Without looking at Donnie, she walked down the alleyway taking her away from him and through to the school. Behind her, she heard him curse. She didn’t look back, only going forward.
The walk to school was uneventful after she dodged Donnie. She made it into the school building with five minutes to spare. Once she went to her locker, she made her way toward homeroom.
Sitting at a seat in the back near the windows, she tried to forget about her stepbrother. She wasn’t going to start looking for him in the hallways or making excuses to spend extra time with him.
Paige wasn’t an idiot. Something didn’t add up to her.
Her father disappeared five years ago, and now her mother was moving in with one of the men who had the mafia rumor running rampant around him.
There was no way her mother could be that stupid. Paige refused to believe it. Sitting at the window gave her the perfect view of the parking lot. The moment Donnie entered with his three friends, had her tensing in her seat.
“I heard he doesn’t screw anyone younger than him,” Chantelle said.
Paige pulled away from the view of the parking lot to see who Chantelle was talking to. She was talking to Leanne, and they were both popular girls and wore expensive clothes that matched their status.
Glancing back toward the parking lot she watched as Donnie rested on the hood of his car talking to Tonio, Luiz, and Jake. The four guys were inseparable. She’d seen them marching up and down the school halls as if they owned the place, and knowing them, they did.
“None of the Mafia clan does, Chan. It’s not your fault. Donnie will notice you in time. Every guy will notice you,” Leanne said.
Closing her eyes, Paige leaned forward resting on her arms. The day before yesterday Donnie Martinez didn’t even register on her radar. Now, he seemed to be everywhere. The bell hadn’t rung yet, and so far she wanted this day to be over. Just over two years until she could walk out of the door without looking back. She’d miss her mother, but there was no way she’d be spending any more time than necessary with the Martinez gang.
“I’ve heard he’s got a big cock and he likes to go all night,” Chantelle said.
“Then he’s nothing like Rob.”
The two girls giggled between themselves.
Paige was still a virgin and didn’t see much of the humor that Chantelle and Leanne did. The moment the bell rang, silence fell on the classroom, and Paige was happy to be taken out of her worries and think about something more important.
With great grades, she wouldn’t have to worry about her future, not one bit.
****
“So, what are we expecting? Do you think we’ll have some underage bitches running towards us?” Luiz asked as they entered the school hall. The bell had already rung, and Donnie didn’t bother to stop at his locker. They were graduating in a couple of months, and the principal was on the books with his father. The Martinez family paid a lot of money to keep the school running. In return, the faculty looked the other way.
“Who is your stepsister anyway?” Jake asked.
Out of all four of them, Jake was the only one who wasn’t part of The Family. Donnie considered him a friend, while his father considered him the bodyguard. Anthony expected Jake to jump in front of a bullet for Donnie.
In Donnie’s mind, he’d take a bullet for any of his friends. They were the next generation of The Family while Jake would forever remain a soldier, only fit to serve as nothing more than a loyal dog. Donnie intended to change that. First, he needed to take the seat of power along with Luiz and Tonio.
They all had plans, and not all of them revolved around the traditional convention that forced daughters to marry older men to serve the peace.
Luiz’s sister, Maria, was married to a man twenty years older, who beat her, all in the name of helping the alliance with different families in different cities. The truth was, women were sold like cattle in The Family. Donnie was going to change that. He didn’t want to have to stand through another meeting while watching Maria flinch away from every raised hand. She was a year older than all of them, had been married six months, and suffered a lifetime of hell during that time.
Donnie wasn’t in love with Maria. She was a sister to him, and he’d do whatever he could to help her.
“Her name is Paige Jones.”
“Never heard of her before,” Tonio said. “Is she pretty?”
“She’s got raven hair, blue eyes, and is on the chunky side for modern high school bullshit. From what I’ve seen, she’s pretty much ignored even though some guys would love to fuck her, even if they’re called chubby chasers.” Jake filled them all in on Paige.