Hannaford Prep: The Complete Series

by J. Bree

Once upon a time, a young girl finds herself orphaned and at a group house. Another kid takes her under his wing. He protects her and cares for her for an entire year. She is lost and hungry, but she thinks someday she will know what it means to be happy. And then one day he tells her he’s named her in the Game. She doesn’t know what that means, but he tells her it’s the only way she will ever be safe and free. So, she learns. She learns how to fight. She learns how to disappear. She learns how to make others disappear. And then she competes. She is broken beyond repair. She will never run again. She is covered in scars. She can’t sleep at night, she can’t bear the sound of her own voice, she sleeps with a knife, she startles at every sound, she’s scared of what hides in the shadows, she can’t breathe— She wins. She is crowned the Wolf. She could become a leader. Have a gang of her own, make millions, live an untouchable life. She goes to school instead. Gets a scholarship. Disappears. Tries to forget all the things she did to get to where she is. She does forget, most of the time. She forgets until the Jackal calls her home.

“I don't have friends either. I want one, and I want one as fierce as you.”

I don’t want random hot guys. I want a mobster’s son with the face of an angel and the rap sheet of a street kid. I want the singer with a soft heart wrapped in barbs and trip wires of devastating wit to keep it safe. I want the billionaire’s unwanted son with eyes of ice and an endless love for his sister.

“Harlow, if you’re going to speak to us can you please put on some underwear? I can see your gaping vagina trailing down your thighs from here.”

Again, I adore this girl so fiercely I wish I were a lesbian and I could lock this shit down.

Harley stalks over to me and grabs the shirts I’m holding and throws them on my bed. “Maybe it matters because I’m fucking worried about you. Maybe it matters because if someone is threatening you I want to know about it. Maybe I take this friendship pretty fucking seriously. You gave up a diamond for me.”

“His family runs in a lot of the same circles as the Jackal and others. The only Twelve members who stay out of the lower society dealings are the Crow, the Tiger, and the Lynx.”

“The Crow deals in information. The type of information you deal in, I’ve always guessed that he’s the bastard son of a big player or a governor or something. The Tiger is a lawyer. He’s actually a decent guy, dirty as they come but he makes bank by digging people out of shit. He’s married, got kids, lives a white picket life while being a member of a criminal institution. It’s fucking weird.”

“The Lynx?” Avery takes a gulp of her drink and I remember I have mine to drink as well. “She’s a mafia princess. Well, queen I guess, she’s in her fifties. Her family has always had a member in the Twelve and when her father died, both her brothers were locked up and couldn’t enter into the Game so she did. She was the first woman to win it. Her brothers both despise that she’s their representative. They can’t touch her because of her power and they have to run all of their business decisions past her. It’s hilarious.”

“The Boar runs the imports and exports, the Viper is a bookie, the Bear does cleanups and party drugs, the Fox runs parties of all kinds, the Ox runs protection and enforcing, the Coyote is the tech guy, and the Vulture sells skin.”

“The Jackal does everything. Drugs, guns, extortion, kidnapping, fucking everything. He’s a gang leader, through and through. And the Wolf… is invisible. Collects things. Does things no one else wants to do and the stuff no one else can do. I’m good at not being seen.”

I choke on my toast and try to snatch the laptop away from him when I see what exactly he’s picking. “I do not fucking need corsets, suspender belts, or a crotchless bodysuit!” Ash raises an eyebrow at me. “How very vanilla of you. All cotton granny panties then?”

Blaise looks up from the floor at us. “Someone is stealing your underwear?” “Her used underwear,” says Ash. Harley looks at me incredulously. “Are you a magnet for fucked up shit and psychos?” Avery laughs. “Why yes, Arbour, she is.”

“I hear drinking the blood of your enemies helps with PMS. I’ll ask Ash to bring us a gallon.”

It's only in the black light that you can see the ink that covers me. The skeletal structure I've had tattooed to my skin, the jaw opening wide etched in my cheeks with vicious teeth. Every inch of my body is covered in the whorls and arches that imitate the pelt. The black light shows that underneath the human facade I wear the truth of who I am. The Wolf.

