Chapter 1
The New Kid
Bash
No one wanted to be the new kid on the first day of high school their senior year. The hierarchy had already been established. The pecking order already in place. Friendships and groups are already solidified and locked together with unbreakable bonds, tested by the previous three years of torture and drudgery. There was no room for the new kid, no place for him to fit, and no one was going out of their way to make room in their precious inner circles.
I was a professional new kid. I changed cities and schools like it was my job. I was way past worrying about where I might fit in, and if I would ever find the people in the crowded halls who would accept me and take me in. I wore my loner status like armor. Somewhere between the fifth and sixth school my sophomore year, I realized all the schools, and the people in them, were the same; the only thing that changed was the building.
And me.
I changed with each new rejection, and with every single lunch spent alone. I was already lonely and disenchanted; high school didn’t have anything to do with that. That’s what happened when you were nothing more than an afterthought to the people who brought you into the world. The constant moving around, the never-ending need to adapt and adjust, only served to make me feel more isolated and abandoned. After school number nine, I decided I was going to fully commit to be the outcast everyone saw me as.
I got tattoos. It was easy enough, even though I was underage. All I had to do was flash some cash around, and I got all the ink I wanted. I’m covered from head to toe. My arms are decorated from shoulder to fingertip. My chest has a swirling mural that crawls up and decorates either side of my neck. I thought my parents might complain, but as usual, they didn’t notice. They looked right through me. I’ve pierced more adventurous places than my ears. I started wearing all black everything, including the battered combat boots I rarely bothered to tie. I had them on now with my new, ridiculously starched and bland school uniform. It was something I never would have been caught dead in, but I asked for this when I fought to attend this school. I was going to wear the stupid button-up shirt and striped tie with pride. I was going to keep the idiotic black blazer on, even though it was itchy as hell and made me feel like I should be announcing golf or bowling on TV.
This year, I’d put my foot down. No more moving. No more jumping from place to place. No flashbulbs blinding me every time I walked outside. I wanted to spend my entire senior year in one spot. I wanted a chance to study and get good grades. I wanted to nail my SAT and get into a good college. I wanted a goddamn minute to breathe, and I wasn’t going to get that being treated like a piece of luggage by dear ol’ Mom and Dad. I told them I wasn’t going to Paris. I wasn’t going to pack my shit and move to another country again. And I wasn’t starting a new school. I was almost eighteen, and they couldn’t make me.
My tantrum was epic and went mostly ignored until I forced them to pay attention. A little vandalism. A little breaking-and-entering. A stolen car or two. Getting busted with some weed—which I took from my dad—and they finally realized I was serious, or they figured I was more trouble than I was worth. Either way, I now had a pretty impressive criminal record, but I was also enrolled in one of the most elite private schools in the whole damn country. The school I wanted to attend.
Castle Pines is an all-boys boarding school located outside the opulence and beauty known as Aspen, Colorado. The school was an acclaimed institution in circles that had more money than God. Typically, there was a waiting list for admission, but things like that didn’t apply to people like my parents. Mom and Dad didn’t know how to show their love by any regular means. They figured a rushed enrollment and acceptance, accompanied by a big, fat check that paid for a year of tuition, was good enough. They dropped me at the door and then boarded a private jet for France the same day. I doubted I would hear from them until graduation, unless one of them did something stupid and got caught. Then I would hear plenty from them.
If it was hard fitting in at any other school, it was nearly impossible at this one. Since it was a boys-only campus, there was a weird tension and level of competitiveness in the air I hadn’t experienced at any of the other schools I’d passed through. I thought it was the lack of girls— it made all the boys act and appear extra macho and tough. Frankly, the level of testosterone was enough to make me gag and roll my eyes on a repeated basis. I wasn’t about swinging my dick around to prove it was bigger than the next guy’s. No, I had much better ideas for the use of my dick. Namely getting it in as many cute, willing boys as possible before I bounced from whatever school and city I was in. But I wasn’t here to impress, or to get laid. I didn’t need to stand out—that was new for me.
I was here for my future and a road that would take me to freedom. That’s it. I wanted out.
I was also the only guy wandering around the hallowed halls sporting any kind of body modification. I’d lost count of how many students—and teachers—had done double-takes as I made my way from one class to another. My calculus teacher even went so far to ask if I was sure I was in the right place, even though I had the dumb Castle Pines blazer on with the clearly identifiable crest of the school on the left side of my chest.
I’d never spent enough time in one place to belong before. At Castle Pines, there wasn’t enough time in the world for me to fit in with all the perfectly molded Ken dolls.
Seriously, the majority of my classmates were carbon copies of each other. Tall, blond, and sporting athletic builds, every one of them could have stepped out of an Abercrombie ad. They looked like Stepford sons in their matching uniforms, with identical sneers of disdain on their faces as they caught sight of me. The automatic judgment would have bothered me if I wasn’t so used to it. I wasn’t one of them, and I didn’t want to be. I didn’t think they could fathom my disinterest.
