1. Sage

Lyla thinks she's sneaky. That there's so many people crawling the compound tonight so no one is going to notice her.

She tips up on her toes and peeks through the window of the clubhouse, getting a look at what's inside. It's no doubt drugs and debauchery, and everything her father explicitly says she needs to stay away from. But she can't help sneaking around here anyway.

This girl is trouble—one of three of my biggest headaches. And whenever her, Reed, and Ellie get an idea in their heads, Lyla is inevitably the ringleader. The one with all the bad ideas. Reed's too busy studying and reading, while Ellie just wants to flirt with the new young prospects. But Lyla wants adventure.

She wants attention, and she demands it.

Even if she's made it clear she hates living at the Twisted Kings compound, she can't help involving herself in every little thing that happens around here because this girl is desperate to be the center of everything.

Lyla plants her heels in the dirt and smooths her hands down her outfit. If Kane sees her wearing that shit, he's going to have a heart attack or lock her in a cage.

Lucky for her, I'm the one who caught her, not him.

"What do you think you're doing out here?" I catch Lyla's wrist when she tries to sneak around the corner of the clubhouse, and she yelps in surprise.

She spins to face me, almost tripping in the process. She finds her balance by grabbing my arms, and I swear this girl is a magnet for danger. If there's a situation that will end in disaster, she's going to find herself directly in the center of it.

I help her steady herself, and don't release her until she pauses, rolling her shoulders back. She's so close, I get a hit of the scent that follows her around—incense and bad decisions. A smell I can't seem to escape when she refuses to keep to the neighborhood lately.

When Lyla and Ellie first started coming around the clubhouse seven years ago, it was sporadic. Talia had just started a new job that took her all over the country, and Kane refused to have Lyla and Ellie stay in the city if Talia wasn't around.

But one trip turned into a series of them. And Talia started returning to the city less and less. Until finally, Talia didn't come back at all. She started a new life as far away from Kane as possible, leaving her daughters just like she did everything else.

These past couple of years the Michaels sisters have become a permanent fixture at the Twisted Kings compound. Just like me and Reed.

Growing up where no kids should be raised.

Not that Kane seems to notice when he doesn't deal with it. Why would he?

He has me corral the three of them, and I do my best to make sure they stay off his radar. Because even if I have nothing to do with the trouble they cause, if they're caught, I'm inevitably the one who ends up taking the fall for it.

At least they're all almost eighteen. Reed has three weeks left, while Ellie and Lyla's birthdays are next week. Then maybe they'll finally leave this place, and I'll be free of acting as their permanent babysitter. They want more than they'll find here, as evidenced by the fact that I'm catching Lyla getting into trouble once again.

This place is boring when you're not allowed to participate in what happens on this land.

Lyla glares up at me and I release my grip, taking a step back and straightening my cut.

"Sage."

The way she says my name makes me want to hurt her feelings because she shouldn't be looking at me like she does half the time. With eyes that stare a little too close, and lips that pout a little too much. She's seventeen and I'm twenty. And even if she'll be eighteen next week, and I've hated myself for having that mental countdown ticking in the back of my mind, she's not quite there yet.

She teases her lower lip with her teeth before pouting it out, and it has my irritation steaming to the surface.

Lyla wants to act older than she is. She's spent too much time around the Twisted Kings for her own good. Just because she's seen more shit than a girl her age should, doesn't make her an adult. She's got her whole life ahead of her.

She's innocent—young. Even if lately, she's been looking older and nothing like the little kid who was dropped off here years ago. And it drives me fucking mad because I'm not the only one who notices.

Every time Lyla walks through the clubhouse, stares shoot in her direction. The guys might be discreet about it, knowing if Kane catches them, they'll get their eyeballs scooped from their sockets. But it happens and she knows it.

She wants it.

Trouble.

One week until she's eighteen and then she'll leave.

I think?

I hope?

I don't fucking know anymore.

"Answer the question." I cross my arms over my chest. "What are you doing out here?"

"Why are you always such a buzzkill?" Lyla sticks out her bottom lip and actually has the nerve to pout at me. "Come on, Sage. Just pretend you didn't see me."

"You're not going to the party."

Music shakes through the clubhouse. The bass has the siding rattling. There are so many people, you can't walk inside without grinding against half of them. And the scene, once you do push through, is absolute madness. A new group of prospects is being initiated tonight—myself included.

Whenever there's an initiation or patching-in ceremony, other chapters roll into town and the party goes on for days.

There's booze. Drugs. Women.

Half the people in the clubhouse are already losing their clothes, and it's turning into an orgy in the den. I could barely think between the music and the moaning, which is why I stepped outside to smoke and clear my head.

Instead, what I found was Lyla, trying to sneak in.