“Secret girls’ business,” says Avery in her most innocent voice. He rolls his eyes at her. “With the two of you that could be anything from pairing the correct shoes with an outfit to plotting the murder of a filthy-rich senator for your own gain.”

“I'm weird. I wear guys’ shirts and sweaters with booty shorts and skirts. I listen to the same three albums on repeat. I like French toast, coffee, and cherry anything. I don't function my birthday or Christmas. I can kill a grown man eight different ways with nothing but my bare hands. I’m never going to be normal.”

“I won't get out of bed before the coffee machine is on. I hate blues music and listen to Vanth as religiously as you do. I run track because it makes me feel like I'm dying and sometimes I need to feel like that. I miss my mom and I hate my father. My brother is trying to kill me and my father is taking bets on how long it’ll take him to succeed. Finding Joey standing over Avery's lifeless body broke something in me that I don't think I'll ever be able to fix. I’m a bigger monster than you because I don't give a fuck who you've killed or why you did it. In fact, from here on out I’m helping you bury the bodies.”

Avery pouts as she carefully packs the diamonds back into the safe. “I don't want boring old diamonds. I want priceless, blood-soaked, favor diamonds.”

Harley scoffs and whispers in my ear, “Stop looking at her like you want to fuck her; you’ll give us all a complex.” I quirk an eyebrow at him. “If we both swung that way, we’d be fucking married by now. I would have wifed her ass last year.”

“Promise me you won’t let Avery cut my dick off.” I blink at him, but it’s too dark to really see if he’s being serious. “What?” “I sent her a text so she would stay back at our room with Ash and Harley, and we could have the room to ourselves all night. She’s just messaged to say she knew I’d be the one to christen her knife. Mounty, I can’t live without my dick.”

“You’ll always be the Wolf. And we’ll always be yours.”

“I’ve never given anyone the power to break me. Harley is… on paper, he’s the worst choice for me. He’s a mobster’s son. He’s from the Bay. He’s lived in the world that has tried to kill me every fucking day of my life. He’s a killer; he has that darkness in him that every single man in my life so far has used to hurt me. Trying to get away from that life means he’s the worst option. But he’s… a part of me. It goes so far beyond having my heart. Hearts can be broken, torn out, fucking burned. Harley owns a part of my soul and, if he wanted to, he could destroy me in ways Matteo never fucking could. They all do, Aves. It’s why I couldn’t fucking choose in that bathroom back when you asked me because how do I choose between the parts of my soul?”

“I’ve never wanted to keep someone before. I’ve never wanted someone like I want you. I get it, I don’t want to think about someone else touching you either, but you’re mine. I promise you no one else will ever fucking touch me again.”

He strokes my hair back with his colorful hands, the stars moving and flexing on his fingers like they’re alive. “I don’t need to avenge you. I need to follow you down to the Jackal’s fucked-up den then watch you slit his throat until he chokes to death on his own blood. I need to watch you get your justice, and your freedom, because it’s not mine to take away from you.”

“Knowing I can use all of the twisted, fucked-up shit my family has taught me to keep you safe… well, I feel a little less fucked up because of it. Knowing that it turns you on is just icing on the fucking cake.”

A car engine roars to life, and Ash snarls at me, “You aren’t fucking expendable. You’re nonnegotiable. You’re everything I’ve ever fucking wanted and needed, and you’re trying to get yourself killed.”

I swipe my cheeks and clear my throat. “I love you, Ash. I love you, and I won’t ever let this man touch you again. That’s the line I’m drawing. I can do this.” He groans then snaps, “I’m not saying it over the phone. You’ll stay alive so I can say it to your face.”

“Tell Harley and Blaise I’m sorry too. Tell them I love them and tell Avery I love her too, that she’s the best fucking thing that ever happened to me. That being her friend has been the greatest fucking honor and if I die, she’s worth it. You all made this entire fucked up life of mine… worth it.” I rip the phone away from my ear before I can hear his reply, ending the call and shoving it in my pocket before I break down completely.