They were the sons of movie stars and rock gods. They were the offspring of politicians and major political players. They were the children of MVPs and all-stars. They belonged to the best of the best, and I looked like I’d crawled out from a gutter somewhere, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. I had the same advantages as them, the same pedigree. My father was an Oscar-winning director, and my mother was a former supermodel. They were world-famous. Their whirlwind romance had made headlines, mostly because my mother ended up pregnant with me while my dad was still married to his third wife. My parents were both beautiful and sought after by many. The limelight loved them, and they loved it back. Something neither of them had ever managed to do with me. I could play the do-you-know-who-I-am game as well as the next guy, but I never did. I didn’t let who my parents were define me. They weren’t a big enough part of my life to have much impact.
I was simply Sebastian Lowell, Bash to the few who knew me best. I was a reformed petty criminal and future bestselling author. I was so much more than Arianna and Damon Lowell’s troubled and problematic son.
It was right after lunch and I’d spent it alone, as usual. I had my headphones on and was winding my way through the identical masses toward my locker, when I decided to make a pit stop, swinging into one of the elegantly designed bathrooms. There was nothing low rent or cheap about this school tucked away high in the Colorado mountains.
Castle Pines was an old, former estate of the family who had owned the property for generations and had turned it into a boarding school a million years ago. Everything in the stately building was top-of-the-line, and as high end as it could get. Even the food in the dining hall was something you would find in a five-star restaurant. There were no cracked mirrors or graffiti on these walls. Nope, the bathroom was Carrara marble and teak. The mirrors were framed in silver, and I was sure the soap was imported from France.
My parents’ money was well spent. However, all I wanted was a quiet place I could sneak a puff on the last joint I’d smuggled in from California and hide away from the army of Ken dolls for five minutes. As first days went, this wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t the best, either. This school was the cream of the crop, and if I wanted to use it as a launching pad to something bigger and better, there would be no half measures allowed. I was used to coasting and barely applying myself because I knew I would be gone within a few months, but that would get me nowhere while I was here.
I reached to push the stainless-steel door open and pulled up short when a beefy arm suddenly thrust across the doorway in front of me. The guy the arm belonged to was massive. Twice as big as the rest of the dudes walking around and filling the hallways. He had a solid six inches on me and probably a good fifty pounds. I was no delicate waif or string bean, but this monster made me feel small and frail. He had shaggy black hair that hung over brilliant blue eyes, and a sneer that rivaled mine in its ferocity. He said something I didn’t hear because of my headphones. When I blinked at him stupidly because he wasn’t letting me into the bathroom, he narrowed his eyes at me and pushed the noise-canceling device from my ears to rest on my shoulders.
“It’s occupied. Find another one to use.” His voice was a deep rumble that didn’t sound like it should be coming out of a teenager’s mouth. Nothing about this monster screamed awkward adolescence.
“Dude, come on. I know it’s fun to give the new kid a hard time, but I gotta take a piss, and I don’t want to be late for class. My teachers already hate me.” It wasn’t a total exaggeration. I didn’t need to give the teaching staff any more reason to doubt I belonged here with the other overachievers.
“I’m not giving you a hard time because you’re new. I’m telling you how it is. Every day after lunch, this bathroom is off limits. Find another one. They’re all nice.” His arm was back as a barrier, blue eyes laser focused on me. He was intimidating as hell, but I had skin way thicker than most and wasn’t about to get pushed around on my first day. It set a precedent. If you appeared weak from the get-go, no one ever saw you as anything but.
I cocked my head to the side and lifted an eyebrow. “I’ll be quick. I promise.”
“No. No one goes in.” He bit the words off with a growl, and I noticed no one else seemed to think it was odd that a barbarian was guarding the only bathroom in this hallway with his life. The students passing by in the hallway were purposely giving this area a wide berth and avoiding the space altogether. It was strange, but then again, all private schools had weird quirks you eventually learned.
“Okay then. I guess I’ll just be on my way.” I raised my hands like I was putting my headphones back over my ears.
The behemoth nodded and shifted his gaze to somewhere over my head. I turned like I was going to make my merry way back down the hall, waiting for him to drop his tree trunk of an arm. As soon as the coast was clear, I gave him the same grin I gave the cops when they pulled me over for joyriding in a Bentley I’d borrowed from one of my dad’s leading actors. I knew I was going to regret the decision later, but in that moment, all I could think of was that I wasn’t letting this massive, beautiful boy tell me what I could and couldn’t do. No one was allowed to do that. It was a byproduct of growing up without a single rule or punishment enforced by anyone who was supposed to be in charge of me.
I darted past his bulk and shoved a shoulder into the door. There was a heavy thump as bone met a hard, immovable object, accompanied by a shout as the hulking guy blocking my way reached for me. I wasn’t necessarily small, but I was fast. I spent too much time outrunning the cops and bad situations not to be. I dodged his reaching hand easily enough and tumbled into the dimly lit bathroom.
