Freestyle (Academy of Stardom Book 1)

I look down at my phone and the text from an unknown number.

The Breakers vs Dante’s Crew. Midnight. Abney Park Cemetery.

I’ve no idea who sent it, but it doesn’t take a genius to work out what this is all about. Dax almost beat Frederico to death at Rocks because of me. This is a score being settled, and I have to put a stop to it.

What’s the saying? Violence, begets violence.

Well, this ends now. I mean, I don’t often agree with God, mostly I think he’s some fucking cranky old dude who likes to mess with us all, but he’s got a point with this one. Then again, didn’t the Old Testament also say, ‘an eye for an eye’? Maybe God was in a gang after all, because these arseholes use that as an excuse to fuck each other up all the damn time.

Either way, this bullshit needs to stop. I can’t let the boys I love throw away their future for me. Violence is just a vicious cycle that has no end and I hate it. Yeah, I might’ve gotten into fights over the years but only ever in defence, nothing more. This is premeditated bullshit to prove which crew has the biggest balls and you can bet your arse Jeb has approved it. The thing is, these days knives and fucking guns are more likely to be used as weapons than good old fashioned fists. They could get seriously hurt, or worse.

Well, not tonight. No fucking way.

The air is frigid as I climb the fence surrounding Abney Park Cemetery. Pulling my hoodie up over my head, I jog towards the derelict church situated in the centre of the cemetery, warm puffs of air leaving my mouth in clouds of white. It’s a huge place, with loads of crumbly old headstones covered in faded wording and green ivy glistening with frost. There are a few crypts with creepy looking angels staring down from above just waiting to come alive and scare the shit out of me. The place is dark, eerie, and full of ghosts. This is Xeno’s kind of place. If he wasn’t into dance and gangs, then the guy would be a horror movie director. He fucking loves all this scary shit.

Despite the full moon, I still need my phone’s flashlight to guide me through the overgrown graveyard. To be fair, it’s the perfect place to hold a fight. No one would be crazy enough to enter here at night. Well, except maybe for a bunch of teenagers with scores to settle and violence bubbling in their blood.

I pick up my pace, hearing a commotion already, but it’s only twenty to midnight. Surely no one’s here already? I wanted to get here early so that I could step in before the fight started. Stop it in its tracks. Looks like I’m already too late.

“Well, well, well, motherfucking Teardrop Dax beaten and bruised. You ain’t so clever now are ya?” Frederico roars as I creep around the headstones approaching the crowd of people who are hooting and bellowing at the scene before them. Dax is standing in front of the rundown church, bleeding from a split on his eyebrow and lip. His teeth are bared as two boys hold his arms behind his back. I watch as Frederico rears back and slams his fist into Dax’s cheek. The sound of knuckles cracking against Dax’s cheekbone forces a cry out of my mouth and a white-hot kind of anger that gives me tunnel vision.

This isn’t a fair fight.

This is revenge and whoever the fucker was that sent me the text message wanted me to witness it. I don’t know how they managed to lure Dax here on his own but I’m not going to watch the shit get beat out of him. Firing off a quick text to the Breakers, telling them where I am and what’s going on, I pick up a beer bottle that has been left on one of the graves, and sneak around the crowd to the far side of the church to a copse of trees that give me cover. When Frederico punches Dax again the crowd’s frenzied bellowing covers the sound of me breaking the glass bottle, leaving just the neck and a jagged edge.

I grip it tightly in my hand, biding my time.

“You think you could get away with what you did to me, huh? Think again, motherfucker,” Frederico snarls. “By the time I’m through with you you’re gonna be nothing but a vegetable.”

Dax lifts his head and smiles, baring blood-covered teeth. “Fuck you, cunt. You hit like a pussy.”

Frederico tips his head back and laughs, then launches himself into the air before slamming his fist on Dax’s cheek, the force of the blow forcing him to his knees.

When Dax’s head drops between his shoulders, blood covering his face, rage takes over.

Fuck this bastard and his crew. Fuck them. This is my dark angel. My fucking heart, and they’re hurting him.

I came here to prevent a fight, but it’s too late for that now.

Now I’m going to end it. Violence begets violence. Yeah, it fucking does.

“Get your fucking hands off him!” I scream, running full speed towards Frederico. Dax’s head snaps up, droplets of blood splattering the stony ground as Frederico twists on his feet.

He lifts his hands to protect his face as I slash at him, catching the back of one hand. He roars in pain as the jagged glass slices through his skin.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH!” he roars.

I turn to face him, holding the broken bottle out in front of me. “Let him go you cowardly piece of shit. Three on fucking one. You’re nothing but a dick. I should’ve let Dax kill you when he had the chance.”

Frederico laughs, narrowing his eyes at me. “You really are feisty, aren’t you? A perfect little side-piece. She fights, she dances, and she gets gangbanged on the daily. Sure you don’t wanna join my crew? I’ll make it worth your while.”

The crowd laughs, and Dax tries to break free from the boys’ hold, but one of them elbows him in the side of the head and he’s knocked out by the force.

“You wanker!” I scream, as the boys holding Dax drop him to the floor unceremoniously and step towards me, cracking their knuckles. Dax is sprawled across the floor and I want nothing more than to go to him, but if I do then we’re both dead. I need to fight, or hold them off long enough until the Breakers get here.

“Stay the fuck away from me!” I shout, backing up the stairs of the church and lunging at the three boys as they creep closer to me. All three of them look deranged, and it’s clear from the size of their pupils that they’re fucking high too.