"I'll be good," she promises, when I know better than to believe her.

Because I know her.

Worse—I know the guys inside.

It doesn't matter if she's Kane's daughter and off-limits. This is an initiation ceremony. Enough drugs and alcohol and some guy from another chapter is going to be an idiot and get handsy with the president's daughter.

My fists clench just thinking about it.

Tilting my head, I take Lyla in from head to toe. She's wearing one of her signature pleated skirts with fishnets. She's paired them with boots that almost reach her knees. And her T-shirt is so short, the bottom of her neon-pink bra peeks out the bottom.

"Like you're capable of being good," I challenge her. "What the fuck are you wearing anyway?"

She tugs the bottom of her T-shirt, but it does fuck all as far as hiding anything. "An outfit."

"A third of an outfit, maybe. If Kane sees you, he'll cut out all our eyes just for looking in your direction."

"He won't. He just disappeared with Destiny."

He did, which means she's been watching and scheming for at least thirty minutes.

I shouldn't be surprised.

"How long have you been out here?"

"Long enough." She shrugs. "Why do you even care? You're barely around since you started working at that tattoo shop in the city."

"Miss me?"

She glares, but I can't help that I like pissing her off. It's easy when she's always trying to push my buttons.

"No." She crosses her arms over her chest and rolls her shoulders back. "When you're gone, my life is much more pleasant. So why do you care what I'm up to, Sage? Obsessed much?"

She's such a fiery little thing. Static electricity might as well spit out all around her. If she didn't give me such a headache, I might find it entertaining. But tonight is supposed to be my celebration, and of course, Lyla has found a way to wreak havoc on it.

"If I'm obsessed with anything, it's my fucking life. And I can say goodbye to that if I let you walk into that party."

"Kane doesn't have to know." She bats her long lashes.

"I'll know."

Lyla grinds her teeth. "When did you become such a good little soldier?"

"Around the same time you became a pain in my fucking ass." I step toward her. "You're seventeen, Lyla."

"For six more days."

I chuckle at the fact that she's still trying to convince me to let her go to the initiation. That she has enough fire in her to think I'll let her get away with this. She faces off with me, thinking I'm dumb enough to let it slide because on occasion I let her, Reed, and Ellie get away with shit.

But tonight is different. This isn't them stealing cars and joyriding around the compound. This is bikers twice her age—loaded, horny, and stupid.

"No dice, Lyla. Go home." I shake my head.

"But Ellie and Reed…"

"They're in there?"

Lyla nods, biting her lip when she realizes she slipped up and gave them away.

"Fuck." I tip my head back and rake my fingers through my hair.

The three of them are going to send me to an early grave. Having one sister is torture enough, but the moment Kane's daughters started crashing at the compound, shit's been a lot less fun than it used to be.

Rubbing my palms over my face, I look back down at her. "Wait here and I'll get them. But I swear to God if you step through those doors, I'll drag you out myself."

I try to brush past her, but she grabs my cut and pulls me to her. We're almost chest to chest, and I really shouldn't notice how warm she is. Or that she doesn't actually smell like incense tonight. It's more like sunshine on wet grass and promises I can't make to her right now.

Her big violet eyes blink up at me, and the breeze kicks strands of black hair across her rosy cheek. She's too pretty for her own good.

For my own good.

"Please, Sage." She blinks up at me with a pout that has the power to break me. "I never get to do anything. Kane might as well lock me in a cage."

I want more than anything to cave right now because Lyla makes me stupid. Because I know Kane keeps her on a tight leash and the neighborhood might as well be her jail cell. The only fun she has is when she sneaks around behind his back and makes it happen.

And if it were another night, and she were asking for something else, I might let her get away with it. But as a friend—or whatever we are that doesn't sound as fucking confusing as the truth—I can't.

She's innocent.

Kane's daughter.

And worst of all, she's too good for this place—and for me.

I pull her hands off me, putting some distance between us. The step back feels like miles when her eyebrows knit, and defeat fills her face. My stomach turns because I don't actually want to disappoint her. But it's my job to protect her, no matter how much she hates me for it.

"Get in the car, Lyla." I point to my dad's car parked outside the clubhouse. "I'll drive you three back to the neighborhood in a minute."

It's only a half mile away, but I'm not letting them wander alone in the dark. I already don't like the fact that they made the trip over here on foot in the first place.

The compound is gated and safe, but it doesn't mean no one has ever found their way in. Especially on a night when the doors are open for celebration.

Lyla steps back and her defeat turns to anger. Her teeth clench, and she glares at me as she turns to stomp away. But I don't give in or back down.

I head to the clubhouse to find both our sisters.

Lyla hating me is for the best. And it's a hell of a lot easier for me to process than the alternative.