay. Really.”

I paused in the process of putting my shirt on, the sleeves stretched over my forearms. Her older brother, Rex, had dropped out of school before Jenni and I met. He’s an ass. Every muscle in my body tensed in an unnatural stillness. “What exactly do you mean, ‘especially after last time’?”

The pretty pink color in her cheeks faded fast, and her eyes widened. “Oh no. It’s nothing bad. I swear.” As she spoke, she laid her palm flat on my chest. “Jimmy totally covered for me.”

I flipped the shirt over my head and pulled it down, momentarily breaking our gaze. When the shirt cleared my line of sight, I studied her reaction.

“Rex was suspicious. He wanted to know where I’d been last Friday night. I guess one of his guys saw Laura out with a group of our friends, so he knew I was lying.”

An angry tic pulsed along my jaw as I worked to come down off the ledge of fury. Rex was a huge problem. He led the 19th Street gang that ran adjacent to our territory. Mike and I had fought for the ground we called our home in a relentless battle against Rex’s crew. My old high school was smack dab in the middle. Even so, the guys and I tried to watch over the walkers who had to navigate from school to home.

We called ourselves the Defenders, and we were a street crew forged from shared experiences and a determination to survive. Our worst offenses were stealing, pickpocketing, or some light breaking and entering. We tried to keep that stuff to a minimum.

We were a family—Mike, Hawk, Keegan, Chris, Trev, and I. Living in an abandoned warehouse in the slums of San Francisco, we’d banded together with a common goal: survival. In each other, we’d found what we had been missing, or what had been taken from us: a home, a family, and loyalty.

She quickly added, “But Jimmy vouched for me and said he knew I wasn’t with you because he was scoping out your place.”

I almost sagged in relief. Because of his dreadlocks and a laid-back personality, we’d nicknamed him Rasta Jimmy. He was a stoner and wasn’t all that bad, basically deadweight in Rex’s industry. With the lure of free weed, Jimmy’s choice was a no-brainer. All that was required of him was to keep tabs on the ever-changing tide of possible recruits and whoever Rex wanted him to get info on. Basically, Rex used him as a snitch.

Thankfully, Jimmy had a soft spot for Jenni, but I didn’t know how long that would last. The problem was, I’d heard Rex was dealing dusted weed lately, pot laced with PCP. Even worse, he was also dealing OxyContin and was in talks with a dealer about joining forces, expanding territory, and pushing heroin.

And her friend Laura… I wasn’t crazy about her. Laura was a hard-core party girl, and when she was high, she didn’t care about anything except her next fix. I didn’t trust her with Jenni, but she was a way for Jenni to escape Rex’s watchful eye. She used Laura as an excuse to see me more often than not, so there was that.

I couldn’t do much in that moment. We finished dressing in the drafty bedroom I called home, the only room on the second floor with a door. It used to be an old office. We’d found mattresses and some old futons people threw out and grabbed them to furnish our house.

Jenni brushed her fingers along my hand, and I laced mine with hers. Together, we left the haven we’d shared for the past few hours and made our way to the industrial, open-backed stairs.

It was a roof over our heads, and I was goddamn thankful for it. There was nothing worse than living on the streets. The months I’d endured after my parents died had been hell. But I’d been one of the lucky ones. My parents had loved me. I visually tracked Mike as he went into the kitchen. At least he hadn’t spent a solid year with no place to call home, as I had.

We were two of many unfortunate teens. The forgotten. The abused. The used.

The sound of laughter echoed off the barren warehouse walls. Halfway down, we could see Chris and his brother Trevor lounging on the worn couch, their feet up on the cracked coffee table, playing video games and grinning like idiots. It was home.

The fifth stair creaked, as it always did, when Jenni stepped on it. Trev looked up, and a grin curved his mouth. “Hey, Jen.”

I felt her relax and smiled at the sweet laugh that followed. “Hi, Trev. Chris.”

Chris looked up and grunted. It was an improvement. The brothers were going through a shitty time, and Mike and I tried to help. There wasn’t anything we could do about their home life, as they still lived there—most nights. That was tougher than staying at the warehouse, as their dad liked to use them as punching bags.

At the front door, I tugged on her wrist until she faced me. She laid her hand on my chest again. God, I loved when she did that. It was such a simple touch, but it amplified the connection—the commitment—we had for one another.

“I love you,” she whispered.

I dropped my hands to her waist and anchored her to me as her palms crept up to wrap around my neck. “Let me walk you home or at least to the border.”

Sadness darkened her dove-gray eyes just as the sound of a car with its radio blaring pulled up. “Laura is here. She’s going to take me back. Someday, we’ll have an entirely different life.” She unwound her hands, and mine fell from her hips. “Then we’ll have every day and night to spend together.”

As she turned and walked out the door, I felt her words pierce my heart, causing a hairline fracture. Every time she left, I worried it would be our last time together.

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