“Now, now, Pen. We just wanna see what all the fuss is about,” Frederico says, his salacious gaze roving over me.

“You get any closer and I’ll cut your fucking throat!” I shout, ready and willing to do just that, but I miss a step behind me and stumble backwards, dropping the broken bottle. It rolls away down the steps and out of reach as my arse hits the hard stone with a painful thud.

I scramble for it, but Frederico and his two goons lunge for me, getting to me first. His two minions grab my arms and I kick out, catching Frederico’s jaw with my foot but my aim isn’t true, and it doesn’t do enough damage. With my arms trapped above me, Frederico straddles my hips, pinning me to the floor.

“Yeah, baby!” he shouts out, fist bumping the air as the crowd reacts. I feel their violence as though it’s an untamable beast slicing at my defences with sharpened claws. It permeates the air, making my heart pound and fear tightening around my neck like a snake asphyxiating its prey.

“You’d do anything for the Breakers, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, I would,” I retort through gritted teeth as I twist my torso, trying to throw him off me. “I’d do anything for the ones I love.” Leaning over, Frederico, presses his mouth against my ear.

“Are you sure they’re really worth it?”

“I know they are!”

He laughs. “You really have no idea about what they’ve been doing in Jeb’s name, do you, Pen? You’re so fucking gullible.”

“Fuck you!” I scream back, thrashing beneath him.

“It would make your skin crawl,” he continues, taunting me. “Those motorbikes they drive were bought with blood money, Pen. You think just because they dance they’re incapable of hurting someone. You really don’t know them very well at all, but I can help enlighten you. Join Dante’s Crew and you’ll have my protection, for life.”

“No! I’d rather die than join your crew,” I spit.

“Shame,” he smirks. “I guess fucking you will have to do then.”

I scream loudly, fighting with every last scrap of anger as I buck and twist, thrusting my hips upwards in an attempt to dislodge him. This was all a fucking setup to get me here. He wanted me that night at Rocks, but Dax made a fool of him and served him his arse. Now he intends on taking me to prove a fucking point. The fucking rapist.

“Try it and see what happens,” I snarl back.

Frederico raises his hand and slaps me hard against my check. “I’m going to enjoy this!” he retorts, unbuckling his trousers. He’s too caught up in his actions to notice that the crowd behind him has quietened. I stop struggling when I see Xeno towering over him, holding onto the jagged bottle I’d broken earlier.

“Get off our girl, you dirty piece of shit,” he growls, bringing down the broken bottle and sliding it across Frederico’s cheek. Blood spurts from the wound. A bright red arc that splatters across the concrete steps not far from my head.

Frederico’s scream is drowned out by Xeno’s roar as he hauls him backwards off me.

The two guys who were pinning my arms down, let go and launch themselves upwards. Only to back off when a gunshot is fired into the air.

My head snaps around and I see both Zayn and York holding a gun each. Zayn points one at the boys who were holding me down, and York points the other at the crowd.

Fuck.

Scrambling to my feet, I run towards Dax and drop onto my knees beside him. I check his pulse and press my ear to his mouth, he’s still breathing. Yanking at his body, I turn him over onto his back so I can check his injuries.

“Dax? Dax! Can you hear me?” I say, cupping his face. “Dax!”

Dax groans, his eyelids fluttering open as he lifts his hand to his head. “Kid!” he immediately says the second consciousness seeps back in. Worry and rage making his voice thick with emotion.

“Shh, I’m okay,” I say, reassuring him. Beside us Xeno is fighting Frederico, and I try to block out the sound of skin splitting and bones breaking. “Can you sit up? We need to get you out of here.”

“We?” he grumbles, letting me help him into a seated position.

“The guys are here. They’re dealing with Frederico and his goons.”

Dax nods, then groans.

In the distance, I can hear the familiar sound of the cops closing in, their sirens piercing the cold night air but it’s gunfire that has the rest of Dante’s Crew scattering like leaves in the wind. My head snaps around, momentarily relieved that York had just fired another bullet into the air and not into the crowd.

“Come on, big guy, we gotta go,” he says, striding over to us now that he no longer has a bunch of feral kids to keep under control. Dax grumbles but he lets us help him to his feet.

“Come on,” I scream at Xeno who’s still fighting Frederico, and Zayn who’s still got his gun trained on the two very scared looking boys. They don’t look all that tough now. “We need to go!”

Zayn drops the gun to his side and the two boys run, leaving Frederico behind. So much for mates.

Xeno grips the arsehole by the throat and snarls in his face. “You touch our girl again and you’re dead. You come near the Skin’s patch selling drugs, you’re dead. You come to Rocks, you’re dead. Don’t fuck with us again, you motherfucking piece of shit, because next time I won’t purposefully miss. We are the Breakers and you know we’ll break your fucking necks.”

Frederico nods once, all the bravado from a moment ago, gone. He clutches his face, blood pouring through the gaps of his fingers. His other arm hangs loosely at his side, broken and useless.

“Come on!” I yell, spotting flashlights moving in the distance.

They don’t need to be told a third time.

We run.

When we reach their motorbikes parked on the far side of the cemetery, they start laughing, slamming each other on the back in mirth. Congratulating each other on the win. When Xeno turns to look at me, noticing that I’m not laughing alongside them, he tips his head to the side and scowls.

“He got what he deserved, Tiny. Just like the rest of the bastards who fuck with what’s ours.”

It’s only then that I consider Frederico’s words, do I really know the Breakers after all?