Once I was inside, I pushed the door shut and leaned my back against it, panting with the exertion of keeping it closed with all that muscle and anger pushing from the outside. I didn’t have a plan beyond getting my way and putting the brute in his place. I didn’t have time to toke before class, even though my racing heart could use a hit or two to mellow it out.
I struggled to catch my breath and come up with a plan now that I was trapped in the palatial bathroom. Sometimes I was too impulsive for my own good. Okay, I was too impulsive for my own good all the time. Again, it was something I happily blamed on lack of parenting.
Suddenly, it became glaringly obvious the bathroom was already occupied. It also became embarrassingly clear why there was someone outside the door preventing anyone from coming in.
There were two guys in the bathroom. One was leaning against the middle sink, pants unbuttoned, shirt lifted slightly above his washboard abs, while the other guy was on his knees doing his best to swallow his cock. The guy on his knees didn’t notice my intrusion, sucking and gulping for all he was worth, his eyes wide and gazing up at the other guy with undisguised adoration. The guy getting his dick sucked had turned and was watching me with narrowed eyes, his expression scarily indifferent, considering the awkwardness of the situation.
The guy who had been standing guard outside the door was beautiful in a wild, wicked kind of way. The twink on his knees was adorable, even with his mouth stuffed full and his face flushed beet-red. But the guy leaning against the sink was something else. He was what perfect would be if perfect were embodied in a person. Perfectly styled blond hair, not a strand out of place. Impeccably sculpted cheekbones and a jawline created for modeling and selling expensive shit no one needed; a defined a face too gorgeous for words. His eyes were a clear, sharp gray-blue that cut through the awkwardness in the room and pinned me in place. They looked like the sky on a bitter cold, winter day.
The door behind me bounced, and I ran a hand over my suddenly hot face. “Shit.” The word slipped out without me meaning it to, startling the kid hovering over what I could now see was an impressive cock. The pretty little twink pulled the hard flesh from between his lips and looked at me with wide eyes. I could only meet his gaze for a second because blondie’s dick was a big distraction. It was shiny and wet with the other guy’s spit, but it was also long, thick, and perfectly straight. It was as flawless as the rest of him was, not that I needed to know that.
“Who are you?” The twink had the decency to look embarrassed about our combined predicament, but the blond guy didn’t so much as bat an eyelash.
I rubbed my hands over my face again and stepped away from the door, letting the monster on the other side barrel his way into the bathroom.
“I’m no one.” I sidestepped the big guy and lifted my hands once again to put my headphones back on. “I’m new. I didn’t know this was the hook-up spot. I thought the beast over here was being a dick to the new kid. My bad. I won’t make this mistake again.” The big guy looked like he wanted to break my face, the twink looked embarrassed as hell, but the blond was as cool as snow on the Rockies. He didn’t blush or flinch or give so much as a hint that he was pissed or disappointed I’d interrupted his afternoon delight.
One golden eyebrow lifted, and his perfectly pouty mouth cocked up on one side with a smirk that gave me chills. “You can always stop in for a turn.” His chilly gaze swept up and down my body, and the smirk turned into a leer. I had no clue what to do with the spark of attraction I saw in his eyes. Guys like him typically didn’t give guys like me the time of day. I didn’t want to like it, but I kind of did. How annoying. “Haven’t had new blood around here in a long time.”
I bristled a little bit at that. I was no one’s sure thing. I wasn’t here to be his strange on the side because he was bored of all the other preppy boys who looked just like him, only not as good. Sure, I was gay and pretty fond of having a hard cock in my mouth, as long as I was the one who decided it should be there, but this guy didn’t know that. There was nothing about me that declared my sexuality to the world. My appearance was mostly masculine and tended to lean toward fuck off. I didn’t wear rainbows or have equality signs tattooed all over me. He didn’t know anything about me, and I didn’t like him assuming that if I swung that way I would drop to my knees for him between classes. I had more self-respect than that.
He was amazing-looking, yes, but there was something off about him. Something cold and removed. I got enough of that treatment from my parents. I didn’t need to subject myself to indifference from someone new. Not when I was so close to being free.
I returned the once-over and let loose a leer of my own. “Thanks for the offer, but you aren’t my type.” I let my gaze drift over his massive guard dog and his twink toy. I shook my head a little and sighed. “No one at this school is.” It was a dual-purpose answer. I wasn’t into preppy, unruffled boys, but my response could easily have inferred I wasn’t into boys at all… That was far from the truth, but it seemed like an important statement to make for some reason.
The monster stepped into my space, acting like he wasn’t going to let me by, but the blond quietly ordered, “Let him go, Cutter. It’s not like he can run very far. It’s a small school.” The smile that twisted his pretty mouth was anything but kind or welcoming. “Welcome to Castle Pines, new guy.”
I scurried out of the room like I was being chased by the hounds of hell. This incident moved to the top of my list— as the most unforgettable and strangest first day of school I’d ever had.