right now and I don't want to get up.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Someone yells as I lay in my bed, still sore from last nights fight.

"Ryder!" My little sister screams as she jumps up and down on my bed, trying to wake me up for school.

"Go away, Izzy." Groaning, I grab a pillow and put it over my head to cover my ears.

"No, C'mon! It's time to wake up!" Ignoring her as best as I could, I continued to fall back asleep, but Izzy doesn't let me as she pulls the pillow away from my head and begins to hit me as hard as she can with it.

"C'mon, Ryder! Wake up!" She yells in frustration and I can't help but laugh.

"Fine, I'm up. Happy?" I ask, sitting up and she smiles brightly at me while nodding her head.

"But if you don't get off my bed in five seconds, I will tickle you!" Right when my counting starts, she screams, throwing the pillow at my face before running out of the room.

Standing up from the bed, I massage my neck as I walk to the bathroom. As I begin to get ready for the day, I can feel how sore my muscles are from last nights fight.

I'm still shocked at how he took me down so quickly... Especially because I am the one who usually takes out my opponent first.

The second that I look into the mirror, I freeze. There's a huge bruise on my jaw and it hurts slightly if I move it too much. It's definitely going to be a pain in the ass to eat.

Luckily, I don't have to worry about people asking questions since most of them know that I'm in a gang. I'm the leader of it, but not many people who aren't from the inside know of that certain detail.

Obviously, though, I'm going to get into fights and everyone knows it. Plus, a lot of people from school go down to Blackfall and watch some fights.

After taking a shower, I got into some boxers before putting on dark wash jeans, a white t-shirt, and a leather jacket. It's my favorite because I got it from the gang when I took over.

The one thing I don't like is that it often reminds me of my dad which is something I prefer not to do.

My dad was — well, not so great. Especially if you were on his bad side or even if he was just in a bad mood.

Once I was ready, I went downstairs to the kitchen and saw Izzy about to finish eating her breakfast.

"Hey, Izzybear, did you have fun at your school yesterday? It was your first day back." I asked her as I lightly tickled her sides before taking a seat next to her at the table.

"Yeah! I made a new best friend!" Her face immediately brightens the moment she spoke of her friend and the corner of my lips tip up in a smile at seeing how happy she is.

"Does your new best friend have a name?" I ask curiously as I wonder who it is that made her so excited.

"Yeah, his name is Kai." She replied with the biggest smile on her face.

"Your best friend is a boy?" I ask with a brow raises and I can tell from her now rosy cheeks that she's blushing profoundly.

The doorbell went off, letting me know that my friends are here before either of us could say anything else, but they can wait a minute.

"Your friends are here, bye!" She quickly says before running up to her room to finish getting ready for school.

Laughing lightly, I got up and went to open the door for my two best friends. After greeting each other, we all made our way upstairs towards my room to talk about a few things even though school is starting any minute.

As we were walking up the stairs, my eyes fell upon a photo that was hung up on the wall. One that I haven't looked at in a while.

It's a small photo with both of my parents, along with my little sister and I. The bottom has the words, Ryder Gonzalez... Sixteenth birthday engraved on it.

I remember that day like it was yesterday, but mainly because it's the last photo I have with my dad. He died a week later in a car crash and it hurt the whole family.

At least, most of the family.

There were times that I hated my dad so much for the shit he put our family through and there are also times that I think he got off too easy.

I hate to say this and call me heartless, but honestly... His death didn't bother me at all.

He was a shit dad to me and Izzy, a shit husband to my mom, and a shit person in general. He is and has always been irrelevant in our lives, well my life.

My mom loved him with everything she had, but he didn't care. He never loved her the way she loved him and he never could when he was with someone new every week.

Rob, my dad, was always drinking. He didn't always come home drunk because he rarely ever got drunk from the alcohol running through his body, but that doesn't mean he never came home mad.

I hated him. I still hate him even though he's gone and out of our lives. Mom, on the other hand, could never hate him. She knew of everything he'd done, yet she couldn't — not even when he beat her own son.

Apparently, I was the fuck-up of the family. It started one night when he came home pissed — no, furious at something or someone... I don't know, but when dad is mad, he needs something to break.

The memory is still so vividly lodged into my mind of him barging through the front door late at night while I was watching TV in the living room.

He had screamed for my mom as he stormed up the stairs, angrier than I'd ever seen him before and I was terrified of what would happen.

Cautiously, I had followed him and hid away from his sight in a place where I was able to see everything.

I had to watch as he had grabbed my mother's arm forcefully before turning her towards him.

Never, will I ever forget the look on my moms face as he drew his arm back and threw his fist forcefully into her cheek with so much force that even I had flinched back in fear.

After that, he had stormed out of the room and I went to make sure she was okay even though I knew she wasn't.

That was the day, when I was six, that I swore to never hit a girl and to always protect my mom from anything, especially him. He never laid a hand on her again and never laid a hand on Izzy when she was born either because he didn't need something to break anymore when he broke me every damn day.

I protected my mom and sister by becoming his punching bag and I'd do it all over again if it meant keeping the girls I love safe.

He trained me for the gang in the most robust ways he thought possible, even at such a young age. He made me who I am today.

My mom may not be able to hate him, but I sure can and I don't plan to ever stop.

Since he was a gang leader, his position automatically went to me. I because a gang leader at sixteen, but luckily he taught me how before he passed.

Being tough on me worked for something, at least.

Due to the fact that I was just being thrown into this world as a young gang leader, my best friends dad helped me out because he was the second in command and knew how to handle everything.

It took a few months before I eventually got the hang of it all and he then also passed his job down to his son, Reece.

That was last year and now I'm seventeen. I couldn't have survived during that time if it wasn't for my two best friends: Reece DeTerio and Carson Jones who were the only ones keeping me sane when everything was out of control.

Running a gang at such a young age is definitely hard and it calls for more enemies as they see you as weak. Luckily for me, not many people know of my fathers' death...

My gang is the second strongest in the state, behind the Martinez' gang and best friends are in it too. We all love to fight and race even though it's illegal, but then again so is most of the things we do.

I have been the undefeated champion for one year now at the bar called Blackfall, well not anymore since that fucking short newbie beat me.

"Hey, did you guys hear that some members of the Martinez' crew are in town?" Asked Reece as we all sat down in my room.

"No, how did you find out?" I question, looking over at Reece.

"I heard a few of our guys saying that they saw some of them today around town." He shrugged.

"It's probably nothing, but they better not be coming over here often. It's our territory." I reply, checking the time.

"So, are we going to talk about that girl from last night?" Carson asked as he finally spoke.

"She was fucking hot, I know that for sure." They both nod their heads in agreement.

"I think that she's a goddamn good racer," says Reece as he looks over to Carson who seems to be in some kind of trance. "What do you think, bro?" Still no reply...

"Dude." Reece and I said at the same time and he finally snapped out of his thoughts when I kicked his shin.

"Fuck! What the hell was that for?" He asked, muttering profanities under his breath as he massaged the spot I kicked him in hopes to relieve some pain.

"You dozed off. Didn't even hear us call your name." I told him and he just looked at me confused.

"Oh, I didn't even realize. What did you guys say?" Carson asked, wondering what he missed while being off in his own world.

Reece replied before I could, "We asked what you thought of the girl from last night."

"I'm not sure. She just seems like one huge mystery to me. Don't get me wrong though, that girl is smoking hot, and she can definitely ride, but she's just another mystery to me that doesn't seem like it'll be easy to solve." Carson relaxed into his chair further as he finished.

"Yeah, I agree," Reece said as I got an idea.

"Well, let's try to find her and unravel this mystery," I say with a smirk and they both grin back at me.

"Bye, Ryder!" I hear my little sister yell, along with the sound of her pounding feet running down the stairs so that our mom won't leave without her.

Our mom doesn't care to wait, but the only way for Izzy to leave on time is if my mom threatens to leave her here. I know that she'd never make Izzy walk herself the couple miles to school.

"Bye, Izzy!" I yell back, right before I hear the front door close loudly. Someone's in a rush, I chuckle as I stand up.

Turning to look at Reece and Carson, I see that they both stood up now getting ready to leave for school too. "We're going to need a plan then, but let's just head to school for now. We're already late and you guys know what that means for us."

Grinning, we all walk out of my room, downstairs, and to the garage.

"The girls are going to be..." Carson begins.

"All over our sexy asses." Reece finished and we laugh, all getting into our own cars before heading to school.

As I drive, I've only got one thing on my mind...

I'm going to solve the mystery of last nights girl, no matter what it takes.

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